In the Still of the Night

if she didn’t get out of the mansion for a while, she’d go mad. She tapped on the door to Mr. Prinney’s office. Chief Walker was using the phone, but covered the mouthpiece and called, “Come in.“ The only phone in the house originally was in the entryway, but Mr. Prinney had put in an extra extension in his office for his own business just recently.
    She opened the door and said defiantly, “Would you admit I’m the last person who would try to get away from here?“ Lily asked.
    He smiled. “I suppose so.“
    “Then I’m going for a walk.“ She closed the door and turned to find Raymond standing behind her. “I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind,“ he said. “Not at all. Let’s go out the back way through the kitchen.”
    There were a few people Lily didn’t know on the lawn behind the house. They were setting up card tables for the fête. She smiled and nodded nicely to them, and led Raymond around toward the library windows where the lawn sloped down to the river below. “Do you think they know what happened here?“ Lily said, tipping her head toward the handful of townspeople.
    “In my limited experience, I think people in small towns probably know everything,“ Raymond said, taking her arm. “That’s probably why they’re setting things up today. Surely tomorrow morning would be time enough.”
    They reached a bench under some trees where a truly majestic view of the river spread out below. It was one of Lily’s favorite spots, and in good weather, she often spent an afternoon there reading, napping, brushing out her dog Agatha or just daydreaming while watching the traffic on the river and the trains racing back and forth alongside it on both sides of the water.
    “It’s nice here,“ Raymond said. “Nice to be with you, too.“ He laid his arm along the back of the bench and put his hand on her arm, sketching a slow pattern of strokes.
    Lily was surprised and flattered. She’d worried needlessly about having to apologize for her behavior so many years ago. He’d apparently either forgotten or forgiven.
    They chatted about the river, admired a fine sailboat skirting its way like a dancer around a line of barges. Raymond gently pulled her closer. She turned to say something and before she could speak, he’d enveloped her in a hug and was teasingly kissing her.
    “Raymond, we’re in full view of the house,“ Lily said. It wasn’t that she didn’t like being kissed. But not in front of any gawker who might be looking out from the library or bedroom windows that faced the river. Especially if it might be Chief Walker. She certainly didn’t want to have to explain her whole past to him. And if Robert saw them, he’d rag on her about it forever.
    She pulled away and stood up. “I should get back. I’m the hostess of this party and need to be on duty,“ she said with a smile.
    Raymond said nothing, just looked past her at the river. Was he angry? Lily wondered. Then asked herself if she really cared if he was as she made her way up the slight slope.
    She was just going upstairs to comb her hair and freshen her lipstick when she met Mimi coming down the stairs. Mimi looked upset. “What’s wrong, Mimi?”
    Mimi shook her head and gestured toward Lily’s room. Lily followed and closed the door behind them. “What is it?“ she said very quietly.
    Mimi had a wad of sheets under her arm. “I was tidying up Mrs. Ethridge’s room. The policeman told me I could.”
    Lily frowned. “I should have done that myself, Mimi. Was it awful?“
    “No, miss. Just some stains.“
    “Oh .“ Lily said, gulping.
    “Not that kind of stains, miss. But I found a couple things. I don’t like talking to the police much, so I was looking for you.”
    She set the sheets down on the floor and unwrapped the corner of the bundle. “This was in the bed,“ she said, handing Lily a page of perfumed letter paper. Lily recognized it as Lorna’s. It was the same as the paper she’d used to contact them in the first place. It had been crumpled. Lily flattened it out and read.
    “Raymond dear, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Come to my room tomorrow night, I have some- thing so interesting to tell y—“ The writing stopped mid-word.
    Lily gasped. “Oh, dear.“
    “That’s not all, Miss Lily,“ Mimi said, handing her a little gold piece of jewelry. “I don’t rightly know what this is.”
    Lily stared at the tie tack and sighed. “I do. It belongs to Mr. West. He was wearing