In the Still of the Night

it’s just a possibility.“
    “What about Bud? He’d do it if West told him to,“ Cecil said.
    Lily laughed at this. “Bud is the boss of that pair. West only acts like he’s the master by being rude.
    I don’t think Bud Carpenter would do a thing he didn’t want to do.”
    Cecil smiled. “I think you’re right. And I don’t think he knows or cares about books of any kind. I tried to engage him in a conversation of what he liked to read and he huffed up and said he didn’t have time for reading. He was a busy man. As if I’m not. He’s probably illiterate anyway. You don’t think there might have been a reason for any of the others—the Cameron brother and sister, or your friend Miss Jonson—to take it, do you?“
    “I see no reason why anyone would take it, really. Everybody would have probably assumed you’d made a carbon copy instead of taking it away from your office without the copy locked up safely. If I were a writer, I think I’d buy a safe to put copies in. But then, I’m not a writer and maybe it’s easier to reconstruct your book than I suppose.“
    “No, it’ll be difficult. But I have the chapters organized and titled, and that and my notes will probably help replace the missing parts. But I have learned a hard lesson from this.”
    A little boy tore by them at that moment and dropped a baseball he’d been playing with. Cecil picked it up and when the boy turned to see where it had gone, Cecil lobbed it to the child quite expertly. Lily was surprised that an academic like Cecil had ever played ball enough to have a good arm. He was so portly, so tweedy, so indoors-pale and professorial-looking that she couldn’t imagine he’d ever played ball in his life.
    “Good throw,“ Phoebe Twinkle said, coming up behind Cecil and Lily. “Professor Hoornart, have you seen the quilts? You must come and look at them closely. The handwork is superb. And you might want to buy some of the canned vegetables to give your friends in town as gifts. They’re beautiful, too.”
    Cecil was flattered and went away with Phoebe with excuses to Lily.
    “Please, please, go enjoy yourself,“ Lily said. “That’s the whole reason for this day.”
    She roamed around, chatting with people and checking on whether all her guests were present or accounted for. It might be a little too easy for one of them to make a quiet exit with all the milling around. Perhaps some of these unfamiliar people had been brought in by Walker with the same concern in mind.
    She found Rachel surrounded by a bunch of young men from the village who were impressed with her big-city good looks, but unable to find anything to talk to her about except cars, cows and local gossip about hunting accidents. Rachel looked desperate.
    Lily took pity on her. “Rachel, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you in the house for a moment.”
    Rachel looked panicked, apparently thinking it might be yet another interview with Walker. As they walked toward the mansion, Lily said quietly, “I don’t need you for anything. I was just performing a rescue mission. You looked a little overwhelmed.“
    “Oh, thank you!“ Rachel said, taking refuge inside anyway.
    When Lily located Raymond, he was sitting in a deck chair someone else must have brought along and looking like he might fall asleep any moment.
    He didn’t need saving and she didn’t bother to speak to him.
    Bud Carpenter was standing around watching the horseshoe pitch. He was smiling slightly and looking utterly relaxed for the first time since he’d arrived. He had his hands behind his back and his posture gave him a bit of pot belly instead of his usual rigid military bearing. Lily thought it was rather funny and wondered if he might be one of those men who wore a corset when he was on duty.
    Julian West was simply wandering around. He obviously didn’t want to make conversation with the locals, not that many of them would recognize him anyway. He looked angry. Whether he was still chafing at being considered a suspect in Lorna’s death or disappointed at not being recognized as someone of importance was anybody’s guess.
    Lily finally spotted Henry going toward the woods with a leather satchel. Now, why would he be doing that? Surely he wasn’t going to hook up his loony call system in the woods. Lily hurried to catch up with him.
    “Henry, hold up. What are you doing?“
    “I’m going to check tree rings.“
    “What?“
    “I bought a gadget about two years