It had to be You

eleven in the morning. The visiting nurse who arrived so early might have warned them the day before that she was coming and the door might have been unlocked for her sake. Could someone have slipped in overnight and hidden until the coast was clear? Maybe peeking through the door of what Miss Twibell had called the “overflow room“ to see when all the regulars were gone? But who, outside the patients and staff, would know who the regulars were?
    He’d made Miss Twibell impatient and didn’t dare to question her again when she was busy.
    That could take quite a while during the construction of this dumbwaiter.
    He might as well go to the storeroom and pitch in and help cart boxes. It might move the process along a little bit faster.
    Miss Twibell stopped glaring at Chief Walker when he said, “Here, Robert, let’s get the last of these things put away so we can take down the glass doors and put them somewhere safe.“
    “How do you remove them?“ Robert asked.
    Walker showed him how easy it was after the last of the flasks, pestles, and measuring cups and spoons had been put into a box and stored in the overflow room.
    Miss Twibell finally stopped giving directions and sat down on the sofa. Miss Smith and Miss Jones were still watching all this activity avidly. Lily, having taken the last box to the overflow room, leaned on the arm of the sofa, commenting on what a pleasure it was to sit and watch men working.
    When the glass doors and the old door to the storeroom had all been removed, Robert, thrilled to have discovered a new set of skills, said, “Now let’s take out the cabinets and counter, shall we?“
    “I’m not so sure of that,“ Walker admitted. “I’ve never done it. I think we’ll leave that to the Harbinger boys. They’d have done what we’ve accomplished in a third of the time it took us. But I’m sure they’d let you watch. Maybe even helpwith supporting the cabinets while they remove whatever is holding them up.”
    He’d shown Robert how to remove doors. But he knew his own limits. Trying to get a big heavy cabinet down intact was way beyond him and surely something Robert wouldn’t know about.
    When Walker and Robert gave up, the spectators did as well. Miss Twibell went to check Mat-tie’s temperature. Lily and Betty swept up the debris that had accumulated around the work site. They had a hard time finding where someone had put the dustpan.
    Robert said as he picked up one of the big baskets of laundry, “Just think. In a few days nobody will ever have to do this again.”
    Walker helped Miss Smith to her feet and escorted her and Miss Jones back to their room. After they picked up their yarn and knitting needles, they asked if he could stay a while and visit with them. Miss Smith offered him some caramels. He had to turn them down. He didn’t want his teeth stuck in them when he intended to question them, but he did accept a peppermint lozenge, which he could crunch up and swallow quickly.
    “I understand you hold knitting parties here every week.“
    “Well, almost every week. If another patient is seriously ill, like Mr. Connor was at the end, it’s usually held somewhere else and we miss it. If it’s a small group of two or three, we all sit in here,“ Miss Smith said.
    He looked at the finished, folded work on the far wall. “You give these away to people who need them?“ he asked. “How do you do that?“
    “Mrs. White brings that dear second husband of hers to help take them to the three churches in town to give to anybody who asks.“
    “Sometimes they just drive house to house with them, offering them,“ Miss Jones added, somewhat breathlessly.
    “She’s the pillar of Voorburg,“ Miss Smith said.
    Howard nodded. He didn’t necessarily agree entirely with that. He thought a number of people in Voorburg also deserved praise: Mrs. Tarkington, the school principal; Jack Summer, who was the editor of the best newspaper in the county; Mr. and Mrs. Prinney.
    Maybe even himself.
    Walker let a few silent moments pass, trying to figure out a way to change the subject to the Connor family. He needn’t have bothered. Miss Smith said, “Do you know about the Connor family history?“
    “Not a thing. I’d never heard of any of them until Mr. Connor died,“ Walker replied.
    Miss Smith launched into the same story she’d told Robert. How Mr. Connor and his son had a big blowup over a piece of property they jointly owned. How Connor had sold it, forging his