Love for Sale

me,“ he said as he ran out the door of his office.
    “Jail?“ Mrs. Taylor asked. “What is this about? Are we under arrest and supposed to turn ourselves in?“
    “No,“ Lily said. “He’ll want you both to identify her.“
    “You’re going to have to explain this to me,“ Mrs. Taylor said, still miffed.
    “I think that’s going to have to be Chief Walker’s job. Let’s do as he said.”
    Mrs. Taylor had been convinced the other two women were lunatics until she realized that Chief Walker had taken them seriously. She’d talked to him enough times to realize he was perfectly sane.
    “I’ll drive us to the jail, ladies. No need to use up gas in two vehicles,“ she said pleasantly.
    On the way, Miss Jurgen asked Lily, “How did you make the connection?“
    “It simply came to me that people who don’t know me well often call me Lil or Lillian, Lila or even Lola. I’ve learned to answer to anything that starts with an L, so it was a short leap from Mildred to Millicent. If you’re going to go by a different name, it would be easier if the other name started with the same letter and sounds close.“
    “That’s clever of you. It makes sense, too,“ Miss Jurgen said.
    “There’s something else tickling at the back of my head,“ Lily said. “Would you mind dropping me off at the grade school? I’ll walk from there to the jail. I need to ask one of the children something important.”

    “Mrs. Tarkington,“ Lily said to the principal, “would you pull Bob out of class so we can talk to him? I think he’ll be more frank if you ask him what I need to hear from him.“
    “What do you need to ask?”
    Lily explained.
    Mrs. Tarkington went to Robert and asked if she could interrupt for a moment. She needed to talk to Bob in her office.
    The sullen boy who drove his father’s truck looked alarmed.
    When the three of them were closeted in Mrs. Tarkington’s office, she said, “The morning after the death at Grace and Favor, Miss Brewster noticed that your classmates seemed to be sharing some secret. You appeared to be the source of the secret. You must be honest and tell us now what it was.”
    Bob hemmed and hawed and tried to convince them that he didn’t remember, but Mrs. Tarkington gave him a look that only school principals do so well.
    He caved in and told them, ending with “Hiram was with me.“
    “Thank you, Bob, for being honest with us. You may go back to class,“ Mrs. Tarkington said. When he was gone, she turned to Lily, “What on earth...?“
    “You’re going to have to wait until dinnertime before it’s explained,“ Lily said. “I must pass this along to Chief Walker.”

Chapter 28

    When Chief Walker and Ralph unlocked the door to the rented half of Miss Jurgen’s home, the woman they were seeking threw a fit.
    “Who are you? How dare you enter my house!“
    “I’m the chief of police and we’re here to arrest you for the murder of Charles Pottinger.”
    She had a suitcase in her hand, already heading for the door with the last of her belongings. She flung it at him, the corner of it striking his ribs.
    She was like a rabid wildcat, hissing, spitting. She struggled to get through the door and run away, shouting obscenities. Both men could hardly subdue her.
    When Walker finally managed to grab both her wrists, he said, “Ralph, handcuff her.”
    Ralph had been longing desperately to get to put handcuffs on someone, and he didn’t do it especially gently.
    As they wrestled her out the door, she suddenly became ominously calm and said quite firmly to Ralph, “You. Boy. Bring my suitcase.“
    “No, ma’am. Someone will fetch it later,“ Ralph replied with a grin.
    When they reached the jail, she went haywire again when she saw Miss Jurgen and Mrs. Taylor from the Institute. She screamed, “So it’s you two bitches who have done this to me. You’ll be sorry. I promise you that!”
    When she’d been safely put in the cell, Howard asked both Miss Jurgen and Mrs. Taylor to confirm that they knew her and to state the names under which they’d known her. He wrote up several papers and asked Ralph to take Mrs. Taylor and Miss Jurgen and the papers to Mr. Prinney to have the documents signed and notarized.
    “Then tell your cousin Jack he can interview her. I want to hear what she has to say to the press.”
    Lily turned up a little later.
    “I have something very important to tell you,“ she said. “Come outside where we can talk privately.”
    He