The House of Seven Mabels

over every inch of the basement and hadn’t noticed anything odd about the paneling except that it was cheap and ugly. If he himself hadn’t noticed, he could hardly go back to the station and tear holes in the other investigators of the basement.
    He went back and reassured the crowd that they could go home now and that it hadn’t been a bomb, only a fake one. But he made a point of snagging Joe Budley. “Mr. Budley, you can let your workers back in, but not anywhere near the basement or the backyard.“
    “But we need to get the footings in for the sun-porch today or we’ll be a whole day late.“
    “That’s at the other end of the house, right?“
    “It is.“
    “Then we’ll let them work. But there will be a police tape at the north end that you’re responsible for making sure they don’t cross. By the way, I’m wondering why you didn’t tell me about the damage to the Sheetrock.“
    “What damage?“
    “Evaline told me someone had taken a hammer to it.“
    “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?“ Budley exclaimed.
    “You didn’t know?“ Mel said, not believing him.
    “I hadn’t yet been upstairs today. I was working with the guys who are replacing the sun-porch. Why didn’t Evaline or Carl tell me?“
    “Maybe they hoped you wouldn’t find out.“
    “I’d have known when they billed me for fixing it. I’m going to have a talk with them.“
    “You’re going to have to shut down the work upstairs until I get my staff back. And Evaline and Carl have probably already destroyed the evidence by fixing it.“
    This, unfortunately, made Dudley smile.
    Mel walked around the back of the house, keeping a safe distance so he wouldn’t disturb any footprints. He guessed that the coal chute must have once come out where there were now some very old shrubs. He made some phone calls and was told that the photographer from the police department who’d taken the photos at the scene of Sandra’s death revealed something interesting.
    “Mel, Phil here,“ the photographer said. “I thought you should know. When I developed the pictures, I saw something strange that wasn’t visible in the gloom down there but showed up in the flash.“
    “I bet I know what it was. A piece of that dreadful paneling that looked slightly different?“
    “How’d you guess?“
    “It’s covering an old coal chute. The bomb squad boys said it was ajar. I’ve sealed off where it must exit and I’m having the toolbox brought in for prints.“
    “What do you bet there aren’t any? Is everything in it new?“
    “I haven’t looked in the bag yet. I don’t want anything to contaminate it, but I’d bet the same. I’ll bring it in as soon as the fingerprint group gets here. And you might mention that the scene-of-the-crime group should bring along some big loppers to cut down some ugly old shrubs and take them away to test for fibers.“
    He called back to the station and told his assistants about the Sheetrock and that they would have to come back. That news wasn’t received well.
    Mel was sweating nearly as much as the bomb squad person had and wanted nothing more than to go home and shower, but he stuck it out, without ever letting go of the bag containing the toolbox until everyone he’d called up had arrived and had their instructions. His arm was sore from the weight of the contents.
    When he had it stowed in the trunk of his car, he called Jane and assured her he hadn’t been in any danger because the bomb was a fake. “Now go back to your sofa and put your foot back up,“ he said, still in police mode.
    “Yes, sir,“ she replied.
    “Please put your foot back up,“ he added, realizing how sharply he’d spoken.
    Jane didn’t mention that she hadn’t been on the sofa anyway. She was propped up in bed changing channels on the television to distract herself.
    Or had been until Shelley snatched the control from her hand and turned it off a moment before Mel called.
    “What?“ Shelley said the minute Jane hung up.
    “The bomb was a fake. That’s all he said.“
    “So what was the ‘yes, sir’ about?“
    “He told me in his police voice to put my foot up,“ Jane said with a smile.
    “Jane, I don’t get this. It turns our theories inside out. I really thought all this stuff like the rotten shrimp and the other vandalism was to persecute Sandra.“
    Jane nodded. “So did I, I suppose. So why this fake bomb scare? Why not a real bomb? And to what purpose?“
    “That gets us back to Bitsy’s