The House of Seven Mabels

whole downstairs. He’s only temporarily off the job. Maybe he’s so desperate to avoid coming back, he’d sabotage the whole deal,“ Jane said smugly.
    “I’ll reluctantly give you that one.“
    “Will you also give me the two women who were throwing up in the front yard?“
    “No.“
    “Okay. Then we come to my favorite. Bitsy’s ex-husband, Neville.“
    “Put him down,“ Shelley said. “He’s got the best motive to wreck Bitsy’s project. A man scorned, and thinking it’s really his hard-earned money that’s funding this project. Now, are we done with this chart?“
    “We’ve hardly begun,“ Jane said.
    Shelley put her head down on the kitchen table and pretended to weep.

Twenty-four

    Next are the people doing the sheetrock. Carl Stringfield.“
    “We know nothing about him. We’ve only been introduced to him once,“ Shelley countered.
    “So he’s blank for now. But we need to speak to him. Or find out about him from Evaline. She’s next on the list, and we know a lot about her.“
    “She did term papers for other people,“ Shelley huffed. “I don’t know if that’s illegal, but it’s immoral.“
    “We’ve been through that already. But she’s one of the brightest, most competent, and most imaginative of any of them—as far as we know.“
    “But what would be her motive? You’re back to what we said about Jacqueline and Henry. She’s landed a job she’s good at and being paid for. Besides, she and Carl are victims, too. Someone wrecked their work and they had to do it again.“
    “Okay, okay. You’re right again. But we have to list them. And now another of my favorites. Joe Budley.“
    “That jerk,“ Shelley said. “Yes, put him down. But as much as I dislike him, I don’t think he’s responsible for the things that have happened since he took the job as contractor. There’s nothing in it for him. Quite the contrary. If what we’ve heard is true, he has a deadline and a budget he has to adhere to.“
    “But he could have been the one who planted the shrimp and niggled with the wiring before Sandra died. He might even be the one who killed Sandra. Didn’t Thomasina say he really wanted that job before Bitsy got tangled up with Sandra?“
    “That’s true, I guess. But you can’t imagine he’d sabotage himself.“ Shelley got up from her kitchen table and started to unload the dishwasher.
    “We’re back to having two or more suspects,“ Jane said, feeling discouraged.
    “I find that hard to imagine,“ Shelley said, stacking plates. “My money’s still on Bitsy’s ex-husband.“
    “I guess the last on the list is Thomasina, the electrician. Suppose she herself accidentally made the wiring error that resulted in Jacqueline being knocked out?“
    “Interesting question,“ Shelley admitted, almost dropping a handful of spoons. “She might have. Maybe her generosity about paying Jacqueline’s medical costs was more than to make sure it didn’t go on her record with the insurance company. If she’d wired something wrong, it could ruin her reputation. Jane, you don’t imagine it could be anything else but a careless mistake at the worst, do you? What could Thomasina have against Jacqueline?“
    Jane said, “That’s another thing we have to figure out. And you didn’t ask her what she thought of Bitsy and Sandra, either, when you spoke to her, did you?“
    “No. I didn’t get a chance. She was already off and running about Joe Dudley being the one who wanted the job badly enough to show up Sandra.“
    “We’ll have to talk to Thomasina again.“ Jane made a mark by Thomasina’s name like the one next to Carl Stringfield’s name.
    “Are we through with this chart yet?“ Shelley asked impatiently. All the contents of the dishwasher had been neatly put away, and she sat back down across from Jane.
    “For now. But now we need to get the events in order. Don’t you dare sprawl over the table again. I promise you this is worthwhile, or will be.“
    “Wouldn’t you rather be working on your book about Priscilla?“ Shelley asked hopefully.
    “I would. But suppose Bitsy caves in on the contract you drew up and we have to commit to doing the decorating before the police find out who’s doing these things? We don’t want to put ourselves in danger of becoming two more victims.“
    “Aren’t we in more danger snooping into people’s lives?“
    Jane scoffed. “Shelley, people love talking about themselves to strangers. At least, most people