The House of Seven Mabels

with their lives.“
    “Maybe it’s too soon for him. I think he’s so angry that he could have done all the vandalizing. But not in person. He’d be too obvious if anyone saw him lurking around. Maybe he hired one of Bitsy’s discontented workers to do the sabotage.“
    “That’s an interesting theory,“ Jane said. “But it would have cost him too much. I do think it’s likely that others have inquired about him or brought suits against him. This attorney Paul uses sounds like more of a detective than a lawyer.“
    “That’s why Paul pays the big bucks. The guy loves to get the dirt on people. I guess it’s an instinct.“
    “One we also share,“ Jane said.
    “Bite your tongue,“ Shelley said with a laugh. “Oh, I forgot to tell you something else. I finally met the plumber.“
    “I’d forgotten there has to be a plumber. Why haven’t we come across him yet?“
    “It’s a she, Jane,“ Shelley said. “Introduced herself as Hank. I can’t imagine what that’s short for. For some reason she wasn’t on the list of workers and phone numbers Bitsy gave me.“
    “She must have been one of the earliest to work once the walls were down in that section. Doesn’t plumbing have to come first?“
    “I have no idea. But if you think back, the first time we looked at the renovated part there were pipes stubbed out in the bathrooms and in the kitchen.“
    “Count on you to notice that. I didn’t. So did you talk to Hank?“
    “To my sorrow, I did. She said right out that Sandy Anderson was a cross between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Teresa.“
    “What an odd combination,“ Jane said. “I don’t get the connection.“
    Shelley said, “I think I do. How much do you know about Eleanor Roosevelt?“
    “Not as much as I’d like. Why?“
    “Some recent scholars have suggested that after Eleanor found out about Lucy Mercer having an affair with Franklin, Eleanor and her longtime women friends became, let us say, much closer friends.“
    “You mean lesbians? Oh, now I get it.’ 7
    “Hank went on haranguing about their feminist group and how it would never have gotten off the ground if it hadn’t been for wonderful Sandy. She was both a hard and a tenderhearted person. Always so supportive of everyone in the group. She called Sandra a good example of ‘tough love’ and actually got a bit teary about her dying.“
    “No! I can’t imagine that,“ Jane exclaimed.
    “But she recovered quickly. She demanded that I go back to the Merchandise Mart and present my recommendations on the swirly hot tub thing
    that they’re putting in the master bath. Told me in no uncertain terms to be sure to consider only the ones that are left-handed.“
    “Left-handed? What does that mean?“
    “I think it means they hook into the plumbing at the end she’s stubbed out, instead of having to be installed with the back of it the wrong way around.“
    “What did you tell her?“
    “That we weren’t yet under contract and were still waiting for a better one. She went ballistic. How dare I argue about the contract? Sandra, or Sandy, as she insisted on calling her, could never be wrong about anything. She thought it was a wonderful contract.“
    “Did you tell her...?“
    “You bet I did. I told her that everyone else on the job that I’d talked to had slashed through theirs and gotten it changed. That really knocked her for a loop. Later I saw her go out to her truck. When I was leaving, Hank was sitting there behind the steering wheel, flipping pages of what looked like her contract.“
    “If she’s telling the truth, she’s certainly not a suspect in Sandra’s death.“
    “Jane, we don’t really know if anybody has told us the truth.“
    “I guess that’s true. But Henrietta and Jacqueline were quite frank with us. And so were Eva-line and Thomasina. Even Bitsy’s inclined to spill her guts at every opportunity.“
    “I hate to admit this,“ Shelley said, “but I’m starting to feel sorry for Bitsy. I know Sandra was her own-free-will choice of contractor, but so many things have gone wrong on the project. Bitsy has to be thinking it’s her fault.“
    Shelley opened the foil on a third granola bar.
    “Maybe so.“ Jane said. “But she’s still plowing along with it.“
    “If I were she, God forbid, I’d have taken my loss by now and turned it back over to the township to tear down.“
    “I’m so glad to hear you say that,“ Jane said.
    “I know. You should just back out.“
    “I