The Private Eye

forward and folded his arms on the white tablecloth. The humor vanished from his gaze. “I wanted to see if Wilcox showed any surprise when he discovered that your basement wasn't flooded.”
    Maggie's eyes widened. “You suspected Dwight might have been the one who crawled through the basement window last night?”
    “It was a possibility. He's slender enough to fit through that window and he knows his way around too Is. Furthermore, as your handyman, he's had plenty of access to the manor. He could have sabotaged things like the chimneys and the refrigerator.”
    “Yes, but Dwight?” Maggie started to laugh. “I'll bet he showed absolutely no reaction whatsoever down in that basement. Am 1 right?”
    “Right. The guy never missed a beat. Didn't even blink,”
    “That's our Dwight. Sorry to screw up your theory, but you really can't tell anything from Dwight's face. He's worn that same expression—or rather, lack of it— since the day I met him. I don't think Dwight would have shown any emotion if he'd walked down those basement steps and found an alligator that had crawled up from the sewer.”
    “Is that so?” Josh looked thoughtful.
    Maggie smiled. “Look, forget Dwight. There's no way he could be behind the kinds of things that have been happening at the manor. He has his talents, but, to be honest, I don't think he's capable of the sort of devious cleverness that it would take to plot an entire series of harassing incidents. And what possible motive could he have, even if he were smart enough to dream up such a scheme? What made you suspect him?”
    “Maggie, let me explain something here. You're my client. By definition, that makes everyone else a suspect. That’s how I work.”
    She stared at him in amazement. “Everyone else?”
    “Everyone else,” he confirmed.
    “Come on, Josh. Even the Colonel and Odessa and Shirley?”
    “Yeah. Even them.” Josh took another sip of wine and turned his head to look out into the darkness.
    “You can't be serious? What possible motive would my three tenants have?”
    Josh swung his gaze back to hers, his eyes cold and intent. “You want some possibilities? I'll give you possibilities. We'll start with the Colonel. He's told everyone that he's a genius and that he's on the brink of perfecting a new and unlimited fuel for the world. What if, deep down, he knows his experiments are a joke and he's begun to fear he'll be found out?”
    Maggie frowned. “You think he might be trying to destroy his own files before someone exposes him as a fraud?”
    “A lot of the incidents you've described to me have originated in the basement of the manor where the Colonel keeps his papers. If he staged the destruction of his own files and made it look like the work of fuel industry spies or malicious vandals, he could tell everyone that his experiments had been seriously setback, perhaps for years.”
    “You think the Colonel would risk destroying the manor just to protect his own illusions? I don't believe it,” Maggie stated.
    Josh smiled wryly. “That only goes to show how naive you are, Maggie.”
    “I am not naive. It's just that I've known the Colonel for years and I don't believe he would do anything potentially violent or harmful.”
    “He was a career military man,” Josh reminded her gently. “He spent years studying and learning violent ways. For all we know, he was trained in sabotage. But if you don't like him for the bad guy, try Shirley.”
    “Shirley?”
    “Uh-huh. She's been living with an illusion for years.
    She thinks the great love of her life, Ricky 'The Wrecker’ Ring, abandoned her because he thought she ratted on him. Believing that he left her because of that and not just because he found another girlfriend might be comforting for her. She might have gone over the edge mentally and decided to stage the incidents at the manor to convince her friends that Ricky still cares enough to seek vengeance.”
    “I see what you're saying. But I'm sorry. Josh. I don't buy that one, either.”
    He nodded obligingly. “Okay, try this one on for size. Odessa wants you to sell the manor but she knows that everyone else, including her lover, the Colonel wants to hang on to it.”
    “Her lover? The colonel?” Maggie was stunned.. “But they're just good friends.”
    “You think people their age don't enjoy sex as much as everyone else? Trust me, Maggie, they're more than just good friends.”
    “But they have different bedrooms. They don’t