War and Peas

do either of you know where Sharlene Lloyd is?“
    “Yes, she’s showering and changing,“ Shelley said.
    “She’s okay, then? Good.“ He put out his hand to Jane, who was closest to him. “Jumper Cable,“ he said.
    Jane took his hand. “I’m sorry—I have no idea where you’d find a jumper cable.“
    “No, that’s me.“
    “You’re a jumper cable?“ Jane asked with alarm, gingerly freeing her hand. Had the heat made everyone crazy? Or perhaps she was crazy and imagining this conversation. Soon she’d be thinking she was Napoleon.
    “I’m sorry. Tom Cable. People call me Jumper.”
    Relieved, Shelley and Jane introduced themselves. Jumper said, “I just wanted to make sure Sharlene was okay. Tell her I came by, would you?”
    And with that, he was gone. A second later, Sharlene emerged from the bathroom. She had on a denim skirt, a sleeveless white blouse, and sandals; a towel was wrapped around her head. She held her “pioneer woman“ clothes in her arms. She was obviously feeling better, at least physically. “I’m sorry. It was rude of me to rush in first like that. I probably used all the hot water, too.“
    “I hope you have,“ Shelley said. “I want a cold shower. Oh, a boy calling himself Jumper Cable came to see if you were okay.”
    Sharlene blushed. “He’s not a boy. Tom Cable is the museum’s attorney. Thanks for telling me.“
    “Attorney?“ Jane asked. “He looked barely old enough to vote!“
    “He does look young,“ Sharlene said a bit defensively, “but he’s thirty-three years old. Last May twelfth.”
    Shelley picked out her own grocery sack and took her turn in the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later, looking as fresh as new paint. Her short, dark hair was already half dry and as tidy as always. Sharlene went to hang up all their pioneer clothes while Jane got cleaned up. There was no hot water left, as Sharlene had predicted, but the cool shower was refreshing and putting on clean, lightweight cotton clothes was even more so. Jane was still combing out her wet, dark blond mop of hair when Mel arrived.
    “I thought I’d never find you!“ he exclaimed.
    “Sharlene, this is my friend Detective Mel VanDyne,“ Jane said. “Sharlene Lloyd is Ms. Palmer’s secretary.”
    Sharlene asked, “Is she dead? Really?“
    “I’m afraid so, Ms. Lloyd. Do you feel like answering a few questions?”
    Sharlene became teary-eyed again. “I think—will you excuse me for a minute?”
    She disappeared into the depths of the mobile home, and Mel said to Jane and Shelley, “Then I’ll start with you two.“
    “Are you in charge of the case?“ Jane asked.
    “No, just helping with interviews. There was a mob of people out there, you know, and it’s important to interview as many as possible as quickly as possible.“
    “I don’t know how much help we can be, Mel,“ Jane said. “We weren’t in ‘witness’ mode.“
    “People seldom are,“ he replied.
    “But we were really out in left field, if you’ll forgive the expression,“ Shelley put in. “We were busy pretending like mad. The woman who rehearsed us really emphasized that we weren’t to try to act the parts, but really get into it and be the people. She said that was the whole point of a reenactment. And we took her at her word. It was spooky, in fact. I was really scared of the battle, even though I knew it was all fake.“
    “But unfortunately, it wasn’t,“ Jane added grimly. “Shelley’s right. We weren’t quite ourselves. Maybe it was just the heat, but I felt—well, almost hypnotized into my part.”
    Mel wasn’t very sympathetic. “Then you’re going to have to snap out of it, because I need information. Do the best you can, okay?”
    But it wasn’t a successful interview. The experience had been pure chaos and neither of them could satisfactorily choreograph exactly what they’d done in what order, let alone account for anyone else’s movements.
    “There was a group of women—three of them, I think—just behind us to begin with,“ Jane summed up. “One of them was Sharlene Lloyd. I remembered her because her red hair and red face made her look so much hotter than the rest of us. And one of the women with her had a hat with cloth flowers like big cabbage roses. I saw her later, when we were trying to escape. She was ahead of us then, though. And she was already lying on the ground. Was that Ms. Palmer?”
    Mel nodded. “Did she look injured when you saw her?“
    “She