War and Peas

business at the museum. What we really know, not what might be.“
    “Not much,“ Shelley admitted. “Two people are dead, the director and the acting director. Somebody is or was looking for something in Regina’s office and in the basement. Somebody locked Babs in a closet. That’s about it. Oh, and somebody threatened Regina. No, come to think of it, we don’t know that for sure. It could have been a joke.“
    “I don’t think so. We’ll have to ask Mel about fingerprints on the note. If nobody but Regina and Lisa left prints on it, I think we can assume it was a threat. Nobody goes to the trouble of wearing gloves to write a note that’s a joke.“
    “Okay,“ Jane said, “let’s assume for a minute that the same person is responsible for all of this. I’m not sure that’s a legitimate assumption, but it does mean one thing. That the unknown person is intimately involved with the museum.“
    “Because—?“
    “Because he—or she—knew there would be an opportunity to shoot Regina for real in the midst of the fake shooting. Because he knows or thinks there’s something valuable or threatening in Regina’s office and in the basement. Unless he was familiar with the museum, he wouldn’t even know there was a basement, much less be able to lure Derek down there.“
    “Maybe Derek wasn’t lured,“ Shelley said, taking another sip of her drink. “Maybe he went down for some reason of his own and caught someone who shouldn’t have been there.“
    “Possibly. But why would he have gone down there? The last time anybody saw him, he was stomping off with a box full of résumés to look for another job. Why would he detour to the basement?“
    “The only reason I can think of is that he was meeting someone—maybe someone who said they needed to speak to him privately. Anything you say in the staff area seems to echo all over the place.”
    Jane nodded. “On the surface, this looks like it had to do with the job of director. Regina was the director and was killed; Derek was appointed acting director and he was killed. But that’s the end of that chain of reasoning. Nobody else wanted the job.“
    “Maybe Lisa did, despite saying otherwise,“ Shelley said without much conviction.
    “But she had a good job that she’d done very well. She probably could have gotten a better-paying, more prestigious job in another museum if money and prestige were what she wanted,“ Jane said.
    “That leaves all the people in the file the board is considering,“ Shelley said. “And presumably none of them knew enough about the museum and the people there to have pulled this off.”
    They sat in discouraged silence for a few minutes before Shelley said, “As much as it annoys you, let me go back to my favorite suspect for a minute. Suppose Whitney Abbot had made some horrible mistake with the plans, something even more horrible than leaving out bathrooms. And Regina found out—”
    Jane rolled her eyes and said, “Go on.“
    “Well, if he had a reason like that to kill Regina to save his reputation, then Derek could also know about it. Didn’t you say that he mentioned something to Jumper about looking through Regina’s files?“
    “The job-applicant files, yes. But, Shelley, do you really believe Regina would have had a file labeled ‘Terrible Architectural Errors?’ “
    “Okay, okay. It was just a thought.“
    “Shelley, I don’t think it has anything to do with the job.“
    “Why not?“
    “Instinct? A wild guess? All these people are highly qualified, respected professionals who could have gone anywhere. Probably somewhere better in terms of salary and benefits if they’d really wanted to. Even Derek, who’s a sexist jerk, is supposed to be well educated and qualified. He could have gotten a job at some place where his contempt of women might not have bothered anyone.“
    “Like where?“ Shelley exclaimed.
    Jane grinned. “The Citadel? They must have a military museum. Okay, I’m kidding. My point is, I can’t imagine anyone killing someone over the directorship of the Snellen Museum.“
    “Then why were they killed?“ Shelley asked.
    “Some help you are!“ Jane said. “There are bound to be better reasons. More ‘passionate’ reasons.“
    “Jane, I think we’re in over our heads. Maybe this is one of those times we should just shut up and let the police figure it out.“
    “Are you suggesting that a woman who can change a spark plug and hang a bird feeder can’t figure