They were both on their second cup of coffee and happily rummaging through a furniture catalog when Mel arrived.

“This isn't the visit where you say you can't help chaperone and I have to rip out your throat, is it?" Jane greeted him.

“No — not quite. This is an official visit."

“Not the parking ticket!" Shelley exclaimed. "The officer said—”

He held up both hands. "No, I just need some information.”

Jane supplied him with coffee and put a plate of sugar cookies on the coffee table in the living room. "Don't even think about it, Willard," she said sternly to the big yellow dog who shambled out of the dining room when he heard the plate being set down. Willard sprawled on the floor at Mel's feet and gazed up at him soulfully.

“You two were at the opening of the deli at the end of the next block this afternoon, weren't you?”

Mel was a few years younger than Jane, which always made her slightly uncomfortable, but today he looked tired and annoyed and not quite so young.

“We were. Unfortunately," Shelley answered.

“I wonder if you could each make a list of everybody you remember seeing there and approximate times. And then I'll need to know which of those people had any connection with Robert Stonecipher that you know of."

“Mel, what's this about?" Jane asked. "It was just an accident and—"

“Jane, somebody else said they saw you in the storeroom after it happened.”

She nodded. "I was, for a second."

“And you saw that rack?"

“The one with the hams that fell over? Yes, of course."

“Did you notice the base of it? The legs?"

“I didn't pay any attention," Jane replied.

Mel sighed. "Well, if you had, you'd have realized right away that it couldn't possibly fall over by itself. It had to be pushed. Hard."