Mel made a note and said, "Now, it seems that Stonecipher's business associates were there, too. What about Emma Weyrich?" Jane and Shelley told him a whole lot more than he wanted to know about the aerobics class.
“But do you know anything about her relationship with her employer?" he asked, cutting them off.
Not a thing, they admitted.
“But she came to the deli with him?"
“She and Hanlon both followed him in the door," Jane said. "But I don't know if they actually came together."
“And his law partner? Tony Belton?”
“Tony Belton was there?" Shelley asked. "I didn't see him."
“He was there when I arrived," Mel said. "Do you know him?"
“He's the boys' new soccer coach. We met him at the practice later in the afternoon," Shelley said. "But he's a handsome man. I think we would have noticed him if he'd been at the deli when we were." At his questioning look, Shelley smiled and added, "Just because I'm married doesn't mean I'm blind, does it?"
“What about Rhonda Stonecipher, the deceased's wife?"
“I know her, but I didn't see her there," Shelley said. "Was she?”
Mel nodded. "What's she like?”
Jane answered. "Middle-aged, tummy-tucked, beauty-shopped, nail-saloned. And stingy as hell. I was on a committee with her once — to raise money to replace the playground equipment at the park. She insisted that we have our first meeting at a very expensive restaurant. Everybody thought it was nice of her to treat us to lunch, but then we found that we not only had to pay for our own lunches, we had to pay for hers, too, because she 'forgot' her credit card. Nobody believed it, but then she got us a second time. After one of the meetings we all went out for dessert and suddenly she had to leave only seconds before the bill came."