“Okay, I'd be cranky, too. But according to him, it's a lost cause because of the doors and that little trash barrel area behind there."

“All right. He's got the lousy assignment. So what?"

“So I think it wouldn't hurt if we could give him some useful information. You know perfectly well people will be a lot gabbier with us than with him."

“You know how he feels about you butting in," Shelley said, laying out the last napkin on the ironing board and spritzing it with water.

“What I have in mind isn't butting in. It's just being neighborly. We really should make a sympathy call on Rhonda Stonecipher. We'd do that anyway, even if Mike didn't work at the deli and I wasn't frantic to see this thing solved."

“True," Shelley admitted.

“And we ought to send flowers to Sarah Baker at the hospital, and it would be much nicer if we delivered them in person.”

Shelley finished pressing and unplugged the iron. She set it on the kitchen counter and folded up the board. "That's a little iffy. But you're the one who's going to have to explain it to Mel, not me."

“Unless we learn something interesting, there won't be anything to explain," Jane said.

* * * They arrived at the Stonecipher house at the same time as a florist's delivery truck. Tony Belton came to the door, accepted the flowers, and looked at Jane and Shelley as if he'd never seen them before. He was in a suit today and had adopted an appropriately mournful look. With his stunning pale blue eyes, he did it well.

Jane introduced herself and Shelley, reminding him that they had sons on the soccer team he was coaching, and said, "We just wanted to tell Rhonda how sorry we are."

“Come in," he said. "She's just meeting with the funeral people. I think they're almost finished. Would you like some coffee or a soft drink? Or something to eat? There's a whole houseful of food."