as well that women who operated on largely a cash basis, only take along with them to the grocery store or a shop what they could afford to lose.

"Leave the rest of your cash at home, well hidden. It would be a good idea to purchase a small, fireproof, waterproof safe and keep it somewhere it's unlikely to be found easily."

Jane was sitting next to Shelley with Sara Tokay on her other side. Sara pushed her sleeve back to look at her wristwatch.

"This is enough for you to absorb in this first meeting. We'll get together and go over some other matters on Thursday morning."

Jane was doing as she'd been told, holding her purse in front of her passing the strap over one shoulder and under and in front of the other arm.

"That was good advice," she said as she hauled herself up into Shelley's minivan. "Did you see that young girl's arm when she looked at her wristwatch?"

"I didn't notice she did that. Why do you ask?" Shelley said, shoving the car into drive and shooting out of the parking lot at a furious rate. Jane, as always, had her foot firmly on the nonexistent brake pedal on the passenger side.

"Because the girl had a terrible bruise on her arm."

"That's a bit alarming. But maybe she was careless and got it herself," Shelley said, taking a sharp right turn that felt as if she'd done it on only the right wheels.

"Maybe. Or maybe not,"Jane said.Chapter

FOUR

T

he next day, Jane called Shelley to borrow Shelley's son, John. "Sure. What for?"

"I need to get all the stuff in the other half of my garage either thrown away or put into a shed at the side of the house. I want John and Todd to go with me to Home Depot and Sears to pick one out."