Jill Churchill - The House of Seven Mabels

"Already did it."

"Mrs. Nowack and I are going to sit outside for a while. If you need anything, you can find me."

She got out a couple of sweaters and on the way through the kitchen, poured two glasses of wine. "This will warm us up a bit," she said, handing Shelley one of the glasses and a sweater.

"I'm so sorry it was Evaline," Shelley said. "I

know you liked her. Do you think she was responsible for all the other things that happened at the House of Seven Mabels?"

Jane shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sort of sick even thinking about it."

"Did you open the notebook?"

"No. I was holding it with a dishcloth and looking for a place to put it somewhere she wouldn't find it and dispose of it before we could contact Mel. But she caught me holding it. I did like her until she tried to disfigure me with the hot gravy."

"How did she think that would save her?"

"I doubt she was thinking at all. She was lashing out at someone who'd suddenly become a threat. That's all."

The phone rang. Jane pushed the button and said, "Mel?"

"Are you okay?"

"Shaken, but not stirred," Jane said.

"I'm swamped and can't talk now, but I wanted to be sure you were home and safe," Mel said. "Go to bed. I'll call you in the morning."

"You do have Evaline locked up somewhere, don't you?"

"We sure do."

"That's all I need to know."

Twenty-nine

Mel called jane at 8:30 the next morning.

"Where were you when I needed to get in

touch with you?" Jane asked.

"On a stakeout at what Shelley calls the House of Seven Gables."

"Seven Mabels. Why?"

"I was thinking there hadn't been anything bad happening there for a couple of days and it was time for another event. So I got four officers to hide in and around the place."

"Did something happen?"

"Yep! It did. We caught a kid about nineteen prying loose one of the pieces of plywood over the windows to get inside. He'd been equipped with a gallon of gasoline and a bag of dry rags."

"Good Lord! Who was he? What did he say?"

"First he wet his pants. Then he told us his dad used to do a lot of jobs for Neville Burnside. When his dad died a of couple weeks ago, Burn-side contacted him."

"So this kid with the wet crotch was responsible for all the vandalism?"

"No. Just a lot of it. Evaline admits she rigged the electrical and did the shrimp deal to discredit Sandra. And the fake bomb toolbox and returning the purse. Everything else she vehemently denies."

"What about Evaline's burns?"

"She's in bad shape and will be under treatment for them for quite a while. But in a prison hospital, not the one she first went to."

"Did she confess that she killed Sandra?"

"Yes, but she claims it was accidental."

"Accidental? How?"

"I'll explain later. In fact, that's why I'm calling you. It'll be in the evening papers and I want to meet with everyone involved in the renovation at the house to give them the information before they read about it. Eleven o'clock this morning at the house. Can you and Shelley be there?"

"Of course we will."

"Janey, are you all right?"

"A lot better knowing Evaline's not free to come after me again."

"I'm sending an officer over in a few minutes to interview you and Shelley about last night. Are you up to it? I don't think I should be the one to do it."

She and Shelley made their statements. The officer, a young man who looked too young to have even finished high school, much less college and

police training, recorded what they said and told them he'd have it typed up and they'd get to read and correct anything before they signed it in a day or maybe two.

When they arrived at the House of Seven Mabels, another problem had cropped up. A truck was parked in the driveway with big fancy windows lashed firmly to it. Jane and Shelley were allowed into the house by a uniformed police officer and told Detective VanDyne was waiting for them upstairs.

They could hear Bitsy long before they got halfway up the stairs. She was yelling at someone. "I didn't authorize this. I'm the owner and I don't know what you're doing here."

They walked into the room as one of two men they'd never seen before handed her an invoice. "Your contractor, Sandra Anderson, signed this. She said the windows had dry rot and placed a special order."

Bitsy snatched the paper away from them and crumpled it. "My damned contractor is dead! And there's nothing wrong with the windows that I know about. This is just too much."

Mel was standing in a corner of the room by the door. Jane and Shelley went to stand beside him.

Bitsy raved on as Carl Stringfield came into the room.

Mel said, "Mrs. Burnside, I'm afraid you're going to have to sort this out later with these gen-

tlemen. Everybody's here and I have to tell all of you some things."

Carl looked around and said, "Evaline isn't here yet."

"That what we're talking about," Mel said. "Let's go to the dining room where there are chairs," he said, leading the way downstairs.

When they were all seated, he said, "Evaline Herman was arrested last night for the murder of Sandra Anderson. She's currently hospitalized for burns to her legs."

There was a collective gasp from everyone but Jane, Shelley, Mel, and the officer standing at the doorway.

"Several officers and I staked out this house last night," Mel went on, "and caught a young man prying the plywood off one of the windows. He was equipped with materials to burn the house down."

"No!" Bitsy screamed, starting to leap from her chair.

Mel, sitting next to her, took her arm. "Mrs. Burnside, sit down, please. He claimed he'd been hired to do it by your ex-husband, who's currently under arrest and being questioned. We have accountants going through all his bank records."

Bitsy subsided, smiling radiantly.

"As for Evaline Berman, she attempted to attack Mrs. Jeffry in her apartment at the same time the young man was being taken away."

"Attacked her?" Carl asked, shaking his head with disbelief.

"With a pot full of boiling gravy/' Mel said.

A silence fell. Mel let it stretch out for a moment, then explained, "She'd invited Jane Jeffry and Shelley Nowack to dinner to brag about her patent. Jane went to the kitchen to wash something sticky off her hand and found Sandra Anderson's notebook in a drawer. Evaline came in and saw Jane holding it, and tried to throw boiling gravy at Jane, but accidentally dumped it on herself.

"Evaline later claimed that Sandra was trying to steal the secret ingredient in her patent. Sandra's notebook might bear that out. It contained a note about a food ingredient, and the name, address, and telephone number of her patent attorney. He's been questioned and claims she did contact him.

"I'm afraid that's all I'm at liberty to say at this time."

As he was finishing, there was a knock at the door of the dining room. The officer standing behind Mel opened it to the men with the truck full of windows.

"May we speak to Mrs. Burnside now?"

"No," Bitsy said. "Shelley, I have your contract ready."

"Keep it," Shelley said. "Jane and I have decided we don't want the job."

Bitsy's smile faded. "My best friends have turned into traitors?"

"We're hardly your best friends, Bitsy," Shelley said.

Bitsy looked around the table at the others. "Are the rest of you bailing out on me, too?"

Carl just looked down at his hands.

Henrietta went first. "Jacqueline and I are."

Wesley said, "It's up to Mrs. Stanley to decide for herself, but I won't be back."

"Me neither." Thomasina spoke up.

"I can't afford to be involved in something like this," Joe Budley said, standing up to leave.

Mel motioned at Budley to stay.