Free Accused: A Rosato & Associates Novel by Lisa Scottoline Page A

sort it all out. It’s new for them, and it’s topsy-turvy, a daughter calling the shots. Most parents would feel the same way.”
    “I’m not giving up.” Allegra faced forward, brightening as she motioned to some wooden boxes ahead. “Check out my new hives. What do you think?”
    “That’s a beehive?” Mary eyed the boxes, which looked like nightstands, with three drawers.
    Judy looked over with a crooked grin. “Mare, what did you think it would look like?”
    “A hive, you know like a big curved thing that’s wider at the bottom and comes to a point at the top, like in the cartoons.”
    Allegra smiled. “This is a Langstroth hive, which was invented by a man from Philadelphia, Lorenzo Langstroth. It’s the best-selling hive in the world, but it’s sad, he never got royalties from the patent. That bugs me.”
    “No pun.”
    “No. Bees aren’t bugs per se. I prefer to call them insects.”
    “Oh.” Mary stepped to the hive, then stopped herself. “Wait a minute, there’s no bees here, right?”
    “No, they come in the mail this week.”
    Judy turned. “You can mail bees? No wonder the Postal Service is so cranky.”
    Allegra smiled. “It took me all morning to assemble this, and I’ll paint it tomorrow.”
    “How does it work?”
    “The trays slide out so you can keep them clean, like this.” Allegra pulled one out. “Langstroth discovered the concept of bee space, which means that the trays are only as far apart as a single bee, so the honeycombs don’t get gummed up with propolis.”
    Mary didn’t ask her what that meant, because she wanted to get the conversation back on track. Between Houyhnhnm and propolis , the place was a vocabulary nightmare, and the Gardners and the lawyers were still watching them from the driveway. “Allegra, remember in our meeting when you said that there was a reason you think Lonnie Stall is innocent? What was the reason?”
    “I think Fiona knew Lonnie.” Allegra straightened up, brushing brownish hair from her glasses, where a few strands had gotten caught in the hinge. “Everybody believes he was a total stranger to her, like he was just one of the waiters hired by the catering service, but my parents used that catering service all the time and they entertained a lot. There were always parties. Even I got to know those guys.”
    “Okay, so why does that matter? Would Lonnie hurt Fiona? Do you think there was a problem between them?”
    “No.” Allegra’s faced changed, her eyebrows slanting unhappily down. “I think Lonnie didn’t kill Fiona. I think he loved her. I think they were in love. I even think they were having sex.”
    “What makes you say that?” Mary gathered the birds-and-the-bees lecture was a moot point, especially for a bee expert.
    “Because when Fiona babysat me, Lonnie came over to visit.”
    “You mean, at the house?”
    “Yes.”
    “Didn’t you have a nanny or a sitter?”
    “We have a housekeeper, but Fiona sat me, too.”
    “Did your parents know that Lonnie was coming over?”
    “No.”
    “You’re sure it was him?”
    “I am, I remember, and he was such a nice guy.”
    “How do you know it was him? You were so young at the time.”
    “I remember him. He was nice to me, he talked to me, and introduced himself. He didn’t treat me like a baby. I remember his voice, even.”
    Mary was confused. “How many times would you say you saw him, when she babysat?”
    “Maybe five times, when she babysat, but more at my parents’ parties.” Allegra glanced over at her parents, but they were well out of earshot. “My Mom and Dad like to entertain at the house and the office. It’s a Gardner thing, because it’s a family business, so everything’s kind of together.”
    “I get that,” Mary said, though her experience had been the opposite, growing up. The DiNunzios barely socialized, except with blood relatives or neighbors in the same parish, which was Epiphany. In fact, Mary had an epiphany when she realized