Free Gone With the Win: A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery by Mary Daheim Page B

why not? I was thinking of something you might do about your own mother. I don’t suppose you kept any of the newspaper accounts of her murder?”
    “No,” Ruby said, getting up from the table. “It was too awful.”
    “You might check out the media archives on my computer. Some detail could trigger a memory that might be meaningful in retrospect.”
    “I suppose.” Ruby moved aimlessly around the kitchen. “Is Mr. . . . I mean, Joe really taking on my case? What does he charge?”
    “If,” Judith said, removing a loaf of light rye from the bread box, “he’s doing this for Woody Price, he won’t charge you anything. Consider your own interest a throw-in.”
    “That sounds wrong,” Ruby declared. “If I hadn’t come here, Joe wouldn’t be doing this.”
    “Joe and Woody would probably revisit the case eventually. Besides, you’ll get to meet the Prices. They’re wonderful people.”
    Ruby looked wistful. “Wonderful people . . . funny, but I didn’t think there were any of those left. Until I met you, I mean.”
    Judith didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Chapter 6
     
    T he rest of Thursday passed uneventfully. Phyliss showed up shortly after noon, full of complaints, but praising the Lord for her deliverance from the metro transit system, which she likened to the Babylonian Captivity.
    Judith made a trip to Falstaff’s and Holliday’s Drug Store. Joe had an afternoon meeting with a prospective client across the lake. Ruby spent all afternoon going through the local newspaper files and taking notes. Gertrude threatened to kill Aunt Deb after they’d gone set doubled and redoubled at their Holy Childhood bridge club. Emmy O’Flapdoodle—not her real name, but that’s what Judith’s mother always called her—and Marie Goetzenheimer had to separate the Grover sisters-in-law to keep their hostess, Agatha Dunze, from calling the police. In other words, it had been a normal day at Hillside Manor.
    “Gosh,” Renie said over the phone that evening, “Mom was actually mad at Aunt Gert. Usually, she just laughs her off and tells her to stop taking the game so seriously.”
    “You know how Mother prefers to focus on her card games,” Judith replied. “She plays to win. And Aunt Deb does go on.”
    “So what? Mom likes the social part. She doesn’t give a hoot who wins. Speaking of hoots, I ran into Arlene at the hardware store this afternoon. I hear you had some excitement this morning. Any news on the rental occupants?”
    “Joe checked the 911 call and found it apparently wasn’t serious. I relayed the message to Arlene.”
    “Oh? Then how come Margo Holliday told me at the drugstore that she heard it was life-threatening?”
    “She did?” Judith was surprised. “I was at Holliday’s this afternoon, too. I must’ve missed you and Margo. I didn’t go back to the pharmacy section. Was Margo breaking customer confidentiality?”
    “Hardly,” Renie replied. “She heard it from that woman who lives in the corner house. What’s her name? Band-Aid or something like that?”
    “Bhandra,” Judith said thoughtfully. “They just moved in. The rest of us are putting together a welcome basket for them.”
    Renie laughed. “With a copy of your sleuthing résumé?”
    “Not funny,” Judith snapped. And hung up on her cousin.
    J udith didn’t have time to go over Ruby’s notes on the cold case until after the departing guests had checked out at eleven. She and Ruby sat in the living room while Phyliss Rackley scrubbed the kitchen floor. Ruby had jotted down a copious amount of information, but none of it struck Judith as helpful.
    “The most important part,” she said to Ruby, “are the names of witnesses and persons of interest.” She scanned the list:
    Myrna Grissom, manager of Peebles Place
    Erma Schram, aide at Peebles
    Luella Crabbe, next-door neighbor
    Freddy Mae Morris, friend
    Frank & Dorothy Morris, parents of Freddy Mae
    Darrell (Duke) Swisher, Opal Tooms’s fiancé,