Free Murder the Tey Way: A Golden Age of Mystery Book Club Mystery (The Golden Age of Mystery Book Club Mysteries 2) by Marilyn Levinson Page A

our Dearly Departed Handyman a few years ago. I’m willing to bet Tim introduced Sadie to Len.”
    I shuddered. “What dirt you dug up about Tim?”
    “Nothing much. He’s not making the big bucks you’d expect a lawyer from an ivy league law school would make. Mainly because he’s rarely in his office. He likes to play poker for high stakes. Runs up debts to unnamed sources.”
    “To friends of Len Lyons?”
    “Coincidentally, yes.”
    I frowned. “I can’t reconcile what you’re telling me about Len Lyons with a guy who was romantically involved with Felicity.”
    “Me, neither, but that part seems genuine. I spoke to Carol Barnes, who owns the shop where Felicity works. Carol said Len stopped by at least five times to see Felicity. He seemed enchanted by her. Once he brought her flowers. When he left, Felicity asked Carol if she could keep them in the shop because she didn’t want Corinne to ask where they came from.”
    “The Roberts sisters sound odder and odder. But getting back to Sadie, even if she knew Len Lyons, as most of us did, that doesn’t mean she killed him.”
    “Of course not, but her dealings with the man were illegal, and often one crime leads to another. Len probably wanted a kickback for arranging the loan. What if she didn’t want to give it to him?”
    I pictured petite and elegant Sadie in my mind. Could she stab a man? “It’s possible,” I admitted. “She’s in good physical shape. I think she works out with a personal trainer. What did you find out about the Billingses?”
    Joy rifled through several sheets of pages. “The story of their lives, but nothing that links them to Len Lyons.”
    “Care to share?” I prodded
    “They’ve been law-biding citizens all their lives. No arrests. Pay their taxes on time. Three years ago, they sold a thriving dairy farm and moved to Long Island to live near their granddaughter and her young family.” 
    Joy pursed her lips, a sign I was in for bad news. “The Billingses have no money problems, but they’ve had bad luck regarding their personal lives. Only one of their four children, a son Daniel, is alive and well.”
    I sighed. “Poor Marge and Evan. What happened to the others?”
    “Their oldest boy died in a farming accident. A daughter’s dead because of a botched liposuction procedure. Their youngest, a girl named Dahlia, went to Peru four years ago and ended up living with the rebels.”
    “With members of The Shining Path?” I asked incredulously.
    Joy nodded. “Dahlia and one of the leaders fell in love. They had a child—a little girl. In July, the Billingses got word that Dahlia had died.”
    I shuddered. “How awful! What did she die of?”
    “The letter didn’t say. The father’s probably dead, too, because the letter writer said a woman was taking care of the child, but she couldn’t for much longer. Now Marge and Evan are spending every cent they have to bring the child to the United States.”
    I stared at Joy, both impressed and saddened that she had access to this kind of information. “How did you find all this out?”
    Joy laughed and waved a hand. “Don’t ask.”
    “The man Evan met at the bowling alley looked like a thug.” I shuddered. “If that’s who they’re dealing with, the child’s being brought here illegally.”
    “Probably,” Joy agreed. “It doesn’t sound like he’s an official in our state department.”
    “Do you think Len Lyons arranged that connection for them?”
    “I couldn’t find out, and not for want to trying.”
    I closed my eyes and tried to process what Joy had told me about the other members of our mystery book club. Everyone had baggage, be it family tragedies, addictions, or plain bad luck.
    “The most intriguing of all are Felicity and Corinne Roberts.” The Cheshire Cat grin returned. “If that’s their names.”
    I opened my eyes in astonishment. “What are they, impostors?”
    “Could be.”
    Suddenly Corinne’s veiled references, which I never