Free Show Time by Suzanne Trauth Page A

table. “Wow. Looking good. I like what you’ve done with the menus.” I perused various pages while he basked in the glow of my praise.
    The doorbell rang. “That must be your mom.”
    Carol bustled in the door. “I hope you’re hungry,” she announced. “I made lasagna.” She went to work heating up the food and scrounged around in my refrigerator for the makings of a salad while I set the dining room table with my great aunt Maureen’s silver and my most elegant paper napkins.
    â€œHow’s the website coming?” Carol asked in a whisper.
    â€œPauli’s quite the tech expert. He’s doing great.”
    Carol smiled, fairly bursting with appreciation as Lola showed up bearing chocolate chip cookies.
    We all sat at my dining room table scraping the last bits of cheese and pasta from Carol’s casserole dish. “Ummm, this is so good,” Lola said. “If I’m not careful, I won’t fit into Lady C’s costume.” Her mauve top hugged her in all the right places.
    Pauli asked to be excused, pushed at the hank of hair flopped over his forehead, and sauntered into my living room with his laptop.
    â€œI heard you visited Chief Thompson.” Carol winked and nibbled on a cookie. “Lucky you.”
    â€œWord gets around fast.”
    â€œDid it have something to do with the murder?” asked Lola.
    â€œI told him about Rita’s cousin and the woman visiting Jerome,” I said.
    â€œYou did?” Carol sat up straighter.
    â€œWhat woman?” Lola asked.
    Carol and I proceeded to fill Lola in on Monica Jenkins. “Who do you think she is?” I asked. “Could she be someone connected to the ELT?”
    Lola frowned. “I don’t think so. I would have known about it.”
    â€œDo you think anyone else at the theater might know who she is? I mean, where else would he meet her? He seemed to spend most of his time there.”
    The three of us sat at the table munching on cookies, thinking.
    â€œOnline? It’s very popular these days. I even tried it,” Lola said.
    â€œYou did? You never told me.”
    â€œMatch.com,” Lola said. “I was kind of nervous about it.”
    â€œJerome would need an email account.” Carol brushed crumbs off the front of her sweater.
    â€œI’m pretty sure he had an account, because most of the ELT communication is done via email.”
    â€œWell, if Jerome had access to a computer and wanted to find someone, it wouldn’t be a challenge. A guy his age, still in great shape? Not a problem,” I said. “But if he had a computer, Chief Thompson must have it. If he didn’t, where could he borrow computer time? The theater?”
    â€œThere’s one in Walter’s office, but no one touches it except Walter. And sometimes Penny.” Lola finished her coffee and wiped her mouth. “There’s always the library.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThere are computers at the library. I took a workshop there a couple of years ago on using Internet databases, searching the Web, things like that. It was full of people Jerome’s age.”
    â€œGreat idea.” I thought about Jerome’s reading habits. It was likely he’d spent some time at the Etonville Public Library.
    Lola glanced at the wall clock, its hands registering six-thirty. “Board meeting tonight. I told Walter I’d stop by a little early. Did you speak with Henry about getting some time off?” She was so hopeful, I was touched.
    â€œAs long as I can cover the dinner rush, I’ll be able to sneak away around eight a couple of nights a week.”
    â€œOh, Dodie, that’s perfect. We don’t usually get started until seven or seven-thirty by the time everyone gets there anyway. I’m so glad you’ll be on the scene.”
    â€œPenny will be up in arms.”
    â€œIt’s for a good cause.”
    â€œI’ve got to go