Grime and Punishment

tightly, and the bowl had to be kept perfectly level or it slid off.“
    “What was that you were trying to tell the divine detective about my bowl?“ Suzie asked.
    “Again, she got carried away with her alibi. She said you had just left when she came over, but your bowl was on top of hers. She probably didn’t know which thing you brought. But if she’d moved yours with one hand, she’d have had to stick her thumb through the plastic wrap.”
    Suzie made a few experimental motions with her hands, trying to get the feel of what Jane was saying, then nodded her comprehension.
    “And then there was the dishwasher,“ Jane said.
    “What dishwasher?“ Suzie asked.
    “The killer had apparently turned on the dishwasher to make it appear the cleaning lady had been killed only moments before Shelley got home. An alibi of sorts, to make it look like the people who brought their food early were in the clear. Of course, with her dish at the bottom of the stack, Mary Ellen looked like she’d come very early, and she said she did.“
    “But that could have been anyone.“
    “No, only someone who knew how to work the timer gadget. You don’t have one of those, I don’t, and Shelley doesn’t even know how to work hers. But when I went to Mary Ellen’s that morning, I noticed that she had the same kind. Well, I don’t mean I noticed then, but I remembered later noticing what a complicated-looking control panel it had.“
    “She took an awful chance—“ Suzie said.
    “There must have been an awful need. Imagine planning something like that. She must have started thinking about it when Shelley told all of us she was going to be gone, but Edith would be here.“
    “But if anyone had seen her carrying the potato salad in both hands, it would have wrecked an alibi she’d gone to a lot of trouble to set up,“ Suzie said.
    “And the chances were good that somebody would. She took a big risk. You know how snoopy everybody in this neighborhood is,“ Jane said.
    “Do I ever!“ Suzie said. “There are women around here who come right into your house and ask if you’re being blackmailed.”
    Shelley got up and went to the kitchen. “The coffee’s ready. Who wants some? Jane, I could give it to you in a big cup and maybe you could drown yourself.“
    “I’d like some, thanks, ma’am,“ the man in the Happy Helper uniform said. He’d managed to straighten out his bosom.
    “I still don’t see how she knew about your snooping,“ Shelley said.
    “My snooping? You were in on it, as I recall,“ Jane said. She explained to Suzie, who was unaccountably blushing. “She stabbed a note, warning me to mind my own business, in my bed. Why are you that color, Suzie?“
    “I guess I better confess. I told her. She called just after you left my house and I was still laughing my ass off about your clumsy attempts at detection. I guess we’re even. You went looking for gossip and I kept busy spreading it. So, how did you and Shelley eliminate each other as suspects?“
    “We never suspected each other for a minute,“ Jane declared.
    “Come off it!“
    “Never!“ Jane insisted.
    Shelley was smiling. “How did you know it wasn’t me, Jane? I could have been lying about the airport and sneaked back across the field, like we did a while ago. You must have at least wondered, didn’t you?”
    Jane was afraid she might be blushing too. Shelley was expressing a thought that had crossed her mind. “Well, only occasionally. But in the end, I knew you wouldn’t risk messing your house up. If you were going to kill somebody, you’d do it where you wouldn’t have to clean up afterwards.”
    Shelley laughed. “And I knew it wasn’t you because you couldn’t sneak up on somebody without talking.“
    “So how did you find out what she was being blackmailed about?“ Suzie asked.
    “I didn’t,“ Jane answered. She was smiling now too, relieved in a funny way that Shelley had briefly suspected her. It made her feel less guilty about thinking she or Suzie might have been a killer. “I didn’t even think of trying to find out if Mary Ellen was being blackmailed. The broken-arm business had me so fooled I didn’t even consider her. Besides, I’d already found out more than I wanted to about—about some other things. Isn’t it strange? I thought we had to know what the blackmail was about, when all we needed to know was right in Shelley’s refrigerator. Still, I wonder...“
    “Edith was telling the truth about a