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Real Murders met in the VFW Hall and paid the Veterans a se The fee went into a fund for the annual VFW Christeroup like Real Murders needed, but we did like the privacy

A VFW officer wouldthirtyand unlock it That clubthe roo the key after the ht, since she was vice president She would arrange the chairs in a semicircle in front of the podiu the refreshet almost everywhere early There were already two cars in the parking lot, which was tucked behind the s of crepeThe arc lamps in the lot had colow of the lamp nearest the back door Murder buffs are all too aware of the dangers of this world As I stepped into the hall, the heavy ed shut behind le door in thes The four doors to ht led into a small conference room, then the men&039;s, the ladies&039;, and, at the end of the corridor, a small kitchen All the doors were shut, as usual, since propping them open required more tenacity than any of us were able to summon The VFW Hall had been constructed to withstand enemy attack, we had decided, and those heavy doors kept the little building very quiet Even nohen I knew from the cars outside that there were at least two people here, I heard nothing

The effect of all those shut doors in that blank corridor was also unnerving It was like a little beige tunnel, interrupted only by the pay phoneBankston Waites that if that phone rang, I&039;d expect Rod Serling to be on the other end, telling ht Zone" I half srasp the knob of the door to the bigaround and took two hesitant steps toward it,ain My hand closed around it reluctantly "Hello?" I said softly, and then cleared ain "Hello," I said firmly

"May I speak to Julia Wallace, please?" The voice was a whisper

My scalp crawled "What?" I said shakily

"Julia " whispered the caller

The other phone was hung up

I was still standing holding the receiver when the door to the women&039;s room opened and Sally Allison cahty, Roe, I don&039;t look that bad, do I?" Sally said in amazement "No, no, it&039;s the phone call" I was very close to crying, and I was embarrassed about that Sally was a reporter for the Lawrenceton paper, and she was a good reporter, a tough and intelligent woman in her late forties Sally was the veteran of a runaway teenagebaby was born I&039;d gone to high school with that baby, named Perry, and noorked with him at the library I loathed Perry; but I liked Sally a lot, even if so made me squirm Sally was one of the reasons I was so well-prepared for my Wallace lecture Now she elicited all the facts about the phone call from me in a series of concise questions that led to a sensible conclusion; the call was a prank perpetrated by a club member, or maybe the child of a club member, since it seemed almost juvenile when Sally put it in her framework I felt somehow cheated, but also relieved

Sally retrieved a tray and a couple of boxes of cookies from the small conference room She&039;d deposited them there, she explained, when she entered and suddenly felt the urgency of the two cups of coffee she&039;d had after supper "I didn&039;t even think I couldroom," she said with a roll of her tan eyes

"How&039;s life at the newspaper?" I asked, just to keep Sally talking while I got over htly and logically as Sally As I trailed after her into the big ht she&039;d had with the new publisher, I could still taste the oosepihtly around an telling me about the election that would be held to select someone to fill out the terht in his office, according to his secretary," she said casually as she realigned a row of Oreos "And after having been otten a new desk" She shook her head, regretting the loss of the mayor or the waste of the desk, I wasn&039;t sure which

"Sally," I said before I kneas going to, "where&039;s Mamie?"

"Who cares?" Sally asked frankly She cocked one surprised eyebrow at h, since Salty and I had discussed our mutual distaste for Ma to be irritated with Sally, standing there looking sensible and attractive in her curry bronze permanent, her orn expensive suit, and her orn expensive shoes "When I pulled in the parking lot," I said quite evenly, "there were two cars, yours and Maot a Chevette like mine, but white instead of blue So you are here and I aht andaround "But I don&039;t see her purse Maybe she ran hoet past us?"

"Oh, I don&039;t know" Sally was beginning to sound irritated with me, too "She&039;ll show up She always does!"

And we both laughed a little, trying to lose our displeasure with each other in our ao to everything her husband attended, be in every club he joined, share his life to the fullest Bankston Waites and his light of love, Melanie Clark, came in as I put my notebook on the podium and slid my purse underneath it Melanie was a clerk at Mamie&039;s husband&039;s insurance office, and Bankston was a loan officer at Associated Second Bank They&039;d been dating about a year, having becoh they&039;d gone through Lawrenceton High School together a few years ahead ofany sparks

Bankston&039;s rocery store that she was expecting an interesting announcement fro one out with Bankston a few ti to be out of circulation If she aiting in suspense for that interesting announcement, she was the only one There wasn&039;t anyone in Lawrenceton Bankston and Melanie&039;s age left for them to marry, except each other Bankston was thirty-two, Melanie a year or two older Bankston had scanty blond hair, a pleasant round face, and e Or at least he had been; I noticed for the first ti underneath his shirt sleeves

"Have you been lifting weights, Bankston?" I asked in soht have been more interested if he&039;d shown that much initiative when I&039;d dated him He looked embarrassed but pleased "Yeah, can you tell a difference?" "I certainly can," I said with genuine ad the e in Bankston&039;s sedentary life, but undoubtedly she was Perhaps her absorption in him could be all the more complete since she had no family to claim her devotion Her parents, both &039;only&039; children, had been dead for years - her ht now Melanie themiffed

"What do you think about all this, Melanie?" I asked hastily Melanie visibly relaxed when I acknowledged her proprietorship I made a mental note to speak carefully around her, since Bankston lived in one of "one out together and it would be too easy for her to build so incorrect out of a landlady-tenant relationship

"Working out&039;s done wonders for Bankston," she said neutrally But there was an unet a specificsex I was a little shocked at her wanting leam in her eyes that made me realize Melanie had banked fires under her sedate exterior Under the straight dark hair conservatively cut, under the plain dress, Melanie was definitely feeling her oats Her hips and bosom were heavy, but suddenly I saw them as Bankston must, as fertility symbols instead of liabilities And I had a further revelation; not only were Bankston and Melanie having sex, they were having it often and exotically

I looked at Melanie with more respect Anyone who could pull the wool over the collective eye of Lawrenceton as effectively as Melanie had earned it "There was a phone call before you got here," I began, and they focussed on me with interest But before I could tell thehter fro door My friend Lizanne Buckley ca Lizanne here was a surprise Lizanne didn&039;t read a book from one year to the next, and her hobbies, if she had any, did not include cri here?" Melanie said She seemed really put out, and I decided we had here another Ma Lizanne (Elizabeth Anna) Buckley was theherself in the slightest (and she never did) men would throw themselves on the floor for her to saunter on; and saunter she would, cal down She was kind, in her passive, lazy way; and she was conscientious, so long as not too much was demanded of her Her job as receptionist and phone answerer at the Power and Light Company was just perfect for her - and for the utility coly, and anyone who got huffy over the telephone was iher on the totem pole No one ever sustained a huff in person It was simply iry in Lizanne&039;s presence

But she required constant entertainment from her dates, and the tall red-haired lasses see heavy weather of it

"Do you knoho he is, the nize him?" Melanie&039;s surprise was a shade overdone So I was supposed to know hi slacks and a sport coat in light brown, and a plain white shirt; he had huge hands and feet, and his longish hair flew around his head in a copper nimbus I had to shake my head

"He&039;s Robin Crusoe, the mystery writer," Melanie said triumphantly

The insurance clerk beats the librarian in her own bailiwick "He looks different without the pipe in his ht shoulder John, our wealthy real-estate-rich president, was immaculate as usual; an expensive suit, a white shirt, his creamy white hair smooth and the part sharp as an arrow John had beco my mother I felt there must be substance below the stuffed-shirt exterior After all, he was a Lizzie Borden expert and he believed she was innocent! A true ro here?" I asked practically "With Lizanne" "I&039;ll find out," said John proreet him anyway, as club president Of course visitors are welcoh I don&039;t believe we&039;ve ever had any before"

"Wait, I need to tell you about this phone call," I said quickly The newcoo - " But Lizanne had spotted roup, her seht you all soreeable smile And she introduced us all around with facility, since Lizanne knows everyone in Lawrenceton My hand was engulfed in the writer&039;s huge boney one, and he really shook it, too I liked that; I hate it when people just kind of press your hand and let it drop I looked up and up at his crinkly ether "Roe, this is Robin Crusoe, who just moved to Lawrenceton," Lizanne said

"Robin, this is Roe Teagarden"

He gave me an appreciative s on that

"I thought Robin Crusoe was a pseudonym," Bankston murmured in my ear

"I did too," I whispered, "but apparently not" "Poor guy, his parents er, until he re to a woarden

"I et his utilities turned on," Lizanne was telling John Queensland John was saying all the proper things to Robin Crusoe, glad to have such a well-known name in our little town, hope you stay a while, ta-dah ta-dah ta-dah John edged Robin over towith our newest member, a police officer named Arthur Smith If Robin was built tail and lanky, Arthur was short and solid, with coarse curly pale hair and the flat confrontive stare of the bull who knows he has nothing to fear because he is the toughest male on the farm

"You&039;re lucky to have met such a well-knoriter," I said enviously to Lizanne I still wanted to tell someone about the phone call, but Lizanne was hardly the person

She sure didn&039;t knoho Julia Wallace was And she didn&039;t knoho Robin Crusoe was either, as it turned out

"Writer?" she said indifferently "I&039;m kind of bored"

I stared at her incredulously Bored by Robin Crusoe? One afternoon when I&039;d been at the Power and Light Co my bill, she&039;d told me, "I don&039;t knohat it is, but even when I pretty ets to seem kind of tiresome I just can&039;t be bothered to act interested anyo out anyet upset," she&039;d added, with a philosophical shake of her shining dark hair Lovely Lizanne had never been married, and lived in a tiny apartment close to her job, and went home to her parents&039; house for lunch every day