“Mr. Mickels was out of town; if Irene Potter says she saw him, she’s lying.”

“No, she isn’t,” said Shelly, loudly, from behind the shelves at the back of the store. “She’s a little bit off center, but she doesn’t lie.”

“All right, so she saw him down by the lake with an oar in his hand. How does that make him a murderer?” demanded Malloy.

Betsy went back to her needles, purling where she should be knitting. “It means he hasn’t got an alibi, Detective. He wanted my sister to relocate her shop so he could tear down this building and make a million dollars selling space in a new and bigger one. And when she refused to move, he started looking for legal ways to evict her, harassing her, not holding up his end of the lease. Talk to Mr. Penberthy, her lawyer, about the times Mickels hauled Margot into court with some stupid writ. Maybe he just got tired of it, maybe there was some kind of time limit he was operating under. You can find these things out. Why don’t you go do it?”

Godwin spoke, startling them both. He was standing by the edge of the table, having come on noiseless feet up to it. “And it seems murdering Margot didn’t fix things for him, Detective Malloy. Because Margot had incorporated her business, and named her sister Betsy as an officer of the corporation. So guess who stands between Joe Mickels and his big plans now?”

Betsy gulped and dropped a stitch. She hadn’t thought of that.

But Malloy turned on Godwin. “In my opinion, Joe Mickels is an honest man. You can think whatever you want, you even have the right to speak up about it. But if Mickels is what you two think he is, quick to use the law for his own ends, then you maybe should worry about the libel and slander laws in this state. He was sure enough breathing fire about you, Ms. Devonshire, when I last saw him. If I was a Jeannie-come-lately thread peddler or her”—Malloy hesitated just long enough—“employee, I’d bite my tongue.” He stood and suddenly his attitude gentled. “You’re an amateur, Ms. Devonshire, and you’re new around here. You have no idea what you’re getting into, messing with Mr. Mickels. I think it’s interesting that he doesn’t have an alibi, and I’ll check into that, but I don’t think it will turn out to be important. I repeat, you would be wise to stop making accusations against him without real proof, okay?”

All Betsy could reply to that was, “Yes, sir.” Malloy nodded sharp approval of her meek tone, and left.