“When I’ve got something I need to think over, I like to do it on the water. Bad weather don’t bother me, so long as it’s not a thunderstorm, and it wasn’t. So I went out in my rowboat. It was so damn foggy out there that I lost my way and rowed right onto some mudflats. I didn’t want to get out—you can sink up to your, uh, backside in that stuff. So I stuck the oar in and started pushing. I was stuck pretty good, I was prying hard, and the thing snapped. It’s an old oar—hell, I’ve had that boat since I was nineteen, and that’s the original set of oars. But I finally got loose and I paddled with the other oar till I found a dock I could tie up to, near the Park Restaurant. I was walking home when I saw Irene coming, the old witch. I thought I got out of her way quick enough.”

“So you weren’t in St. Cloud at all.”

“No, that was the night before. That night I went to supper at Haskell’s, then I took my boat out and rowed around. It helps me think.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“You want the truth? Margot Berglund. That woman was the bane of my life till the day she died.” He glared at her. “And now you’ve taken over, worse than her, talking about me behind my back, and all.”

“I haven’t been spreading rumors about you. I don’t know who is repeating what I say in confidence, but they seem to be putting their own twist on it. All I’m doing is wondering out loud who murdered my sister. What time was it when you saw Irene?”

He glared harder, but she didn’t back down an inch. “Sometime around ten, or a little after,” he answered grudgingly. “I remember it was about twenty past when I got in the house.”

“It must not have taken you long to drive home,” she remarked.

“I didn’t drive home, I walked. I live in Excelsior Bay Gables.”

“You mean, you live in that condominium right across the street from Crewel World? I didn’t know that.”

“No reason you should.”

“Why were you so anxious to get my sister to break the lease and move out?”

“Because it’s time Excelsior had a really decent building. Are you going to insist on staying to the end of the lease?”

“I haven’t decided. Did you murder my sister?”

“No, I did not. And I don’t appreciate you siccing that cop detective back onto me.”

“Did he come and talk to you again?” She was surprised.

“He did, said you were the one who broke my alibi.”

“You shouldn’t lie to the police.”

“Especially in a town where everyone keeps track.” He nodded.