Janey sighed. “They were the two nicest people in the club.”

Thomas reached up and took Janey’s hands in his. “How do you think that red box ended up in my wastebasket?”

Janey came around and sat, very ladylike, on the edge of Thomas’s desk. “Someone threw it there,” she said with steely resolve. “Someone who was on these premises yesterday and stole the diamonds.”

“But who?” Thomas cried.

A knock on the door caused them both to jump.

“Yes, come in,” Thomas called as he sat up straight.

When the door opened, he saw that it was Regan Reilly.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No, no,” Thomas insisted. “Regan, this is my girlfriend, Janey.”

“Hello, Janey.” Regan extended her hand.

“Hello.” Janey’s response was meek.

“Thomas, we have a lot of things to discuss,” Regan said.

Janey glanced down at her watch. “I’d better run.”

“You can stay,” Thomas said in an almost pleading tone.

“No, sweetness, I’ve got to get to work.” Janey grabbed her beige coat off the chair. It seemed to Regan that everything about her was beige. “I’ll see you both later.”

“She’s very nice,” Regan remarked when she and Thomas were alone.

“She is simply wonderful. The most wonderful woman that ever lived,” Thomas insisted.

How do you know? Regan thought, but asked, “Where does she work?”

“At home. She has a business cooking meals for people too busy to cook for themselves. People order up to a week’s worth of meals and then store them in the freezer. She’s so wonderful, she gives a discount to the elderly. And on top of that, she’s the biggest good-deed doer I’ve ever met.”

“That’s wonderful,” Regan found herself saying, thinking of a girl who lived down the hall from her in college who was always going around collecting money for some good cause or other. Regan spotted her years later at an airport with a shaved head, a fixed grin, and the same tin cup ready for donations. But Regan had to hand it to her. She was committed. Janey seemed like the same type.

“Regan!” Thomas suddenly blurted. “I have nothing to do with that red box being in my garbage.”

“I believe you,” Regan said simply. “But it makes it pretty clear that someone took those diamonds. I think the whole thing was well planned. Including Nat’s death.” She filled him in on what the maid had told her.

Thomas cocked his head. “I can’t imagine someone not liking baths.”

Inwardly, Regan groaned. “But if he didn’t, whatever the reason, it makes his death much more suspect. And it makes me question whether Ben had a heart attack because someone actually pushed him in front of that bus.”

“A murder in the club! It’s never happened before.”