Shelley turned away from the window, sat down, and pushed her hair back from her face. "That's nice of her," she said with mechanical courtesy.

Jane's phone rang and she answered curtly. "Yes?"

“Jane! This is Mary Ellen. I just looked out the front window. What's wrong at Shelley's?"

“The cleaning lady's been killed. The killer may still be in the house."

“Edith? Killed?"

“Yes—no, not Edith. It was a substitute. Somebody strangled her."

“Oh, my God," Mary Ellen said, sounding nearly as bad as Shelley did. "What can I do? Is Shelley all right?"

“She's not hurt. You can't do anything. Just stay in the house until it's over. I'll talk to you later.”

Shelley was rummaging in the cabinet for Jane's jar of instant coffee. Meow jumped onto the counter to see what was going on that might provide nibbles for her. There was no sign of Willard. Probably hiding in the basement. Hands shaking, Jane turned on a burner and started some water boiling. They didn't speak. Jane had a strange nightmarish sense of reality and horror interwoven. Next door, a dead woman lay in the guest bedroom and police searched the house. Here, they were silently making coffee, as if that were a solution to something.

Shelley sat trembling at the table, sipping her coffee. Jane watched out the window. More emergency vehicles arrived, and somebody put up white-and-orange-striped sawhorses several doors down to stop traffic. Dear God, it would scare the kids to death if they came home and found the neighborhood seemingly under martial law. Todd would be at Dorothy's house, but Mike and Katie .. .

Hating to do it, Jane picked up the phone again and called her mother-in-law. "Thelma? Jane. I can only talk a second. Something awful has happened next door and the police have the block cordoned off. No, I'm fine. I'm not in any danger. But I'm worried about Mike and Katie trying to come home and thinking something has happened to me. I can't get out. Would you please call their schools and order them to stay there until you or Ted can pick them up? Thanks, Thelma. I'll come over to get them just as soon as I can.”

As she hung up, there was a knock on thefront door. Opening it gingerly, she was faced with a cop who couldn't have been more than twenty. "Is the homeowner of the house next door here? I was given this address."

“Yes, please come in.”

She introduced herself and Shelley and he said, "We've gone through the house, and there's nobody there but the victim. We'll need to ask you some questions. Would you rather stay here for a while to answer them?"

“Yes, I would," Shelley said. She'd gotten a grip on herself and was back to her normal color. "I think Mrs. Jeffry can probably tell you more than I can anyway. I've been gone almost all day. You were home, weren't you, Jane?"