Maggie leaned closer to the door, sensing that somebody was standing on the other side. She told herself she was a reporter and knew things like that. Besides, it was what she would do if she were the person on the other side of the door. She removed her thumb from the doorbell and gave it three zippy little taps. The bell bonged inside. Finally, she heard a voice say, “Who is it?”

“My name is Maggie Spritzer, and this is my partner, Dennis West. Mrs. Cricket asked us to come here to talk to you. Please, open the door. We can talk out here if that is more comfortable for you. I was hoping you’d invite us in for a cup of tea so we could talk.”

No one was more surprised than Maggie and Dennis when the door opened and a pink-cheeked lady who looked to be in her early seventies, with pearl-white hair and wearing a purple-flowered dress, smiled at them. “Come in. A person living alone these days can’t be too careful. We have classes here about how older people get taken advantage of. Mr. Cricket takes good care of us, along with those lovely young men of the Cavaliers. Still, we have to be alert at all times. That’s why we all wear what Mr. Cricket calls our magic buttons,” the woman said, pulling a chain out from under her dress. A white square with a blood-red cross in the middle served as the button. “And we don’t have to pay for this service either. Help comes in under five minutes if we press the button.”

“That’s wonderful,” Maggie said sincerely. Dennis nodded his agreement.

“Well, now that you’re here, were you serious about wanting a cup of tea? I have some nice blackberry tea I save for guests. I get it from a specialty shop.”

“No, not really. We just want to talk to you, Mrs. . . . I didn’t get your name, ma’am,” Maggie said.

“Frances Gossett. Well then, we can sit in the parlor and talk,” the little lady said primly as she led the way down a short hallway to a neat-as-a-pin parlor with comfortable furniture. A fat tabby cat stared at them before it leaped off the sofa to land in Frances Gossett’s arms. She laughed out loud as she hugged the fat cat. “I don’t know how I can help you, but ask me whatever it is you came here to ask me.”

Dennis spoke first. “Let’s just cut to the chase and you tell us what, if anything, you know about the shooting that took place here, the one that landed Cosmo Cricket in the hospital fighting for his life.”