Frances Gossett looked as if she was going to cry. “That’s just it. I don’t know anything. I was watching my soap opera, and I keep the TV turned up high because my hearing isn’t what it used to be. To be honest with you, I’m vain enough not to want to wear hearing aids. I found out only when the ambulances swooped in, and Sawdust here about jumped out of his skin. In case you’re interested in his strange name, I named him Sawdust because he used to like to stay with my husband in his woodworking shop, and he’d come into the house all covered in sawdust. However, I digress. I saw all the flashing lights through the windows and went outside to see what was happening. It’s not all that unusual to see an ambulance here. We are, after all, a community of elderly people.

“All my neighbors from this building were already outside when I got there, and they didn’t know anything other than that someone was shot. None of us knew that it was Mr. Cricket—who, by the way, is just the loveliest man in the world. Later, when we found out it was Mr. Cricket who had been shot, we all gathered in the chapel to pray. The police questioned all of us for hours and hours, but none of us could tell them anything. The police still have a presence here, and Porter, my next-door neighbor, told me that the police set up what he called a command post in a room off the main office, where Gentry Lomax and Bessie work. They more or less run the day-to-day business here at Happy Village.

“Now, I can’t speak for the tenants in the other buildings, but I think I would have heard something by now if any of them saw or heard something. You’ll have to talk to them directly.”

Maggie smiled as the cat in Frances Gossett’s arms purred so loudly she could hear it from across the room.

“What about the Cavaliers?” Dennis queried.

“Lionel? He wasn’t here that day. But I think Gentry or Bessie called him, and he came over with his group later on. He checks on us three times a day. Or I should say his group does. Lionel is what we refer to here at Happy Village as our in-house security. Mr. Cricket pays him and his crew out of his own pocket to watch over us.”

“Are you aware that Mr. Cricket has a partner where this complex is concerned? His name is Zack Meadows.”