Laura stuck the card of thumbtacks back in her pocket and got on the elevator with us. “I still can’t believe it. Millicent and Emily both.”

“Do you think there’s any chance it was a murder-suicide?” Haley reached over and punched the button for the sixth floor; the door closed with a slight clang.

“I don’t know,” Laura said. “It’s got me so upset, though, that I think tomorrow after the funeral we’re going to Houston to visit my sister. There’s nothing going on over at the new house that can’t wait.”

“Do you think Emily’s funeral will be here in Destin?” I asked.

The door opened at the sixth floor, and we stepped out.

“I have no idea.” Laura turned to go to her apartment and then turned back to say, “But I can tell you good and damn well mine won’t be!” She went in and shut her door.

“Lord! She really is upset!” I said.

“Beat up, too,” Haley said.

“What?” I fished the key from my pocket.

“You didn’t see anything, Mama? You didn’t see the bruises on the back of both her arms?”

I shook my head no.

“You could see them when she was tacking up the notice; her sleeves were pulled up. And then there’s one on her forehead, too.”

I unlocked the door. “She bruised herself over at the house. Hit her head on a kitchen cabinet.”

“The bruise on her head could have come from walking into a door or falling; the bruises on the back of her arms, though, are consistent with someone having grabbed her. Hard.”

“Damn,” I said, remembering my dream of someone being forced onto the elevator. Could it have been real, not a dream? Could it have been Laura? I was about to remind Haley of the dream when Frances called, “Why are y’all standing in the door?”

“Because I can’t walk and put two and two together at the same time,” I said.

“Well, long as you haven’t found another body. I’m fixing to scramble me an egg. You want one?”

“Sure,” Haley said. I declined and went out on the balcony. Haley followed me in a moment.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said what I did about Laura. You were already upset.”

“No, darling. It’s fine. I’m just wondering if this has been going on all the time, and your Aunt Sister and I have missed it. I’m assuming it’s Eddie.”

“Laura has bruises, Mama. We can’t assume anything from that. Even the ones on her arm could have an innocent explanation. Maybe someone grabbed her to keep her from falling.”