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Thursday. I do the linens and the kitchen real good one day and the other, well, I guess you don’t need to know about that. Anyway, I was here the day of the shooting.”
    “Start with that morning.”
    She pursed her lips. “First she had her ladies’ group.” I jotted down their arrival time. “Then I remember two men came by. Oh, not at the same hour.”
    “Can you describe them?”
    “I never saw their faces, only heard male voices. You know I’d never stop working to listen, but I couldn’t help hearing ’cause the one man talked kinda loud in Mrs. Lawrence’s den. He came late morning right after her women’s group left, and the other came mid-afternoon. The second one talked regular-like at first but then started yelling.”
    “Did you see or hear anything else?”
    “I heard a muffled woman’s voice in the afternoon. I didn’t think it was Mrs. Lawrence’s, but I can’t be sure. I figured maybe one of the ladies from her group had stayed and was in there, too. I didn’t notice if they all left after the morning session.”
    I scooted closer to the edge of my chair. “Think hard. Did you notice anything else about these visitors?”
    “Not really. I mean, lots of times Mrs. Lawrence has people in.” She screwed up her face. “Hmmm. I did set tea in her office for the gentleman in the afternoon before he came. I remember that. Peppermint. Mrs. Lawrence liked mint.”
    “Did you hear her say either man’s name or did she mention them afterwards?”
    Estelle shook her head. “Mrs. Lawrence never told me names, nothing like that.”
    “Can you think of anything else that might have been, err, unusual, Estelle? It’s very important.”
    She stared off into space, started to shake her head sideways, then stiffened. “One other thing. When the man who’d come late morning left, Mrs. Lawrence came over to where I was cleaning the mirror and said in a tone kind of sad, ‘Estelle, what would you say about a man who had a precious jewel but wanted to keep it hidden?’”
    “Did you answer?”
    “I thought a moment then said, ‘I’d think he was afraid of losing it, Mrs. Lawrence, or maybe it wasn’t real at all, and he didn’t want anyone to know.’”
    “Good answer. How did she respond?”
    “‘Interesting,’ Mrs. Lawrence said real deep and thoughtful, and ‘Thank you. Thank you very much,’ like I’d truly helped her. Kinda surprised me. Made me feel good, I can tell you, for sure.”
    “Would you recognize the voice of the man who yelled if you heard it again?”
    She scrunched her forehead until lines formed. “I can’t be sure, but I think so. I’m pretty good about catching differences between bird calls.”
    I filed that away in my mind and leaned forward. “Did Lenora mention either man after he left?”
    “No, but after her morning visitor pulled away, Mrs. Lawrence stomped outside, picked up a rake, and started raking real fast, still dressed in her skirt and silk blouse.”
    “That’s unusual?”
    “Absolutely. She usually gardened in jeans and a long shirt with hat and gloves because of deer ticks ever since her friend Sue Ann got Lyme’s disease. I worry ’bout that, too. Little Sarah Spooner got horrible sick last summer. Where was I?” Estelle scratched her head.
    “Lenora was raking.”
    “After about fifteen minutes, she went in and made a phone call. Can’t say to who, but it seemed to soften her some. Mrs. Trevor, I know you’re asking all this, and I hope I’m in the right telling you, but I gotta say I hope you don’t think I was ever intruding. I just can’t help but notice a bit of what’s going on around me.”
    “Of course, that’s what I was hoping, Estelle. What about the cars? Did you happen to look out the window when the visitors left?”
    “No, I don’t pay no mind to things like that. It wouldn’t have been proper for me to be checking out the window.”
    I didn’t like where my thoughts were taking me. Was Lenora involved