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the opportunity to voice her opinion. Whatever Edna
said, they would do.
    Edna gave a very deep, audible sigh. "Okay, okay,
okay-let's go. But, please go slow. I don't want to
spend the rest of my day at the hospital because one of
you broke your leg, or even worse, your neck"
    "That's the spirit!" Millie exclaimed. "Trish, you go
up first. Edna, grab her hand with one of yours and then
hold mine with your other. That way, if one of us trips,
we'll have help."
    "No, wait a minute," Trish said, moving behind Millie. "Better yet, I'll bring up the rear. I'm younger and
stronger. If one of you stumbles, I'll be able to break
the fall"
    "Well, that's a good point," Millie said.
    "I'm not going up first!" Edna exclaimed.
    "I will, then," Millie said, pushing Edna out of the
way. "Get behind me and hold on tight."
    Trish closed her eyes and prayed for patience. By the
time they decided how they were going to navigate the
stairs, Sam could be convicted.

    "Okay, gals, are you ready?" Millie asked.
    "I'm ready," Edna replied, almost breaking the bones
in Trish's hand.
    "Ditto," Trish groaned.
    Slowly, leaning back against the stairwell wall, they
walked sideways up the stairs, one step at a time. Edna
started counting in time with their steps: one, two, stop;
one, two, stop. While part of Trish's brain tuned in with
the rhythmic chant, another part tried to deal with the
ongoing feeling that something wasn't quite right. Faced
with a clear problem, Trish was usually excellent at solving it, tackling it head-on, but this feeling wasn't something she could neatly classify. It was an aura, a sense
of ... what? That was the question. If only she could
pinpoint the what.
    Finally, after what seemed like hours, Millie announced that she had reached the landing. With a collective sigh of relief, they stood still for a moment, shaking
out their numb fingers. It was brighter up here, sunlight
slightly filtering in through the bedroom windows and
faintly spilling out into the hallway.
    Suddenly, Trish started to giggle. "What's so funny?"
Millie asked, a little worried that the stress had gotten
to her friend.
    "As much fun as it was holding Edna's trembling hand
and learning to count again, it would have been much
simpler to have just held on to the banister."
    "Oh, Lord," Edna chuckled, covering her face with
her hands. "Thank goodness there aren't any witnesses
to what we just did."
    Millie was laughing so hard her side hurt. "If either
of you ever tells anybody about this," she gasped, wip ing a tear from her eye, "I'll deny it until the day I
die!"

    Their laughter finally subsided, the welcome relief
from tension and fear spurring them down the hall. But
then Millie stopped and held up a hand. "Why is this
door open?"
    Trish looked into the room and shrugged. "It's just a
spare bedroom. All of the other bedroom doors are open,
so why wouldn't this one be?"
    "I thought you knew," Edna said nervously. "This bedroom door is always kept closed and locked. There's
a ... um, well, I hate to reveal secrets, but I'm sure Sam
thinks you already know .. "
    "What does Sam think I already know?" Trish wished
Edna would spit it out. What was the big secret?
    "For goodness' sake, Edna, I'll tell her," Millie said
impatiently. "There's a hidden safe in here. I've got the
combination written down in my address book. Sam always said if there was an emergency we should open up
the safe and give the contents to his sister."
    "Well, then, Sam probably left the door open," Trish
said. "He either emptied the safe, or he just checked it
recently. Maybe Susan's will was in there. Who knows?
But who else could have opened the door if it was
locked? Let's don't invent problems, okay?"
    "You're right, of course," Edna said. "Let's get on
with this. Joe went to the hardware store this morning,
but he should be home soon"
    "So you didn't have to lie to him, did you?" Millie
chuckled.
    "No, thank God, but I want to be