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interest in living up to anybody else’s standards or expectations. She didn’t give a damn about what people thought.”
    â€œAnd the no part?”
    The blue eyes were fixed intently on me. It might have been due to the feeble air conditioner I have out back, but I was burning up. All I could think of was jumping into those clear blue eyes and taking a swim. I had to lasso my frolicking thoughts, tie them up with words, and force them out of my mouth.
    â€œWell, like I said, they wanted her gone, not dead. I mean, who would really want to kill an eighty-seven-year-old woman just because she kept property values down and scared off a few rich customers? At her age, how much longer could she have held out?”
    â€œTwenty more years?”
    He had a point. “Still,” I said, “I can’t imagine any of these people actually going ahead and doing it. Killing her, I mean. Not most of them, at any rate.”
    Both eyebrows shot up. The blue intensified.
    â€œWell, there is Major Calloway,” I said. I wasn’t trying to be vicious and pay back his rudeness. He really was the most likely candidate.
    â€œPlease go on.”
    â€œHe collects and sells weapons and things. ‘Antique military paraphernalia,’ he calls it. But I don’t think Hitler’s pajamas count as paraphernalia, do you?”
    Investigator Washburn laughed. He had a pleasant laugh, with little or no spittle.
    â€œI think I read once that Hitler slept in the nude. Sounds like this guy’s trying to pull the covers over the public’s head.”
    â€œThere! That’s a form of strangulation, isn’t it?”
    He laughed again. “Did you ever hear Mr. Calloway make any threatening remarks to your aunt?”
    â€œNo. Not to her directly.”
    â€œDid he ever make threatening remarks concerning your aunt to anyone else?”
    â€œPlenty of times. Only yesterday he told our entire group that Aunt Eulonia should be shot by a firing squad.”
    A smile played about the perfectly formed lips.
    â€œWhat group is this?”
    â€œThe Selwyn Avenue Antique Dealers Association. We were having our monthly breakfast together at Denny’s. We were all there except my Aunt Eulonia.”
    He jotted some more down. “Do all the antique dealers on Selwyn Avenue belong to this association?”
    â€œAll the ones concentrated in these two blocks.”
    â€œYour aunt included?”
    â€œAunt Eulonia was a charter member, but she stopped being active when she found out that we—well, some of us—had an agenda.”
    â€œWhich was?”
    I recrossed my legs. “To set and maintain standards for shops and dealers in this area.”
    â€œDid you endorse that agenda?”
    â€œWell, I—uh, of course I’m all for standards. I mean, this is a nice part of town and we, as antique dealers, want to havea certain reputation. If this were your shop, would you want a junk shop next door?”
    He shrugged. “I’ve always been fond of junk shops. Found a child’s pedal car in a junk shop once. It was made back in the early fifties. Always wanted one of those. Anyway, this one was in great shape. Even had all four wheels.”
    My wheels were spinning. Was he a boy back in the early fifties? There wasn’t a gray hair on his head that I could see, and I’d counted them twice. He had a full contingent.
    â€œVery nice,” I said. He could take it any way he chose.
    â€œMs. Timberlake, when is the last time you saw your aunt?”
    â€œLet’s see-hey, wait just one minute! You’re not suggesting that I had anything to do with it?”
    He displayed the piano keys casually. “Until charges are pressed, there are no suspects. And , everyone is a suspect.”
    Drop-dead gorgeous can go a long way, but there are limits. “Look here, buster. She was my flesh-and-blood aunt. My father’s only sister. I did not kill