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returning what he’s stolen from me.”
    â€œOh, Mildred, you wouldn’t sell Helen’s house out from under her, would you?”
    â€œIf that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes. Besides, I only invested with Richard because of her. I think the world of Helen and wanted to show it by supporting him. She has to take the bad along with the good, like we all do when it comes to husbands.”
    â€œNot necessarily,” I said with some asperity. “What if Helen didn’t know what he was doing? What if he’s fooled her, too? It’s not right to punish her, just because Richard’s gone and she’s not.”
    â€œIt’s just business, Julia. I would expect the same treatment if Horace did something like that and, believe me, people would be after me in a shot if he did. That’s why I don’t let him get within a mile of my assets.”
    It was a well-known fact in town that Horace Allen hadn’t cracked a lick at a snake ever since he’d married Mildred years ago. Oh, he’d piddled with first one thing and another, but never in a forceful way. Mainly because Mildred kept him on a short financial leash, and he seemed content enough to be her consort rather than her partner. Over the years, Mildred had intimated to me that she doled out clothes money and spending money to him, along with just enough to allow him to dabble in flipping a run-down house or two every now and then. Actually, though, the only real job Horace had ever had was being Mildred’s husband, but his pay could hardly be commensurate with the demands of the job.

    I drummed my fingers on the countertop after hanging up the phone, distressed by Mildred’s threat to sue Helen. If that was the first thought Mildred had had, wouldn’t the other investors soon come up with the same idea?
    Lord, I couldn’t bear the thought of Helen being stripped of everything she owned. Then I realized, as I mused about it, that I didn’t know if Helen owned anything. Some men put all their assets in their names alone, and Richard may have been one of them. It might have made it easier when he was buying and selling property not to have to run home every time to get her signature.
    So if Helen got sued, the suers would still end up with nothing. Of course, Helen would, too, which might be exactly what she had now. Except she’d end up with an added load of shame for being taken to court.
    I could’ve wrung Richard’s neck. Well, and Helen’s too, if she’d taken off with him.
    â€œYou want some coffee?” Lillian held the pot over a cup, ready to pour. “You look like you need some.”
    â€œYes, I do, Lillian. Thank you. I declare,” I said, sitting at the kitchen table, “this started out as a perfectly normal day and look what all has happened. Richard Stroud has apparently taken off with other people’s money and his wife is nowhere to be found. And Mildred Allen is up in arms and ready to sue Helen, and Leonard Conover has left LuAnne to find himself and she’s…Oh, my goodness,” I said, clamping my hand over my mouth, “I wasn’t supposed to tell that. You have to keep it to yourself, Lillian. Don’t tell a soul.”
    â€œNo’m,” she said, as she sat across the table from me and reached for the sugar bowl. “I don’t never tell anything I hear in this house.”
    â€œWell, good.” I picked up my cup and brought it to my mouth, then set it back down. “You know I don’t normally tell everything I know, but knowing LuAnne, it’ll be all over town by nightfall. Which doesn’t excuse me, but it makes me feel a little better.”
    â€œUh-huh.” Lillian nodded, her attention on the sugar she was stirring in her coffee. She knew my friends and was interested in what happened to them, but she was rarely personally affected by whatever they did. So she was a good