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more
experienced investigators,” I said.
    “Gene will be fine,” Mother
said.  “He’s quite intelligent, though you never give him credit for it,
Liz.”
    “I don’t see that having
three ex-wives is any sign of intelligence.”
    “Two,” Fran said,
“the latest divorce isn’t final.”
    Little Bunny Foo Foo jumped up
barking.  The back door opened.
    “Little Bunny Foo Foo!”
Meg cried.  His tail wagged.  She snapped her fingers, pointed at her chest,
and said, “Fly!”  The dog jumped straight at her, the leash trailing,
and she caught him in mid-air.  “Good dog.”
    He licked her face as she hugged
him.  “Do we get to keep him, Grandmother?” she asked, her dark eyes
shining.
    “His name will have to be
changed.  No creature should go through life burdened by something like
that.”
    “We’ll just shorten it to
Bunny.  That’s easy, and he’ll still recognize it.  Won’t you, Bunny?”
    He wriggled ecstatically.
    “But if you’re going to live
with us, no more of this,” Meg said, pulling on the red bow stuck in his
beige topknot.  She rummaged in one of the drawers.
    “Not the kitchen
scissors,” Mother cried.
    “Too late,” Meg said,
snipping the bow from the topknot.
    “Meg—”
    “I’ll put alcohol on the blades,”
she said.  She nuzzled the poodle.  “Not that you’d have a germ on your
precious little hide, would you?”
    I had been in a state of shock
since Meg had gotten Little Bunny Foo Foo to jump through the air to her.  No
one but Barry and Andre had ever done that trick with him.  How did Meg know
it?
    I’d been so shocked I hadn’t
noticed until now how Meg was dressed.  “What happened to your clothes? 
What’s that you’ve got on?”
    Meg spread one arm wide, holding
the poodle against her with the other as she pivoted to model.  “They gave
it to me in jail when they took my clothes away.  It’s a genuine prison
jumpsuit!”
    “You’ve been in jail?”
Mother cried.
    “How did you escape?”
Fran asked.
    My heart thumped frantically. 
What had Gene and his men found?  Had there been something of Meg’s besides the
lipstick by Andre’s body?  What had I missed?

CHAPTER SIX
     
    “Aunt Liz, you look like
you’re going to faint.”  Meg slid into the vacant chair, Little Bunny Foo
Foo on her lap.  “Are you all right?”
    “She’s had one shock too
many,” Mother said, pushing herself out of her chair.  She leaned against
the chair back, then took the step to the counter and leaned on that as she
reached into a cupboard and got the brandy.  “Here, Liz, put some of this
in your tea.”
    Fran took the bottle from her and
helped herself to some before passing it on to me.
    Mother cut a piece of gingerbread,
mounded whipped cream on it, and made her way back to the table.  “Put
that creature on the floor where it belongs,” she said, placing the plate
in front of Meg.
    Meg wrinkled her nose but put the
dog on the floor.  She dug a fork into the gingerbread.
    Mother lowered herself into her
chair.  “Now, what were you doing at the jail?”
    Meg shrugged, her mouth full.  She
put her fork down, raised her hands and wiggled her blackened fingertips at
us.  She swallowed.  “They said they needed to take fingerprints.  After
that they wanted my clothes.  But don’t worry, they said they’d give them
back.”  She took another bite of gingerbread.
    “But, Meg, why did they take
you?” Fran asked.
    “They took everyone, didn’t
they?”  Her gaze rested on me still in my blue sweater and Fran’s jeans. 
She frowned.
    “I thought everyone was
supposed to go in tomorrow to have their fingerprints taken,” I said.
    Meg’s chair screeched against the
floor as she pushed it back.  “Why are you looking at me like that?  I
didn’t kill Andre!”
    “We know that, dear, but why
would the police think you did?” Mother asked.
    “My Go—gosh, I don’t
know!”  Her brown eyes grew huge as she began to take