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said, "No, Carolyn, we were talking about the summer fair. Are you going to take a booth this year?"
    Carolyn eyed them both curiously. "I was sure I heard something. Well, never mind. You were there, weren't you, Annie?"
    "Yes."
    "I hear she was from the other side, East Hampton." She rolled her eyes as if to say, You know how they are.
    "A wife and mother," Madge said defensively.
    Carolyn persisted, "What do you suppose she was doing in Gildersleeve's pool?" She laughed. "What an opening for a crack. What I mean is, who put her there? Do you think Carl did it?"
    Annie sighed. She knew trying to stop the speculation would be impossible, and Carolyn's obvious relish for the murder was predictable. "No one knows anything at this point, Carolyn."
    "You saw the body, didn't you?" she barreled on.
    Annie said, "I think I need some coffee. How about you?"
    Ignoring the offer, Carolyn whispered, "I hear she was raped."
    Annie knew that couldn't be the official word; there hadn't been time. "I need coffee," she said, refusing to worry if Carolyn thought she was rude. "Excuse me."
    As she walked away she heard Carolyn say to Madge, "She's a prude, but what can you expect?" She didn't hear Madge's reply, but Annie knew it would put Carolyn in her place.
    Ruth Cooper stopped her. "It was a wonderful sermon, Annie. I don't know where you get your ideas."
    Russ, her husband, said, "That's a trade secret, isn't that right, Annie?"
    She smiled enigmatically.
    "You know I had this grand idea myself," Ruth went on. "I thought a sermon on the birds and bees might be nice. The real birds and bees," she amended, giving her husband a curious glance. "Would you like to do one on that, Annie?"
    "Why don't you do it yourself, Ruth? Any third Sunday in the month." Once a month a parishioner conducted the service while Annie sat out front.
    "Oh, I couldn't," she demurred.
    "Sure you could, Ruthie," Russ said proudly. "You'd be real good at it, too."
    "No, I don't think so."
    "From reading your column, Ruth, I think Russ is right." Ruth Cooper wrote the Bay view News column for the Gazette. The other women who did the columns for the various towns on the Fork reported straight news, but Ruth always started hers with a paragraph devoted to nature observations. Annie recalled that last week's column had begun: "Lacy curtains of dew cloaked the grass and shimmered in the May sunshine." Some laughed at Ruth's efforts but Annie, while she didn't think the woman had a literary career ahead, admired her intentions. "Give it some thought," she added, and patted Ruth's arm.
    "I will," she said, beaming. "I seriously will."
    "Good," Annie smiled and moved away.
    Burton Kelly almost tripped her. "Sorry, Annie."
    "That's all right."
    "I was bringing you some coffee. Black, no sugar, right?"
    "Right. Thanks." Burton was an odd person, she thought. He was always helpful, always offering his services, but she knew practically nothing about him except that he worked for Seaville Water & Light. Tall and thin, his sandy hair was parted low on the right side, then combed over to the left in an effort to disguise his balding head. She wondered why men did that—it drew so much more attention to the condition than if they'd left it alone.
    Burton said, "I saw Carolyn flapping her mouth at you and thought you'd need some strong coffee."
    She diplomatically refrained from commenting, sipping the coffee instead. Her friend, Peg Moffat, swore Burton had a crush on Annie, so she tried never to encourage him. But lately she thought it was possible that he was working up to asking her for a date. Her next thought was Colin Maguire. Inwardly, she laughed at the connection. Did she want to date Colin? Ridiculous. She didn't even know him.
    Yet she thought that if she'd had her sermon written last night, she might have met him for that drink. It puzzled and intrigued her.
    "You okay, today, Annie?" Burton inquired.
    "Sure. Why?"
    He shrugged. "Well, I heard."
    "Oh. Yes, I'm fine."