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pretty good idea to me, actually. There was a strong odor of bigotry about the whole thing. Ugh. Nasty man,“ she said, shuddering elaborately.
    Jane thought for a minute. “You know, it would be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, if he’d gotten mad enough at Stonecipher to kill him. What better place to do it than the deli? A murder at the deli might also hurt Conrad’s business enough to shut him down.“
    “I think we’re wandering pretty far afield here,“ Mel said. “Could we go back to the list, please?”
    They filled Mel in on Conrad, Sarah, and Grace. “I think Grace is a partner in the business,“ Shelley said. “She talked about ‘we’ and ‘us’ and ‘our’ business. I got the impression that she actually invested more than just her share of the house she and Sarah inherited. But it’s only my impression. It must have cost a fortune for the renovations, the equipment, the supplies, not to mention that there must have been legal fees to defend themselves against Stonecipher and Hanlon trying to close them down. But as far as making them suspects in his death—well, it’s the opposite, really. They’d won the battle.”
    Mel made a note and said, “Now, it seems that Stonecipher’s business associates were there, too. What about Emma Weyrich?“ Jane and Shelley told him a whole lot more than he wanted to know about the aerobics class.
    “But do you know anything about her relationship with her employer?“ he asked, cutting them off.
    Not a thing, they admitted.
    “But she came to the deli with him?“
    “She and Hanlon both followed him in the door,“ Jane said. “But I don’t know if they actually came together.“
    “And his law partner? Tony Belton?”
    “Tony Belton was there?“ Shelley asked. “I didn’t see him.“
    “He was there when I arrived,“ Mel said. “Do you know him?“
    “He’s the boys’ new soccer coach. We met him at the practice later in the afternoon,“ Shelley said. “But he’s a handsome man. I think we would have noticed him if he’d been at the deli when we were.“ At his questioning look, Shelley smiled and added, “Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I’m blind, does it?“
    “What about Rhonda Stonecipher, the deceased’s wife?“
    “I know her, but I didn’t see her there,“ Shelley said. “Was she?”
    Mel nodded. “What’s she like?”
    Jane answered. “Middle-aged, tummy-tucked, beauty-shopped, nail-saloned. And stingy as hell. I was on a committee with her once—to raise money to replace the playground equipment at the park. She insisted that we have our first meeting at a very expensive restaurant. Everybody thought it was nice of her to treat us to lunch, but then we found that we not only had to pay for our own lunches, we had to pay for hers, too, because she ‘forgot’ her credit card. Nobody believed it, but then she got us a second time. After one of the meetings we all went out for dessert and suddenly she had to leave only seconds before the bill came.“
    “Sounds like a match made in heaven,“ Mel said.
    “Not really,“ Shelley put in. “Rhonda stiffed me for a lunch once, too, but she’s so pleasant about it. She’s one of those people who make you feel like you’re her best friend when you’re talking to her. Very chirpy and cheerful and chummy.”
    Jane nodded. “That’s true. And with the park thing, she was a good worker. She had some great ideas and managed to extract a lot of money from people. I guess practice makes perfect.“
    “I don’t suppose there’s any hope that you two could tell me exactly when you saw any of the people you did see?“ Mel asked.
    “None at all,“ Jane replied. “We were there for the food, not as witnesses.”

    Jane couldn’t get to sleep that night. Mike was still out, and she kept listening for him to come home, while telling herself she was being obsessive. In a few months he’d be away at college and she’d never know what time he was