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amateurs.”
“Be that as it may, we’re going to investigate anyway,” I said firmly.
“We’ll see about that.   I’ll have a word with the police chief.”
“Have as many as you want,” Grace said.   “But I should warn you, it’s not going to help.”
She didn’t know quite what to make of that, so Janet stood and threw her napkin down on the table.   “If you’ll excuse me, I have funeral arrangements to make.”
“Are you leaving the county soon, Janet?” I asked her as we stood as well.
“No, Zane always wanted to be buried here beside his parents.   I’ll be in the area for the next few days arranging things, and then I’m never coming back to April Springs.”
“I’m sure that we’ll have the opportunity to speak again in the meantime,” Grace said.
Janet didn’t even answer; she just left us in a snit.   Was her anger just an excuse to get away from us, or was it a way to deal with what had happened to her husband?   I knew from experience that folks acted differently when they lost someone they loved, and some of them lashed out at the nearest punching bag.   Then again, she’d been pretty adamant about Grace and me butting out.   Maybe she had something to hide herself, or perhaps she didn’t want us uncovering someone close to her as the killer.   None of it was going to change anything, though.   Grace and I would keep digging until we found the truth, and a few complaints to the police chief weren’t about to change that.
The waitress came by with the bill and looked puzzled when she saw that Janet and Billy were gone.   “I cannot believe that they left without paying,” she said.
“Charge it to Room 207.   Billy Briscoe,” Grace said confidently.
The waitress frowned for a moment.   “Actually, we’re supposed to get a signature on the check as well in case there is a dispute later.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Grace said as she took the slip of paper and scrawled out a name before handing it back to the server.   “How’s that?”
The waitress stared at it for a few seconds, and then she said, “I have no idea what that says.”
“Then neither will your boss,” Grace said with a smile.
“Okay, I suppose that’s good enough for me.   May I get you two anything?”
It was tempting, but Grace and I had work to do.   Our growling stomachs would just have to wait.   “Thanks, but we’re good.”
As she left, Grace asked, “Suzanne, why did you do that?   We could have had a free breakfast on Billy Briscoe.”
“Don’t you think that he might have noticed?   I doubt that he’ll balk at paying for Janet, but four breakfasts on his bill might be a little too much for him to take, don’t you think?”
“I suppose,” Grace said.   “Are we off to tackle Billy now?”
“We are, unless there’s someone else you’d like to speak with first.”
“No, I think Billy Briscoe belongs high on our list, given what we just saw this morning.”
“You know,” I said as we made our way out of the restaurant to the hotel proper, “it might all turn out to be perfectly innocent.”
“It might be, but what good does it do us to assume that?” she asked.
“No good at all.   How should we approach Billy?”
“Well, we could start with the way he spoke with you last night at the reunion,” Grace answered.
“Come on, he wasn’t that bad,” I said.
“Maybe not, but what are the chances that he’ll remember that?”
“Not very good,” I said with a smile.   “Okay, I’m willing to play along to see what else we might find out.”
“Then let’s go,” Grace said.
We didn’t make it to Billy’s room though, at least not without interruption.   At the front desk, we ran into someone else who had to be on our list, even if Grace might not be too keen about it.  
And from the bag at his feet and the bill in his hand, it appeared that Tom Hancock was leaving town.

 
“Going somewhere?” I asked Tom as we detoured over to the desk.
“The