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have known you’d take it,“ Lila said.
    If the others were shocked at this rudeness, Crispy seemed delighted. “But I didn’t take it. This is mine.“
    Lila strode across the room and snatched it from Crispy’s hand. Crispy grinned as Lila opened the notebook and looked perplexed. “But—this isn’t mine,“ she said.
    Crispy took it back with a victorious smile. “I believe I told you that, didn’t I?“
    “So sorry,“ Lila said curtly. “I must find mine. I have some very important business numbers in it. Would you all check your things to see if you accidentally picked it up?“
    While she was trying, with limited success, to get them to go to their rooms and rummage through their belongings, Jane took the snack tray to the kitchen to refill it. Gordon, the co-owner of the bed and breakfast, had just come in the back door. Edgar introduced him to Jane. Jane gushed about his magnificent decorating while studying him. He was as gorgeous as his creations. He was fortyish, with a thick shock of dark blond hair and Peter Lawford eyes along with a marvelous physique. He seemed genuinely pleased with Jane’s remarks, but weary.
    “Long day at the factory?“ Edgar asked, rolling out some pastry dough.
    “The longest. Management’s decided to start a new card line with kitten photos. Kitten photos ! Little kitty turds all over the studio. Cats don’t much like having their pictures taken. Just think, if I hadn’t taken this job, I’d have never known that. And then I have to come home to this... beast!“ he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Hector, who yawned magnificently.
    “It won’t be for long,“ Edgar assured him. “And Hector caught a chipmunk today. Or at least he found a dead one. It’s a step in the right direction. Blood lust is next.“
    “Excuse me, Jane. I’ve got to go shower off Eau de Chat,“ Gordon said. He lightly punched Edgar’s shoulder as he passed him and Edgar smiled sympathetically.
    “Poor Gordon,“ Jane said. “He doesn’t like Hector?“‘ “He adores him, “but won’t admit it,“ Edgar said.
    Mimi Soong pushed the door from the dining room open. “Jane, can I help with anything? Oh, what a wonderful kitchen!“
    Edgar wiped the flour off his hands and gave her a tour. They were joined by Pooky a few minutes later— another refugee from Lila’s determination to form a search party to hunt for her notebook. Pooky tried to be polite, but it was obvious that a kitchen was a kitchen as far as she was concerned and she wasn’t bright enough to pretend real enthusiasm. Mimi, however, knew kitchens and, like an Oriental queen, drifted around asking exactly the right questions. Edgar was delighted.
    Jane finally remembered her original errand and put another layer of tiny, crustless sandwiches on the tray, artfully scattered a few olives and carrot curls among them, and took the tray back to the big living room. It was nearly empty. Crispy was fiddling with the television, trying to find the shopping channel, and Kathy was inflicting some tirade on Shelley. Kathy’s broad, enthusiastic gestures set her breasts jiggling and swaying in her T-shirt in a way that Jane found both fascinating and horrifying.
    “...and if we then use our right to vote in a way that satisfies our deeper conscience and sends a message to the politicians that—“
    “Excuse me, Shelley, Edgar wants to know something about your dinner plans,“ Jane interrupted brutally.
    Shelley leaped to her feet like a jack-in-the-box. “Of course!“
    “Where are the Johns around here?“ Kathy asked.
    “There’s a bathroom with each bedroom,“ Jane said. “Oh, all right! We’ll finish this discussion later, Shelley,“ she threatened, heading off toward the stairs.
    Shelley sank back into her chair. “That was a lie, wasn’t it? About Edgar wanting to talk to me?“
    “Sure. So, how’s it going?“ Jane asked quietly.
    “No firearms have been discharged—yet. That’s about the best