“I do not! I merely make helpful suggestions. And try to put people together who have common interests."
“Uh-huh. Like that voter registration meeting you had at your house and you made that rabid pro-choice woman and the Operation Rescue guy sit together?"
“I've already admitted that was a mistake, Jane," Shelley said haughtily. "You don't need to keep harping on it. Still, I think they could have had an enlightening exchange of views if they'd only stopped screaming at each other."
“Maybe, but when they got to the drink-flinging stage, it was too late.”
Jane went on upstairs and when she came back down, Julie was in the front hall in her hat and coat. "My baby-sitter has to leave at nine-thirty. I'm afraid I've got to go.”
Jane didn't believe the baby-sitter story for a second. Julie was just trying to escape being on the scene when Lance came back and discovered he was locked out. But that was okay. Jane couldn't bear another round of hysterical apologizing.
“Bundle up, then. It's nasty outside," Jane said. "May I keep your little snack dishes for the cookie party tomorrow afternoon?"
“Oh, please do," Julie said as Jane opened the front door for her. "I have more of the snack mix, too. I'll come early and refill the dishes.”
Julie stepped out the door and started down the steps. As she reached the bottom she turned, presumably for one last repentant remark, but in doing so, her glance went over the Johnsons' front yard.
She stopped. Stared.
Her eyes opened very wide and then she screamed.
Jane lurched out onto the porch. Julie was pointing at the Johnson' house. At first Jane couldn't imagine what was so frightening. It wasn't as if Julie hadn't seen the hideous decorations before. Then Jane's attention, like Julie's, focused on the sleigh and reindeer in the front, just outside the Johnsons' living room windows.
One of the lead reindeers had collapsed. And there was something red lying across its plaster head.
A body. In a Santa suit.
Jane stepped back inside the door where others were already gathering to see what Julie was screaming about and shouted, "MEL!”
Ten
"I can only stay a minute, but I wanted to let you know what little we know so far. King slid off the Johnsons' roof," Mel said several hours later. "The skid marks are still there, but they're melting fast. The plaster reindeer had some sort of metal spike that came out of its head to hold the antlers in place. One of them got him in the heart.”
There was a collective shudder. Most of the guests were long gone, after having stood around in Jane's front yard for a long time watching the police, ambulance, and plainclothes people work. Jane and Shelley sat on the sofa next to each other. Mike sat on the arm on Jane's side in a vaguely protective manner. Addie VanDyne had gone to bed, as had Todd and Katie. Ginger had stayed and had arranged her long, gangly self on the floor by the fire like a folding carpenter's ruler. She said, "I'm sorry if this sounds ugly, but I'm sure glad I didn't call the station manager to quit earlier this evening. I'll probably end up back in the secretarial pool, but it's better than working for Lance."
“What was he doing on the roof?" Jane asked Mel.
“I have no idea. Do you know, Ginger?" Mel replied.
“Snooping. Probably."
“Snooping on whom?" Mel asked.
Ginger shrugged. "He never confided in me. Or anybody else. His stories were as much of a surprise to the station as they were to the audience. Good thing he hit the reindeer. I mean, if he'd only gotten hurt, he'd have crucified the Johnsons in court. He knew all about insurance claims. One of his specialities."
“How'd he get up there?" Shelley asked. "It's not easy to get on a roof. Especially when you're in a Santa suit in the snow."
“Billy Joe had left a ladder out in the backyard when he finished his decorating," Mel said. "The back of the roof is a fairly shallow incline. Some owner must have had it raised to get more space upstairs.”
Jane shook her head. "He was a wicked person, but he didn't seem stupid. The roof had all that slushy, slippery snow; even if it wasn't as steep as the front, it was still dangerous. What could he have wanted to watch badly enough to climb up there? And what if he hadn't seen it — whatever it was. Did he think he could lurk in the manger up there for days?”
Ginger spoke up again. "He was putting one of his gadgets up there, I'd guess. He had a slew of long-range listening devices and recordersand remote-control cameras. He even carried around night-vision binoculars in his car." Shelley shivered. "What slime. And what a well-deserved accident.”
There was a moment of quiet, then Jane said to Mel, "I notice you're not commenting.”
Mel cocked an eyebrow at her and said, carefully, "There is some evidence that it might not have been an accident."
“Come on," Ginger said. "Nobody commits suicide by flinging themselves off a roof onto a plaster reind— Oh, you mean—?"
“The usual question now," Mel said, "is: Did he have any enemies?"
“Have you got a notebook with lots of blank pages to fill? He had nothing but enemies," Jane said. "What kind of evidence are you talking about?"
“There appear to be two sets of footprints going up the back side of the roof. One only goes up and ends in a skid down the front. The other set goes up to the peak and then back down the back side to the ladder."
“Someone else was on the roof?" Shelley exclaimed. "Can't you get footprints? Or shoe prints, I guess."
“Too soggy," Mel said. "With the rain on top of the snow, they're just outlines. Can't even tell a size because of the snow melt."
“So someone pushed him off the roof," Jane said.
“That's jumping to conclusions," Mel said. "The two sets of prints were made at approximately the same time. Someone else could have been up there first and King was following him or her. Or somebody could have gone up after King fell."
“Why would anyone do that?" Mike asked. Mel shrugged. "I'm just talking about physical possibilities. Not motives."
“But you still think somebody pushed him off the peak of the roof?" Jane asked.
“Without proof, I couldn't say, but if I were to guess, I'd suspect it was murder. And we have to treat it as such until we know. I've got to go. Ginger, do you know where he kept his files?"
“No files. He didn't want anyone to know what he was doing until he did it. I think he kept everything on his laptop."
“Which is where?" Mel asked.
Ginger pointed at the squashy armchair Jane was sitting in. "That looks like the case, next to the chair. Unless it's yours, Jane.”
Jane peered over the arm of the chair. "No, mine's in a blue case. He did have this with him. He bashed into the coffee table with it and knocked a candle over.”
Mel picked up the laptop. "Let me see you to your door, Shelley, and I'll have one of my people take Ginger to her car. Lock up carefully, Jane.”
Mike helped Jane unload the dishwasher and put away the last of the leftover food and then he went to let the pets out of the basement. Max and Meow crept up the steps, wary that there might still be visitors in the house. When they were satisfied that there were no strangers present to try to pet them, they wound themselves sinuously around Jane's legs, demanding food.
“I'll run the vacuum in the morning," Jane said as she opened a can of cat food. "I don't want to wake Addie with it this late at night. Will you keep Willard in your room tonight so he doesn't run loose and bark the house down?”
Mike nodded, petting Willard's big, square head. Glancing into the living room, he said, "Looks pretty good, considering. Mom, who do you think killed that guy?"
“I haven't any idea. It could have been anyone. He had a lot of enemies."