Killer Confections8 Delectable Mysteries(552)

Perhaps it was because I was satiated, or maybe because I realized it was pointless, but I ignored Billy Dee’s profanity. “You do know that Linda’s dead?”

Billy Dee sat down heavily on one of the kitchen stools. “That’s what the fellow in there says. Is it true? My God, he’s got Jeanette hysterical with his accusations.”

“Linda is dead,” I said gently. “That’s for sure. Susannah found her. I saw for myself. It was awful. And as for that guy in there, he’s with the police. I had to call him.”

Billy Dee shook his head in apparent bewilderment. “I just can’t believe it. There weren’t a thing wrong with her last night. And that fellow says there might have been foul play. Do you think there was?”

I looked over at Doc.

“Can’t say for sure,” he said, “but it would appear so. Looked like poisoning to me.”

Billy Dee rubbed his hands through his still-thick, only slightly graying hair. “It’s just so damn hard to believe. Who would do such a thing?”

“Your guess has got to be better than ours,” I said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you did know Linda better, much better, than I. You’re much more likely to know why someone would want her dead.”

“Linda? Not a damn clue! Jeanette, yes, but not Linda. Hell, I’ve been tempted to kill Jeanette myself, but I don’t know nobody that’s got a thing against Linda.”

“Well, maybe it was an accident then,” I suggested. Old Doc licked the foam of melted ice cream off his lips. “Could be. If she’d eaten toadstools or something. But from what’s available on Sam Yoder’s shelves, you’d have to be a wizard to put together something that toxic.”

“I don’t know about that. Sam sells some weird produce, Doc.”

Billy Dee didn’t appear to be listening. “It’s my fault,” I thought I heard him mutter.

“What did you say?”

“I might have been able to save her, Miss Yoder.”

“How so?”

He shook his head from side to side. “Last night, after I said good night to you, I went up to see if Linda was still awake. I wanted to see if she could talk some sense into Jeanette. I thought maybe Linda could convince Jeanette to hold a simple press conference and call this whole stalking thing off. Because it really ain’t nothing more than harassment. It doesn’t accomplish anything.”

“Harassment seems to be Jeanette’s specialty. But go on, how could you have saved Linda?”

Billy slapped his leg hard with the palm of his hand, as if punishing himself. “That damned sign was already on the door then, so I didn’t even bother to knock. But I should have suspected something was fishy. There ain’t no sign like that in my room, so it should have been a clue.”

“Naw,” said Doc wisely, “that doesn’t mean anything. Lots of folks travel with their own ‘do not disturb’ signs. You know what I mean?” He winked lasciviously, presumably at me again.

“I wouldn’t know about that, Doc.”

Just then Joel stuck his head in the room. From where I sat, he looked like he had been crying. “The officer wants to see you, Billy Dee,” he said.

Billy Dee got up and walked off slowly. Joel took his place on the stool.

“This is Doc Shafer,” I said by way of introduction. “And this is Joel Teitlebaum from Philadelphia.” I don’t know where my manners had gone when it was time to introduce Billy Dee.

“I’m the animal kind of doc, not the human kind,” said my friend modestly.

Joel couldn’t have cared less. “It’s all my fault,” he practically wailed. At this range it was obvious he had been crying.

“Let me see,” I pretended to muse, “you saw the ‘do not disturb’ sign hanging on Linda's door, and you didn’t disturb her, when doing so might have saved her life?”

Joel stopped a silent sob in mid-sniffle and regarded me with surprise. “How did you know?”

“Intuition. But never mind that. Tell me, how’s Jeanette holding up? After all, she is Linda’s mother.” I tactfully omitted saying that I personally thought Jeanette was as capable of feeling love as was a turnip.

Young Joel’s mouth fell open about as wide as mine did the day I got home from school early and discovered Mama and Papa having sex. “She’s what? What did you say?”

“I simply stated that Jeanette is, or should I say, was, Linda’s mother. Surely you knew that.”

“I just can’t believe that. I mean, how do you know?”