Threads of Suspicion(103)

“Of course. Please, come in out of the cold. It’s never going to thaw, the way the weather is this year.” She turned to the stairs and called, “Lynne, would you come down please? We have guests.”

Nancy motioned them toward the front room where a fire cheerfully blazed. She had apparently been watching a Jeopardy! episode she’d recorded, as it was now on pause. She studied David with interest. “You’re Maggie’s boyfriend, aren’t you? I’m not so behind on the times I didn’t hear you were in town—that skeleton they found, your name in the news. Lynne will be overjoyed. You’re helping out with Jenna now, are you? It’s sad, what happened with her, just so very sad.”

“Yes, it is, Mrs. Benoit. You remember the case?”

“No one talked of much else for several months. It was the lack of any clues that was so puzzling. When you live in a neighborhood for thirty years, crimes like that leave a large hole in your sense of safety. Thankfully, it’s been the only crime of its nature in those thirty years. I’m not saying the college doesn’t breed some trouble, and girls certainly have to show common sense at night, but most of the families around here are smart enough to know the college crowd comes and goes as a constant refrain. They don’t bother us, for the most part, and we let them be.”

“Who is it, Mom—?” Lynne mostly swallowed the last words as she took the final two steps into the front room. “Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my . . . !”

“Take a breath, child,” Nancy said kindly but firmly, and Lynne swiveled her head quickly between David and her mom.

“Oh, hi. Wow!”

David smiled, and Lynne flushed scarlet.

“Hi back to you, Lynne. I hear you’re a fan of Maggie’s,” David said.

“Only absolutely forever! I’ve got her first recording from Chester Hill, the one she did with Steve Ross at the Cup and Bell, and I just acquired a copy of Marissa’s wedding program with the original lyrics Maggie wrote. Oh, my goodness, why are you here? I mean here here? Did I, like, win the ticket? The actual ticket to a table at the charity event tonight? I know just what I’ll wear—”

“I haven’t heard yet, Lynne,” David interjected. “The mayor’s office is the one doing the drawing.”

“I’ve already got the night off to go into Chicago. Just being there is important. There’s going to be so many celebrities coming to hear Maggie sing, but to be inside would be incredible.”

David smiled. “Then I hope your name gets drawn so you can have that experience.”

Lynne looked from David to Evie, over to her mom, then back to David, her expression full of delight and also questions.

“They need some information about the Music Hall, Lynne. Related to Jenna,” her mom filled in.

“Sure. I talked to someone last week asking questions about the Music Hall and Jenna. It was a Triple M concert the night she disappeared. Maggie was incredible, her singing that night. She brought the house down.”

“Ann was doing interviews with me last week, and you spoke with her,” Evie said, and Lynne’s attention turned to her. “You were helpful, Lynne. Your job in the dressing room gives you insight on the bands no one else has, and the fact you’ve worked there for so many years is also invaluable.”

“It’s a great job. They pay me to do a job I’d do for free, given how many musicians and singers I get to meet.” Her attention shifted back quickly to David. “Maggie was absolutely the best of all of them, ever. She gave me songwriting tips, autographed my program, and I’ve got a photo with her playing the guitar in the dressing room. She even asked my opinion on a song she was putting together. I wasn’t bugging her,” Lynne hurried to add. “I was just there if she needed something—it’s my job. But there was a lull with the sound check, and she had twenty minutes to fill. She wanted to talk, asked about how the crowds were when the Music Hall was full and what I thought of the acoustics, did I have any tips about the stage or lighting. I was so nervous I would say something wrong, but I could tell she was nervous too—can you imagine it? Margaret May McDonald nervous about singing! I would have never thought it. She laughed and said I was the best for helping settle her nerves. She sang wonderful that night. I’d heard her several times before, and I knew she was going to be spectacular. She absolutely was. I thought it was the best concert ever.”

“Maggie did sing wonderfully that night,” David agreed. “She was trying out some new songs, which always makes her nerves particularly acute. I’d say she was right, if she said you were helping her calm down.”