Shakespeares Christmas Page 0,46

There weren't any on the picture - it had been wiped - but there was one on the envelope, on the tape used to seal the flap. It was a clear print, very small. You'd told me how little Meredith was. Did you ever notice how tiny her hands were?"

I never had.

"I'd hoped to get some fingerprints of hers to compare. I planned on ringing the doorbell, telling her that I was a detective in town on a job as well as being your boyfriend. I was going to hand her a photo, ask her to identify it. When she said she didn't know the subject, I would put the photo in a bag and later test it for fingerprints."

If I were in the Osborn house I could find something I could almost bet would have her fingerprints on it. I could also check to see if Eve's memory book was missing a page.

"But I don't want you getting into this. You saw how she died," Jack said brutally. I looked up sharply. He was standing right in front of me.

"I can tell when you're going to do something; you get this stubborn clench to your jaw," he continued. "What's in your head, Lily?"

"Cleaning," I said.

"Cleaning what?"

"Cleaning the Osborn house, and the Kingery house."

He thought that over. "This isn't your case," he said.

"I want us out of here by Christmas."

"Me too," he said fervently.

"Well, then," I said, concluding our discussion.

"Did I just say something I didn't know I said?"

"We agree on getting this done by Christmas."

Jack gave me a dark look. "So, I'm driving out of here," he said abruptly. "I'll call you. Don't do anything that could put you in danger."

"Drive careful," I told him. He gave me an unloving peck on the cheek, another suspicious look, and, without further ado, he left. I watched through the uncurtained window as Jack fastened his seat belt and backed out of. the driveway.

Then I went over to the widower and offered to clean his house.

Chapter Six

Since Emory was so fine-boned and fair, the swollen red eyes made him look rabbity. Those eyes hardly seemed to register my identity. He was completely preoccupied, eaten up from the inside out.

"Ah, yes? What can I do for you?" he asked me, his voice coming from a great interior distance.

"I've come to clean your house."

"What?"

"That's what I do for a living, clean. This is what I can offer you in your time of trouble."

He was still bewildered. I was unhappy with myself, so it was more difficult to keep my impatience under wraps.

"My sister..." he faltered. "She'll be coming tomorrow."

"Then you need the house clean for her arrival."

He stared some more. I stared right back. Behind him, down a dark hall, I saw Eve creep out of an open doorway. She looked like a little ghost of herself.

"Miss Lily," she said. "Thanks for coming."

It was what she'd heard her father say to callers all day, and her attempt to be adult gave my heart a little pang. I also wondered what Eve was doing at home, when I'd thought she was with the O'Sheas.

Emory finally stood aside so I could enter, but he still seemed uncertain. I glanced at my watch, letting him know how valuable I thought my time was, and that shook him from his lethargy.

"This is so kind of you, Miss ... Bard," he said. "Is there anything we need to ... ?"

"I expect Eve can show me where things are." I am no grief counselor. I don't know squat about children. But it's always better to be busy.

"That would be good," Emory said vaguely. "So I'll..." and he just wandered off. "Oh, Eve," he said over his shoulder, "remember your company manners. Stay with Miss Bard."

Eve looked a little resentful, but she replied, "Yes, Daddy."

The girl and I looked at each other carefully. "Where's the baby?" I asked.

"She's at the O'Sheas' house. I was there for a while, too, but Daddy said I needed to come home."

"All right, then. Where is the kitchen?"

Her lips curved in an incredulous smile. Surely everyone knew where the kitchen was! But Eve was polite, and she guided me to the back of the house and to the right.

"Where's all the cleaning stuff?" I asked. I set my purse down on the kitchen counter, shrugged off my coat, and hung it on one of the kitchen chairs.

Eve opened a cupboard in the adjacent washroom. I could see that the laundry basket was full of clothes.

"Maybe