come over and talk with you.”
“Come on over,” I said. “I’ll have a cup of hot coffee ready.”
“Thanks,” she said. “You’re a doll.”
When Myra got to my house, she was wearing her overcoat, boots, and pajamas. She deposited her coat on the hook by the back door and her boots on the rug.
“Are you all right?” I asked, aghast at her unkempt appearance. That was so unlike Myra.
“Yeah, I reckon. I’ve just got stuff on my mind.” She slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.
I handed her a cup of black coffee along with some creamer and sweetener. I set the biscotti on the table, retrieved my café au lait, and sat in the chair across from Myra. “Spill.”
“It’s this Elvis thing,” she said. She put creamer and sweetener into her coffee and stirred. “They’ll be gone tomorrow.”
“I thought you were prepared for that.”
“I thought I was too,” she said. “But I believe one of those Elvises killed Dr. Bainsworth, and we have to figure out which one it was before they leave here sticking you and me with the blame.”
“I know.” I sighed and took a drink of my café au lait. “Ben says there’s not enough evidence to prosecute us for killing the dentist. And while I believe that, I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Neither do I,” Myra said. “I figure we go to that banquet hall early and weed out the fat and skinny Elvises and see who we’ve got left.”
“Ben thinks it’s Scottie,” I said.
Myra’s jaw dropped. “He does?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know if he really believes Scottie is guilty, but he made some pretty good arguments yesterday about Scottie being our guy. He believes Scottie saw us arriving at Dr. Bainsworth’s office and that he invented the need for a cake in order to stay close to the investigation.”
“He’s not fat, and he’s not too skinny,” Myra said. “Wonder if he’d meet us out at the Sunoco.”
I nearly choked on the drink I’d just taken. “What? You want me to call Scottie and ask him to take part in a lineup?”
“Hey, that’s even better,” she said, warming even more to her idea. “We’ll go to the Sunoco and call Scottie after Hot Lips comes on duty. We’ll tell Scottie that you’ve had a wreck and your car is on its side. We need him and some of the other Elvises—who are in good enough shape—to come and turn your car upright.” She smiled smugly.
“Yeah, there are several problems with that plan,” I said. “What if Hot Lips has the night off? And what will we do when the Elvises arrive and the car isn’t on its side? And no, we are not somehow turning the car on its side. Furthermore, if the Elvises arrive and Hot Lips is on duty, then how would we get the Elvises to go inside and possibly be identified by her?” Before Myra could speak, I held up my hand. “And this last one’s the kicker—I have to deliver the cake to the convention hall at five thirty.”
“Well, there goes that perfect plan,” she said glumly.
We sat in silence for about one entire minute. “I’ve got it,” Myra said, her face brightening. “I’ll go with you to the convention hall to deliver the cake and to help set everything up. Then we’ll mingle with all the Elvises—particularly the ones who fall within Hot Lips’s description—and we’ll talk about dentistry to see if any of them act like they’re uncomfortable.”
“If we talk about dentistry, everyone will be uncomfortable,” I said. “I mean, how do you work that into a conversation?”
“I lost a filling, remember?” she asked. “I can talk about that.”
“I guess it’s worth a try,” I said. I was thinking there had to be a better way. I just hadn’t come up with one yet.
LONG AFTER MYRA had left, I was still trying to figure out how to draw out the guilty Elvis. I decided to talk with China. She’d helped me think things through before. Maybe she could again.
I phoned China, and she answered on the first ring.
“You sound worried,” she said.
How I could sound worried saying only “Hi, China,” I’ll never know. But she was right. “You’re right. I’m worried about who killed Dr. Bainsworth and the possibility that the killer will leave town without ever being caught.” I explained to her about the jewelry photos Myra found in Dr. Bainsworth’s office and how Angela said they weren’t taken for insurance purposes because she wasn’t into