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?“Did the police look through that notebook?” Mark wondered.
?“Oh, yes!” I told him. “They made a point to go through my purse this time, right in front of me. Of course, we threw out the gloves after we used them.”
?Mark frowned. “Didn’t your notes about the crime scene make them suspicious?”
?I gave a quick “ha” and handed Mark my notebook.
?He flipped it open and immediately saw that the pages were filled with pencil scratches of numbers and symbols, with breaks for what might be words, but completely unreadable.
?“What is this? Shorthand?”
?“Lots of people can read shorthand,” I shrugged. “It’s my own code.”
?“Damn!” Mark beamed. “Brilliant once again, Homes.”
?I gave him a smile. “Protecting my stories, Watkins. I often make notes filled with story ideas. Although I think Allen Alexander is as crazy as a bedbug, it’s a way to be sure my stories remain mine.”
?“Did DeStadler ask you what it was?”
?“Oh, yes.”
?“What did you tell him?”
?“Recipes.”
?He stopped walking. “Everything you’d notated hidden in plain sight.”
?“Where anyone could see it, but not read it.”
?“Anyone could see it…” Mark marveled.
?“That reminds me, I forgot to mention something I saw before your speech.”
?I told Mark about my spotting Candy as she spoke to the shadowy male figure backstage.
?Mark listened intently and handed me back my notebook. When I finished he said, “So, she had a confederate.”
?“Of course. If she did go to Randall’s place, someone else would have to go get your gun,” I surmised. “Plus, she didn’t commit suicide. Her confederate shot her.”
?“You know all the people in the Mystery Club. Who would have a motive to kill Randall or Candy?”
?I considered this as we walked. “Randall never liked Allen. I mean, who would? Almost punched him once.”
?“Randall did?”
?“Yes, it was in our first year of marriage, when the bloom was, sha
ll we say, still on the rose. Allen made a vulgar suggestion to me, and Randall almost decked him. Allen stopped bothering me until the divorce. Then, he believed me to be fair game and I became a pursuit, despite shutting him down every chance I could.”
?“Yeah, he’s one classy guy,” Mark huffed. “So, there is a history of animosity there.”
?“Randall was all right with Jon. But then there’s Charles—”
?“Nederlander? I thought he was Randall’s partner.”
?“He is—was—but any time I saw the two of them together, they were always fighting over something.”
?“But why would either of them lock Randall up like that? And why kill Candy? I mean, we’re talking about a writer, a lawyer, and an insurance salesman. Usually, they don’t participate in this kind of violence.”
