It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning, and Kate was relaxing with her coffee, looking out at her pretty back yard she had worked so hard on, when her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, and started not to answer it, but something made her grab it before the person hung up. It was Junior.

He started right in. “Kate, I got some bad news. A warden friend of mine overheard Carl talking to his lawyer and there’s a bunch of local politicians wantin’ to make a deal with Carl—I don’t know who they are or what the deal is, but if Carl does whatever it is they want him to do, he walks.”

Kate was stunned. “OMG! Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the warning. Um, Junior, do you think you could find out if Carl is to be released and if so, when?”

“Dunno. I’ll see.”

“Okay. Thanks and … Junior?’

“Sigh… Yeah?”

“Do you have any idea why Mildred was killed?”

Silence.

“I mean, did Carl want her to do something for him that might have been illegal? Or was it personal, do you think?”

“Sorry, can’t help you there.”

“Well, when she left the restaurant, she was furious with him over something and stormed out. Then Carl was really mad and called whoever killed her, and he looked very satisfied after the call.”

“Yeah, that’s a bummer, all right.”

“Junior, you understand, if he gets out, I’ll probably be his next victim because I saw the whole thing.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be real smart of him if he wants to stay out of jail. And Kate?”

“Yes?”

“If you’re thinking about calling the police or FBI or somebody and they start investigatin,’ I could be the next victim. You understand?”

“Oh. Right.”

Kate hung up and cursed, loudly. Her lovely Saturday was ruined and she was scared. She needed to talk to somebody. She called Marilyn.

“Hi, Kate! I was going to call you. It’s such a gorgeous day, I was going to see if you wanted to go for a walk in the park?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I need to unload on somebody and it looks like it’s you.”

“Oh, goody. What about in an hour? That suit?”

“Yeah, Meet you at the west entrance near the gazebo, okay?”

~ ~ ~

On the way to meet Marilyn, Kate’s mind was going every which way, thinking about Mildred, and wondering who killed her, or rather who had her killed. That would most likely be Carl, but why? Maybe he wanted her to help him get out from under the politicians’ thumb, and she refused. Or, maybe she’d worked FOR some of the politicians. Maybe she knew too much and they found out she was meeting Carl and wanted to send him a message. Kate decided she needed to find out what the deal was between the local gov’t guys and Carl.

Suddenly, she had a sick feeling as something dawned on her. Marilyn’s husband was a member of the city council. Could he be part of the group dealing with Carl? If so, Marilyn was bound to know about it. And here she was, going to meet her and spill her guts about everything.

Instead of parking, she drove around the block again. She had to think of something quick that she could “unload” on her. Wait a minute. No need to avoid Carl. Just his phone call. But she can’t let on she knew about the possibility of his getting out of jail. She had just been to supper with Marilyn the other night, and talked about it, so she’d just have to stick to wanting to find out why Mildred was killed. That would be normal. She just needed to act normal, and she was so rattled she wasn’t sure she could pull it off.

She drove back to the west entrance to the park. There was Marilyn, waiting. She was white as a sheet and looking around like she thought someone might have followed her. Or, she could be there with instructions from her husband and was feeling guilty, or…could there be someone in the park waiting to….