The Body in the Basement by Katherine Hall Page Page A

credit was due. “Oh, Gert and Pix did most of it.” Her self-deprecating smile hinted at the possibility that she might have sliced a lemon or two and put out the milk.
    The talk drifted away from the sale to what was uppermost on every islander’s mind these days—Mitchell Pierce. Most people were regarding it as an isolated incident, so it wasn’t stirring up anyone’s fears. Talk about it tended to the matter-of-fact.
    â€œAnd the police don’t have any leads? You’d think someone would have seen something.” Adelaide Bainbridge declared emphatically after consuming one of Gert’s cream puffs in two bites.
    No one seemed prepared to respond. All eyes turned to
Pix. She was certain that they knew as much as she did but supposed her discovery of the body conferred some sort of mantle of expertise.
    â€œI’m sure the police have leads that we don’t know about. Mitchell hadn’t been seen on the island for some time, so they’re concentrating around Camden and Bar Harbor. As for seeing something, anyone could have landed on the Point at night—or even driven out there without being noticed. There were no signs of a struggle, so they are probably assuming the murder occurred someplace else. If you were lucky and no one was picnicking, you could even get away with bringing in a body in broad daylight.”
    â€œAnd Seth hadn’t started working out there yet,” Gert added.
    â€œI know.” Pix still found it hard to keep the irritation from her voice whenever she thought about it. If Seth had stuck to his promised schedule, or what Pix had assumed was promised, the foundation and basement would have been poured and the murderer would have had to find someplace else for the body. Yet with Seth’s mother sitting across from her, hard at work on a smocked baby’s dress, Pix couldn’t give vent to her true emotions.
    â€œPoor Mitchell, he was a likable soul,” Louella said.
    â€œBut he swindled you out of all that money!” Pix’s emotions found an outlet.
    â€œI know, I know, still I’m going to miss him.” It was the first real expression of mourning Pix had heard. “It hasn’t been easy to make up the loss, but he intended to pay me back, I’m sure. He simply didn’t have it.”
    â€œWell, he’d have it now if he could’ve taken it with him,” Ursula commented dryly, “Seems like there’s quite a fortune in his bank account in Bar Harbor—close to half a million dollars.”
    This was news, and for an instant the ladies were too amazed to comment, then everyone spoke at once.
    Mother has been holding out on me again, Pix thought, and
after I slaved away all morning concocting gourmet cheese spreads for her party!
    Ursula’s voice cut through the fray. “I found out just as you were all arriving and haven’t had a chance to tell anyone.” She gave her daughter an apologetic look. “Nan Hamilton called to say she’d be late and told me Freeman had heard it from Sonny, who picked it up on the police band.”
    This was an impeccable source, and the obvious question was voiced by one of the Sanfords, “Where in this world would Mitchell Pierce get all that money?”
    It was what Pix was asking herself. Less than a year ago, he was skipping town to avoid his debts and now he was on easy street—or would be if alive. Either he’d been restoring houses at breakneck speed up the coast or he’d been branching out into some other lines of business. The multitude of coves and inlets on the coast brought to mind several illegal possibilities.
    Jill offered a suggestion. She was younger than the other members, but she had come so often with her aunt, who had raised her, in days gone by that when the aunt died, it seemed only right to ask Jill to take her place. “He did sell a lot of antiques and maybe he came across something really