Vi Agra Falls by Mary Daheim

to tell he was dead.”
    â€œWhat did you do then?” Joe inquired.
    â€œI…” Vivian frowned. “I’m not sure. Billy was asleep on the couch. He sort of…wore out after all the commotion. My first thought,” she said somewhat coyly, “was you. After all, you are a detective.”
    If, Judith thought, I have to listen to much more of this simpering old tart play games with my husband while some poor soul is hanging from a tree, I’ll run away from home. Or at least go back to bed.
    Joe had another question for his ex. “How was he dressed?”
    â€œDressed?” Herself looked as if she needed a definition of the word. “Oh—I’m not sure. But he was dressed.” She swallowed more bourbon and giggled. “You know me, I would’ve paid attention if he wasn’t.”
    â€œThat’s it,” Judith said, getting up and stomping out of the living room. As she reached the entry hall, Wesson appeared at the door. His stolid demeanor hadn’t changed, but he looked pale. Judith wondered if this was the first corpse the young officer had ever seen.
    Wesson removed his regulation hat. “My partner is with the body. We’ve sent for someone from the homicide unit.”He cleared his throat. “The deceased may have met with foul play.”
    â€œNo kidding!”
    Smith nodded solemnly. “It’s a suspicious death. It might be an accident, but it could also be a suicide or a—”
    â€œHomicide!” Judith broke in. “Ha-ha!”
    At last, there was a reaction from Wesson. “Ma’am,” he said, sounding alarmed, “are you okay?”
    Judith willed herself to behave as if she were a perfectly normal citizen whose encounter with violent death was a shocking occurrence. “I’m stunned, that’s all,” she asserted. “Who is the victim?” She had almost added “this time.”
    â€œWe don’t know,” Wesson replied, putting his hat back on as both officers stepped inside. “We followed procedure and didn’t touch the body. Do you know who found him?”
    â€œI certainly do.” Judith grimaced. “Mrs. Buss is a…a neighbor, and she’s in the living room. She’s the one who collapsed.”
    â€œThank you,” Wesson said. “May I talk to her?”
    â€œBe my…of course,” Judith amended. “Go straight through the arch. She’s with my husband.” Who used to be her husband, Judith thought, and who is also a retired homicide detective, and we both know more about homicide than you two kiddies could ever imagine.
    Wesson entered the living room very quietly. Judith heard Joe greet him and introduce Vivian. Not wanting to listen to a rerun of Herself’s grisly discovery, Judith went into the kitchen, poured water into a glass, and added a couple of ice cubes. Standing by the sink, she gazed out into the darkness. It was going on four. Very soon, the first streaks of light would appear in the eastern sky beyond the Rankerses’ house. It was Tuesday morning. In a little over two hours, some of the neighbors would be up and about. The detectives might still be working what was possibly a crime scene. Judith’s only consolation wasthat at least this time she wasn’t the Mrs. Flynn who had found a dead body.
    After a few quiet moments marred only by the ticking of the schoolhouse clock and an occasional snatch of conversation from the living room, Judith took the glass of water with her and went upstairs to bed.
    She fell asleep almost at once, waking only when the alarm rang at six. Still exhausted, she tried willing herself to get up, but went back to sleep and didn’t awaken until twenty minutes after seven. Joe’s side of the bed was empty. Maybe he’d gotten up when the alarm went off. Or else he hadn’t come back to bed. As she brushed her teeth and showered, Judith hoped that Joe