GUNNED by Elaine Macko

weekend, so we caught a lot of people at home. That made it easy. I have a feeling Mandy’s mother won’t be so forthcoming, and that’s if we even get a chance to speak with her.”
    I stopped at a light and turned to Annie. Her eyes glistened with excitement.
    “Oh, we must speak with her. If she is as bad as her daughter says, she could be our killer.”
    “We’ll certainly try. We’ll do that on Monday when she’ll most likely be at her campaign headquarters in New Haven. I’d also like to speak with Jennifer Shalt’s parents, and I’m going to drive by on our way home.”
    “It is very interesting, no, that both Jennifer and Mandy said they feel a bit different than the rest of their family and think it is very possible they could be the Spiegels’ daughter.”
    I thought about this for a few miles. There was a time in my teens when I thought my parents were horrible and that they couldn’t possibly be related to me, but then there was Meme, my wonderful grandmother, and our connection was there from the start. Plus, the older I got, the more I looked like my mom, albeit without her great head of thick hair.
    “That probably has more to do with just growing up and finding your own voice and then realizing it isn’t necessarily that of your parents. And with Mandy, I would imagine it has a lot to do with wishful thinking, just hoping that she really is not related to that horrible woman.”
    “ Oui , I understand this. We had some trying times with our daughter, but now we three are very close. And she’s always been Gerard’s pride and joy. Speaking of my husband, I wonder what the men have been up to today. We have not seen them at any of the places we went.”
    “Just be happy we didn’t run into them. I’d like to keep our participation in this investigation secret for as long as we can. It’ll make life easier, trust me. John will tell me to keep my nose out of it and let the police handle everything. And of course he already knows that I don’t pay any attention to him.”
    Annie smiled. “ C’est ca . You two sound like Gerard and me. His job has always kept him so busy and he loves it. And I love being a nurse, and both of our jobs take us away from the home at all hours of the day. We have carved out a wonderful little life and I think it’s because we are not in each other’s pocket all the time. And Gerard knows better than to ever tell me what to do. He tried when we were first married, but why would a woman want to have a father for a husband, no?”
    “My feelings exactly. I love John with all my heart, but there is no way I would ever be in a marriage where the man thinks he’s going to make all the decisions just because he’s a man. I come from a long line of strong women and John knew that from the start, so he has no reason to think I would ever listen to him. Here we are,” I said, as I pulled up to the Shalt residence. “It looks like our luck continues.” I could see that the front door was open with the screen door in place. After the cold winter we had, people just wanted to let in the beautiful day.
    Annie and I walked up the path to the front door. Flowers in very large pots and beautifully manicured shrubbery adorned the front yard, but I guess that’s what happens when you own a nursery.
    A woman came to the door just as I was about to knock.
    “Can I help you?”
    “Mrs. Shalt?”
    “Yes, I’m Mrs. Shalt. Gwen.” Gwen Shalt was a skinny woman somewhere in her late sixties.
    “Mrs. Shalt, my name is Alex Harris and this is my good friend Annie. We spoke with your daughter earlier this morning.”
    “About Mr. Spiegel. That poor man.” She shook her head. “Jen called me after you left. Come on in. I don’t know what else I can tell you. I’m sure Jen told you what happened on Sunday. That man ruined our dinner.”
    “Mrs. Shalt, did anything he said ring true? I mean, did you ever feel that there was any kind of mix up at the hospital. Six baby