MYRTLE TRIED TO TAKE Miles’s words to heart. She pushed the investigation out of her mind as she opened a can of cat food for Pasha and mindlessly stroked her. She thought about other things as she read her book before bed. And she tried with great fervor to put it all out of her head as she tossed around in her bed, trying to sleep. Nothing seemed to work. Finally, around four a.m., she gave up, got dressed, and made the coffee. She was pleasantly surprised to see the newspaper had come.
An hour later she’d finished the crossword, drunk a large cup of coffee, and was cooking breakfast. Myrtle was scrambling some eggs and frying some bacon when the phone rang. This made her blink. Doorbell rings before dawn? Knocks on her door? She was used to that. A ringing phone was something else enti
