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“That’s—I appreciate it. But I don’t think John wanted you to feel you owed him anything. And I’ve been looking after myself a long now.”

She studied him, raised her brows, and Archie nearly laughed.

“Okay, yes, I might look a little the worse for wear at the moment, but you know, I’m not going to be here long. I’ll be heading back to D.C. when my leave is over.”

“Then I can’t see it does any harm for me to be here until then?”

He was pretty sure he should not agree. This could not be what John intended. But as he stood there trying to think of a nice way to refuse, his stomach growled. The sound was almost comically loud.

“Would you like your breakfast now?” Mrs. Simms inquired, absolutely deadpan.

Archie said meekly, “Yes, please,” and took his seat at the table.

Anyway, it was just for a little while. No point pretending that it wasn’t kind of nice to have someone concerned with his well-being. Besides, Mrs. Simms was a potential resource for information on John and the last months of his life.

Mrs. Simms set a plate of fried eggs, bacon, and sliced avocado in front of Archie, along with a smaller plate of buttered toast. She poured coffee into one of the pale blue mugs, added cream and sugar, and brought that to the table, too.

“Do the police seem to be any closer to figuring out who killed Dr. Perry?”

Even though Archie had given Beau a hard time about the first forty-eight hours, he said, “It’s still pretty early in the investigation.”

“There can’t be many suspects.”

“No. But it’s not the kind of thing you want to get wrong.”

She considered that, said slowly, “People are talking about the ridiculous things Mrs. Winslow said to you on Monday.” Her gray eyes met Archie’s. “She thinks very highly of herself, but most people don’t take her opinions as seriously.”

That was about as crushing a criticism as Archie had ever heard Mrs. Simms make of anyone.

“I hope not.” His appetite had faded at the reminder of Judith’s slander, but he made himself dip a strip of crispy toast into the golden face of the perfectly fried egg. “Who do people think might be responsible?”

“Some people think it must have been random. A stranger passing through.” She seemed to be watching his reaction.

“No.”

“No,” agreed Mrs. Simms. “The note proves that it couldn’t have been random.”

Archie looked up quickly. “Simmy, don’t mention that note or the envelope to anyone who isn’t law enforcement.”

“Of course not.” She looked slightly amused. “I’ve seen every episode of Murder, She Wrote at least twice.”

Archie blinked. “Right.”

“Some people are speculating that Dr. Perry was being blackmailed, and that the blackmailer killed him when Dr. Perry threatened to go the police.”

Archie’s jaw dropped. “Blackmail? John?”

“I know. It’s such nonsense. But there’s a rumor that he was pulling large sums out of his investments on a regular basis.”

“According to who?”

She shook her head.

Archie considered briefly, said shortly, “There’s no way.”

“I agree. Dr. Perry would never do anything he could be blackmailed for.”

“Even if he did, he’d never submit to being blackmailed. He wasn’t the right personality type to make a good victim.”