The Skeleton Haunts a House by Leigh Perry

Phil started puttering around the kitchen, and soon a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a soda appeared in front of me.
    â€œPhil, you didn’t have to do that. I should be taking care of you—you two must be jet-lagged out of your minds.”
    â€œNot a bit of it,” he said. “I’ve traveled so much the past year that I never worry about what time zone I’m in anymore, and I’m delighted to have my kitchen back. Now eat up before it gets cold.”
    â€œI respect you too much to argue,” I said, and dug in.
    Some people would have bristled at suddenly having “their” kitchen reclaimed, but I admit to a complete lack of territoriality over cooking. I’m not a bad cook, and I do my best to keep Madison fed appropriate nutrients, but it’s because it’s part of my job, not because I particularly enjoy it. Phil, on the other hand, has always loved cooking and admitted one of his favorite parts about Madison’s and my visits home was having people other than my mother and mooching grad students to feed.
    Just as I finished eating, the door opened and Madison and Deborah came in. A bevy of hugging ensued.
    â€œAny word about Sid?” I asked after we disengaged.
    Deborah shook her head. “If they’ve found him, Louis didn’t mention it to me. We may have lucked out.”
    â€œI wanted to go back and get him,” Madison said, “but Aunt Deborah said we couldn’t.”
    â€œThe police wouldn’t even let the crew get their street clothes,” Deborah explained. “All they would let them do is get things like keys and wallets and phones, and they watched us the whole time. There was no way to sneak out a skeleton.”
    â€œIt won’t hurt him to spend the night in whatever hiding place he’s found,” I assured Madison.
    She looked as happy about it as I felt, which was not very, but Deborah knows the best way to distract teenagers. She said, “Anything to eat around here? I’m starved.”
    â€œComing right up,” Phil said happily, and got busy grilling more sandwiches.
    â€œWhat happened after Phil and I left?” I asked.
    â€œNot much. It turns out some of my people knew the girl, but nobody saw anything that would help the cops.”
    â€œThe awful thing is that I realized that I knew her, too,” Madison said. “Or at least I met her. Her younger sister Bianca is part of choral ensemble and Kendall came to our Christmas show last year.”
    Madison was sitting between Mom and me, and we both reached over to offer hugs. Phil delivered a sandwich just then, too, which may have been more on point for a tired teenager.
    â€œThis is great, G-Dad,” Madison said between bites. “So was that story you told the cops. How did you come up with it that fast?”
    â€œPhil has years of study from all the excuses he’s been given for why papers haven’t been graded on time,” Mom said affectionately.
    â€œOf course it usually isn’t a good idea to lie to the police,” I said, realizing that we might not be setting the best example for my daughter. “Not that I’m saying that Phil did anything wrong, but this was a very unusual circumstance. You get that, right?”
    â€œYes, Mom,” she said, and I knew she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
    Deborah showed no such restraint, and followed an excellent demonstration of eye-rolling by saying, “Now that we’ve enjoyed our teachable moment, maybe we should make someplans. Once Sid gets back, you know he’s going to want to involve himself in this murder.”
    â€œDon’t worry. I’ll tell him that the cops have got this one. They’ve got a body to work with, and Sid wasn’t a witness, so there’s no reason to interfere. I know the last thing you want is for him to be messing around McHades Hall. Right?”
    â€œWrong. I want Sid on the job. And