Doc Otis was kind enough and sober enough to bring Nancy Miller back to her sister’s home, where she had been staying since she left her husband. Doc assured her they had taken Miss Stella’s body to the cold storage, and they had cleaned the bloody carpet as best they could; including placing a medium-sized rug over the stained carpet.
Nancy was beside herself in grief, not to mention how lonely she had been since leaving Thomas. Many sleepless nights were coming her way as she would try and make sense of it all.
Stopping by, Beatrice would find that misery truly does love company, as she and Nancy both sat on her front porch swing and cried in unison. Nancy over Stella, and Beatrice over Alan.
Mable and Nigel just happened to be passing the O’Rourke home when they spotted the two women weeping uncontrollably.
Mable headed up the front walk with Nigel in tow; she turned and sat down on the edge of the porch, placed her hands over her face and began to sob. Beatrice and Nancy both stopped and looked at Mable, then to Nigel.
He said softly, “Ladies, your misfortune I’m afraid has brought up some unresolved emotions in my wife.”
Beatrice asked, “Unresolved emotions for who?”
Nigel was a little embarrassed to say at first, “She weeps for Mandrake.”
Nancy, Beatrice and Mable, all feeling vulnerable, touched in on each other’s undeniable grief as boundless wails of emotional suffering and mental anguish poured out of their very souls.
As Nigel beholds, what he feels is an embarrassing spectacle, he turns his back to the ladies, puts his hands in his pockets and shakes his head as he mumbles under his breath, “Women.”