Columbo: The Helter Skelter Murders by William Harrington

Author:William Harrington [Harrington, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780812530261
Google: XBqKEYnaJNwC
Amazon: 0812530268
Goodreads: 488422
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1994-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

2

Kimberly Dana parked her green MG in the small parking lot near the pier at San Luis Rio. She was wearing a pair of frayed denim shorts, purple-and- white striped, with a rib-knit white cotton top. Her hair was tied back, and she wore wraparound sunglasses. She got out of the car, then reached back in and pulled out a big straw handbag.

She walked a little distance out on the beach and sat down on a wooden bench. It was in fact the same bench where Columbo had sat yesterday afternoon when he was waiting for Yussef Khoury to come up from scuba diving.

From her bag she took a mayonnaise jar. Running the lip of the jar across the sand, she scooped up enough sand to about half fill it. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Seeing no one, she reached into the bag again and pulled out the Harry Winston choker. She dropped it into the jar. She scooped in more sand, covering the choker and filling the jar. Finally she screwed the lid on tight and returned the jar to her bag.

This was what Joe had told her to do. Filled with sand, the jar would sink to the bottom. Because it was a smooth object, a fisherman would not snag it on a hook. Tomorrow he would come out and dive for it, as he had done for the Bali-Songs. If he could find it, he would carry it out to deeper water and drop it in the kelp forest.

It seemed to her like an uncertain and overelaborate way to give up the beautiful gold choker. But Joe had said he wanted it disposed of today. However remote the chance might be, he did not want to risk it being found in a search of her apartment. Why, then, didn’t he bring it out here himself and take it to the deep water this afternoon? He said he couldn’t come out scuba diving this afternoon; he was meeting with his lawyers about Arlene’s will.

She walked slowly out on the pier, conscious of the stares of the fishermen—of some of the fishermen, actually; nothing could distract most of them from their concentration on their lines.

At the end of the pier she sat down and let her legs dangle over the end. Two fishermen, feeling apparently that she had intruded on their territory, edged away and put a little distance between her and them. That was fine with her. Maybe she could drop the jar without any of them noticing.

She looked down into the straw bag. The beautiful choker lay in the sand in one side of the jar, and .the gold glinted through the glass. It was a lovely thing. She hadn’t guessed how much he had paid for it. To throw it—

Suddenly she formed a resolution. She closed the bag and stood up. She walked back along the pier. To give up an exquisite thing like this was foolishness. With all that was at stake, it should be invested, not squandered.

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