Dead Men Don’t Decorate by Cordy Abbott

Author:Cordy Abbott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Chapter Nineteen

I turned from Queen Street to North Columbus to get back to King Street. In the short drive back to Waited4You, I thought about how I’d learned more about myself than about rare books in my time with Caroline Pak. The pristine condition of Boys & Girls & Families screamed that something was wrong. Why hadn’t I been able to say that definitively two days ago? I hadn’t learned more since then. Maybe all the stolen books were misrepresented, just like the one given to me by Helen Margalit.

A fake is an existing work altered with the intention of deceiving, a forgery is a fraudulent imitation, and a facsimile is any reproduction. And it was the inscription, added by someone, that made the book a fake. It wasn’t a century-old book. Even if it had been legitimately bought off of Amazon, with royalties going to the author’s estate, it hadn’t lived the life Roberto had told us it had. The children’s book was a fake because of the notation by Aunt Minnie. The crime wasn’t that the book’s original publication year was 1921; we bought classic books all the time. It was the addition of something designed to deceive that made the book a lie. Similarly, the reproduction Victorian table Ritchie Potts made had been fine until the descriptive card lied about its true age.

There was also the copyright page information indicating Boys & Girls & Families was a first-edition book. Aunt Minnie’s inscription meant it could not be claimed that its pristine condition was because it had never been in circulation. Supposedly, it had been gifted to some child. You couldn’t have it both ways. I knew the dust jacket was new, and now I knew the book wasn’t old and rare.

The reason for the deceit was, apparently, money. Roberto could charge more for the book. That left me with two more questions. Who were the thieves, and who had created the books? Was either their production or their theft related to his murder? Roberto could have written in the Aunt Minnie note, but could he have forged the copyright page? That was doubtful. As for the other part, I didn’t believe the returning-burglar theory. It was too convenient. But if that was what happened, I hoped the police proved it soon.

Occasionally even the best dealers could be fooled and put a replica, like the table, on the market. That was what Roberto had wanted us to think happened when he used the Casablanca defense. I hadn’t believed him, and the sales records showing he’d sold several identical tables were proof.

Maybe Roberto had been fooled by Aunt Minnie?

The reality was that the antiques business was largely unregulated. I, however, shared the values of my parents before me, who had chosen to keep their self-esteem, be able to sleep at night, and have repeat customers, who also happened to be their neighbors. In my case, I could add and not be killed. Cheating the wrong person might be what had gotten Roberto murdered.

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