Love for Sale by Churchill Jill

Author:Churchill, Jill [Churchill, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

On the same day Lily met Miss Jurgen, Chief Walker decided it was time to visit the Institute. He drove up the river road early in the morning and crossed the bridge over the Hudson, wondering all the while if everyone had already cleared out. When he found the place, he saw that it was housed in one of the old mansions but was set back from a river view.

What had served as the home base of the Institute of Divine Intervention was a big sprawling house and probably dated from the late part of the previous century. He parked the police car in the circular drive and tried the front door, which was open. The large, neglected entry hall was eerily silent except for the tap of a distant typewriter being used somewhere upstairs. He glanced around and decided he’d explore a bit before he hunted down the typist.

A large room, probably a former parlor, to the left, had been tarted up to serve as Pottinger’s office. The once-beautiful tapestry wallpaper had been covered with pictures of Brother Goodheart preaching, or shaking hands with celebrities who supported him, or showing off the downtrodden he had claimed to help out. The desk was huge and had obviously been chosen for size rather than style or taste.

He took a look in the drawers, but they were empty except for a few crumbs of paper, a couple of pens, and some loose staples. Chief Leland Colling and his staff had done a good job. There was a small anteroom attached that was apparently where Edward Price had worked. It was empty of everything but the furniture.

He crossed the hall into what had once been a grand banquet hall. It had retained most of its former glory, except that it was unkempt. The elaborate glass chandelier drops were grimy, the enormous table dusty, and stacks of paperwork and random office files were piled on it.

He glanced through several of the piles. They all seemed to be typed transcripts and carbon copies of Pottinger’s speeches. A collection of radios had been heaped in the far corner of the room. Apparently a lot of cleaning out was being done. He wondered what would happen to these things.

He then went in search of the source of the typing sounds. At the top of the steps there was an office with an open door. A tall, plain, middle-aged woman in trousers, a checkered shirt, and an old blue sweater looked up at him from the typewriter. “May I help you?“ she asked.

“I’m Chief of Police Howard Walker from Voorburg.“

“The gentleman handling the murder, I assume,“ she said calmly. “Sit down if you can find a chair.“ Her office seemed to be the paperwork center. “I’m about the only one left here, and I’m trying to clear things out.“ She stood up, came around the desk, and shook his hand. “Mrs. Taylor at your service. Let me move some of this so you can be comfortable.”

She wasn’t the least alarmed by his visit.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.