One Extra Corpse by Barbara Hambly

Author:Barbara Hambly
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448310234
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2022-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

Detective Meyer came the following morning, with a man from the Burglary Squad who fingerprinted his way through the house and found only smudges – not greatly to Emma’s surprise. ‘If they did search the house, they were very careful about it,’ she sighed, when the fingerprint officer was packing up his kit. ‘I can’t imagine they’d take pains about that, and forget to wear gloves.’

‘You’d be surprised the mistakes crooks make, if they get rattled.’ Meyer took a final sip of the coffee Emma had made for them – it was barely eight thirty – and folded up his notebook. ‘Like remembering not to take a smoke into a bedroom where the smell might linger, and then forgetting to snag the butt off the sink when he – or she – went downstairs. But he knew he had to act fast. The pooches would have been barking up a storm, and if it went on it was only a matter of time before the gardener came up to see what was going on.’

He stooped to ruffle Chang Ming’s fur: the red-gold dog had recognized him at sight as a beloved and long-lost benefactor and had followed him faithfully from room to room. Black Jasmine, more businesslike than his sturdier pal, had accompanied the fingerprint specialist, observing the process alertly with his single eye and occasionally letting out a gruff little quack.

‘You tellin’ me I missed a spot, buster?’ asked the man, with a straight face.

Buttercreme had retreated to the farthest recesses under Kitty’s bed. Emma wondered if she’d come out when it was time to join Kitty at the studio, or if she’d have to nudge her out with a broom.

‘And nothing’s missing?’ Meyer asked for the second time, looking down at the glittering pavement of Kitty’s jewelry, which Emma had spread out on the kitchen table. One of her first self-directed tasks, upon coming to live in the house seven months previously, had been to inventory the collection, which included some startling pieces: Tiffany cigarette holders ringed with tiny emeralds, earrings of diamond-and-amber flowers that dangled to her shoulders. Another two boxes held the costume pieces – necklaces of pearls concocted by Foremost’s prop department, aigrets the size of sunflowers to be pinned to her hats.

All pieces were present. Even Harry Garfield’s diamond bracelet was still in its velvet case in a drawer of her own nightstand, something no thief could have failed to find.

‘Whatever they’re lookin’ for,’ he went on, when Emma shook her head, ‘it ain’t dough.’

‘That should make me feel better,’ she replied slowly. ‘But it doesn’t. Worse, I think.’

He growled a little in his throat, but didn’t answer immediately. Possibly, she guessed, he didn’t want to unsettle her further by expressing the same opinion.

‘It may be that having tossed the place, they’ll figure they were wrong about Zapolya handing you something before he was shot.’ He said it as if that were a comfort. ‘I doubt they’ll be back, but keep an eye out, and let me know if Miss de la Rose sees anything.

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