The Police Chief's Lady by Jacqueline Diamond

Author:Jacqueline Diamond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

On Saturday morning, Ethan met with his captain and lieutenant about the still-unsolved portrait thefts. The good news was that there hadn’t been any more incidents since the burglary at Pepe’s apartment two weeks earlier.

The bad news was that they were as far as ever from catching the perpetrator.

“One of the officers scoped out the flea market in Mill Valley,” Ben reported. “No one’s tried to sell family portraits, which isn’t surprising. Who’d buy them?”

“What about the frames? Someone might want those.” From across the street at The Green, Ethan heard the once-a-month clamor of cars parking and shoppers chattering. He tuned them out.

“There’s a booth that carries frames and art supplies,” replied Ben. “The owner said no one’s brought in anything resembling the stolen property.” One of the missing frames, decorated with gilded cupids, ought to be highly recognizable.

“Any mention of Arturo Mendez?” Ethan had requested that the investigator make a discreet inquiry.

“Yes and no,” Ben said. “The dealer sells Mendez supplies but hasn’t taken anything in trade. Of course, if he’s fencing stolen goods, he’s not likely to admit it.”

Ethan turned to the lieutenant. “What did you learn, Mark?”

“I chatted up Helen, like you asked,” the young man explained. “She says Arturo keeps one bedroom off-limits and goes ballistic if she peeks inside. He won’t even let her clean it. According to her, that’s his studio.”

“You didn’t say why you were asking, right?”

“I acted like I was shooting the breeze while waiting for Mom,” he said.

Ethan tapped his pen against the desk blotter. “I got inside his apartment during our outreach visit but I couldn’t see into the bedrooms. My instincts tell me the guy’s hiding something. I realize Helen wouldn’t voluntarily spy on him. Still, keep after her. She might notice something without realizing it.”

“That’s not likely,” Ben said. “He’s moved out.”

“Oh?” Ethan hadn’t heard about that.

“My daughter says the two of them visited the clinic Wednesday afternoon. Arturo stalked out of there, apparently because his wife—excuse me, girlfriend—might need his help with her pregnancy. I guess it’s asking too much for him to think about anybody except himself.” Ben’s voice dripped sarcasm. “Patsy says Helen told her afterward that he was leaving. My daughter doesn’t normally discuss anything that happens inside the clinic, but Helen told her she didn’t care who knew it. She was really torn up.”

“Too bad.” Ethan hadn’t talked with Jenni since then. Even if he had, he doubted she’d have mentioned the subject, out of respect for patient confidentiality. “Well, let’s not narrow the scope of our investigation too quickly. Arturo may not be our guy after all.”

They’d had several other petty thefts reported, he noted, including a digital camera stolen from a house on Bennington Lane and a CD player missing from Willow Avenue. There could be a second thief at work, or the same person might have changed his MO.

“Considering that Mendez doesn’t have a steady job, I wouldn’t put it past him to traffic in small electronics,” Ben said.

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