one. “More vandalism or do you think there was something hidden inside of them?”
“What would she have hidden in them? I guess we’ll never know, but the point is, how did they get here?” I used the pen to open the top of a large box sitting on the ground. Mason trained the light where I was looking. I saw the top of a leaded glass shade and stared at the pieces of blue and green glass for a long time, wishing I could see the whole thing. “I’m almost positive this lamp was in Kelly’s room. The lamp I’d noticed was missing after her murder.”
I checked through more of the cardboard containers and found an assortment of bric-a-brac. It all appeared to be nice stuff. When I opened the last box, my breath caught. There was more bric-a-brac, but in the center I noticed a gun handle. Mason saw it, too.
Both Mason and I knew better than to touch it and we both began to back away toward the entrance.
“Who else do you think has access to the locker?” Mason said.
“There was only one key in the bag. You always get two with a lock. The obvious answer is Dan,” I said.
CHAPTER 28
It was very late when we left the storage place and headed back to Mason’s house. My car was still parked in front. “You look pretty tired. You’re welcome to the couch, or any of the bedrooms in the house,” Mason said as he pulled into his garage. He turned toward me with a good-natured smile. “No pressure.”
“Thanks,” I said. I opened the door to his car and got out. “But I think I’ll go home.”
Mason walked me to my car and gave me a last chance to change my mind. He leaned in the open window and kissed me. I guess he was hoping to sway me and he almost did, but I started the car and he stepped away.
I automatically turned off Ventura Boulevard as I passed the bookstore. I thought I would just drive past the Donahue house, but I didn’t get that far. Late as it was, I noticed the lights were still on at Dinah’s. I didn’t want to scare her by just knocking at the door, so called her on my cell. Even so, the middle of the night phone call jangled her nerves, but she recovered fast and told me to come in.
“I was just watching television and crocheting. I couldn’t sleep after our trip into North’s trailer,” she said.
“Ha, if you think that’s keeping you awake, wait until I tell you where I’ve been.” I told her about the storage locker and finding the gun. “I’m betting it really is the murder weapon. What a clever place for Dan to put it.”
“You went without me?” she said with disappointment in her voice.
“Be glad I did. Remember how we said that place was probably creepy at night, well it is,” I said and told her about the shadows and the herd of black bugs on the floor.
“So what’s our next step?”
I felt my mouth slide into a smile. I liked the way she said “we.” Dinah was a true-blue friend who had never let me down. Even with her relationship with Commander she found time for us. Everybody in the world should have one friend like her.
“Right now, I need some chamomile tea or I’m going to jump out of my skin,” I said. Dinah apologized for not having any. When I looked out her window, I saw that the night sky was getting lighter and suggested we go up the street to Le Grande Fromage, which opened when they started baking their day’s pastries.
The sky was still mostly dark as we walked up the street and the air felt cool with a touch of damp. I never saw this time of day and was surprised there was traffic on Ventura and people already on the street doing their early morning jogs. Le Grande Fromage wasn’t crowded, but had more people than I would have expected. Stone and his surfer posse joined some of the production crew in line at the counter and I overheard them all talking about getting an early start.
I found a table and Dinah got the drinks. The effects of staying up all night were beginning to hit me. I was leaning on my arm when she handed me the tea. “Do you remember that lamp that was in Kelly’s room? It had a pretty glass