she checked the others, they also had gold coins in them.
“So, Detective Pink, what does all this mean?” I asked her to give me a minute to think it through. The first thing that struck me as obvious was Kelly didn’t really give us the bin of things for the Jungle Days Fair booth. I thought back to the visit and how she’d gone to the door to answer the bell. When she’d come back in the room, she’d seemed agitated, upset. “She gave them to us because she didn’t want the person at the door to find them,” I muttered.
“Huh,” Adele said peering at me. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, so I covered by looking at my watch, and appearing dismayed at how late it was.
“Our lunch break is over. We better get back.”
Adele jumped right in and said we’d better hurry. “Unlike you, Pink, I adhere to the work schedule.”
Adele put everything back in the box and I wanted to take it with, but she wouldn’t budge. “The pieces are still here because of me and I’m keeping them in my protective custody.” So instead I took pictures of everything with my BlackBerry before she shut the lid.
As I got ready to go, I glanced out the window toward Barry’s complex. “Could you give me a minute?” I said. “I just want to check something.” I explained about the proximity of Barry’s place.
Adele rolled her eyes a few times, but agreed. I reached around in the carryall for my key ring. When Barry and I were together, he’d given me a key to his place. He’d never asked for it back and I had just left it on my key ring and forgotten about it—until now. I left my bag and rushed next door.
What harm could there be checking up on the work being done to his place? At least I’d have a real idea when he’d be moving out.
The key let me into the lobby and I walked through to a courtyard and went up the concrete stairs to the second floor. It was an older building, which here meant it was built in the seventies and there was no elevator. I stood outside the door a moment and then stuck the key in. The door opened easily and I stepped inside. It smelled like fresh paint and new carpet. I walked into the living room and looked around expecting to see Barry’s rather sparse furniture pushed into a corner and maybe covered with a drop cloth. Instead, a wine-colored sofa sat next to a dark wood coffee table. Only the big screen TV looked vaguely familiar, but then all TVs looked the same to me. The dining room was complete with a long wood table and a sideboard with some silver accessories. There were no workmen or signs that they’d been working recently. Everything seemed very finished. I walked further into the place feeling uneasy. Had Barry decided to get all new furniture? I was certainly surprised by his taste. I’d never picked him for a wine-colored sofa type.
The bedrooms were up a short flight of stairs. I checked Jeffrey’s room expecting to see his twin bed, wood desk and the poster of Al Pacino in Scarface gracing the wall. “What?” I said out loud as I stepped into the doorway. There was a twin bed all right, but it had a pink Hello Kitty spread. The desk was white and had a lamp with an embossed shade.
I rushed to Barry’s bedroom. When I saw the elaborate bedroom set and his-and-hers dressers, I was stunned. I started opening drawers looking for something familiar. I picked up a handful of gold jewelry. I thought I heard some kind of noise, but chalked it up to something coming from the street. I looked through the gold chains, stunned. There was definitely something weird going on and I was going to ask Barry about it as soon as I could.
Suddenly the door slammed shut behind me and I jumped. I tried to tell myself that the breeze had blown it closed, but even so, I wanted to get out of there now. I pulled on the handle and nothing happened.
CHAPTER 31
The cop pushed my head down as he ushered me into the back of the cruiser. I just wanted to say yuck at the hard plastic slightly stinky backseat. My hands were behind my back in handcuffs. It had been an awful walk of shame as