Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) - Lauren Elliott Page 0,81

stepped out onto the porch.

“Wait for what?”

“Me.” Slipping her hand into his, she rested her head on his shoulder as they ambled down the sidewalk.

Chapter 25

Addie shoved the last piece of her burger into her mouth as Simon slurped up the last dregs of his strawberry milkshake. She tossed the wrappings into the trash can beside her back-room desk and sucked on the straw of her chocolate shake, reviewing the information on her blackboard.

Kalea, her disappearing cousin.

Blake, and the argument between he and Charlotte proving there was no love lost between them.

Then there was the altercation Blake had with Duane, Charlotte’s brother, and how Blake had threatened him.

She set down her shake and wrote Duane $ ? and underlined it twice to highlight the man’s desperation for money.

Robert, assistant to Charlotte who did not keep his feelings about his overly demanding employer private.

Garrett, Blake’s nephew who would take over the auction business once Blake deemed him worthy, and the last person to see Kalea. She drew a line between Garrett’s name and her cousin’s. Was he the inside source, or was he the reason no one had heard from or could find any trace of Kalea? Addie shivered, pushing aside the images that thought conjured in her mind.

She refocused on the board. Philip Atkinson, unscrupulous broker, and in general an all-around jerk, complete with a vendetta against her. He hadn’t gotten over her shaming him with the board of directors at the British Museum when she proved his false accusations against her were just that.

“There’s a lot of information on there,” Simon said. “Any ideas yet how it all fits together?”

A grin spread across Addie’s face. “I think it’s time we put on our Sherlock Holmes caps, light our pipes, and see how all these pieces fall into place. As the Master Detective himself would probably say—there has to be one key element here.”

Library door bolted from inside

Windows securely latched from inside – sash warped, unable to be opened without breaking window

No other entrance to room

Tipped over teacup

Books on floor dropped after tea spilt

Feather pen from inkwell on desk missing

Missing laptop?

Rare books and original magazine edition of debut story exchanged for cheap reproductions

Angle of the desk chair turned toward fireplace

Books on center display table, disturbed missing price/info cards

Firebox ashes smeared across hearth and floor

Faint footprint on throw carpet by desk – stepping in spilt tea?

My fingerprints on window ledge and pry bar and broken acrylic nail found outside of window!

Simon wiped his fingers on a paper napkin, plucked the piece of chalk from Addie’s fingers, and added reappeared beside Feather pen from inkwell on desk missing. Then he wrote hidden chamber beside No other entrance to room, then drew a line from it to Door bolted from inside and an arrow to Windows securely latched from inside. “I think with our discovery of the chamber we solved that one.”

“Except,” she said, glancing at him, “that’s not an entrance. It’s just a possible hiding place.”

“You’re forgetting about the tunnel that leads out to the edge of the back gardens.”

“You heard Jerry. He said it doesn’t look like anyone’s been inside there for over a hundred years.”

“True, but it would only take once or twice for someone else to make that trek. It’s dark down there and smelly. Jerry and Steve were probably a little disturbed by the rats and dead racoons they stumbled over. My guess is that their investigation was a fairly quick one. They might have missed some small clue like a piece of disturbed moss or scraped algae on the old brick stairs.”

“Look at you go, Sherlock.” Addie laughed.

“Does that make you my Watson?”

“I always thought more of myself as Holmes and you Watson.” She stole back her chalk and wrote Peephole in picture above fireplace. Plastic stepladder and other books and collectables missing.

“Very good, now what would Holmes say in a case like this?” Simon gestured to the board.

“He’d say, ‘Not everything is as it appears; sometimes it’s what we don’t see by clues and evidence that’s the most important.’ ”

“You mean a gut feeling?”

“Not really, but think about it. By all evidence we have and the police, too, this simply looks like a poor woman suffered an untimely heart attack, and, by coincidence, some very valuable books were stolen. My gut does tell me that the two are connected, and Charlotte’s death wasn’t a natural event.”

“Addie.” Simon shook his head. “As I’ve said before, there’s no indication that she was intentionally killed. So far, I haven’t