awareness of the publisher’s reproductions in her shop was due to his involvement in the crime or a lucky guess.
Addie plopped down on the top of the stone ledge and closed her eyes, revelling in the smell of fresh sea air and the sun on her face. If she’d been born a cat, there’s no doubt she’d be purring. Not only because of the rays of sunshine beating down on her, but also because of the uncomfortable shifting of the rat seated beside her on the wall. She toyed with the idea of playing with her prey for a few minutes before striking, but Simon would be along at any moment, and she couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.
“It’s a glorious day, isn’t it, Philip? I imagine you don’t get many like this in Dublin.” There was no answer from the man seated to her right as he continued to lick the drippings from his cone. “I am surprised to see you here today. I was under the impression that the VIP preinaugural docking this week embarked yesterday and left port?”
“I had a few loose ends to tie up.” He went back to licking his cone.
“Not taking in the final day of the yard sale?”
“Blake wasn’t serving ice cream.”
“I see.” She shifted on the stone ledge. “Did you take in the sale this morning, or are you one of those that show up at the end of the day to haggle for the lowest price possible?”
“There’s not too much wiggle room on what I’m looking for.” He pierced her with a glare.
“Whatever are you talking about?” Addie feigned innocence. “Blake is always open to any reasonable bid.”
Philip jumped off the ledge and tossed the remainder of his cone into a trash bin. “Time to head back to the sale, as there are a few remaining items that my purchaser has expressed interest in acquiring.”
“You do know the book sale won’t be held now until next month in Boston?”
“There are many priceless items still to be found in the estate’s collection.”
“Really? I was under the impression that the higher-valued items went at auction and only the lesser-valued merchandise was being presented at the public yard sales.”
“It does make one question the quality of the McAdams appraisals, doesn’t it?” He winked and sauntered off.
“Addie, here.” Simon handed her a double-chocolate-fudge cone. “And I suggest you close your mouth before you catch a fly.”
“Did you just hear what Philip said?”
“Can’t say as I did,” Simon said, making himself comfortable on the spot that Philip had just vacated. “I was too focused on getting this across the hot pavement before I was wearing both yours and mine.”
“He just implied that Charlotte’s appraisals might not have been accurate.”
“Well, you, as an appraiser yourself, must know that there is no guarantee of an item’s—in your case, book’s—value. It’s like a house. It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.”
“I know that, but what if Charlotte was hiding the true appraisal worth of certain items?”
“For what purpose?” He licked a drip from the top of his cone.
“So that she could send in a shell bidder who would pay the lower price, and then she could turn around and sell at the actual higher-valued price.”
“You think she was scamming Blake?”
“It’s one theory we hadn’t thought about, and I saw firsthand that there was no love lost between him and Charlotte.”
“Do you think Blake knew or caught on?”
“Maybe he suspected.” Her tongue lapped up a drip from the bottom of her ice cream scoop. “After all, she was very private with her catalogue and inventory lists. She wouldn’t even allow Robert to work on her computer.”
“Perhaps Blake did manage to see the true appraisals and discovered she was trying to cheat him?”
“He might have. He did say to me that he learned from the best, my father. It would stand to reason that over the years he had made some other contacts that he could turn to who would give him an honest appraisal of some of the more questionable items he had up for auction.”
“We did see that altercation between him and Charlotte’s brother. I bet Blake suspects them both of trying to scam him, and that’s the real reason he’s not paying the appraisal bill.”
“I don’t know, but as much as I hate to think it, Blake’s name just moved up on the murderer list.”
Simon nibbled drips of ice cream from his finger.
“Look,” Addie said, “I know we planned to spend the afternoon down