the stupid. “He could’ve killed her. She lay there, God knows how long. A defenseless old woman, and he left her to die. He could’ve killed Lindsay.”
He whirled back. “His wife could be lying, covering for him out of loyalty or fear. He’s capable of killing. The odds are Duncan’s on him, too. Who else? Who else would care what I was doing? I thought it was Lindsay’s family, but this makes more sense.”
“I did some digging there. Nosy,” she repeated. “The Piedmonts had an excellent firm and two of their top investigators on this, in Boston. They let them go about three weeks ago.”
“Let . . . They let it go?”
“My information is the investigators reported there was nothing left to find. I’m not saying they won’t hire another firm, but I can say they didn’t hire Kirby Duncan.”
“If Suskind did, he’d know when I left the house, where I was, how much time he’d have to dig. He was in the house the night I was in Boston because Duncan told him I was in Boston. Then Abra came in. If she hadn’t defended herself, he might’ve . . .”
Sherrilyn sat as he paced to the terrace doors and back. “You said Duncan was a straight shooter.”
“That’s his rep, yeah.”
“Vinnie—Deputy Hanson—went to see him the night of the break-in here, to question him. He told Duncan about the break-in, about Abra. A straight shooter wouldn’t like being used so a client could break the law, put hands on a woman. So Suskind killed him rather than risk exposure.”
“It could make a tidy box, when and if it can be proved. Right now?” She tapped the files again. “All we can prove is he bought property. And his wife didn’t strike me as loyal or afraid, not when I talked to her. Humiliated and bitter. I don’t know why she’d lie for him.”
“He’s still the father of her children.”
“True enough. I’ll keep on it. Meanwhile, I’m going to take a look around here, see if I can find out what Suskind’s been up to. Get a bead on him.”
“I want you to give the cops what you have on him.”
She winced. “That hurts. Listen, the cops will want to talk to him, ask questions, get their own gauge. It could scare him off, and we end up blowing our best angle. Give me a little time, say a week. Let me see what I can finesse.”
“A week,” Eli agreed.
“Why don’t you show me the famous hole in your basement.”
Downstairs she took a couple of shots with a little digital camera. “A lot of determination here,” she commented. “I read up a little on this dowry, the ship and so on, but just to get a general overview. I’d like to have one of my people do some more in-depth research on it, if that’s okay with you.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been doing some of my own. If there was anything, we’d have found it a long time ago. He’s wasting his time.”
“Probably. But it’s a big house. Lots of hidey-holes, I imagine.”
“Most of it was built years after the Calypso. Whiskey built it, generation by generation, along with the distilleries, the warehouses, the offices.”
“You didn’t go into the family business,” she said as they started out.
“It’s my sister’s thing. She’s good at it. I’ll be the Landon in Bluff House. There’s been one here,” he explained, “always, since it was no more than a stone cottage on this bluff.”
“Traditions.”
“Matter.”
“That’s why you went back to the house in the Back Bay for your grandmother’s ring.”
“It wasn’t marital property, even in the prenup that was clear. But at that point I didn’t trust Lindsay.”
“Why would you?” Sherrilyn commented.
“The ring belonged to the Landons. My grandmother gave it to me to give to my wife as a symbol, that she was part of the family. Lindsay didn’t honor that. And I was pissed,” he added, closing the basement door behind them. “I wanted to take back something that was mine. The ring, the silver set—that had been in the family for two hundred years. The painting . . . That was stupid,” he admitted. “I didn’t want her to have something I’d bought out of sentiment, out of trust, when she’d betrayed that. Stupid, because after everything . . . I can’t even look at it.”
“That added more weight on your side. You went up, took the ring, just the ring. All that jewelry you’d bought your wife. You left it alone. You