Chapter 8 #2
Was he being real, or just trying to play her? His voice and that dead-serious look didn’t leave much room for doubt. Maybe he actually was one of the good guys—the kind any woman should be glad to have around. So why was every part of her itching to tune him out?
“Hold up,” Sam called out from behind them. She was squatting, studying a spot on the floor. “There’s something else here. It’s some sort of oil, but it’ll take detailed analysis to tell you the kind.”
Burke crouched next to her. “Do you have the tools to analyze a sample or is it beyond your scope?”
Sam stiffened. “I may not have a world-class lab like the Veritas Center, but thanks to Gage, my lab is very well appointed. So yes, I’ll take a sample of the oil today and let you know what I discover.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything negative by that,” he said.
Sam continued to study the spot but didn’t speak.
“I told you Sam was good at her job,” Abby said, proud of Sam for standing up for herself. “Not only processing unusual evidence but locating it in the first place. She noticed this spot when we both walked right over it, and it could turn out to be important.”
“Or not.” Sam stood, her irritation gone. “You never know until you know.” She laughed and headed toward the library.
“I like her,” Burke said. “I put my foot in my mouth, and she’s already over it.”
“I should’ve warned you it’s a hotspot for her. Her lab is small and not well known in the law enforcement field, so she often gets questioned by skeptical officers.”
“From what I can see so far, she seems quite capable. Plus, for a science nerd, she’s quite personable.” He chuckled.
Abby grinned along with him. “Now that’s something she doesn’t mind hearing.”
“Anything else I should be wary of?”
“If you were to question her skills just because she’s a woman, she wouldn’t be so easy-going.”
“I know men in our line of work still do that, but I never would.”
Abby wanted to get going so they could get back to Victor, but she couldn’t leave this alone. “So you’re okay with women in law enforcement? Not afraid that a woman doesn’t have the strength and ability to have your back?”
“I’m good with it,” he said. “Would I question her to see if she’s well-trained before we partner together? Sure, but I’d do the same thing with a guy. If I found them lacking, I’d make sure they got the necessary training before I’d trust them in the field.”
Oh yes, trust. This seemed like a hot button for him too. She couldn’t miss the signs. Not with her own lack of trust every time she contemplated getting involved with a guy.
“Let’s get going.” Step by step, she visually examined every inch of the original pine floor, but didn’t locate anything else she wouldn’t expect from a floor that seemed original to this house.
At the end of the corridor, the passageway turned to the left and ended at a worn stairway.
Abby started up the steep steps. With no handrails, she had to run her hand along the wall to steady herself.
The plaster was cool under her fingers, and a chill came from beneath the closed door at the top of the stairway.
She turned the antique glass knob, and the door opened.
She aimed her flashlight ahead and stepped into a large bedroom with an ornate four-poster bed, matching dresser, wardrobe, and another tall cabinet. Victor’s dressing gown lay on the mattress.
“This must be Victor’s room,” she said.
“So the hallway is just a shortcut from the library to the owner’s bedroom suite.”
The letdown over not locating another lead hit harder than she’d admit. “I was hoping we’d find an answer to some of our questions.”
“Someone could’ve used the passageway to move around the house last night to light that fire without us knowing about it.”
“I’ll ask Sam to process the knob for fingerprints.” Abby glanced around the room again. “I don’t feel right about searching his personal possessions. Not without his knowledge.”
“Then let’s head to the dining room to bring him back to the hallway to open the safe and ask why he didn’t tell us about the secret passageway or safe.”
Abby carefully made her way back down the steep stairs and along the hallway into the library.
Behind her, Burke took a picture of the secret doorway. “To show Victor when we talk to him. In case he denies it, the picture will save us time.” Burke pulled off his blue booties but kept his gloves on.
She searched the room for Sam and found her swirling black powder over a window lock with her fluffy brush.
Sam glanced at her. “Anything else I can do to help right now?”
“Yes,” Abby said. “Assuming Victor has the combination to the safe, we’ll bring him back here to open it. Can you dust for fingerprints right now? Then the picture frame, and the doorway at the end of the hall, up the stairs.”
Sam gave a solid nod. “I’ll start right away.”
“Perfect.” Abby ripped off her shoe coverings but, like Burke, left her gloves on since they would be returning.
She hurried out of the room, Burke following her. In the dining room, he brushed past her and made a beeline to Victor. He stopped across the table from the older man and peered at him.
Victor raised troubled eyes to Burke. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Looks like you withheld something else from us.” Burke’s tone was measured and deliberate, but less intimidating than she might expect from him when talking to a potential suspect.
“I have no idea what you might be talking about.” Victor seriously looked baffled.
Abby felt bad about having to question the older guy.
It was hard enough for a younger person to handle an investigation, but someone of Victor’s advanced years might take more offense at the questions they were asked.
Not only didn’t she want to offend him as he was essentially her employer, but she didn’t want to see him suffer either.
Burke opened his phone and held it for Victor to see, but didn’t speak.
“Oh that.” Victor let out a long breath. “It’s just a shortcut to my bedroom. I rarely use it and didn’t even think of it as related to the theft.”
Burke’s shoulders relaxed as if he believed Victor. “I need you to remember your house is a crime scene. Everything about it is important to us because you never know what could be related to the theft. With that in mind, is there anything else you’d like to tell us about?”
Abby appreciated the way Burke took the time to gently explain the situation and not come right out and accuse him of withholding other information.
Victor drummed his fingers on the table, then shook his head. “Nothing comes to mind.”
Burke’s eyes darkened as if he wanted to go off on Victor, but he simply stood up and put the phone in his pocket. “We just talked about the hallway, and it has a hidden wall safe.”
Victor’s fingers stilled. “Oh, right, the safe. I don’t ever use it, so I forgot about it.
My father died a few years after I moved here.
Shortly before then, he gave me the combination and said it was a secret.
He made me swear not to give it to anyone else.
It was empty, then, and I’ve never opened it.
Why bother when I’m the only one with the combination, and I didn’t put anything in there? ”
He sounded convincing to Abby, but there was no way to prove he was telling the truth.
Burke shifted his stance. “If it’s empty, then you won’t mind opening it for us.”
“Mind? No.” His eyes narrowed as he stood. “I wish you’d just believe it’s empty, but I’ll come with you to prove it.”
He thumped past Burke, spearing him with an indignant stare as he went.
“Guess I’ll wait here,” Gabe said. “Unless you need me at the safe.”
“We’re good,” Abby said. “Quick question before I go. When you were alone with Victor just now, did you get any sense as to his honesty or innocence in the theft?”
Gabe rubbed his chin. “He seemed to be on the up and up. He’s still broken up about his wife disappearing. Finding out what happened to her is the only thing he wants before he dies.”
“So you don’t think he had anything to do with her disappearance?”
“Nah. Like I said, he was on the level.”
“Thanks.” Abby rushed out of the room, feeling like a yo-yo going up and down the hall.
In the large foyer, she jogged past Burke to come alongside Victor, whose shoulders were thrust back and his cane pounding the floor as he limped along—an anger-filled walk if she’d ever seen one.
When she reached him, she slowed. “You seem upset with Detective Ulrich. He’s just doing his job. In our line of work, we need facts behind the information we learn, and the facts so far say you might be involved in the theft.”
He ground his teeth. “Believe me, I understand that more than most people might. When Estelle went missing, the sheriff thought I had something to do with her disappearance, and I was under far more intense scrutiny then.”
He paused and pounded his cane on the floor in a single thump, the sound reverberating up to the high plaster ceiling with thick cracks running through it. “I should be able to let this roll off my back, but when you act like you don’t believe me, I had visions of those past interrogations.”
“I can see how that could happen, and I’m sorry it did, but try to see it from our point of view. We continue to find things in your home that make us call into question your involvement, and seem even more suspicious because you didn’t tell us about them.”
His shoulders sagged. “I guess I can understand that. When you’re done with me today, I’ll take some time to think about what else might be odd around this place.”
“Thank you, Victor. We’d very much appreciate that.” She moved ahead, leading him into the library and handing him booties and gloves. “The hallway hasn’t been processed, so please don’t touch anything until we tell you to.”
Leaning heavily on his cane, he put on the booties. She and Burke both slid on a fresh pair, finishing before Victor.
When he completed the task, he hooked the cane over his arm to slip on gloves. One corner of his mouth twitched, anticipation written all over his face. “Let’s get the safe open so I can show you it’s empty.”
“Follow me.” Burke took off for the hallway and stopped just past the safe. He pointed at it. “Open it. Touch nothing else.”
Victor attempted to spin the dial to the right, but it was sluggish.
“Use more force,” Burke said.
Victor grunted and turned it to three different numbers.
“Done,” he said, and pulled the handle down but didn’t open the door.
Had he been lying to them? Did he know there was something inside? Otherwise, why not open it to prove his innocence?
“Stand back,” Burke said, sounding impatient. “I’ll do it.”
Keeping his eyes on the safe, Victor moved far enough back to allow Burke access.
He jerked the door open, then looked over his shoulder at Victor. “Empty, huh?”
“Yes, why?” Victor blinked innocently.
How could he look innocent when Burke had clearly located something inside?
Burke slipped his hand into the safe and pulled out a stack of worn leather-bound books. “What do you call these?”
Victor’s mouth fell open, his eyes fixed on Burke’s hand. “Those look like Estelle’s missing journals.” He reached out to take them.
Burke moved his hand. “Your wife’s journals were missing?”
“She wrote in one every day, but after she disappeared we couldn’t find them.” He frowned. “I never read them, of course, but Detective Orman, he’s the guy who bungled the investigation, thought I destroyed them. I always assumed she took them with her.”
Burke took a half-step back, eyes fixed and unblinking. “I don’t understand how you can possibly be confused about their location. You’re the only one with the combination to the safe. Means you had put them in here.”
“But-but-but I…” Victor shook his head. “I didn’t do it. Maybe Estelle or the person who kidnapped her—if someone did—somehow figured out the combination.”
Abby wanted to believe him, give him the benefit of the doubt, but it seemed improbable that anyone else could have the combination. “How would they figure it out?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” The pain in Victor’s eyes was almost tangible, calling into question his guilt of putting the journals in the safe.
“He said he’d never shared the combination with anyone and implored me to keep every bit of history and secrets regarding the mansion or our family to myself. Maybe he wasn’t telling the truth.”
“So there are more secrets beyond the crown,” Abby said.
“Maybe secrets isn’t the right word. Like every family, we have stories in our history we don’t want shared in public. That’s all. No big secrets related to the crown.”
Abby didn’t like that they couldn’t rule out this elderly gentleman of his potential involvement in the theft.
If it were up to her as an individual, she’d be inclined to believe him.
But as a law enforcement officer, she wasn’t sure he could be trusted, and she couldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt.
They would now have to keep their eyes on him for duplicitous behavior and other secrets he might be hiding.