peek.”
Hannah tiptoed into the kitchen and hugged the wall as she approached the window over the sink. If Lucy’s visitor spotted her, she’d have a hard time explaining what they were doing in Lucy’s apartment when Lucy wasn’t home. The kitchen curtains were made of yellow cotton, held in place by white-plastic rings on a narrow rod at the top of the window. Andrea had closed them after she’d broken in, but there was a narrow gap between the two panels.
The gap between the panels was perfect. Hannah peeked out and craned her neck to the side. She could see the landing of the outside staircase, but it was empty. There was no one standing at the top of the stairs. Lucy’s visitor was still knocking; she could hear the tap-tap-tapping, just like Poe’s raven on the chamber door.
Poe’s raven? Hannah seized that thought and started to grin. She reached out with both hands, pulled open the curtains, and met the beady gaze of a redheaded woodpecker, caught in the act of pecking away at the wooden frame around Lucy’s door. The bird froze for an instant, then startled into flight, winging it sway to the big pine tree that grew next to Lucy’s staircase.
Hannah laughed as she retraced her steps to Lucy’s large room and saw Andrea peeking out from the space behind Lucy’s bed. “You can come out, Andrea. It was only a woodpecker.”
“A woodpecker?” Andrea looked a little sheepish as she stood up and wiggled out of the tight space, dislodging a pillow in the process.
“There must be bugs in the wood on Lucy’s doorframe. When he saw me, he took off.”
Andrea gave a big sigh of relief. “All I could think of was Boyd’s killer. I pictured him standing at the top of the stairs with a knife in his hand.”
“I don’t think the killer would be polite enough to knock.” Hannah gave her sister a little push toward Lucy’s closet. “Let’s get going, Andrea. You check out the closet, and I’ll handle the dresser and the bed.”
Hannah examined every drawer in Lucy’s dresser while Andrea tackled the long closet that was tucked in under the eaves on one wall. When she was through with the dresser, Hannah got down on her knees to peer under Lucy’s bed.
“She’s got a lot of new outfits in here,” Andrea called out, her voice muffled by Lucy’s clothing. “Most of them still have the tags on, and they’re all from Beau Monde Fashions.”
Hannah nodded as she stripped off Lucy’s pillowcases and shook them out. “That proves Claire is one of her victims. Lucy can’t afford Beau Monde prices. She must have made Claire give them to her for free.”
“There’s nothing in her closet, Hannah.” Andrea emerged from the long, narrow space. Her hair was tangled and she had several cobwebs on her sweater. “Lucy certainly wouldn’t win the good housekeeping award. Her closet’s a disaster. Where do you want me to look next?”
“Check under the furniture. She could have taped an envelope there. And don’t forget the couch. Pat down the pillows and the cushions and feel for anything bulky inside. I’ll take her desk.”
Lucy had an antique rolltop, and Hannah eyed it with admiration. Delores had one that was very similar, and it was one of her prized possessions. Hannah had helped her haul it home from an antique auction, and Delores had shown her the hidden compartments. Luckily, Hannah remembered where they were.
After she’d searched the contents of all of the regular drawers, Hannah removed one of them and stuck her hand into the space to release the catch. The false back opened with a well-oiled click, and she reached in to pull out gray envelope with two cardboard circles, one on the flap and the other right below it on the envelope. A length of red string joined them and acted as a seal. “I’ve got something, Andrea.”
Andrea rushed over and watched as Hannah unwound the string. “Where did you find that?”
“In a hidden compartment.”
“That envelope is really old-fashioned. I don’t think they’ve made anything like that for years.”
“You’re right.” Hannah began to frown. “It could belong to the original owner of the desk.”
Once the string was unwound, Hannah lifted the flap and her eyes widened. There was a sheaf of hundred- dollar bills inside.
“How much is there?” Andrea asked, staring down at the money.
“I don’t know. Let me count it.” Hannah counted out the money and turned to Andrea. “Two thousand dollars. And it doesn’t belong to the original owner of the desk. It’s Lucy’s, and she hid it in the secret compartment.”
“How do you know that?”
“Some of the bills have the big-picture format. It’s new money, not old money.” Hannah replaced the bills in the envelope and rewound the string to close it.
“What are we going to do with it?”
“I don’t know yet. It all depends on where it came from.” Hannah reached back into the hidden compartment and pulled out another envelope. It was white, business-sized, and it had the insignia of the Seattle Police Department above the return address.
“What’s that?”
“It’s the reason Norman’s being extorted.” Hannah folded it and stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans. “I’m going to return it to him.”
“Aren’t you going to open it first?”
“No.”
“But don’t you want to find out what Norman did?”
“Of course I do, but I’ll wait for him to tell me about it.” Hannah glanced at Andrea and noticed that her sister had a strange expression on her face. “What is it?”
“You’d open that letter in a heartbeat if it had the dirt on anyone else. You must like Norman a lot more than you say you do.”
Hannah let that one pass and reached into the compartment again. It was clear that Andrea suspected romance, and Hannah didn’t want to discuss her feelings for Norman. He was a friend, perhaps the best friend she had. That was enough for now.
“What else is in there?” Andrea asked.
“Photos and negatives. I think we found it, Andrea.”
“The stash of ammunition for her dirty little schemes?”
“That’s a mixed metaphor, but it doesn’t really matter. The important thing is, we got the goods on Lucy. Just look at these pictures she took!”
“There’s Claire and Mayor Bascomb going into the Blue Moon Motel.” Andrea sounded slightly shocked as she glanced down at the first photo. “No wonder Claire gave her all those outfits!”
“Lucy probably put the bite on the mayor, too. He’s married, and he wouldn’t want his wife to see that picture.” Hannah put down the photo and turned to another one. “Here’s one that Lucy took at the Lake Eden Inn.”
“You’re right. That’s the front desk in the lobby. Who are those two men?”
“One if Mr. Rutlege, the judge who had to be excused. And the other one is a contestant’s husband. I can’t remember his name, but he’s holding the gray envelope we found.”
“The one with the money?”
“It looks exactly the same.”
“Did he bribe Mr. Rutlege so his wife would win the contest?”
“He attempted to bribe him. Mr. Rutlege must have turned it down, since Lucy ended up with the money.”
Andrea thought about it for a moment, then she said, “That makes some kind of sense. Lucy must have seen what happened and confronted the contestant’s husband. She probably threatened to make it public unless he gave her the envelope with the money.”
“That sounds about right.” Hannah pointed to another photo. “Look at this one. Lucy took it through Danielle’s kitchen window.”
Andrea winced as she stared at the photo. “That’s Boyd, and he’s hitting Danielle. She looked really scared. And Boyd looks so mean.”
“He was mean.” Hannah’s voice was hard. “I can’t work up much sympathy for him, Andrea. I know he didn’t deserve to die the way he did, but I’m glad Danielle doesn’t have to suffer anymore.”
“Amen to that. It’s a good thing you found this, Hannah. Now we know why Lucy called Boyd. She must have been trying to get hush money from him.”
