“Rex purloined it from Looking Glass.”
“Purloined? Would that be professional cop jargon for ‘ripped off’?”
“It would,” Slade said. “Charlotte tells me the damn purse is worth a few hundred bucks.”
“Don’t even think about trying to slip that into departmental expenses,” Fletcher warned. “As mayor, I assure you I would spot it immediately.”
“I’ll try to hide it under office supplies.”
“Forget it,” Fletcher said. “How goes the investigation?”
“The investigation is ongoing, as we in the police business like to say,” Slade said. “But for now it looks like a guy who was stalking Charlotte dropped dead in her back room.”
“Convenient,” Fletcher observed.
“Yes,” Slade said. “Very.”
Fletcher looked knowing. “You’re not buying it are you?”
“Not for a minute,” Slade said. “My department is aware that we are conducting a murder investigation and so is Charlotte. I’m keeping you in the loop because you’re the mayor. I realize that means that Jasper is also in the loop.”
“A goodly number of people.”
“Yes.”
“You know what they say—if two or more people know a secret it is no longer a secret.”
“I’m going to have to take that chance for now.”
Jasper emerged from the back room with a large slice of zucchini bread on a plate. He set the plate on the counter. Rex watched each move with close attention.
“Help yourself, Wonder Bunny,” Jasper said.
Rex chortled with glee and hopped down onto the counter. He put his purse aside and attacked the zucchini bread with gusto.
“That zucchini bread looks vaguely familiar,” Slade said. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that it was made by Thelma Duncan.”
“Good guess,” Jasper said. “It’s not that it isn’t great zucchini bread. It’s more a case of, who really likes zucchini bread?”
“Rex, evidently,” Fletcher said.
They all watched Rex polish off the bread.
“It’s amazing,” Slade said. “He’s been eating zucchini bread every day since we hit the island last week and he never gets tired of it.”
“Lucky Rex,” Fletcher said. “We had our fill about forty-eight hours into zucchini season. Don’t tell Thelma but we started composting the stuff.”
Jasper lounged against the counter. “So what really happened in the back room of Looking Glass, Chief?”
“Death by paranormal means,” Slade said.
Fletcher and Jasper exchanged an unreadable look.
Fletcher turned back to Slade. “That’s not good. Ghost-hunter work? Some hunters can pull a lot of ghost light aboveground.”
“No, I’ve seen people who were killed with ghost fire. This is different.”
“Got any theories?” Jasper asked.
Slade gave them what he had. Both men absorbed the information in a thoughtful silence.
“Black-market antiquities,” Jasper said. “Interesting. I always figured there was nothing but junk in Looking Glass.”
“Gaines may have been after some relic that was shipped from Charlotte’s Frequency City shop,” Slade said. “She handled some high-end objects. I stopped here today to ask a favor.”
“Certainly,” Fletcher said. “What can we do for you?”
“Willis and Myrna are good but they’ve had zero experience in the illegal antiquities trade. Can’t say I’ve had a lot, myself. It wasn’t my specialty when I was an agent. But I figure you two probably know as much if not more about the business than most people do. It would be helpful if you could give me some background.”
Jasper looked intrigued. “You think we’re experts because we’re in the art world?”
“That and the fact that you are both Guild men. A lot of smuggling goes on in the Underworld. The Guilds handle protection for every corporation and research lab working the ruins underground. That means you know smuggling and you know antiquities.”
Fletcher and Jasper looked at each other again, once more exchanging a silent message. Then they turned back to Slade.
“Out of sheer curiosity, how the hell did you figure out that we were both Guild men?” Fletcher asked.
“I’ve worked with some ghost hunters,” Slade said. “There’s a look.”
Jasper elevated one bushy brow. “FBPI intuition?”
“Well, that and the fact that I ran you both through the Bureau’s files.”
Fletcher grimaced. “Should have seen that coming.”
“Guess it’s what we get for asking Adam Winters to recommend a candidate for the police chief position here on Rainshadow,” Jasper said.
Chapter 13
THERE WAS SOMETHING VERY POWERFUL INSIDE THE wooden crate. An icy-hot frisson feathered Charlotte’s senses. She had unpacked about half of the objects. She studied the jumble of bubble-wrapped antiques that remained inside. It was impossible to tell which one of them was giving off the currents of strong energy.
The doorbell chimed just as she selected one of the bulky packages. A subtle sense of awareness shifted through her. She did not need to look toward the door to know that Slade was there. She watched him walk into the front room. His lean frame and broad shoulders were silhouetted against the daylight filtering through the windows. Rex was with him. The dust bunny chortled a greeting.
She put down the bulky, plastic-shrouded object she had just taken from the box and walked into the sales room. She stopped a short distance away.
“Good morning,” she said. She looked at Rex. “Glad to see that Rex is enjoying his clutch.”
“He carries it everywhere,” Slade said.
“Are you, perhaps, a tad concerned about what it does to your image to be seen with a sidekick who carries a beaded clutch bag?”
“No,” Slade said.
She smiled. “Of course not.”
“I stopped in to tell you that I just talked to the ME over in Thursday Harbor. They’re calling Gaines’s death a heart attack. There are no signs of foul play and they have no one pushing them to do an autopsy.”
“As you predicted,” she said. “But you’re still certain that Jeremy was murdered?”
“No question.”
“What happens now?”
“I’m looking deeper into Gaines’s background but it’s going to take time. He was a pro. He knew how to cover his tracks.”
“What exactly are you looking for?”
“Clients, other dealers he may have worked with. His competition. When a guy like Gaines gets killed, it’s almost always business-related. I thought I’d take another look at the scene of the crime.”
She waved a hand toward the back room. “Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ve moved some stuff around,” she warned.
