hooked up with the art thefts. You’ve got to be careful.” The car came out into brilliant sunlight.
“And now the rain is over,” Charles said. “You could just drop me off at a Metro station if you want. You don’t have to take me to Alexandria.”
“No problem. I got a call to make in Leesburg next. That’ll take the rest of the day. Yeah, you’ve got to be careful asking some people questions. Somebody important might have bought that desk for some reason, and they find out I was asking about it with no good reason, that’ll be a mess. I’ll go anywhere I need to, but I watch the lines real careful.”
“Do you think there is any chance it is connected with the burglaries?”
“I don’t see it. How could it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But, sure, I’ve thought about it, and I’ve been poking around a little. But I don’t see enough connection yet to do any real investigating.”
“Poking around?”
“Right. I read up on it, called a few crooks who might know anything.”
“Crooks?”
“Shots in the dark. With crooks, you don’t have to worry as much about them blowing a whistle because you’re going outside the line.”
“I see. Do you know a lot of crooks, Mr. Kelly?”
“That’s my job. At least my guys are usually a little higher up the scale than muggers. And that makes me wonder what you’re doing with that friend of yours.”
“Which friend?”
“Your night watchman.”
“Oh. Angelo. That’s a long story.”
“I know the story. I looked it up.”
“You look up a lot, Mr. Kelly. Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. “Just following leads. That’s my job.”
“What lead would that be?”
“Nothing.” Frank Kelly pulled up in front of the bookstore. “Anyway, let me know if you think of anything else.”
“I will.”
“Thanks.”
“And thank you for the ride.”
AFTERNOON
“Have we sold anything?” Charles asked, walking through the door.
“A Dostoevsky.”
“ Crime and Punishment?”
“Yes, sir.” Alice’s smile was stretched at its ends. “And you had a call. Mr. Abercrombie.”
“The man who bought Moby-Dick?”
“Yes, sir. I think he has a complaint about Angelo.”
“Is Angelo here?”
“Up in his room.”
“Thank you.”
“Alice said Mr. Abercrombie called?”
“He did,” Dorothy said. “I talked with him briefly, but he wanted you.”
“Was there a problem?”
“He said Angelo was touching things in his house.”
“I’ll talk to Angelo.”
“Angelo?”
“Hey, boss.” He was already back in his un-business clothes.
“How did it go?”
“That delivery? It was okay.”
“Any problems?”
“Does that man say there was problems?”
“I haven’t talked with him,” Charles said.
“There was no problems, boss.”
Charles looked into Angelo’s face for any reaction. There was none.
“Mrs. Beale talked to him-he called here. He told her you were touching things in his house.”
Silence.
“What kind of things did he have?”
“I didn’t touch anything, boss.”
“Did he have things by the door? How far in did you go?”
“I went in the door two steps. I did what you said to be nice.”
“Were there things close by?”
Angelo shrugged. “He had those little statue things and glass and metal.”
“Antiques. Or we could call them Art Objects.”
“Yeah, he had those.”
“Did you touch them?”
“I don’t touch nothing ever, boss.”
“Did he think you touched them?” Charles asked.
“Hey, boss, I don’t know what people think.”
“You really do know, though, don’t you? You could tell he was looking at you and you knew what was going through his mind, because you see it all the time. I’m sorry, Angelo, that Mr. Abercrombie was suspicious of you. If you say you didn’t touch anything, then I believe you.”
“You think what you want.”
“Maybe we could teach you to smile.”
Angelo scowled.
“What did he say?” Dorothy asked.
“He said he didn’t, and I believe him.”
“What about Mr. Abercrombie?”
“I suppose he saw what he thought he would see.”
“I hope Angelo isn’t scaring everyone.”
“At least he didn’t actually grab any of Mr. Abercrombie’s objets d’art and run them down to Mario the Fence in the back of the Italian restaurant. Or he could have just taken Moby-Dick to Mario in the first place.”
“He wouldn’t have.”
“No, he wouldn’t, since Mario only does jewelry and iPods. He’d have to know someone like Norman Highberg instead. All right, let me find Mr. Abercrombie’s telephone number.”
“I have it,” Dorothy said.
“I’ll call him and smooth the ruffled feathers. Oh, Dorothy, I actually got an expression on Angelo’s face.”
“What?”
“I suggested he learn to smile.”
Dorothy brightened. “And did he smile?”
“Not exactly.”
And did you have an interesting morning with Mr. Kelly?”
“It might be worth another croustade de veau braise.”
