forgery was left in its place? It’s not like these places check their literary treasures daily to assure their authenticity.” He added, “Did you find any paperwork relating to the book? A bill of sale? Anything to show where it came from?”
“No,” Caleb admitted, his heart sinking. “But I haven’t looked through Jonathan’s personal papers. My work was limited to the book collection.”
“No, your work
“Of course, I was aware that they would need to know that.”
“Well, Shaw, if I were you, I would set about immediately to find that evidence. But if you can’t, the clear impression will be that Jonathan came by it through means that are not verifiable. And in the rare book field that is tantamount to saying that he stole it himself or knowingly purchased it from someone who did.”
“I suppose I could ask his attorneys if I could search through his papers. Or perhaps they could do it if I told them what to look for.”
“If you go that route, they will want to know why. And when you tell them, you will have most certainly lost control of the situation.”
“Do you expect me to look all by myself?”
“Yes! You’re his literary executor, start acting like it.”
“I don’t care to be talked to in that manner,” Caleb said angrily.
“Are you paid a percentage of the sale price of auction?”
“I don’t have to answer that,” Caleb retorted.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Well, if you try to auction this
Caleb didn’t say anything as this slowly sank in. As repugnant as he found Pearl’s remarks, the man had a point. It was devastating to think that his deceased friend’s reputation would suffer a shipwreck, but Caleb certainly didn’t want to sink to the bottom along with it.
“I suppose I could go through Jonathan’s things at his house.” He knew that Oliver and the others had already searched the house, but they hadn’t been looking for ownership documents for the book collection.
“Will you go tonight?”
“It’s late already.”
“Well, tomorrow, then?”
“Yes, tomorrow.”
“Very well. Please let me know what you find. Or
After Pearl had left, Caleb poured himself a glass of sherry and drank it while eating a bowl of greasy potato chips, one of his favorite snacks. He was under too much pressure to adhere to any sort of diet now. As he sat drinking, he ran his gaze over his own small collection of books he kept on a set of shelves in his den.
CHAPTER 42
VERY EARLY THE NEXT MORNING Reuben reported to Stone that nothing had happened the previous night at DeHaven’s; this was a repeat of the report he’d given the night before.
“Nothing?” Stone said skeptically.
“No action in the bedroom, if that’s what you’re implying. I saw Behan and his wife come home around midnight. But apparently, they don’t use that bedroom, because the light never came on. Maybe that venue’s reserved for the strippers.”
“Did you see anything else? The white van, for instance?”
“No, and I think I got in and out of the place without anyone seeing me the last two nights. A ten-foot hedge runs all the way around the rear area. There’s an alarm pad right inside the back door, so that was easy enough.”
“Are you sure you didn’t notice anything that could help us?”
Reuben looked uncertain. “Well, it might be nothing, but around one in the morning I thought I saw a glint of something in a window of the house across the street.”
“Maybe the owners were up and about.”
“That’s the thing. It doesn’t look like anybody’s living there. No car and no trash cans out front. And today’s trash day because all the other houses had them out on the curb last night.”
Stone stared at him curiously. “That
“Not from a gun, I don’t think. But maybe a pair of binoculars.”
“Keep an eye on that place as well. What about the call to the police?”
“I did it from a pay phone like you said. I took it as a bad sign when the woman told me to stop making crank calls to the police.”
“Okay, call me with your next report tomorrow morning.”
