Diane’s gaze darted around the foyer. They were standing at the base of a winding staircase that led to the second floor. To the left, the room that was la beled PARLOR on her drawings looked to be a study— all dark wood and leather. The desk was covered with papers, and the wood filing cabinet was open. Several books were piled on chairs.
From where Diane stood, she could see into the living room. The drapes covered the windows and French doors. She saw no bloody footprints on the white marble. Too bad. Nothing’s ever easy.
‘‘Did you see anyone else?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘When did you get here?’’
‘‘Just a few minutes ago. And no, I didn’t see any one else,’’ said Garnett.
‘‘Why are you here?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Colin told me to come,’’ he said.
Colin looked startled. ‘‘No, I didn’t.’’
‘‘Your secretary sent me a text message to meet you here,’’ Garnett said. ‘‘On my cell phone.’’
‘‘My secretary doesn’t text. She’s against it,’’ said Colin. ‘‘Inexorably.’’
Diane frowned at Garnett. ‘‘Shouldn’t you be too experienced to fall for this?’’ she said. ‘‘Obviously someone set you up. Why didn’t you call Colin or me before you came?’’
‘‘I’m ashamed to say, it didn’t occur to me. I knew you were coming. I thought you wanted me to walk you through my visit here the other night,’’ said Garnett.
‘‘How did you get here?’’ said Diane. ‘‘Where’s your car? Where’s Peeks’ car?’’
There were so many questions running through her mind, and she wanted to get answers to most of them before the police arrived. But the sirens were getting louder.
‘‘The back way. That’s what the text said. It said, ‘Front locked, use back.’ My car’s parked behind Peeks’. His is in the small garage. Mine’s right be hind it.’’
‘‘No other cars?’’ asked Diane. She noticed Colin wasn’t stopping her. Probably decided the questions might be useful.
‘‘None,’’ he said.
‘‘This isn’t good,’’ said Diane. ‘‘How did you get in the house?’’
‘‘Through the garage into the kitchen. I called out. When no one answered, I came to open the front door for you to get in when you arrived. This is what I found.’’
‘‘The door was cracked a bit; did you do that?’’ she asked.
Garnett shook his head. ‘‘No. I stopped here when I found him.’’
Diane took a quick look at the body. He lay face down with one arm out to the side and the other one under his torso.
‘‘I’m going to see if he’s dead,’’ she said.
Diane knew he was dead, but she wanted to touch the body to see how long, and she wanted all of them to be able to state a reason when the police asked if they touched the body.
It was warm. Peeks hadn’t been dead long.
He wore a suit, good quality, and as far as she could tell with him sprawled out on the floor, it fit. She gently lifted his coat to see if his gun was there. It was. She saw the holster for his cell phone. It was empty. She wondered if he had it in his hand under his body.
Diane gently replaced the edge of his suit coat in its former position. She stood up and glanced at the corner of a fruitwood hall chest on which there sat a bust of Alexander the Great. Didn’t need Freud to figure that one out. The chest had fingerprint dust on one corner near the bust.
She wanted to go through the house, particularly the kitchen, but the house was a crime scene—again— and she knew better than to contaminate it. But she was tempted. Colin and Garnett stood quietly looking at her. She imagined they could read her mind, and she wasn’t sure they would stop her if she decided to go through the house. But she didn’t. It
‘‘Did you hear anything at all?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Nothing at all,’’ he said.
Diane heard sirens draw close, then abruptly stop. They were here. She turned to Colin. ‘‘When it’s re leased again, I want to go through the house.’’
He nodded. They waited as the police came through the door. The first person in was Curtis Crabtree. Diane guessed he was playing detective today. Behind him was Janice Warrick.
‘‘What happened?’’ Janice was the first to speak.
‘‘I need all of you to get out of my crime scene,’’ said Bryce.
‘‘Just a minute,’’ said Janice. ‘‘Right now it’s
Colin spoke up first. ‘‘We came here to walk through the crime scene, and this is what we found.’’
Diane noticed that Colin didn’t elaborate. Neither she nor Garnett said anything. But they couldn’t go with this story for long. Garnett and Janice made eye contact. She knew there was more. Diane looked at Bryce standing holding his case, doing a slow fume, then at Curtis. He had a smirk on his face as he looked from Garnett to Diane.
