Body In The Belfry

Faith took Tom's hand, 'It couldn't have been easy, Tom. But somehow you managed to do it. All the awful things I've been thinking about Cindy dropped away and I felt terribly, terribly sad. She should be very grateful to you.'

“Thank you. I think the congregation is going to be fine, but it's a tough time.”

As they went through the back door into the kitchen, the phone rang.

“Probably more plaudits, darling. Why don't you get it?' Faith said, 'I'11 start lunch.”

Tom picked up the phone, listened, and exclaimed, 'Oh, no! Of course, I'll be right there. Have you called the police ? ' He listened again briefly, said good-bye and hung up. Faith was by his side in a flash.

“ What's happened ? “

Tom looked grim. ' Apparently while we were all in church taking in that uplifting sermon of mine, someone broke into the Moores' house and ransacked Cindy 's bedroom. Patricia is very upset and Robert asked me to come.”

Faith grabbed her coat. ' I'm coming too ! “

“I thought you might say that.”

4

They were at the Moores' in record time. They managed to disengage the seat belt from Benjamin's infant seat without waking him. Unpredictable as he was in almost everything, he could always be counted on to fall into a deep sleep at one in the afternoon. Faith thought it was Nature's way of evening up the score.

Tom carried the baby bucket with Benjamin up the front stairs, where they were momentarily halted by Patrolman Warren. It was no surprise. There must have been five or six police cars in the drive. Faith put her finger to her lips and pointed to Ben. Whether it was the sleeping baby or the memory of his earlier mistakes in judgment, Dale hurriedly opened the door and ushered them in. Patricia was waiting in the hall.

“Put Ben in the study, Faith, there's too much commotion upstairs. We'll be in the living room,' she said softly.

Faith walked into the living room just as Robert was finishing a sentence, '... never been broken into in its entire history. Such a violation ! '

“Do you have any idea what they were looking for ? Did Cindy keep cash or valuables around ? ' Tom asked. 'She had some good jewelry that belonged to her mother, but that 's at the bank. I suppose there were some other things of value, but nothing much, and I doubt she had any money. She seemed to think credit cards had replaced currency,' Robert answered.

“The police brought us her jewelry box a short while ago to see if anything was missing. It had been dumped out, but her pearls and a watch she wore when she dressed up were still there.' Patricia stopped, then spoke again in an anguished tone. 'Just think of all the other valuable things in the house, the silver, the rugs, the paintings ...' Patricia's face tightened as she catalogued her beloved possessions. 'Thank goodness we surprised them and they didn't get that far,' she added.

“But why start in Cindy's room ? ' Faith asked.

“ Exactly,' concurred Robert, 'We We have to asume it 's tied in with the murder, that there was something she had that would incriminate the murderer.”

Faith wondered how she could get upstairs and take a look at Cindy's room. The police were obviously going over it with a fine-tooth comb for fingerpints, stray hairs, distinctive buttons, calling cards. She was pretty sure from the way the chandelier shook that Dunne was up there.

It was going to have to be the old bathroom trick. She stood up and excused herself demurely.

Why don't you use the one upstairs, Faith ? ' Patricia never missed much.

The stairs and upper hail were carpeted with an oriental runner, so Faith was able to linger undetected for a moment outside Cindy's bedroom door. 'Ransack' had been a mild description. Detective Dunne, his back to her, stood in the center of a room that looked as if the Vikings had joined Attila the Hun to pay a call on the Sabine women. All the drawers were pulled out, the bed torn apart and the pillows slashed. Enough shoes for an Imelda were flung about the room, and pictures had been ripped from their frames. Faith was fascinated. From what she could see, it seemed Cindy had an entire mirrored wall of closets. She glanced at the ceiling. No. Robert and Patricia must have drawn the line somewhere.

She was just about to take a step nearer when John Dunne glanced in one of the mirrors and their eyes met in mutual annoyance. He turned abruptly, strode to the door in one step, and shut it.

Faith continued down the hall to the bathroom. She might as well use it as long as she was there ; it would give her time to think. It was possible that the Moores had interrupted the intruder before he or she had had a chance to find anything. This was certainly the thought behind Dunne 's thorough search. Faith doubted she would be asked to join the team, so she had to think of something else. Or someplace else She went back downstairs and stopped in the study to check Benjamin. He was sound asleep and looked cherubic. These were moments to treasure and recall when you were wiping baby cereal off your clothing.

Jenny was outside the door. She looked a little lost and more than a little angry.

Faith said sympathetically, ' I know. Cindy again. It is dreadful and shouldn't be happening.'

“She would have been very ticked off at the mess they made of her room, though,' Jenny said with some satisfaction.

Faith looked at Jenny and the tiny thought that had sprouted upstairs burst into bloom.

“Jenny, maybe what they're looking for was never in Cindy's room. This house must have dozens of hiding places. If they bothered to rip open picture frames, it must have been small. Can you think of any place she might have hidden something that size '1'

“Well, the maple secretary in the study has two secret drawers and so does a little lap desk that they used to take to sea long ago, but I doubt she would use these because we all knew about them. And besides Mom is always cleaning and she might find it.”

Jenny paused. ' If I were going to hide something, I think I'd put it in the playhouse, because no grown-ups ever go there and there are no little kids anymore.”

“Where is the playhouse ? '

“Down near the river. Do you want to go look?”

I thought you'd never ask, Faith thought as she replied, 'That sounds like a good idea.”

She ducked her head into the living room to tell Tom she was taking a walk with Jenny. He was discussing the funeral again with Patricia and Robert and she knew she wouldn't be missed.

It was beautiful outside and warm. They rustled along in the leaves down the long slope to the river. Nestled under the trees was a white playhouse, the kind every child dreams of having—a small porch in front and two child-sized rooms. There wasn't much in it—two chairs, a table, and a wooden play stove in one room ; some doll beds and a brightly painted chest of drawers full of dress-up clothes in the other.

The house was big enough for Faith to stand up in. She and Jenny systematically went through everything. Nothing. Faith reached up to feel on top of the wide, exposed ceiling beams.

Just over the door she found it. A tin box. She grabbed it and it came tumbling down with a crash. It was an old Louis Sherry candy box that had probably once held someone 's treasured mementos. Cindy 's collection spilled onto the floor. Jenny rushed to her side.

“What is it ? Do you think that's what they wanted ? ' Faith looked down at a bunch of photographs, a couple of joints, some cash, a matchbook or two, and some cocktail napkins. There was also a roll of film.

“Yes, Jenny, I think we can safely say this is what everyone is looking for. Could you run back to the house and have your parents tell the police what we've found ? I'll stay here. Tell them we haven 't touched a thing.' Jenny sped up the hill.

But looking is not touching. Faith crouched down as close as she could get to the contents without disturbing anything. She was the one who had found it, after all. And John Dunne didn 't seem the type to exchange boyish confidences.

Obviously it was the pictures. And they were hot enough to have melted the box. Cindy was evidently into porn—with herself as the star. The photos Faith could see completely featured Cindy in bed with different partners. It looked like Cindy had set the timer on the camera and raced back into position, unless there had been a third party to the fun. In some shots, the man was asleep, or exhausted. In others, the man was awake. Faith didn't recognize them. Some of the shots were close-ups. Unusual to collect snapshots of male organs you have known, but everyone has to have a hobby of some sort, Faith supposed. She didn't recognize any of those either.