Page 94

“Blood and snow. We both are. We’ll get rid of the booties. Don’t worry.”

Good to know, but not really the point. Not that it mattered. Quinn was already in the bedroom. Andy heard the slide of hangers on clothes rungs.

“What are you doing?”

Quinn didn’t answer. Andy stepped inside the bedroom. His scalp prickled in horror. Quinn was dragging Mr. Whittaker’s body out of the closet.

“It’s a crime scene, Quinn. You can’t— We can’t—”

Quinn threw a curt, “Go wait downstairs,” over his shoulder.

Andy swallowed his nausea and stood silent, watching as Quinn searched Mr. Whittaker. His face in the blanched light of the moon was as blank as that of the corpse.

Quinn removed a wallet from the pocket of the dead man’s trousers. Black suit trousers. Had he just returned from the funeral when death had shown up a second time on his doorstep?

Quinn rifled through Whittaker’s wallet, ignoring the cash, but poring over each business card.

“Here we go.” He held up a card. Andy took it gingerly between gloved fingers and peered at the embossed script:

Bantam Imports

Holiday Treasures from Around the Globe

No address, but there was a phone number.

“Around the globe?” Andy read slowly. “I mean, it’s kind of obvious.”

“So’s murder,” Quinn said.

* * * * *

Finding a payphone was not what it used to be in the days of the Rover Boys and the Hardy Boys. However, Andy, using his cell phone, was able to locate one at a Dysart’s service station.

Snow was dusting down over the windshield and hood of their rental as Quinn returned to the car after phoning the police.

“That takes care of Mr. Whittaker.” Quinn was brisk and unsentimental as he settled behind the wheel.

“All those security cameras.” Andy was studying the station storefront. Until that morning, he’d always considered electronic surveillance a positive thing. “We have to get rid of the car.”

Quinn pushed back the snow-spotted hood of the sweatshirt he was wearing beneath his parka and half turned, facing Andy. “So, the thing about images on surveillance footage is you have to have something to match to the images. A gray sedan is just a starting point unless you already have a suspect who drives a gray sedan. Otherwise, it’s one sedan in a world full of sedans.”

“Yes, but the license plate—”

“I removed our license plates, so we’ve got a little breathing space before we dump the car.”

Once again, Andy opened his mouth, and once again Quinn anticipated his worry. “I don’t literally mean dump. That would bring unwanted attention. We’ll return the car and get another somewhere else.”

Andy attempted to match Quinn’s businesslike approach to the morning’s events. He motioned to the stack of ledgers on his lap. “I’m not seeing anything in these that indicates Uncle C. ever received snow globes from Whittaker’s Second Chances. He only purchased from them once this year. That suit of armor.”

While Andy had been upstairs, Quinn had gone through the Whittakers’ home office and removed the sales ledgers and purchase books from the last two years. Andy had been studying the ledgers by the light of his flashlight while Quinn made his phone calls.

Quinn nodded thoughtfully. “What about the other way around?”

“They purchased water globes from Time in a Bottle back in August. Uncle C. didn’t detailwhatthey purchased from him last year, but he did note purchases.”

“Can you make a guess from the amounts?”

“Not really. But the amounts aren’t huge. It could have been snow globes or water globes. It could have been books or trinkets.”