The Gun Also Rises

by Sherry Harris

  I released a long breath. “I guess that would have been too easy.”

  Awesome nodded. “I’ll head back downstairs. The acting chief isn’t going to spend too much more man power on this search.”

  I watched his back as he left the room. Was there some emphasis on acting in Awesome’s voice? I knew the few officers I’d talked to were unhappy that my ex-husband CJ had left his job as a chief of police in Ellington and had taken a position in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. But it wasn’t my fault. No one had been more surprised than me.

  * * *

  It was just after ten when I went back to the other room in the attic and Awesome went back downstairs. My companions had made a lot of progress. Stella came over to me.

  “Is everything okay? I heard Awesome’s voice.” She kept her voice low.

  “It’s fine.” I hoped that was true. “I sort of suggested that maybe someone from the police department had taken the book.”

  “I’ll bet that went over well.”

  I shrugged. “It could have been worse.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  “A hidey-hole.”

  “Really? Anything interesting?”

  “If you like cobwebs. Awesome didn’t find anything else.”

  “Did you try? Nathan might not have been able to maneuver into the narrow corners. He’s got really big hands.”

  We grinned at each other.

  “I didn’t. Let’s get Ryne to keep our officer busy for a few minutes. We’ll sneak over and take another look.”

  “Hey, Ryne,” I called. “Didn’t you always love Trixie Belden books when you were a kid? Look at this one.”

  Ryne looked confused for a moment. Then he glanced over at the police officer. “I did love them.” He sauntered over to us. “I really loved them.” He lowered his voice. “You two look like you’re up to something.” Ryne tilted his head toward the officer. “He’s going to catch on if you look so guilty.” He took the book I was holding. “Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona was one of my very favorites. So very American.”

  “Can you create some kind of distraction so Stella and I can do something really quickly?” I asked softly.

  Ryne smirked. I think he remembered the diversion I’d created at an estate sale in May for my friend Carol. It was the day Ryne and I met. “Okay.”

  Ryne drifted back over to where he’d been working near the police officer. He shuffled books around, acted like he’d finished that box, and moved onto another one, closer to a corner. A minute later, he let out a little scream and grabbed the policeman’s arm.

  “What was that?” Ryne asked. He pointed dramatically to a box-filled corner.

  Stella and I didn’t stick around to find out. Ryne looked up as we left and shook his head. I heard his voice as we slipped into Kay’s room.

  “I think it was a rat,” he said in an excellent imitation of a scared elementary school boy. “Look over there.”

  Awesome and I had left the piece of wood off the hidey-hole, so Stella had her small, delicate hand searching the space seconds later.

  “I feel something,” she said. She scooted as close as she could and was up to her elbow in the hole. “It’s paper.”

  “Can you get it?” I asked.

  Her face turned pink as she strained. Then she slowly pulled her arm out. Between her two fingers was a four-by-four-piece of ivory paper with some flowery handwriting on it.

  “What is it?” I asked. Stella handed it to me. I stared down at it.

  “Ladies?”

  We turned, and the officer stood behind us, hands on his hips, glowering down at us. We scrambled up. He held out his hand for the paper, but I wasn’t about to give it up before reading it first.

  “‘Loaned to Sebastian Winthrop, one copy of The Sun Also Rises, ltd edition.’” Underneath there were two signatures, Sebastian’s and one by Harold Mervine. I handed the note to the officer. “Do you think Harold is related to Roger Mervine?” I asked after he read the note.

  The officer shrugged. “Just go back in there”—he pointed to the room we’d been working in—“and look for the book we’re supposed to be searching for.”

  * * *

  Stella and I traipsed back into the other attic room like two naughty children. We’d been scolded by the officer watching us and then by Awesome. He hadn’t appreciated it when I mentioned he should be thanking us for finding something instead of being miffed. Ryne rushed over to us.

  “Did you find anything?” Ryne asked.

  “Proof that the book was in the house at some point,” I said. I didn’t mention the name on the receipt, and neither did Stella. All of us renewed our efforts to search for the book. I found it hard to concentrate because I was so curious about what was going on downstairs. Awesome must be questioning Roger and Miss Belle. Would that I were a fly on the wall right then. But the officer now watched us as closely as a mother watches over a newborn.

  By noon, I was exhausted, and I’d just finished talking to the state police. I didn’t know if I could keep going. Stella and Ryne had left at eleven. Both had their own businesses or jobs to attend to. Even the officer who’d been assigned to me had disappeared. I could hear the occasional mummer of voices float up to the attic but couldn’t distinguish the words. I wanted to be in the thick of things. Instead, I felt as if I’d been banished to the hinterland.

  Awesome came up. “Ready for lunch?” He looked tired too. I stood and nodded.

  “Any luck?” he said as we walked downstairs.

  “I found a lot of interesting books that will sell well for the library. Miss Belle has every book written by Katherine Hall Page. Even her cookbook. She’s a local author who lives in Concord. Then, I found a whole bunch of Joanne Fluke books. There’s a Hallmark movie series based on her books.”

  Awesome didn’t look impressed.

  “And obviously, I didn’t find the book we’re all searching for or I’d have come to find you.”

  “I would hope so.” Awesome noticed my frown. “Sorry. I’ve seen things of a lot less value make people act stupidly.”

  “Thanks a lot.”

  “I’m not saying you’d do something stupid.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “No luck downstairs either.”

  “What about the receipt I found? What did Roger and Miss Belle say?”

  “I haven’t mentioned it yet. I’m keeping an eye on them to see if something else is going on here.”

  “That sounds smart.” I stopped at the top step that led to the main floor and faced Awesome. “If you don’t trust them, why did you let me stay with them last night?”

  “Not my best move. It didn’t really dawn on me until this morning that they could be trouble.”

  I felt a chill run up my spine.

  “You wouldn’t believe some of the characters I had to deal with when I was on the force in New York City. Sadly, people will do almost anything and find some way to justify it to themselves.”

  We headed down the last flight of stairs but paused in the foyer.

  “I slept closest to the door. If someone came in, I’d protect Miss Belle. If Roger or Miss Belle seemed like a threat, I was out of there first.”

  Awesome grinned. “Good thinking. Come on, Let’s go eat.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  We walked into the kitchen. Food was spread across the long kitchen island. Lobster salad, potato salad, lettuce, rolls, beautiful, deep red tomatoes, a bowl of chips, and a plate of cookies.

  “I made sweet tea if you’ d like some,” Miss Belle said.

  I filled my plate and poured myself a glass of sweet tea. I took a sip. I hoped the combination of sugar and caffeine would reenergize me. After everyone filled their plates, we sat at the table. We were down to Miss Belle, Roger, me, Awesome, and one other officer. Miss Belle looked tired and stressed. Roger looked shell-shocked. His white hair stuck up like a rooster’s comb. He ate methodically—filled a fork, food in mouth, chewed, and swallowed—but
he didn’t look as if he knew what he was doing. His eyes focused on some spot over my head, as if he imagined a distant future, or maybe, after yesterday, no future at all.

  I wondered what, if any, relationship he had to Harold Mervine. He finally looked at me, blinked a couple of times, and returned to the present.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I’ve been on the run and had a gun held to my head. Then shuffled around like a common criminal.” He shot an angry glance at Awesome. “Of course I’m not okay.”

  So, if Roger was a criminal, he didn’t lump himself in with the common, run-of-the-mill thieves, kidnappers, and murderers. Good to know. Awesome and the other cop seemed to ignore him as they passed food around and ate. But I could tell Awesome was listening intently.

  “Roger, you’re not the only one who has been traumatized in the last twenty-four hours,” Miss Belle reprimanded gently. She would have made an excellent teacher, with her soft-spoken voice that dared anyone to argue with her. I noticed she was just sipping her tea and pushing her food around on her plate. I, on the other hand, was shoveling it in as if I’d been on a forty-eight-hour fast.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so out of my element, I’m not even close to a periodic table.” Roger said it with a tired smile.

  “We all are,” Miss Belle said. “Sarah hasn’t been home since yesterday morning and was chased through the woods by a murderer.” The word came muh-der-er with the accent on the soft first syllable. With all that had gone on since, I’d almost forgotten that. I shivered internally at the memory. It also reminded me that I wore day-old clothes, and I wondered if I smelled. If so, everyone, including Stella, had been too polite to say anything.

  “I lead a simple life,” Roger said. “I buy books and sell them. My adventures come through reading or making a great find. I just want that life back.”

  I’d like my life back too, although I’m not even sure what that looked like anymore. Upheaval had become my new normal since I’d first left CJ when he was tossed off base over a year and a half ago. I’d been forced to move off Fitch but had chosen to stay in Ellington. I looked at Miss Belle and Roger. They didn’t even know about the receipt yet, a piece of paper that linked their two families, if Harold was indeed related in some way to Roger. Or did they know, and the superficial affection for each other was a thin layer of ice that covered a roiling, deep ocean of emotion. No one said much after that. I yawned and set off a string of them around the table. After we finished, Miss Belle stood.

  “I cannot keep my eyes open another minute. I’m sure Roger and Sarah could use a rest too.”

  Awesome looked us over. I’m not sure what he saw, but he gave a brief nod. “Okay. We break for an hour. But will you three stay here in the house, please?” He pointed to Roger, Miss Belle, and me.

  Roger huffed. “I have a business to run.”

  I wondered if he just wanted to run. Away. Far, far away. Awesome must wonder the same thing if he wanted us to stay here.

  “Can you just run your business by phone for the time being?” Awesome asked.

  “I haven’t committed any crimes.” He whined like a child who wanted something he couldn’t have.

  “No, but you were the victim of one. Someone was in your home and business. Think of this as protective custody. We haven’t found who killed Miss Belle’s maid or who attacked you. But if you don’t like it, you’re more than welcome to leave.”

  Roger deflated a bit at that. Searching for a book was vastly different from searching for a killer.

  “Roger, you can stay in the room across from Sarah,” Miss Belle said. They both stood. “And you can use the room you were supposed to stay in last night, Sarah.”

  I nodded and waited with Awesome while they left. The other cop stood and walked out too.

  “Are you going to stand outside his door and listen? Trace his calls? Or do you have some kind of device you can listen in from down here?”

  “You must need sleep. I’m not a CIA agent. I’m a cop.” But he stood when I did and followed me upstairs. I went into my room but left the door open a crack. Awesome went into the room next to Roger’s. Aha! He was suspicious too.

  I crept across the hall once Awesome was out of sight and pressed my ear to the door. I couldn’t hear anything. No movement, no voices, no snoring. But the doors were solid mahogany, so that might be why. And frankly, I was too tired to wait around to listen. I dragged myself back to my room and collapsed on the bed.

  * * *

  I jerked awake, startled to see Miss Belle beside me, poking my arm. “What? What is it?”

  “I’m sorry if I scared you. I just wanted to talk for a minute without anyone else around.”

  I rested on my elbows for a minute before I swung my legs over the bed. If I were a little kid, I’d be rubbing my eyes with the backs of my hands. I picked up my phone and glanced at it. Two o’clock. I’d only slept for an hour. Another eight would have been nice.

  “Okay. I’m awake. What is it you need?”

  “Officer Bossum said we were in protective custody.”

  I nodded, even though I didn’t think he meant it in the strictest sense of real protective custody.

  “Do you think he means that, or does he think we’re guilty and in cahoots?”

  I didn’t like being looped into the guilty party, but perhaps I could somehow work it to my advantage and find something out. I really wanted to find out if Harold Mervine was related to Roger too. I tried to look surprised.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what Awesome is thinking.” I paused and bit my lip, trying to act as if I hadn’t already thought all of this through. “You could be right. Maybe he thinks I knew all along. We faked your injury, Kay was supposed to hand off the manuscripts to Roger, but something went wrong. That this is all some wild cover story since Kay ended up dead.”

  I watched Miss Belle. Closely. As I went through all this. She pursed her lips and tugged on her bottom one as she listened. I didn’t know her well enough to figure out what she was thinking.

  “Or he thinks it’s Roger and me. That you were our pawn.”

  Miss Belle was astute.

  “Why would you even need me? It would make more sense to keep me out of it.”

  “But if you found something we didn’t know existed, getting it away from you quickly does make sense.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think it works. Why send me off after Kay?” Unless I was the one who was supposed to die out there. Or Kay and I both were. In fact, scary as it was, that made a great deal of sense. Then Roger could quietly have sold the manuscripts on the black market. Someone in his world probably knew the good and bad of selling immensely valuable books. He and Miss Belle could split the profits and no one would be the wiser. There were so many variables and possibilities at this point, I couldn’t figure anything out. It made my head ache.

  “I saw your face when I gave you the manuscripts. You were shocked.”

  “Maybe shocked you found them.”

  I tried to figure out why Miss Belle kept on like this. Maybe to convince me she was innocent, or maybe to convince me I was wrong in thinking she could be. With either scenario, I became more convinced that Miss Belle couldn’t have been in on the plot to steal the manuscripts and murder Kay. “If you knew I was coming to go through your things, you wouldn’t have left them where I would find them.”

  Miss Belle smiled. “Touché. Now I just hope you can convince Officer Bossum of that.”

  I smiled back. Miss Belle was a pro. “Before we go back to work, I have a few questions about Roger.”

  Miss Belle nodded. “I can understand that.”

  “How long have you known him?”

  “What seems like forever. Sebastian went to prep school with his older brother, Harold.”

  Neutral face, neutral face, don’t give anything away. I wanted to shout aha, but the information about the receipt wasn’t public knowledge yet. “Does Harold still live around here?” I aske
d.

  For once, my face must not have given anything away because Miss Belle didn’t look suspicious.

  She shook her head. “He died about the same time Sebastian did. At the time, he and Roger were business partners in the bookstore.”

  “Do they have other siblings?”

  “A sister. But I don’t think they were close.”

  “So not business partners?” A sister might have found a similar receipt somewhere. Maybe she knew about the limited edition of The Sun Also Rises and sent someone to get it back.

  “No. She didn’t like old books. They were too dusty for her. She was always a bit sickly.”

  A light knock on the door interrupted us. I went over and opened it. Awesome stood there.

  “Ready to get back to work?” he asked.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I worked steadily, with only one of the cops as my companion. I couldn’t decide if he was there for show or if Awesome really didn’t trust me. But many hands made light work, although none of this could actually be called light work. I threw open a humpbacked trunk that still had the original leather handles. The trunk appeared to be full of old scrapbooks. I dutifully lifted them out and stacked them beside me.

  I opened each one to make sure it wasn’t somehow concealing the book. On any other occasion, I’d have loved to go through them. I got glimpses of vintage postcards, train tickets, photos of women in elegant dresses who looked as if they’d stepped out of an episode of Downton Abbey. Pressed corsages and party invitations yellowed but neatly placed on the pages begged to be studied. But there was no time for that today.

  At four we took another break.

  “I’m leaving,” Roger said. “Unless you plan to arrest me.” He glared at Awesome with his eyebrows raised and his arms folded.

  “You’re free to go. I can advise you to stay, but I can’t make you.”

  Roger relaxed.

  “I’d like you to meet with a sketch artist if you can,” Awesome said.

  “Yes. Of course. I said I would.” Roger sneered out the words.

  Awesome handed Roger a card and told him to call a woman to set up an appointment.