Murder 101: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Decker/Lazarus Novels Book 22)

by Kellerman, Faye

  Sobel nodded. “Thanks for coming down, Max.”

  “Oh please, Ken. You know I’d be insulted if you asked anyone else.” Stewart looked at Decker and McAdams. “We’ll get that list for you. I’m sure we won’t think of everyone, but as names pop up, we’ll send them off to you.”

  “Thanks,” Decker said. “And I don’t care how long it is. A long list isn’t as big a problem as no list at all.”

  Sobel nodded and slid into the driver’s seat. Stewart sat in the backseat, with an arm placed skillfully over his glass charges. They drove off in a wisp of exhaust, tooled up for the long ride back to civilization.

  Pellman said, “I’m gonna put the ladders away.”

  “That’s fine,” Decker said. “Thanks for all your help.”

  “Do you think that Mr. Sobel suspects me?”

  “No, he’s just upset.” Decker patted his shoulder. “We’ll talk to you later.”

  The men walked back to the car. McAdams put the key into the ignition, turned on the motor, and headed back to the station house less than five minutes away. “What now? I’m sure you have many ideas bouncing around in that predementia brain of yours.”

  “A few. I’d love to hear what you’re thinking.”

  “Age before beauty.”

  Decker said, “This is the drill. We bounce ideas off each other. I say something, you say something. There is no right or wrong. So it’s okay to say stupid things.”

  “That’s never been my problem, Old Man.”

  Decker smiled. “No thief would go through all that rigmarole to keep the panels for himself. He had a fence or he was hired for a buyer. If it was a buyer, he probably wants all four panels before he shells out money. I’m sure our thief is going to return and try to steal the other panels. So that means surveillance.”

  “You mean like monitor cameras on the crypt’s door?”

  “No, I mean like a guy sitting in a hidden place waiting from the thief to return and arresting him.”

  “It’s an open area. Where could we park a car so it wouldn’t be noticed?”

  “He’s going to come at night so that gives us some cover,” Decker said.

  “We’re going to sit here all night, every night until we catch a thief that may or may not show up, take one look at the lone car, and hightail it out of here?”

  The kid had a point. “Maybe we could do it with cameras linked up to a surveillance van parked elsewhere. Or I’m only a mile away. I could actually just do this from home.”

  “And where do you propose we’d find the technology in rural little Greenbury?”

  “You’re the techno guy. You tell me.”

  McAdams frowned. “I suppose we can stick a camera in a strategic place and link it up to a tablet or smartphone, Eagle Eye or some system like that.”

  “That would work for me. We could rotate the watches of the laptop at night between the five of us detectives.”

  McAdams said, “Do you really think the thief would return to the crypt knowing that the cops are onto him?”

  “Why would he think we’re onto him?”

  “What if the thief saw all the commotion that went on this afternoon?”

  “Did you spot anyone nosing around?”

  “Not really, but I wasn’t looking. What about you?”

  “I checked around several times. I didn’t notice anyone watching.”

  “Maybe no one was watching us on the streets. But I’m betting that a few of the neighbors pulled back their curtains to see what was going on.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right about that. And that leads me to another thought. If we start asking questions locally, eventually the local paper will find out. So will everyone else, including the thief—if he’s local. This is a very small town.”

  “So I repeat. What’s next?”

  “Not doing surveillance would be negligent. Let’s do something before the case blows wide open. Could you help me hook up a camera?”

  “Who’s gonna pay for this?”

  “I’ll ask Mike. It’s something that’s handy to have.”

  “And if Mike says no?”

  “I’ll pay. These things aren’t that expensive even for an old retiree like myself. Of course, if some rich kid with gold watches wants to pitch in, I won’t object.”

  Despite himself, McAdams smiled. “Maybe that can be arranged.” He pulled into the station’s parking lot. “Okay. Happy hunting. And what do I do while you’re out there making suspect lists and checking them twice? Practice shooting jelly beans out my nose?”

  “Can you really do that?” McAdams rolled his eyes and Decker said, “Think about it, McAdams. You tell me. What useful things could you do?”

  “Quit this job and do something that will exploit my many talents?”

  “Does that include law school?”

  A pause. “Eventually.”

  “How about if you look up past crimes of cemetery theft? If nothing shows up nearby, branch out using Greenbury as the center of the circle. Lots of fancy mausoleums in the area. I’m sure this has happened before.”

  McAdams sighed. “Fine.”

  “Too exhausting for you, Harvard?”

  “I just think it’s stupid.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because we both think it’s a professional theft, especially because the original panels were replaced with forgeries. The probability of finding those stolen panels is very low. It’s a lot of effort for very little or no outcome.”

  Decker shook his head. “Man, you really are in the wrong field. What the hell were you thinking when you signed up?”

  McAdams gave the questions some serious thought. “My main motivation for taking this job was pissing on my father’s expectations. He is really into my going to Harvard Law. Stalling a couple of years is making him nervous and that makes me happy.”

  “So here’s the deal.” Decker put his hand on the kid’s shoulder. “I can handle this all by my lonesome. So if you want to just fart around, I’m okay with that. No one will have to know. You tell me, Tyler. What do you want to do—if anything?”

  “I know I’m acting like a dick.” McAdams rubbed his forehead. “I am a dick. I don’t like being a dick, but I don’t know how not to be a dick. I guess being a dick is better than being a tool. Although I guess I’m kind of a tool, too.” He looked up at Decker. “Some people just don’t have winning ways.”

  “Do you know how many different and difficult personalities I’ve had to work with over the years?” When McAdams didn’t answer, Decker said, “Yes, you’re a little obnoxious, but nothing I haven’t seen before. Besides, I don’t care about personalities. I just care about getting the job done and I need to organize my time. In or out?”

  “If it would be useful to you, I will look up art thefts on the Internet.”

  “It would save me time so, yes, it would be useful. And while you’re on the computer, find out what you can about Tiffany and, specifically, those panels. See if they were ever mentioned in any book or loaned to a museum for a traveling exhibition.”

  “I’m not sure I can do all that with just a laptop.”

  “It’s called research. You never wrote a term paper in college?”

  “I had all of Widener at my disposal.”

  “There are five colleges about a mile away that are highly regarded. I know they have libraries.”

  “You know if I start doing that, word might get around that I’m researching Tiffany and grave robberies.”

  “I’m not too concerned about that, Harvard. You’re town, they’re gown. Never the twain shall meet.”

  CHAPTER 5

  WAN AND OUT of breath, he forced himself to walk calmly down the hallway, knocking on her door instead of banging. As soon as Angeline answered, she took one look at him and asked wh
at was wrong. He came in and gently shut the door. Then he began to pace: hard to do in her tiny one-bedroom apartment.

  “What?” she asked. “Tell me!”

  Panic in her voice. He managed to get it out. “They’re onto us. They know about your forgeries.”

  Angeline felt her heart race. “My forgeries? Our forgeries, okay.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Not whatever. This is a partnership.” She rubbed her forehead. “Oh my God, are you sure?”

  “Yes.” More pacing. “That fucking lock. I knew it was too cold to go out. I knew that there was a chance that the metal would freeze and the key would break off.”

  “So why did you go out?”

  “I figured it was so cold that no one else would be out and I could work without being bothered.” He knocked his fist against his head. “Shit! I’m so damn stupid! Wasting all this energy and time and risk for something so insignificant. Serves me right for being greedy!”

  Yes, he was greedy, but her main concern was calming him down. His voice was getting louder and louder. She put her finger to his lips and spoke in low tones. “It’s like one in the afternoon. Let’s sit down and maybe we can work out a plan.”

  “That’s it! No more. I can’t take the chance any longer. Not when such big things are at stake.”

  Angeline tried to take his hand but he pulled it away. She said, “Sit down and let’s talk.”

  Eventually he plopped down on her futon. She sat down next to him, putting her hand on his knee, hoping to make him feel a little bit more relaxed. “Are you sure they know about us?”

  “Positive.”

  “Your client told you this?”

  “No, he doesn’t know anything about this, thank God for that. I just saw them today at the graveyard at the Bergman mausoleum around an hour ago. I saw the dumbfuck watchman talking to Ken Sobel and his son or son-in-law. It’s not good, Angeline. We have to stop.”

  Not as dumbfuck as you thought. “I guess if you change out the locks and the watchman does his job, discovery was a possible outcome.”

  “I was going to replace it back with the original. It took me a while to get the fragment out. I couldn’t exactly take it to a locksmith.”

  “That’s true.” Angeline took a deep breath and let it out. “When you say they’re onto us . . . do you mean us . . . or the forgeries?”

  He looked up. “The family knows about the forgeries . . . I’m not positive about us.” A pause. “I’m sure they don’t know about us. If they did know, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “So there you go.” Angeline felt calmer.

  “They can link me to the forgeries if they know my client. But I don’t see how that would be possible. You don’t even know my client. Unless . . .”

  “What?” He always did that. Calm her down to make her nervous again. “Unless what?”

  “You have the stained glass that was used in the forgeries. So . . . we need to get rid of the glass.”

  “Right.” She smiled. “You’re thinking more clearly than I am.”

  “And we should do that immediately.”

  “Okay. So why don’t you grab a beer from the fridge and catch your breath and let me pack up my leftover crap. You think about where we should hide the stuff until things cool down.”

  “I’m not going to hide it. I’ll dump it when I go back up north.”

  “No way. It’s top-quality glass and I still have over a thousand dollars’ worth of material. I’m not throwing it away.”

  “It’s not wise to hang on to it, Angeline.”

  “Just . . . chill.” She got up and looked at him. Slim, dark, sultry, brilliant, a little bad boy, a little evil and a great fuck. “Think about a plausible story so if the cops pay me a visit, I don’t sound like a moron.”

  “Why would they visit you?”

  “Because they’ll probably talk to everyone in Littleton—me, my friends, my professors. We’re an art college remember?”

  “The cops don’t touch the colleges, Angeline. Upstate owns this town.”

  He was right about that. Whenever student shit spilled into Greenbury, the colleges called up the police and cleaned up the mess so mommy and daddy were none the wiser. “True, but just in case, we should plan something.”

  He was still in a very dark place but not nearly as panicked as he was a few minutes ago. As she started packing up the glass, he stood up and grabbed a beer from her minifridge. “If you think that there is any chance that the cops will talk to you and will somehow magically find out that you’ve done stained glass way back when, let’s get you some new glass altogether. So when they ask if they can have a sample of your glass, you can say sure.”

  “Great idea!” She walked over and threw her arms around his neck. “Now you’re thinking.”

  He gently extricated himself from her grip. “I’ll go check the Dumpster for empty boxes.”

  It took him a few minutes to find two big empty boxes. Since the apartment building housed a lot of students, the Dumpsters were always filled with discarded cartons from college kids ordering useless shit. She took the boxes and began the tedious job of wrapping up sheets of glass, one by one by one.

  He watched her as she worked, sipping his beer, thinking about how his client had specified paying once he had all four panels . . . which of course was no longer an option. Angeline’s artistic ability was fine when the panels were twelve feet off the ground. But it wasn’t good enough to fool a trained eye. He’d have to find a way to get to the original panels—impossible now—or find a craftsperson good enough to convince a dealer that the works were genuine. And if he commissioned any noteworthy artist to copy the window, he’d have to pay for all four of the panels, because any reputable glass person would ask him why he’d only want two of the four seasons. That would cost big time and in the end, it probably wasn’t worth it. When the big one went down, all the other jobs would seem like pocket change. He just needed to hold on and hold out. He wondered if he should tell his contact about the change of plans.

  When she finally finished up packing, she stood up and brushed off her jeans. “You can take it out to the car, but be careful. It’s breakable and heavy.”

  He hoisted the boxes and she followed him outside, watching him stow away the prettiest glass she had every worked with. It just broke her heart. She felt her eyes moisten.

  He closed the trunk and turned to her. “Don’t worry, beautiful.” He kissed her lips. “It’ll be okay.”

  “I’m just pissed.” Her voice was soft. “I actually loved copying those windows. I was really good at it.”

  Does the word delusional mean anything? He said, “I’ll hide the glass somewhere safe. I won’t even tell you about it. If you’re questioned by the cops, you can honestly be in the dark. When things cool off, you can get your glass back. You’re graduating in June anyway. You’ll leave this dump and no one will be the wiser.”

  “I can’t wait. I am so sick of small-town living. I can’t wait to go back to a real city.” Angeline kissed him passionately. “I want to be with you.”

  “I want to be with you, too. But we have to be patient.” Once inside, he whispered, “You know I’m just as vulnerable as you are, Angeline. I still have the two original panels.”

  She was flabbergasted. “You do? I thought you already sold them.”

  “The client didn’t want to pay me in installments. The truth is I think he has an overseas buyer who will only pay for all four works. So he didn’t want the responsibility of having any until we had all four to give him.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Need-to-know basis, Angeline. Especially now.”

  She was aware that he had several places to hide the stuff because he had given her keys—just in case. One bin she had even rented out for him. But as far as she knew, it was e
mpty. But maybe not.

  Need-to-know basis.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she told him.

  He kissed her again. “You know you are my girl.”

  “I sure hope so.” She broke away and sat on the futon, the cogs in her brain beginning to turn the wheels. She had spent almost all the money he had given her on her latest handbag. “Can’t we just sell the two panels we have?”

  “We can’t do anything right now.”

  “I know that. But maybe later.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we’re in the weeds. First we have to get ourselves out of this mess and then we can move on. In the meantime, we just shut up and deny.”

  “But, like, can’t we use the panels as leverage? Either your client buys them or we’ll get rid of them as we see fit.”

  He glared at her. “Are you being deliberately thick-headed? We can’t touch the Tiffanies. They are stolen, Angeline! The police know they’re stolen! Have patience and then when we’re thinking more clearly, the solution will be evident.”

  She nodded. “I guess you’re right. The panels aren’t going anywhere. I suppose somewhere down the line, we should be able to make a little money out of this.”

  “Exactly.” He could feel his mojo coming back “I’ve been doing this for a while, babe. Long before you came into the picture.”

  “Yadda, yadda, yadda.”

  He smiled. “You want to fuck before I go?”

  She hadn’t penciled in fucking. She still had a paper to finish up and she was going to meet a couple of friends later in the day and get shitfaced at Morse McKinley: the best parties, the nicest RAs and the most lax on booze. She looked at her watch. She supposed there was enough time to rip off a quick one. She shrugged, sat on her twin mattress, and began to undress.

  WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, a preliminary list from Ken Sobel had come through the station-house’s fax machine. Since most of the extended Bergman/Sobel family lived in Manhattan, Decker began to make preparations for an overnight into the city. That meant gearing up not only for the three-hour drive, but also packing a few gifts since he and Rina would be visiting the kids.