“Well, if it’s no trouble,” he said. “I’ll take you up on that living room spot.”
I had the feeling he could be all kinds of trouble if he tried. His small, restless eyes barely met mine before taking off to examine every detail of the hall, and his fingers twitched slightly, as if he were already mentally composing some kind of sordid exposé. I hoped he knew nothing of Michael’s long-ago career as a soap opera heartthrob and his more recent stint as an evil but sexy wizard on a cult hit TV show. Not that there was anything wrong with the fact that, unlike many actors, he’d earned a living during his New York years, but the college was more easily embarrassed. For that matter, any number of my family members had colorful pasts—or presents—that I would rather not see turning up in the Star-Tribune.Why couldn’t the man have been stranded on the other side of that blasted fallen tree?
I waved him into the living room and was reaching to bolt the door when I heard a timid knock and opened it again.
Horace.
“Hey, Meg,” he said. “The chief still up?”
“In the dining room.”
Horace nodded and trudged toward the dining room. What was he so glum about?
A few moments later, Sammy came out and went into the living room. I tagged along. Clarence sat staring into the fire.
“Clarence?” Sammy said. “Chief wants to know if he can see you for a moment.”
“I’m not talking without my attorney,” Clarence said.
“He just wants to show you something.”
Clarence thought for a moment, then heaved himself to his feet and followed Sammy. I tagged along again, but hung back just inside the dining room door.
Horace and the chief were staring down at something on the table. I couldn’t see what without getting so close that the chief would notice me and kick me out.
“I’m not talking without my attorney,” Clarence repeated.
“You don’t have to talk,” the chief said. “I’m going to talk to you. Do you recognize those?”
He pointed to Horace, who picked up a set of keys in one latex-gloved hand.
Clarence peered, then shook his head, clearly puzzled.
“You don’t recognize them? Never seen them before in your life?”
Clarence tilted his head, perhaps sensing that there was a trap behind the words.
“Yeah, I know you’re not talking now,” the chief said. “But when we can finally get you and your attorney together, we’re doing to do some talking together. And you can explain to me how Ralph Doleson’s keys ended up in your motorcycle saddlebags.”
“What?” Clarence jumped to his feet. “That can’t be! I’ve—”
Then he remembered that he wasn’t talking and clamped his mouth shut. Clearly he was tempted, though. Points to Clarence, not only for smarts, but for self-control.
“How do you know they’re Doleson’s keys,” he asked finally.
“We suspected they might be, from this,” Horace said. With one gloved finger he singled out and held up a small metal disk with “RAD” engraved on it. “And several of them fit his apartment, his office, and the Spare Attic’s front door.”
“Someone could have put those in my saddlebags anytime,” Clarence pointed out. “The motorcycle was just sitting around parked at Meg and Michael’s house for hours before the parade, and then again for hours in town after the parade. And if I’d had his keys, why would we have broken into the Spare Attic? And—sorry. I’m not supposed to be talking.”
“You’re not forbidden to talk,” the chief said. “You’re just not required to. Of course, if you want to clear this up tonight. . . .”
“I’ll wait for my lawyer,” Clarence said.
“Tomorrow, then,” the chief went on. “Once you’ve talked to that blasted attorney of yours. In the meantime, I think we could all use some rest.”
Clarence, Horace, and Sammy shuffled out. I lingered and watched for a few moments as the chief gathered up his papers.
“Of course, now Clarence has all night to invent an innocent explanation for the keys being in his saddlebags,” I said.
He stood up.
“I prefer to think that he has all night to come to his senses and tell the truth,” he said. “You still have a room left for me?”
“Room at the inn? Of course.”
I led him up to Rob’s room, on the third floor. I could see Deputy Shiffley laying out a sleeping bag outside the door of a bedroom at the other end of the hall, so I deduced that Clarence had opted for privacy over warmth and taken refuge there. I wished them all a good night and went down to see what Michael was up to.