Chief Burke sighed.
“Chief Featherstone was dragging his heels on doing the inspection,” he said. “Because he knew this was the worst possible time for Trinity to have to deal with a major basement cleanup. But after the fire, he couldn’t very well look the other way.”
“Blast,” I said. “How soon is he doing his inspection?”
“He and Reverend Smith are down there as we speak,” the chief said. “I gather he’s giving Trinity a week to resolve the problem before he has to close you down.”
“A week!”
“I know it’s not very long—”
“On the contrary, it’s more than enough time.” I suspected Mother and Robyn would try to enlist me to deal with the problem, and I already had some ideas. My fingers were itching to pull out my notebook and start a page for the project.
“But wait,” I said. “How can Chief Featherstone expect us to deal with the basement when the whole building’s still a crime scene?”
“It won’t be in a few minutes,” the chief said.
“That’s good,” I said.
“Nice to see someone happy.” He was frowning and staring into space.
“If I wasn’t afraid you’d think I was prying, I’d ask how your investigation was going,” I said.
“Very oddly,” he said. “I have to confess, it’s not often I get to interview someone just before he becomes a murder victim.”
“You were investigating Mr. Vess?”
“I said interviewing, but yes,” he said. “I know you assumed I was ignoring the information you gave me—”
“That Ronnie and Caleb didn’t pull the duck prank—”
“But I did listen. And I wasn’t focusing only on the boys. Mr. Vess also seemed a credible suspect for the duck theft.”
I nodded. He seemed to be talking to himself as much as to me.
“It’s a little hard to figure out the motive for such a peculiar prank,” he said. “But he certainly had means and opportunity. And it’s difficult to imagine anyone else getting away with it without Mr. Vess noticing.”
“Yes,” I said. “From his back windows, he’d have had a grandstand view.”
“And last night was a cloudless night with a half-moon,” the chief said.
“And it must have taken quite a while to load all those ducks,” I said. “And caused considerable commotion.”
“Yes.” The chief nodded. “Mr. Vess’s unfortunate demise does nothing to prove or disprove the possibility that he committed the duck prank. But there’s also the possibility that he witnessed the theft of the ducks and was killed because he was trying to confront—or even blackmail—the persons responsible.”
“Persons,” I said. “Are we back to suspecting Caleb and Ronnie?”
“Not necessarily,” he said. “But they’re not out of the woods. Their fingerprints were on the half-empty beer bottles near the campfire at Temple Beth-El. And we found two more bottles near Trinity. No fingerprints, but same brand.”
“And they’re the only underage drinkers in town who favor Gwent Pale?” I asked.
The chief nodded as if conceding the point.
“They are, however, the only underage drinkers already known to be responsible for some of this week’s unfortunate events,” the chief said.
“So you think Mr. Vess was blackmailing them?” I asked.
“Or perhaps he caught them in the act of staging another prank,” the chief said.
“Or someone is trying to frame them,” I said. “But why?”
“I have no idea,” the chief said. “Not yet, anyway.” He was staring at his notebook.
“Is that it?” I asked, after a minute or so.
“Is what it?”
“You said you wanted to talk to me,” I reminded him. “Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No.” He sat up straighter in his chair, turned a few pages in his notebook, then looked back up at me. “Is Trinity thinking of hiring Jerome Lightfoot away from the New Life Baptist Church?” he asked.
Chapter 33
I blinked for a moment in surprise.
“Not even on the list of questions I thought you’d be asking,” I said. “Not that I know of. And if anyone at Trinity had been thinking of it, I should think watching Lightfoot in action over the last several days would have made them think better of the notion. No, don’t start thinking the New Life Baptist Church can get rid of him by pawning him off on us. It’s not that easy.”
The chief smiled slightly. Then his face turned somber.