Hearts of Sand(41)

“Well, that’s interesting,” he said.

Mike Held and Jack Mann waited for him to go on. Officer Crone looked positively entranced.

“Sometimes,” Gregor told them, “you have to pay attention to the obvious. Can’t you see the obvious here?”

“Nothing about this case looks obvious to me,” Mike Held said. “That’s why you’re here. If you see something that tells you exactly who committed this crime and why they committed it, you ought to come right out and say so.”

“I don’t see who committed the crime,” Gregor said, “but I do see a circumstance that’s interesting. On the night of the murder, the alarm didn’t go off, and the security service wasn’t alerted.”

“No,” Jack Mann said.

“So,” Gregor said, “on the night of the murder, both Chapin Waring and at least one other person got into this house without setting off the alarm. It’s possible they got in from the sliding glass doors, which didn’t have the rods at that point, but even if they did, someone had to have entered the security code, or the alarm would have gone off. If Chapin Waring had a key to the house and the security code, then the other person or persons could be anybody at all. If she didn’t, then the other person or persons had to be among the people who did have those things.”

“How could Chapin Waring have the keys and the code when nobody had seen her for thirty years?” Jack Mann asked.

“We only have Caroline Holder’s word for it that nobody in the family had seen her sister for thirty years. She could be lying. Even if she isn’t, her sisters could be lying to her. There’s been nonstop Federal surveillance, and that would have made contact a lot harder, but it wouldn’t have made it impossible. And then we come to today.”

“What about today?” Mike Held asked.

“Today,” Gregor said, “either whoever came here didn’t have the security code but did have a key, or they had the security code but didn’t use it. Why would they not use it if they had it?”

“Maybe it was tourists,” Mike Held said.

“A tourist wouldn’t have had the key,” Gregor said. “No one would have the key but not the security codes, unless, as I said before, the key had been stolen. And no one could use the key without having the security codes.”

“I’m getting dizzy,” Officer Crone said.

“I’m getting dizzy, too,” Gregor said. “I can see why everybody around here wants to concentrate on a thirty-year-old crime. At least we know what happened in that one.”





TWO

1

The fourth call of the day from Jason Battlesea came through at just about three o’clock, and Evaline Veer almost didn’t take it.

She stared at the blinking light on her telephone and sighed. A part of her had never been happy at the idea of bringing Gregor Demarkian into this case. She’d never said that out loud, to anyone, but it was true.

She picked up the phone and punched the flashing button to get the line. She said “Yes” without giving out any other kind of information, on the assumption that Jason knew whom he’d called and recognized her voice.

Jason’s voice boomed out over the wire, loud and steady.

“Evie!” Jason said, “I’ve got another update for you! He wants to know about the keys!”

“Are you using a bullhorn?” she asked Jason. “You sound like you’re standing on Main Street, trying to disperse rioters.”

“I’m at the station,” Jason said just as loudly. “Hell, Evie, where would I be? I thought you’d like to know that he’s asking about the keys to the Waring house. If they’ve ever been changed. How often they’ve been changed. When was the last time they were changed.”

“Well, of course the keys have been changed,” Evaline said. “What does he think the Warings are, hillbilly hicks? As for the last time they were changed, I don’t know. Do you?”

“Yeah, it was back in January,” Jason Battlesea said. “Caroline Holder came over and gave us a set. I don’t know what prompted it that time. Sometimes I think that that woman has the locks changed on a random basis, you know, so nobody can get an idea.”

“That wouldn’t be stupid,” Evaline said. “Although God only knows who wants to get into that house now. Or did want to get in it before the murder. I blame it on the Internet.”

“He’s sitting in the conference room, going over the notes with Mike and Jack,” Jason said. “It’s a little depressing. I don’t know what I thought he’d do, but I guess I thought it would be something different from the usual.”