I considered it a benefit that only about half the units were rented. The slow pace of business had forced the landlord to postpone his plans to erect a second, third, and fourth tier of bins atop the original tier. Given his reputation for shoddy construction, I hoped we wouldn’t need a bin by the time the upper tiers rose and then inevitably collapsed.
Or by the time the owner realized that a few well-placed sparks could turn his sagging business into a lucrative insurance claim.
But in the meantime, it was just what we needed for our temporary overflow.
And probably just what Gordon needed to hide any number of valuable assets from the covetous Carol.
“No one here,” Michael said, as we pulled up.
“That’s good,” I said. “Let’s find someplace to hide the car.”
“There’s an old dirt road that goes down by the river,” Michael said, “popular with the more wayward students as a lover’s lane.”
“That should work as a hiding place,” I said. “And you know about this lover’s lane because … ?”
“Prudish members of the administration periodically try to make being caught there punishable by expulsion,” he said, with a grin. “Forcing wild-eyed radicals like me to battle these encroaching forces of repression.”
“Now I know why you’re so popular with the students,” I said. “And if we run into any of your wayward students?”
“On Sunday night?” he said. “They’ll all be home trying to do their Monday class assignments at the last minute.”
“It’s been a few years since you were student, hasn’t it?” I said, with a laugh.
“Not that long,” he said. “So if we run into anyone, just do your best to look furtive and disheveled. In fact, now that they’ve cleaned it up, I heard Caerphilly Creek is quite lovely by moonlight. If we have time before Carol arrives …”
“Perhaps after we deal with Carol,” I said.
He pulled the car off the lane at a picturesque spot where the creek widened and deepened into a tree-shaded pool that made me wish momentarily that it was still summer and warm enough for skinny-dipping. Then I focused back on the task at hand.
I grabbed my key ring, in case the key to our bin proved useful, and a flashlight, since the sky was not only moonless but rapidly clouding over. We both had our cell phones, of course, in case we wanted to report Carol, though I hoped we could pick her brain first. We crept back up the lane to the Spare Attic and found a place to hide behind an abandoned Dumpster.
“So why are we after Carol,” Michael asked, in a whisper, once we were settled. “And why do we expect her to show up here?”
I brought him up to date on my day’s snooping, as he called it.
“Incredible,” he said. “Three people wander into a crime scene and can think of nothing better to do than mess it up. No wonder the chief’s having a hard time getting to the truth.”
“Well, I don’t think the Hummel lady realized it was a crime scene,” I said.
“No, but Ralph Endicott and Arnold Schmidt did,” he said. “And how do we know any of them are telling the truth?”
“We know the Hummel lady is telling the truth because of Schmidt,” I said. “And what Endicott said validates Schmidt’s story.”
“And makes Carol look like a murderer,” he said.
“Unless Endicott’s lying.”
“True,” he said. “And if you ask me, we should keep looking at Endicott. His story’s rather suspicious, isn’t it? Being harassed by Gordon’s creditors doesn’t sound like much of a motive for murder, does it?”
“You suspect him because he doesn’t have much of a motive?”
“I suspect him because even though he doesn’t have much of a motive, he still hid the body. I think there’s more going on that we don’t know about.”
“Sorry,” I said. “That’s all I could find out.”
“Hey, you did better then Chief Burke.”
“Still, we remain suspicious of Endicott until we find out whether Carol’s story validates or contradicts his.”
“And if her story contradicts his, how do we decide who to believe?”
“I’ll worry about that when we get there,” I said. “First we have to find Carol.”
“And what if Carol points the finger at yet another of our yard sale customers?”
“Then we’ll hunt them down next,” I said. “And badger them until we have the truth.”
Just then we heard a car approaching. We drew back behind the Dumpster and watched as a battered Toyota Corolla crawled slowly across the parking lot and disappeared down the dirt lane.