Clara stood up and with great effort squared her shoulders. “Please keep me informed.”
“I will.”
Newton watched her walk on wobbly legs to an old Ford coupe parked on the street. She got in the passenger side. Another woman who sat behind the wheel started it and slowly drove off.
“I checked the other offices. No one was around last night,” Ramos said as he joined Newton on the steps.
“And the wife doesn’t know anything,” Newton said.
Ramos lit a cigarette and blew gray smoke into the air. “And the crime scene looked clean to me.”
Newton nodded. “Someone was very careful with this murder, someone who doesn’t intend to get caught.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Reed – 2015
“You look stunning!” I said to Willie when she came out of the bedroom.
She had on a teal one-shoulder evening dress with a slit in the front of the skirt that we’d shopped for earlier in the day. Correction: she had shopped for it; I had been bored nearly to tears waiting for her to try on a seemingly endless supply of dresses. Once she’d picked out something, we’d gone to Darcy’s apartment. While Willie was getting ready, I’d scoped out the street. Once I’d assured myself that no one was watching for us, I’d darted across the street to the condo and grabbed my tuxedo, dress shoes, and a pair of heels for Willie. I had also made sure to get my Glock. I wished I’d had time to get my tuxedo tailored to accommodate a shoulder holster, but since that was out of the question, I’d grabbed my ankle holster. And finally, I’d brought along a small recorder.
“Thanks,” Willie said. “I’m glad Darcy didn’t mind me borrowing her makeup.”
“Here.” I handed her the heels.
She put them on and then smiled at me. “You look very handsome.”
I ran a hand over the sleeves of my jacket. “I haven’t worn this in forever.” I’d had the tux for a long time, but I hadn’t been to many events where I needed to wear one. “I’m just glad it still fits.”
She put a hand on my arm. “Are you ready?”
I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
We left Darcy’s apartment, walked downstairs and out a back entrance to the 4-Runner, which I’d parked in the alley behind the building. Then we headed to Genesee, a small community nestled in the foothills west of Denver.
***
We arrived at the Halloways’ palatial estate outside of Genesee half an hour later. I turned up a short road and through a wrought-iron gate that had “HH” on it. Just like the mansion Dewey visited, I thought.
I drove down a long lane that curved in front of the mansion and stopped behind a white limousine. A valet in a black uniform ran up and opened my car door.
“Welcome, sir,” he said. As I got out, he handed me a ticket and held out his hand for my keys. He didn’t look old enough to drive, and I nearly resisted giving him my keys. But, I told myself, if he was good enough for the Halloways, then that was good enough for me.
Another valet had helped Willie from the passenger side, and I joined her.
“Wow, I feel out of place already,” Willie whispered as she observed all the Mercedes, BMWs, and even a Rolls Royce that were parked farther down the lane. The 4-Runner definitely didn’t fit in. I knew what Dewey must have felt like in his old Plymouth as he visited the Powells, Beauchamps, and Halloways.
“Uh-huh,” I said. “This place is amazing.”
On one side of the drive was a huge lawn with a pond, which had a fountain in the middle of it. On the other side was the palatial Halloway mansion, a two-story red brick building that was more like a palace than a mansion.
“It’s over thirty thousand square feet and built in a neo-colonial style,” Willie said as we walked up a set of stone steps to the grand entrance. “There are more than fifty rooms.” She sounded like a tour guide.
“How do you know that?” I murmured, as I glanced at a marble statue of a woman with a harp near the door.
She smiled at me. “I was curious about this place, so I looked it up.”
Two butlers in tuxes greeted us at the door, and we stepped into a foyer that was twice the size of our condo. The walls were adorned with paintings and tapestries, and a grand staircase at the far end of the foyer led to the second floor balcony. At the top of the staircase was another marble statue.
“How’d you like to own this?” she asked.
“It’s a little too plain for me,” I said.
She smothered a laugh.
Guests milled about: the women, in particular, were stunning in all types of evening dresses, all of them expensive. Many of the men’s tuxedos were designer.
“Now what?” Willie murmured.
“I’m not really sure,” I said. “I need to find Rob and catch him by surprise.”
“Maybe there’s an office around here somewhere and you could find some evidence that would incriminate him.”
I looked at her askance. “I doubt it.”
She frowned. “Yeah, you’re right. That was a stupid suggestion. You could still look around and see what you turn up, and I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if anyone’s coming.”
“You make it sound like a James Bond movie.”
“It could be. You’re as dashing as he was.”
“Aren’t you sweet?” I kissed her cheek. “And you’re like all the beautiful women in those movies, rolled into one.”
She grinned and then said, “Stop flirting. We have work to do.”
“You started it.”
“Come on.”
I held her hand and we followed the crowd, which seemed to be moving down the foyer to the left. We passed through a dining room with oak-paneled walls and a chandelier that hung over a long, oval antique dining table. This led to a wide hallway and then to another large room; its purpose I couldn’t fathom. At the far end, multiple doors opened onto a beautiful garden where more people milled.
“Finding Rob will be like the proverbial needle in a haystack,” I said.
“How about we separate?” Willie suggested. “If I spot him, I’ll call you.”
“Okay,” I said, “but be careful.”
She let go of my hand and wandered off toward the garden doors. I watched her for a minute and then strolled across the room and through another hallway. I wandered through rooms, eventually finding the billiards room. A group was playing pool, and I would’ve been tempted to join had I not been on a mission. I couldn’t help but notice how nice the pool table was. Ace and Deuce would’ve been jealous, although they would not have liked the painted ceiling, which reminded me of the Sistine Chapel. I crossed to the other side of the room and through another hallway that was empty. I spotted another door, so I opened it and stepped inside.
I’d found the library. Three walls were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and I could tell that many of the volumes were very old. Against the far wall was a fireplace. A family crest was carved into the oak paneling above it. It was the kind of room I dreamed of. I moseyed farther into the room and let my eyes rove around. Leather couches and wingback chairs were strategically placed around the room. It would be easy to sit in here and read.
Bogie’s voice scared me out of my envious musings. I yanked my phone out of my pocket.
“Hey,” I said.
“I see him!” Willie whispered.
“Where?”
“He’s in a garden outside the ballroom.”
I looked around. I had no idea where I was. “Where the hell is that?”
“How should I know?” she said. “I walked through the garden and in through another door, then down a hallway that had all kinds of portraits in it. Then I took a right and I –”
“It’s okay,” I interrupted. “I’ll find it.”
“Hurry!”
“I’m on my way.”
I hung up and rushed back the way I’d come. Or I thought it was, but I never found the billiards room again.
What if you needed a bath
room, I thought. You could have an accident before you ever found it.
I finally stopped a gentleman in a tux – big surprise – and asked him where the ballroom was. He gave me subpar directions – or maybe he didn’t know either – and I had to ask two more people, but I finally arrived at the ballroom. I looked around but didn’t see Willie, so I wandered through the throng of guests. I finally spied her in the corner, next to yet another statue, this a replica of Michelangelo’s David. I hurried over.
“Really?” I jerked a thumb at the statue. “You had to hide out near the naked man?”
“Focus, Reed,” she said. “Halloway came in from the garden. He’s over there.” She nodded her head in the direction I was supposed to look. “Isn’t that him?”
I followed her gaze. I recognized Rob Halloway from his picture. He was standing near a large oak door. “That’s him.” Then I sucked in my breath.
“What?”
“Walt Cummings is with him.”
Walt leaned on a cane with one hand, and smoothed his pencil-thin mustache with the other. His tux hung a bit loosely on his frame, but he stood with squared shoulders, giving him a more formidable bearing. He was looking around the room and his eyes locked with mine. Then his face registered surprise as he grabbed Rob’s arm and said something. Rob looked in our direction and contemplated me warily.
“They recognize you,” Willie murmured, as if they could hear us.
I nodded. “I’m going to talk to them. If you see anyone who looks like security, call me.”
“Okay.” She let a breath out through her teeth. “Be careful.”
I shoved a hand in my pocket, turned the volume down on the phone so it would just vibrate, and turned on the recorder I’d brought. Then I squeezed Willie’s hand. “Here goes nothing.” I made my way through the crowd and up to Walt and Rob.
“That’s the guy,” Walt said to Rob. “That’s Fenton Hardy.”
Rob took a long moment to survey me, so I took my turn as well. He was good-looking, with steel gray hair, sharp eyes, and a small mouth that frowned at me. He wore a tux, just like all the other men, and yet, with his stately manner, he seemed to look a tad better than everyone else.
“No,” Rob replied to Walt, even as he looked me in the eye, “this is Reed Ferguson. He’s a private investigator.”
I nodded. “And how do you know that, unless you found my business card at Brad Webb’s house. And you’ve been following me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rob said. “I recognize you from the guest list.”
“Quite a feat since the invitation was changed from my parents to me just today,” I said.
Rob smiled. “I make it a point to know who will be attending this event.”
Good recovery, I thought. But his eyes betrayed him. He was lying.
“Is there something I can do for you?” Rob asked. “I have a lot of guests to attend to.”
I glanced around. “I understand you’re quite the art aficionado.” I raised my voice a little. “Your family has bought and sold a lot of pieces, right? Especially during the ’30s. You got a lot of stuff from Europe.”
A few guests had turned to listen in on our conversation.
Rob shifted nervously. “My grandfather had an interest in art.”
“Oh, I think it was more than interest,” I said. “It was an investment. He made quite a profit from his art sales.”
“I told you he knew,” Walt said with a shaky voice.
“Shut up.” Rob spoke through gritted teeth, a smile plastered on his face. He held up a hand. “Why don’t you step in here? I’d like to talk to you in private, Mr. Ferguson.”
“Some private time with the host,” I said. “I’m flattered.”
The smile remained, but anger flickered in Rob’s eyes. He opened the door and I walked into the room. Walt followed. Rob entered and shut the door. We were in another library, or maybe this one was an office. It had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a fireplace, and leather couches and chairs, just like the other library I’d been in, but this one had an enormous mahogany desk that faced the room and a round table in one corner. On it was an antique chess set.
Rob walked over to the desk and sat down. Walt made his way over and stood next to Rob. Rob gestured at one of the chairs that sat facing the desk.
“Sit down.” It was an order.
I sauntered over and sat down. “Your family had quite a scheme going on, didn’t they?” I started to cross my legs and then remembered the Glock in my ankle holster, so I stopped.
Rob continued to play dumb. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s not going to work,” I said. “I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Not everything, or you wouldn’t be here,” Rob said.
I shrugged.
“He doesn’t have any proof,” Walt said.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t bring you down,” I countered.
Rob remained silent, so I started talking, hoping to unsettle him. “Your family had quite a scheme, stealing from Jewish refugees.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rob said, but his face tightened.
“Yeah, you do. Your grandfather had Trevaine get visas to help Jewish families escape from the Nazis, and in the process, Trevaine was able to assess what valuables they had. He told Milner, who would turn up after Trevaine talked to the families. Milner would offer to help the families ship their valuables out of the country. Only you all sold the items,” I pointed to Walt, “using your dad as a fence, and made plenty of money.”
“Aren’t you the smart one?” Walt sneered.
I shook my head. “Not smart enough, because Floyd Powell threw me. I kept thinking he was involved with Earl Trevaine and John Milner, but he wasn’t, was he?”
Walt jumped in. “Powell screwed things up. The Halloways sold him a couple of pieces cheap, and he agreed he wouldn’t resell them.”
“But you helped Powell with that,” I said.
“Shut up, Walt!” Rob snapped.
Walt threw up his hands. “Oh, what’s the use? He knows.”
“I do,” I said. “Your grandfather killed Powell, right? He worried that Powell was going to let the secret out.”
Rob took a long time, and then he said, “My grandfather didn’t kill Powell.”
“He had someone do it, though,” I said. “They got Powell drunk, drove him out east of town and crashed his car. Made it look like an accident, and no one was the wiser.”
“Maybe,” Rob said.
“And when Dewey Webb got too close to figuring it out, your grandfather had him killed.” Rob started to protest, so I said, “Or he had a lackey kill him.” Rob’s eyes flicked away and then back to me. I was right again. “And when Sam Webb started asking questions,” I pointed a finger at him, “you had him killed.”
“Prove it,” Rob said.
“I don’t have to.” I waved a hand at the door. “I’m at a benefit with tons of rich, well-connected people who I’m sure would be interested to know the Halloway past.” I stood up. “I’ve been looking around your estate. You’ve got lots of beautiful artwork here. I wonder what the provenance of those pieces is. That’s a really interesting topic these days, what with people investigating art stolen during World War II. Can you prove where you got all those pieces? How about I go out there and start asking questions, and we’ll see what that stirs up.”
Rob’s hand disappeared into a desk drawer. “I don’t think so.” The hand emerged holding a small gun.
Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and a second later, the door opened and a big man in a dark suit appeared. He slipped inside and shut the door. I recognized him, too. It was the man who’d broken into Brad’s house and chased me out the window.
Rob glanced at the man and then eyed me carefully. “We’re going to have to do something about you.”
“It’ll be a pleasure,” the man in the suit said.
“Put your
hands where I can see them,” Rob ordered.
I held my hands up.
“Sit back down.”
I sat back down. I wondered how I could get to the Glock.
“Paul,” Rob said to the man in the suit. “We need to get rid of him and make it look like an accident. You can take him out –”
The door swung inward and hit Paul hard on the backside.
“Oh,” Willie said. She stumbled into Paul. “Hey, handsome, how about getting a beautiful woman a drink?”
I stared at Willie with my mouth open. Everything froze for a second as my mind raced. Did she see the gun in Rob’s hand? I had a flash of anger and worry about her, but then pride. She’d known something was wrong, and she was providing a distraction! My mind suddenly started operating again.
“Duck!” I yelled.
I bent down and snatched my Glock from the holster just as a shot rang out over my head. Willie fell into Paul in a mock faint. In true gentlemanly fashion, he grabbed her. Walt panicked and threw up his hands. In the process, his cane whacked Rob’s arm and the gun fell with a thud to the floor. I swung my gun up and aimed at Rob.
“Hold it right there,” I said in my best Bogie imitation. “Don’t make me shoot you.” I really didn’t want to, but I was prepared to.
A couple of men rushed into the room, followed by women who I assumed were their wives or dates. Behind them, more party guests congregated.
“We heard a shot,” one of the men said.
Then they all took in the scene.
“What in the world!” a women in a pink dress said.
“Call the police,” I said. I looked hard at Rob. I pulled out the recorder. “I have everything recorded.”
Rob paled.
“It’s over,” I said.
***
Hours later, I was sitting in my home office, still in my tux, with bow tie and cummerbund loosened. I was still wired, so I’d fixed a drink – hard liquor after the evening’s events – and was mulling things over.
Rob Halloway had finally realized he couldn’t escape, and one of the guests had called the police. Willie and I’d had to stay at the Halloway mansion long into the night, answering questions, and by the time we got home, Willie was exhausted and had gone to bed.
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