by Cindy Bell
“And the man beside him?” she asked.
“That's his son, Gerald,” Louis nodded a little. “He's the one we're going to see today.”
“Are you sure that his name is Gerald?” she asked as she looked from the picture back to Louis.
“Of course I'm sure,” he said. He offered her a puzzled look. “Why do you ask?”
“Because he looks exactly like a man who checked into Dune House the same night that Warren Blasser did,” Suzie said gravely. “He said his name was John.”
“Are you serious?” Louis asked. “Do you think it was Gerald? Do you think he killed Warren?”
“I honestly don't know,” Suzie said with a slow shake of her head. “He checked out the next morning.”
“Well, we're going to see him, now,” Louis said hesitantly. “What do you think we should do?”
“I'm sure he'll recognize me if I go in there with you,” Suzie frowned. “I don't think you should be alone with him, Louis. He could be a killer.”
“I'm not afraid of Gerald,” Louis almost laughed. “Trust me, he's not intimidating at all.”
Suzie frowned. She knew that she had to let Louis make his own choices. She felt like she was getting a little too controlling.
“Just remember, even if he doesn't seem frightening, if he did this, then he is a murderer,” she reminded him.
“I really don't think he could kill anyone,” Louis shook his head. “But I'll be careful, I promise.”
“We'll take my car,” Suzie suggested.
“Fine,” Louis agreed and followed her out the door.
Chapter Eleven
Once Suzie and Louis were in the car Suzie felt a little awkward. She and Louis didn't know each other very well, yet she was taking a bit of a road trip with him. She backed down the driveway and started to drive down the street.
“No, it's the other way,” Louis insisted.
“Oops,” Suzie nodded and turned around to drive down the road in the opposite direction.
“I still can't believe that Gerald would do this,” Louis shook his head. “He was always such a sniveling kid. When he was a teenager I didn't think he was ever going to mature.”
“I can't believe I never considered him. He checked in before Warren though. Did you let him know that Warren was coming out to value the book?” Suzie asked.
Louis cringed and glanced over at her. “Oh no, I did,” he admitted sadly. “I called him, just to let him know that it was going to be inspected. It just seemed right to let him know. He asked me about the valuer and I assured him he was one of the best. Is this my fault?” he asked with a soft gasp.
“No,” Suzie said firmly. “The only one at fault here is the murderer who did this. It was not your fault, Louis,” Suzie said with sympathy in her voice. “But it also doesn't make sense, does it?” Suzie asked. “Why would Gerald go to all the trouble of murdering Warren when he didn't even have the book?”
“Maybe he didn't know,” Louis said quietly. “Maybe he thought that Warren had the book. Then when he didn't find it in his possession, he came looking for it at my house.”
“But why?” Suzie asked again. “Do you really think this could all be over simple jealousy?”
Louis sighed and leaned back in the seat. “I'm not terribly close with my family, what there is of it,” he explained quietly. “When it comes to a father and son, I don't think there is anything simple about jealousy. Maybe Gerald had more animosity towards me than I ever realized. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention to him.”
“Louis, again, you can't blame yourself,” Suzie insisted and turned down the street that Gerald's house was on. “I still think it isn't a good idea for you to go in there alone.”
“It might not be,” Louis admitted. “But I do think that this is partially my fault. Maybe if I had been kinder to Gerald none of this would have happened. I just want the chance to see him face to face, to talk to him about it.”
“I'll be right outside,” Suzie said and looked at him with concern. “If anything goes wrong, just shout for me.”
“And you'll come in blazing?” Louis asked with a laugh. He swept his gaze over Suzie's slender form.
“Don't underestimate me, Louis,” Suzie warned. “I've taken down much larger men when needed.”
“I feel safer already,” Louis said teasingly. Suzie opened her mouth to argue, but she changed her mind at the last moment. She didn't want to get involved in an argument when Louis was about to go into a dangerous situation. “I'll be fine,” he promised her before walking up the sidewalk towards the house. Louis paused in front of the front door and took a breath. Then he knocked firmly on the door. He stood there for a few minutes. Then he knocked firmly again. Louis glanced over his shoulder towards Suzie, who was still sitting in the car. Suzie looked around the driveway. There was a car parked in it, but maybe it was an extra car, or maybe Gerald had gone for a walk. Louis knocked one last time and then began walking back towards her. Suzie opened her door and stepped out of the car.
“I guess he isn't home,” Louis said with some disappointment.
“Maybe we should take a look through the windows,” Suzie suggested.
“Do you think he'd be foolish enough to leave the book laying out in plain sight?” Louis asked skeptically.
“Well, we're here, and he's not, it might be our only chance to sneak a peek,” Suzie pointed out. She began walking towards the house. Louis followed after her. Suzie walked up to the front window. There was a curtain drawn closed. She could see light filtering through. She tried to see through the narrow crack in the curtain but she couldn't make anything out.
“You go that way, I'll go this way,” she hissed at Louis. Louis nodded and began walking around the opposite side of the house. Suzie reached a window that appeared to look into a study. There were blinds hanging in the window, but they were open. She could clearly see a table with a laptop on it, and two books beside it. Suzie blinked a few times. She wondered if her blood pressure might have gotten a little too high. She felt as if she was seeing double. When she looked through the window again, she saw the identical books in the same position on a wooden desk.
“Louis!” she called out in a loud whisper. Louis had already walked around the side of the back of the house, he was walking towards Suzie.
“I thought you said that the book was one of a kind?” she asked as she looked over at Louis. Louis looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“It is one of a kind,” he said firmly. “Why?”
“Because I see two,” Suzie replied and pointed at the window. Louis walked quietly over. He peered through the window at the books on the desk.
“Oh no,” he moaned and shook his head. “Gerald must have had a copy made.”
“So, which one is real?” Suzie asked with confusion.
“I won’t know until I can look at them properly,” Louis said and shook his head. “I can't believe he did this.”
“We should call Jason and let him know what we found,” Suzie said. “Maybe it will be enough for him to get a warrant so he can search the house for evidence of the murder.”
“No, don't do that,” Louis said with urgency.
“What? Why?” Suzie asked.
“Because, if Gerald is tipped off that we know about the books he might get spooked and hide them. This might be my only chance to get my book back, Suzie,” he frowned. “I know it isn't right, but he stole it first.”
“What are you saying?” Suzie asked with concern.
“I'm saying I'm going to go in there and steal it back,” Louis explained and tried to open the window. He smiled a little when he found that it wasn't locked.
“Louis wait, you can't go in there alone,” Suzie said. Then she tilted her head towards the houses nearby. “Besides, someone might see you.”
“I didn't really think about that,” Louis sighed. “I'm not thinking about anything to be honest. I just want my book back.”
“I understa
nd,” Suzie said. “We might be able to use it as proof once we get it back,” she frowned. “It'll be dark soon, let's wait just a little while. If Gerald doesn't come home, then we'll go in and get the book.”
“Good plan,” Louis said. “Any chance you have something to eat in the car?” he asked hopefully. “I'm starving.”
“I have some granola bars,” Suzie nodded. When they returned to the car she handed him a granola bar, and then opened one for herself. As she took a bite of the granola bar a few pieces of it crumbled onto her lap. She brushed them away onto the floor of the car. When she did she recalled the pistachio shells that had been on the balcony. She also remembered that they hadn't found any kind of wrapper from the bag of pistachios. Not in the trash can, not on the balcony, not in the sand below. Her mind was lingering on this, when Louis lightly tapped the dashboard.
“I think it's dark enough now,” he said.
The sun had just set and there was still a glow in the sky, but Suzie agreed with him. If they waited much longer, Gerald might arrive home, and then their only chance of recovering the book and proving that he was the thief would be lost.
“Okay, let's do it,” Suzie agreed. They quietly crept out of the car. Gerald hadn't come home, so Suzie hoped they would have time to get into the house and back out with the book before he did. They moved stealthily around the side of the house. Suzie and Louis pushed up on the window together until it was high enough for them to crawl through. Suzie held the window up while Louis crawled in, then he did the same for her. Once they were both inside, Suzie turned towards the table where the books had been. Her heart dropped when she saw that the books and the computer were gone. Louis was staring at the same empty table.
“How is that possible?” he asked Suzie in a whisper.
“Maybe we came in the wrong room?” Suzie frowned. She knew that wasn't likely. This was the study she had been looking into earlier. Now it was skewed by darkness, but it was the same room. Suddenly she came to an uneasy realization. Before she could voice it, she heard a noise in the hallway. Then in the darkness, Suzie could see a light flick on underneath the door of the study.
“Louis,” she hissed. “Someone is in the hallway.”
Louis started moving towards the window they had crawled in, but he knocked over a lamp along the way. The lamp crashed to the floor.
Suzie froze. She was certain that they were about to get caught. She noticed a coat hanging on the hat rack a few feet from her. With nothing to lose, she ducked under the coat hoping that it would shield her. Louis dove down behind the couch.
“Who is in there?” Gerald demanded from the dark hallway.
Suzie cringed. This man was a potential murderer, at the very least a burglar. She held her breath as she waited to see if he would open the door to the study. As she expected, she heard the click of the knob being turned. She heard the creak of the door slowly swinging open. She could hide and wait for him to find her, or she could try to take him by surprise. She abruptly flung the coat off her and shouted, “We know what you did, Gerald!”
Gerald gasped and jumped backwards. The coat tangled around his feet, causing him to stumble. When he reached for the wall to catch himself he missed completely and fell backwards with a crash. Suzie and Louis started to run past him.
“Wait, wait please,” Gerald cried out from the floor. “My back,” he moaned.
Suzie slowed to a stop. Louis turned back to look at Gerald.
“See, I told you,” he said to Suzie. He sighed and reached down to offer Gerald a hand up. Suzie was not nearly as trusting. She stood back as she watched Louis help Gerald to his feet.
“Louis?” Gerald asked tearfully. “Why would you do this to me?”
“Why would I do this to you?” Louis said in exasperation. “You're the one that broke into my house and stole my book!”
“Are you also responsible for the murder of Warren Blasser?” Suzie asked.
“No!” Gerald said sternly. “All right listen,” he took a deep breath and then sighed. “I am guilty of one thing. When my father told me he intended to leave the book to you, Louis, I was jealous, and greedy. I wanted to keep it. So, I spoke to my contacts and I had a forger copy the book. I figured you would never know the difference as I knew you would never try to sell it, so I didn't see how anyone would get hurt,” he shook his head. “It was stupid, I know that now.”
“Then why did you pretend to be someone else when you stayed at Dune House?” Suzie demanded. “The very same place that Warren Blasser stayed at the same time and where he was killed.”
“Please no,” Gerald shook his head and looked pleadingly at Louis. “Let me explain,” he said quickly. “I didn't even know that man was staying there. When Louis told me that Warren was coming out to value the book, I freaked out. I knew that he would be able to tell that it was a fake. I called Larry, the guy I got to forge a copy. He told me that I better take care of the problem, that he had just been released from jail and he didn’t want to go back there. He said all I needed to do was switch the books if I didn't want to end up in jail. So, I stayed at Dune House and planned to break in to Louis' house that night. I was just going to switch the books, so that he would have the real one, and that would be the end of it. But I chickened out when I realized Warren was staying there as well. I called Larry again to tell him that it was too late, he said not to worry, and that he would take care of it. I thought that meant he would steal the book,” his eyes filled with tears as he shook his head. “You have to understand, I don't think like a criminal. When I found out that Warren was dead, I was really scared. I knew that it could all come back on me, especially if the book was found to be a fake. I tried to call Larry but he wouldn't answer. So, I broke into Louis' house to swap the books over.”
“Likely story,” Suzie said as she crossed her arms. “I almost believe you. Except for the fact that you have both books.”
“I didn't mean to,” Gerald gasped out. “I was going to switch them, but I heard a noise, and I panicked. I had put both books down on a table, and I couldn't tell which was real and which wasn't. My mind was spinning. So, I just grabbed both of them and took off.”
“Oh, Gerald,” Louis said and ran his fingertips across his forehead. “This is insane.”
“But it sounds true,” Suzie admitted as she shook her head. “So, you didn't kill Warren?”
“No!” Gerald nearly shouted. “I would never kill anyone! Here,” he said and walked over to a painting on the wall. He lifted the painting to reveal a safe. He opened the safe and took out the book.
“How do we know that it's the right one?” Louis asked skeptically.
“Check the stitching,” Suzie said. “Warren had it circled on the pictures that you sent him. Maybe he had already figured out it was a fake.”
Louis ran his fingertips along the spine of the book and then nodded. “You're right it is different. This is the real copy.”
“See?” Gerald said helplessly. “I screwed up, Louis, I'm not going to lie. I was expecting to inherit everything from my father. But I tried to fix things in the end.”
“So, that you wouldn't go to jail,” Louis accused.
“And with the help of a criminal, a good man ended up dead,” Suzie said.
“I know, I know,” Gerald said and hung his head. “When I saw you two knocking on the door earlier I was afraid you had figured out everything, that's why I pretended that I wasn't home. Are you going to call the police?”
Louis met Suzie's eyes.
“We should,” Suzie said.
“He recently lost his father,” Louis pointed out. “He didn't kill Warren.”
“But he still stole from you, and broke into your house…”
“Just like we just did,” Louis reminded her. “I think we should try to keep Gerald's name out of this as much as possible. It's what Richard would have wanted.”
“All right,” Suzie frowned. “But only if you give us all of the information that you h
ave about this forger you used.”
“All I know is his name and cell phone number,” he said and shook his head.
“What about places you met?” Suzie suggested. “Was there anywhere that you exchanged money or met to talk?”
“Yes,” Gerald nodded. “A dive bar, Smokies, on 5 and Terrace in Parish. We met there a few times,” he nodded. “The bartender seemed to know him fairly well, always got out some nuts for him when we arrived.”
“Okay good,” Suzie nodded. “We can keep your name out of this for now, Gerald, but I suggest you hire yourself a good lawyer.”
“Here's Larry’s number,” Gerald said and jotted down the phone number. “Please, please, believe me. I would never kill anyone.”
“I do believe you,” Louis said and shook his head. “Gerald, I know that your father taught you better than this.”
“I know he did,” Gerald nodded. “I know it. I'm going to try to do better by him.”
As they left Gerald's house it was hard for Suzie to resist calling Jason. She wanted him to know what had happened, and that there was even more reason to believe that Warren had indeed been murdered. But she had made an agreement with Louis about trying to keep Gerald out of it, and she wasn't going to back out on it.
“Let's find this bar,” Suzie said. “Do you have any idea how to get there?”
“Yes, it's not too far,” Louis said. “But do you really think he'll be there?”
“He thinks he's gotten away with murder, he has no reason to hide out,” Suzie frowned.
Chapter Twelve
Suzie and Louis drove towards Smokies. She took the directions that Louis gave her. Within twenty minutes they were outside of Smokies. As Suzie parked, something caught her eye. There was a dusty mustard colored car in the parking lot.
“Louis! That's the car I saw outside Dune House the night that Warren Blasser checked in,” Suzie said with excitement in her voice. “It must be Larry's car!”
“I don't think that there could be two cars that ugly,” Louis said as he frowned. They stepped inside the bar, which lived up to its name. It was filled with billowing smoke. Suzie scrunched up her nose. She was fairly certain that smoking was banned in most bars now, but that didn't seem to matter to the patrons at Smokies. Suzie walked up to the bar and glanced at the few customers that were seated on bar stools. She spotted one man steadily shelling nuts and popping them into his mouth.