Murder in a Good Cause
Page 26
Harriet shook her head. “But why would he want to kill Clara?”
“He was embezzling from her,” said Sanders. “Or at least that’s what the accountants are finding. One of those quick-in, quick-out schemes that’s supposed to net a huge amount of money before the auditors come in.”
“But Clara twigged?” said Harriet. Sanders nodded. “She was awfully shrewd, you know. Not one of your sweet, confused little widows; not by a long shot.”
“And called in her accountant. That wasn’t the only scam Whitelaw was running, either. There was artwork moving in and out of that apartment faster than apples in a fruit store. They haven’t figured out yet whether it’s fake or stolen. Mostly fake, they think. He’d been doing that for two or three years, apparently. He simply fit the stuff that Esteban gave him right into his network for disposing of paintings. Just increased his volume a bit.”
“Have they caught Esteban?” asked Harriet.
Sanders shook his head. “The Spanish are positive that neither Esteban nor his sidekick went back to Spain. They’ve suggested that they’re probably hiding out in Brazil or Argentina with a lot of other fugitive members of ETA. I don’t suppose we’ll ever see them again.” He shrugged. “But thanks to Paul the gardener, Carlos Ramirez aka Garcia, aka Ugalde, was picked up in Arizona this morning. Behind the counter of a store his mother owns that sells antiques and Indian artifacts and stuff like that. Esteban must really have hated him. And Walker.”
“Well, why wouldn’t he? They ruined his chances to raise money for his cause, after all. I sort of liked Esteban, or whatever his name is.”
“You would,” said Sanders. “But I wouldn’t count on Esteban not having that money, you know. We’ve traced a lot of the stolen merchandise. Some very valuable stuff was sold over the summer and the money transferred up here. Someone has the cash, and as far as we can tell, it isn’t Whitelaw. Maybe Esteban just stuffed it in an old pair of gardening gloves.”
“And took it back to Spain,” said Harriet triumphantly. “Where the Spanish authorities aren’t looking for him because they don’t want to believe he could get into the country without anyone knowing about it.”
“Harriet,” said Sanders, picking up her hand from the table where it was lying. She looked up. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Here?” she said, looking around the small restaurant where they were having their late lunch. “I haven’t eaten yet. I’m hungry.”
“No, you irritating woman, out of the city. Let’s go down to the coast. It’s September. It’ll be beautiful. You can even take pictures if you like, and I’ll carry the equipment.”
“Cape Cod would be nice,” she said. “But I’ll need two days to finish off that assignment in Orillia.” She turned her face away from him and stared out the window. “Actually, John . . .” She looked back.
“Yes?” He tried to keep his voice light and unconcerned while he braced himself for the inevitable excuses.
“Do you like islands? And ferries? I have a passion for them, you know. Why don’t we go to Martha’s Vineyard? There are gorgeous old houses there, and all the summer people will have left. It sounds—”
“Two days?” The sunshine seemed to gather itself into a giddy golden bath inside the drab little room. “That should give me time to pack,” he said casually. “What would you like for dessert? The pie looks good.”
About the Author
Medora Sale is the author of the acclaimed John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries mystery series, set in contemporary Toronto, and under the name Caroline Roe, of The Isaac Chronicles, a series of historical mysteries. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Sale’s interest in criminal justice was roused by her father, a lawyer and engineer involved in weaponry and criminal justice, who served as an official in the court system. Sale is a graduate of the Centre for Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto, is a past president of Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Canada, and won the Arthur Ellis Award for best first novel for Murder on the Run, the first title in the John Sanders/Harriet Jeffries mystery series.
Copyright
Murder in a Good Cause © 1990 Medora Sale
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EPub Edition March 2015 ISBN: 9781443443760
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Originally published by Macmillan Publishing Company in 1990. First published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in this ePub edition in 2015.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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