Jan Burke - Bloodlines

O’Connor followed him down the long hallway, moving in the opposite direction of the baby’s room, almost to the other end of the house. He couldn’t help but think about the distance of the parents’ room from the baby’s room.

He had a different sort of shock when Norton showed him into the large master bedroom. In contrast to the nursery, the bedroom was pristine. Nothing out of place.

“Did the maid straighten up in here before she walked down the hall?”

“She swears she didn’t.”

“Did they never come home, then?” O’Connor asked.

Dan smiled. “Anyone ever tell you how Irish you sound when you’re upset?”

“Dan…”

“No, it doesn’t look as if they did. I brought the maid in here, and she says the room looks just the way she left it last night.”

He walked over to a door at the other side of the room and beckoned O’Connor to follow. O’Connor did, and found himself in the biggest closet he had ever seen in his life. Two sides held women’s clothing, a third, men’s. The fourth was set with drawers-full of gloves, socks, shoes, and accessories, Dan said. There was another door on the other side of the closet.

“I live in a place smaller than this,” O’Connor said.

“I’m glad to know the force still pays better than the paper. Anyway, I checked the laundry hamper there-nothing in it. I asked the maid, and she says no dress or shirt or any other item of clothing that the Ducanes wore on the night of the party is hanging up in here.”

They continued across the closet to a connecting door. Dan opened it. “Now, here’s why you shouldn’t live in a big house if you want to be happily married. The wife can move out on you without moving out.”

O’Connor could smell Katy’s favorite perfume even before he saw that this room was more feminine than the other. It was clearly more lived-in than the other. A hi-fi stood in one corner, a television in another. The bed was an old-fashioned canopy bed, with ruffles and frills abounding. To one side of it was a nightstand with books piled high on it, and a second bassinet. O’Connor found himself relieved that little Max Ducane was sometimes allowed in here with his mother, might have even slept near her at night. On the other side of the big bed, he saw a dog’s bed-almost as frilly as Katy’s bed.

“Where’s the dog?” O’Connor asked.

“Well, that’s a good question. Presumably, with Mrs. Ducane.”

“On a boat? I can’t believe that.” He thought for a moment. “Where’s Katy’s car?”

“Katy’s little roadster is parked at her in-laws’ place.”

“And the Ducanes’ car?”

“At the marina. Apparently Todd and Katy followed his parents to their place, then took off for the marina in the Ducanes’ car. Unlike the Linworths, the Ducanes drive themselves.”

“Which is a shame, or someone might have noticed their absence before Katy’s maid came back from San Diego.”

“True. The Ducanes have fewer servants than the Linworths, though. The cook-housekeeper isn’t live-in, and she only comes in Monday through Friday.”

“They keep to themselves and they hate to pay anyone a decent wage. Ask the people who work at Ducane Industries. If it hadn’t been for the war…”

“Cheap, huh?”

“You wouldn’t want to wait on their table. Cheap when it comes to labor, yes. But that doesn’t mean they don’t live well themselves. They’ll buy anything that pleases them.”

“Like a yacht.”

“Exactly.”

O’Connor looked around the room again. “Jack tells me Todd has a mistress.”

Norton’s brows went up. “Oh yeah? Well, I didn’t think they had this arrangement of bedroom furniture because he snores. Got a name for the mistress?”

“No. But Jack might be able to tell you more.”

“Knowing Handsome Jack, he was there before Todd.”

“Not so handsome now. He may need a new nickname.”

Norton shook his head. “He’ll charm them, no matter what condition that mug of his is in when the bandages come off.”

“Maybe so. So nothing else taken from the house? Just little Max?”

“Besides a woman’s life? No, nothing, as far as we can tell. Oh-I should probably mention, on the night of the party, Katy’s mother gave her some diamonds, a necklace, I guess, a family heirloom of the Vanderveers. No sign of that, either.”

“Where would she have put them?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is there a safe in the house? I just can’t picture her mother giving her diamonds without being sure that she had a secure place to keep them.”

“You know why I like you, Conn? You think of questions most of my fellow detectives don’t think of. Fortunately, I thought of that one. There’s one in the closet.”

“Behind some of the clothes?”

“Right. We got the combination to it from Lillian Linworth herself. She says only she and her daughter knew the combination. Said that Katy had it changed just this week. He smiled. “Mrs. Linworth is something else. Warned me she’d be changing it again.”

“So why are you looking in a safe at a private residence? When Katy comes back…”

“Her mother can tell her she was curious to see if the diamonds were put away before Katy got aboard the yacht. When Mrs. Linworth opened the safe and the diamonds weren’t in there, she said she was sure her daughter did not return to the house after leaving the party-that Katy would have put the diamonds away as soon as she came home.”

“And did she discover anything else in it?”

“Papers. A deed to the only property Katy owned-a place up in Arrowhead that Lillian gave her when she turned eighteen.”

“Ah, yes. That’s where Katy was born. So even if she didn’t own this place, she had that one.”

“There was also a will. Made out on Friday afternoon.”

“A will? On Friday, you say? She spent the day before her twenty-first birthday getting a will made?”

“Interesting, isn’t it? Not many people who are that young think to make wills. And guess who she leaves all her worldly possessions to?”

“Her son-Maxwell.”

“Surprisingly, no. To one Jack Corrigan.”

“Jack?”

“So he never said anything to you about this?”

“No. Not a word. I don’t think he knows about it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“So why would she leave everything to him? By the way, that’s including, should the need arise, guardianship of her son.”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. Only that he’s been something like an uncle to her over the years. She calls him ‘Uncle Jack,’ in fact. She’s fond of him.”

“Nothing romantic?”

“Good God, no.”

“Hey, I gotta ask, right?”

“What did Lillian say?”

“Exactly what you did-he’s Uncle Jack. Seemed shaken up by it, though. I’m actually sorry we allowed Mrs. Linworth to open the safe, because now her daughter’s likely to be a little unhappy with me for letting her snoop through her papers.”

“Nothing less than you deserve,” O’Connor said absently.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Just worrying about the child, and Katy and the others. Wondering what I’ll tell Jack. And-Dan, why wouldn’t they have come back to shore as soon as the weather looked a little rough?”

“I can think of all sorts of reasons. Boats can’t always make it to shore right away for one reason or another. Fog early this morning, remember? They set out at midnight, fog started rolling in around two or so. Then this storm got here faster than the weatherman said it would. Maybe they were closer to the harbor at Avalon than the one here. Mrs. Linworth assures me the Ducanes are excellent sailors, but who can really say how well they know how to handle a new boat or navigate?”