Miranda James - Classified as Murder

“Fine.” I rose. “I’ll have a quick look around, and then my son and are going home for a quick lunch, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s okay,” Kanesha said.

I hesitated for a moment. I felt I should tell her what I’d observed in the kitchen a few minutes ago, but I was uncomfortable telling her such things in front of the lawyers. I decided I would call her later.

“Do you need something else?” Pendergrast asked.

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “See you all later.”

Alexandra remained with her father and Kanesha, and I let myself out of the room.

I walked down the hall to the library and spotted Deputy Bates standing guard.

“Good morning, Deputy,” I said. “Deputy Berry didn’t mention that you were the officer on duty here.”

“Morning, Mr. Harris,” Bates replied with the ghost of a smile. “Let me unlock the door for you.”

The lights were already on when I stepped inside. I couldn’t help a quick glance at the desk to reassure myself there was no corpse present. I walked farther into the room and surveyed it.

The library seemed mostly undisturbed by the investigation. Mr. Delacorte’s desk wasn’t as tidy as it had been, and the books I had placed on the work table yesterday morning were all piled at one end now, instead of being spread out across the table. But overall there was less disarrangement than I expected.

I glanced toward the door and saw Deputy Bates watching me intently. I nodded and resumed checking the room. I looked at the desk again and realized that something didn’t seem quite right about it.

I moved closer and stared at it. What was it?

My gaze focused on the three bound volumes of the inventory.

Three?

There should be four.

TWENTY-TWO

Where was the fourth volume of the inventory?

I had been working with the first volume, and maybe I had left it on the work table. I walked over to check, thinking how foolish I’d feel for my momentary panic when I found the absent volume right there.

Except that it wasn’t there.

I went back to the desk and examined the three volumes lying atop it. There was a Roman numeral stamped in gold leaf near the base of the spine of each book. I saw I, II, and III, but no IV.

I got down on hands and knees and checked underneath the desk. No book.

Then I checked the desk. All the drawers were unlocked with nothing in them. I supposed the authorities had removed the contents.

Where the heck was the fourth volume?

That volume was where the latest addition to the collection, the copy of Tamerlane , would be listed, I realized. That could be the reason the book was missing.

I thought about it further.

If the killer wanted to obliterate evidence of the purchase, why hadn’t he or she simply removed the relevant page from the book? Why take the whole thing?

And why hadn’t the killer taken the time to remove those letters the police found on the desk?

The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense to remove the book and not take the letters.

Unless, of course, the killer wasn’t smart enough to have considered the implications of his actions.

“Is there something wrong, Mr. Harris?”

I was so involved in my speculations that I had forgotten the presence of the deputy.

“There is, Deputy,” I said. “There should be four books like that.” I pointed to the inventory volumes on the desk and explained what they were. “The one that’s missing contains the information on the more recent additions to the collection.”

“I’d better get Deputy Berry in here,” Bates said. He stepped away from me and pulled out a cell phone. “I’ll see if she’s still here.”

I moved away while he conversed with Kanesha in a low voice. Bates flipped the phone shut. “She’ll be right here. Luckily she hadn’t left yet.”

He barely finished speaking when the door opened and Kanesha walked in.

“Tell me,” she said as she stopped about a foot away from me.

I explained again about the inventory and the missing volume. I paused when I finished and waited for a reaction. Kanesha didn’t speak right away, so I decided to share my speculations with her.

She listened to my reasoning, and when I concluded, this time she did speak.

“Very good questions,” she said. “There’s an inconsistency, and I don’t like inconsistencies—unless they help me solve the case.” She glanced around the room. “You think the missing book could be somewhere in here?”

“It would be a good place to hide a book, at least for a little while,” I said. “It would take some time to search the shelves, because of having to handle the contents carefully, but I don’t see the point of hiding it in here. Surely the killer would realize that it would turn up relatively quickly. Are you going to have to search the house again?”

Kanesha shook her head. “Doubtful. I’ll check with the officers who carried out the search, see if any of them recall seeing a book like that and whether it was in here when they searched.”

I could understand her reluctance to go through the whole house again, but the missing volume could be very important evidence. She was in charge, however, and I decided to let it go for now. I had something else to tell her anyway.

“Before I forget it,” I said, “I observed something a few minutes ago I think you should know about.”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.” Kanesha nodded at me.

I related the two scenes I had witnessed in the kitchen. “I don’t know whether any of this is pertinent to the investigation, but I thought you should know.”

“Thank you, Mr. Harris. I appreciate you observing, like we agreed you’d do.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. I checked my watch, and it was a few minutes past noon. Sean must be wondering what was taking me so long. “My son and I are going to run home for lunch, but we’ll be back soon to resume work on the inventory.”

“Yes, you already told me that. Deputy Bates will be here when you get back.” Kanesha glanced at the door and then back at me.

I took the hint. I nodded to the two deputies and left the library.

Sean and the two animals were waiting by the front door. Upon seeing me, Diesel meowed once, then turned his back to me. He was still annoyed I left him with Sean, but he’d forget about that in a few minutes.

“What took so long, Dad?”

I explained as we left the mansion and headed for the car.

“Strange” was Sean’s comment on the missing inventory book.

On the short drive home we talked about what to have for lunch and settled on sandwiches and potato chips. Fast and easy, which was good, because I was eager to get back to the inventory.

The animals disappeared in the direction of the utility room the minute we entered the kitchen. While I made the sandwiches, Sean got our drinks and the chips.

Cat and dog were back by the time we sat down to eat. Two hopeful faces regarded us, waiting for a treat.

While we ate, I gave Sean a summary of James Delacorte’s will. I thought he should know since he was going to be working on the inventory with me.

“Old Mr. Delacorte didn’t care much for his family, to judge by the will.” Sean had a sip of ice tea. “The only person he seems to have liked is the butler. Don’t you think that’s kind of strange?”

“He must have had his reasons.” I had another bite of my ham sandwich. “I’d say he had a lot to put up with while he was alive, and maybe this was his way of telling them what he really thought of them.”