Page 80 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Cat’s Paw

“Forget it. Or save your sympathy for me when I try to figure out
how to get rid of all this. I can’t get a realtor to show the house with
all this crap everywhere. You know anyone who would come and
take it all away for free? They could keep anything they found.”
Oh boy, a treasure hunt in a dumpster. Actually, I did know people
who would enjoy doing that, but I had to keep focused on my
mission. That manuscript was a hot (or at least warmed-over) Mallard
property, and nobody else was entitled to it (assuming anybody else
would want the stupid thing).
“No, I’m sorry, ma’am. Maybe you could show me where he
worked. It could be right on the top of something.” Hope springs
eternal, as they say, but my heart was sinking.
“Okay.” Heels clicking, she led the way through a short central
hallway to a bedroom-cum-office (not easily identifiable as either,
owing to the litter). “There’s his computer, under the box of bank
statements and credit card slips—God, it took me days just to find
the checkbook—and those three—or is it four?—filing cabinets have
labels on each drawer; I think they’re more or less legible. All you
have to do is clear away the books in front of them.”
Books! I realized there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of books
scattered, stacked, shelved and squirreled away in all these rooms.
What if he had hidden his precious document in one of them,
perhaps a hollowed-out hiding-place disguised as a book? Or the
house itself could contain secret spaces between the walls or under
the floorboards. Anything was possible in this madhouse. I tried to
calm myself; it was, after all, just another day’s work. But time was
running out.
“I see,” I said, barely seeing the forest for the trees. It was already
getting on for a quarter to three, and she was champing at the bit.
Evidently, setting foot in the place was distasteful to the woman, but
she had agreed to discharge the executorial functions of the estate.
Would she leave me alone in the house? I put it to her: “Well, I know
you can’t stay long this afternoon, and I appreciate your giving me so
much of your valuable time. If this takes more than a few minutes,
how shall we proceed?”
She made a face, revealing wrinkles otherwise concealed. “All
right. I know what you’re getting at, and I’ve had to go through it
myself. I don’t know if I should leave you here by yourself, but it’s

79