“Not that sweatshirt. He was in a good suit, expensive. He wore a gorgeous silk rust-colored tie that was exquisite. I asked him where he bought it and he said Ben Silver in Charleston, South Carolina. He knew which beaded bracelets and belts were from South Africa and which were North American. He also knew, and this surprised me, that the deerskin fringe dress behind me on the wall, dyed quills on the top and the sleeves, as from the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He recognized the design, knew it was Sioux. He pegged the price at $25,000 without asking me. I thought at first he was a collector. He did mention, not to make a point, that he worked in fine art. He was somewhat acquainted with American tribal work but declared he was no expert. He was based in D.C., traveled everywhere, and loved seeing Native art as well as Rubens. Knew the high-class galleries in the west, especially Santa Fe. A nice fellow. I thought, anyway.”
“Liz, you’ve been helpful.”
“You don’t know who he is? No missing persons or stuff like that coming through the department?”
“No, and given how you described him and his appearance, that is doubly strange.” Coop turned off her phone.
“Rich people don’t disappear unnoticed,” Liz flatly stated.
Cooper said, “Maybe he wasn’t rich.”
“I can tell,” Liz declared. “I need to read a customer the minute they walk through that door.”
“Never thought of that,” Harry replied. “And you’re still friends with me. My purchases are modest.”
Liz smiled, a relief from her surprise at having talked with a man subsequently murdered. “Your friendship is priceless.”
Harry put her arm around Liz’s waist and squeezed. “Coop, what now?”
“Thanks to Liz, I’ll call the Ben Silver shop. They may remember him if he visited in person. But if he shopped online, I can track down rust ties.”
“Thousands of transactions. Lots of rust ties.” Harry sighed. “You’d think someone would know who this man was. Did he say why he was here?”
Liz shook her head. “No. I got the impression he was simply killing time. He did say he had family from here, but they dispersed after 1865. He bought the Number Five and left.”
After Cooper left, Harry stayed back for a few minutes. “You okay?”
“I am. I’m a bit shocked that he was or is the victim, but who knows, Harry? We’re here one minute and gone the next.”
“That’s the truth.”
“It is highly irregular that a man like that would not be reported missing unless his business was, shall we say, irregular?”
“Like drugs?” Harry replied.
“Yes, but I didn’t feel that. I can’t say that I have drug radar, but sometimes one does get a feeling. I almost always know if someone is gay. I don’t know why. I’m not. I felt he was gay. Subtle. But it wasn’t that. I just had the sense that maybe his business wasn’t entirely straightforward, I don’t know.”
“Your husband would be surprised.”
Liz laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. Andy has gotten used to me being a maverick. Actually, stay here while I call him.”
Andy picked up the phone, listened intently to his wife.
“Honey, you like good clothes. Tell me about Ben Silver.”
“English goods, Scottish cashmere sweaters, everything is top drawer. Low-key. Quiet money, that sort of thing.”
“Your kind of style.” She smiled.
“I have a Ben Silver cashmere sweater that is eleven years old and isn’t worn thin. Looks great.”
“How is it I didn’t know you shopped there?”
“Liz, you did. I get the catalogues.”
“Oh. I’d better pay more attention to men’s catalogues.” She thought for a minute. “But I have a husband who can dress himself, unlike so many women.”
“And I have a wife who can undress her husband.”
“Andy.”
He laughed. “See you later, sweetheart.”
She clicked off her phone. “That man. Get Fair to go online and see if he likes the merchandise.”
“Will.”
“Harry, consider it gathering information. If the man spends money you aren’t going to wind up in the poorhouse.”
All Harry’s friends knew money gathered mold in her purse.
—
Later that night, Harry and Fair sat before his enormous computer screen. Given his profession, he needed it and he spent thousands on that computer. At Ben Silver’s website, the goods or furnishings if properly described in nineteenth-century terms, were outstanding, very male, very understated.
Fair lingered over a silk-and-wool jacket with a pale aqua windowpane pattern over the basic color.
“No.”
“Honey, I’m not going to buy it, but I like it.”
“You can’t buy anything unless you try it on. Six-foot-five-inch men can’t buy online.” She stood her ground.
“You have a point there, but I could go to Charleston. You could go with me. A getaway weekend.” He leaned toward her and kissed her cheek. “Romance. Church bells. Palmettos. Great restaurants.”
“Yeah, yeah. You just want to go shopping.”
“If the victim shopped here he really did have money, taste, and possibly power. Powerful men don’t wear flash. Entertainers do, but real power, never. Not in the English-speaking world, and have you ever noticed a powerful man never carries a briefcase?”
This made her think. “You’re right.”
“To call attention to yourself by dress means you’re insecure. A man should be smartly turned out, but not so people gawk. Think Cary Grant.”
“Name someone alive.”
“The Prince of Wales.”
“Can you imagine his budget?” Harry laughed.
“Another one. David Beckham. He’s sometimes a little out there, but when it matters, subtle.”
“They are all three Englishmen.”
“I guess it means we Americans still aren’t quite sure of ourselves.” He laughed.
“I guess.” Harry evidenced no interest in fashion, a quality that drove her girlfriends crazy, and sometimes her husband as well.
“You mentioned that the victim recognized the beadwork in the cases and even knew the tribes who had made the items. He could tell from the work, the patterns.”
“Liz said he could.”
“A man with aesthetic training.”
“Then how does he wind up shot twice in the back on Mary and David Kalergis’s farm? It’s nuts. Furthermore, I think it upset the beagles.”
“If they could talk they might know more than we do. Scent.”
“Right,” Tucker called up from the floor.
“I am sick of dogs getting all the credit for their noses. Cats have good noses,” Pewter fussed.
“In good time, I’m sure the sheriff’s department will figure out what the murder is about. Cooper is highly intelligent, you know.”
“The strangest thing, Fair. I mean, apart from Liz having done business with the man killed. I had an overpowering urge to buy one of those brass chits. Number Eleven. Overpowering.”
He put his arm around her. “Past life?”
October 26, 2016 Wednesday
Mrs. Murphy and Pewter sat in the hayloft, the second-story doors thrown open, always good for hay to be aired. The front of the barn also had such doors. The farm produced outstanding clover and orchard grass hay but Harry twice a year paid good money for pure square alfalfa bales. The hay dealer could back up to either end of the barn, position the ladder with the rollers, and literally roll the bales up. Harry would be in the second story, pick up the bale, place it where she wished. As she had filled up the hayloft two weeks ago in preparation for winter, the aroma added to the pleasing stable smells. Pleasing to the cats, Harry, and horsemen, anyway.
They sat there looking out at the back pastures at the horses as each one that was turned out would make a run, a little buck, and snort.