“Possible,” Cooper drawled as BoomBoom and Susan stared at Harry.
“I think I know what comes next.” BoomBoom, no slouch, put her hands together.
“Put the lock back. Fill the safe with fake money. Maybe we can flush them out faster.” Harry beamed.
“His partner will come back to take Don's share,” Susan thought out loud. “Yeah, but how are you going to know when he comes back or if he comes back?”
“Can't we put a small surveillance camera in the shop, the kind they use in the bank? It can't be too expensive. I know Rick is worried about the budget.” Harry warmed to the task. “No one needs to be there. You'll see who it is and nab him later.”
“In the best of all possible worlds, yes, but what if he comes in with a mask? Or she? I shouldn't assume it's a man.” BoomBoom rubbed her hands together. The talk of aches and pains made her joints hurt.
“Yeah, but any picture is better than no picture and whoever this is knows no one is at Don's house. He won't even have to pretend to be a thief,” Harry sensibly said.
Coop held up her hand. “Let me run this by the Boss. BoomBoom, can you weld the lock back?”
“If you all help me, I can. It's so heavy someone has to hold it in place. It's going to take a couple of hours to do it right. You don't want the seam to show, that's a big tip-off.”
“How about Friday night? I have it off. Chinese.” Coop meant bring Chinese food.
“I'll get the food.” Susan thought this exciting. “We shouldn't park there.”
“I've got to back up and drop off the oxygen. I need help with that, too. Harry, you're the strongest.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“We can park at the high school and walk over. There's so much activity there that our cars won't be noticeable,” Susan said.
“Seven,” Cooper said, then nodded toward the building. “I've got to get in there.”
“Will you tell us later?” Harry couldn't stand not knowing something.
“Yes.”
“Boy, it must be unsavory.” BoomBoom, sensitive, felt Cooper's reluctance, as did the others.
“Uh, yes.”
Later that day, Cooper dropped by the post office to pick up her mail. She told Harry and Miranda that she had dropped off papers requesting to exhume Roger's body. Sean hit the roof. He called his lawyer and threatened to drag this case out as long as possible.
Cooper then visited Ida O'Bannon, again patiently explaining the new concern that Roger did not die a natural death. She knew this would be upsetting and she knew that Sean would call a lawyer but she hoped Ida could talk sense into him. This wasn't about violating Roger's corpse, it was about bringing his killer, if he was killed, to justice. He could then rest in peace.
Ida, tearful and shocked, said she would reason with her older son. Legally, this was her decision and she agreed to it.
“Coop, what—?”
She leaned toward Harry, Miranda leaning in, too. “I sent photographs of Wesley and Donny to Roy and Nadine's.”
Harry explained to Mrs. Hogendobber about the matchbook.
“And they recognized Don?” Miranda just couldn't believe this.
“No. The manager of the restaurant didn't recognize him but she did recognize Roger. She said he came in about once a month with a businessman named Bill Boojum.”
“Who's Bill Boojum?” Harry asked the logical next question.
“He was easy to find. He's one of the biggest car dealers in Kentucky. He specializes in high-end car rentals and does a booming business with Thoroughbred trainers, jockeys, people who make money erratically. Sometimes it's a big paycheck, sometimes not. They find it easier to rent cars than to buy them.”
“What did he say?”
“He seemed helpful enough. He said he knew Roger from college. They'd both gone to Virginia Tech. I checked that out with the alumni office. He told the truth. He said Roger was interested in getting into the racing game and he was putting him in touch with NASCAR people. He said Roger had already bought into a syndicate, a forty-thousand-dollar share.”
“Forty thousand dollars—Roger?” Harry nearly fell over.
“I checked out the syndicate, too. Based in Lexington, Kentucky. Roger was, in fact, a member. They didn't know he had died. The share passes to his mother. The lady on the phone, Mrs. Higgins, pulled it up on the computer and read it right off to me. I asked Boojum why Roger came out so often and he said he just loved Lexington. I can believe that. Who wouldn't? And he said he was besotted with racing.”
“Loved cars.” Harry rubbed her chin.
“It truly was his passion.” Miranda found this troubling, the forty thousand dollars especially.
“An expensive passion, I reckon.” Harry spoke a little too loudly, which made the animals jump. “What did Sean know?”
“He says he didn't know a thing about it. I had the presence of mind to ask him about the syndicate before requesting exhumation. He said Roger did drive to Lexington about once a month and he'd stay two or three days. Roger's reason was he wasn't having any luck with Virginia girls so he thought he'd try Kentucky girls.”
“Does Sean know Bill Boojum?” Harry asked.
“Yes, but not well. He said he met him once or twice when Roger was in college. Sean, being older, ran with a different set of friends, plus he went to the University of Virginia.”
“A sore point between them.” Miranda drummed her fingers on the countertop. “Roger in a car-racing syndicate.”
“We'd better get that lock back on soon. All this talk of money takes me right back to Don Clatterbuck,” Harry said, then told Miranda what they'd be doing that Friday night. “Oh, hell, I'm supposed to go to the movies with Fair. Coop, may I ask him to help us? He's stronger than the two of us put together and he'll never tell.”
“Okay.” Coop jiggled the handcuffs hanging from her belt.
“When do they dig up Roger?”
“Monday.”
“Wish I could be there.” Tucker wagged her nonexistent tail.
“Tucker, that is so disgusting.” Pewter wrinkled her nose, gray like the rest of her.
39
Slowly the earth drank the rainwater. The ground remained muddy, the creeks little by little subsided. The scent of new blossoms began to overpower the odor of creek water.
Mrs. Murphy hastened to the barn at dawn as the owl returned from hunting.
“Did you get a chance to fly over O'Bannon's?”
“Yes. There are lights on in the garage but the curtains are drawn.”
“Any cars or trucks parked outside?”
“No, which I thought was curious.”
“I do, too.”
“Of course, it could be someone left the light on during the day or it's been on throughout the storms,” the owl thought out loud. “Still, you'd think someone would go in there.”
“What about the caboose?”
“Your rat friend, an industrious sort, scurried from the garage to the caboose frequently. He had a bag of potato chips. When he heard me—I swooped low for effect—he didn't drop the chips and run. A rough sort.”
“If I could pour water in his hole, I bet I could get him to talk. I'd stop up the exits, of course.” Mrs. Murphy envisioned this to her enjoyment. She heard Simon snoring in his nest. He looked ratlike yet was so different from Pope Rat; two creatures could hardly be more different in temperament.
“That rat has places and loot all over the salvage yard.”
“No sounds from the garage?” Murphy hoped for more clues.
“Yes. I sat by the window and I heard human feet. I know someone was in there.”
Later as Murphy walked back to the house she wondered if someone was working late because of the Wrecker's Ball. Then again, why not park out front? And why not work in the new building where the dance would be held? If it was on the up-and-up why hide your car? Maybe Sean was in the garage. Maybe he felt closer to Roger in the garage. So many thoughts jammed into her head she had difficulty sorting them out. One thing did help her focus. She certainly didn't want Harry snooping around the salvage yard.