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Jessica nodded. “But more than that, the thing that strikes me is there is no passion in the list. It reads more like a grocery list than anything else—you know, position and prices.”
“I agree. Put those in the middle of his desk and we’ll take them with us. Let’s see what else we have in here. What’s this?” he asked, withdrawing a key.
“Looks like a key to an old safe. Generally, you need two.”
“Then we’ll look for it and the hidden safe.”
It took more than another hour of searching to find first the second key as well as the small safe hidden behind a bookshelf that rolled away from the wall, once she found the lever that activated the concealed mechanism and wheels.
“Okay, that’s it. From now on, I’m taking you to all my crime scenes to search for hidden stuff. How did you know it was there?”
“In spite of knowing another groan is coming, I learned it from reading a book. A lot of the old-time mystery novels had this kind of fun stuff because they didn’t have all the technology. You need to insert both keys and turn them at the same time.”
Thorn shook his head, inserted the keys and turned them. He was rewarded with a distinctive click. “Here goes nothing,” he said, swinging the door open.
CHAPTER 10
JESSICA
Inside there was nothing but an old, leather-bound ledger. It looked to be antique, and everything appeared to be written by hand with, if not a quill and ink, then a fountain pen.
“How interesting,” said Jessica, looking over Thorn’s shoulder as he sat down with the tome. “What do you think it is? I mean, obviously, it’s a ledger, but what is it showing us?”
Thorn thumbed through the pages. “It looks like it’s chock full of all kinds of potential motives and clues suggesting possible suspects as well as Thompson’s enemies and illicit activities.” He looked outside and could see that the sun was beginning to set. “It’s getting late. We need to gather up everything and get it back to the police station.” She fidgeted, wondering whether or not to share what she was thinking, and he noticed the gesture. “What?”
“I think it’s safe to assume that Thompson was killed by someone here in town.” He nodded, and she continued. “We have no idea who or what any of this means—documentation, of what we don’t know; numbers that are some kind of code; photographs, some of which are disturbing; correspondence that indicates threats and violence—and no way to decipher any of it.”
“I agree with you. What are you thinking? Just spit it out.”
“I’m not sure the best place to store it is at the police station,” she said tentatively.
“Why not?”
“What if one or more of those officers is listed in that book?”
Thorn sat back. “You have a point. I don’t think we can trust it in the bank, either, and DeeDee’s is too public.”
“I have a safe similar to this one with the two keys. You can put it in there, and I’ll give you both keys. I only have the one set.”
Thorn nodded slowly. “That also has the added bonus of no one else knowing what we found except maybe Sudie and Tracer, and I trust him absolutely. I worry about Sudie if someone tried to torture her.”
Jessica snorted. “Sudie’s tougher than you think. Don’t let that sweet grandmotherly exterior fool you and the baking and cooking thing is just part of her cover. They could rack her to within an inch of her life, and she wouldn’t talk. She might scream and curse at them, but she wouldn’t talk.”
Thorn chuckled. “You have a deeply demented mind.”
“I’m an author. It goes with the territory.”
Thorn’s phone rang and he answered. “Wilder. Whatcha got, Kenny?”
Thorn clicked the speaker button, putting his finger to his lips and admonishing her to be quiet as Kenny began speaking. “We’ve gone through all the personal things of the guests. It’s going to take us a few days to get through this entire place. Ms. Hicks wants to let her guests leave, even though it’s going to cost her a boatload in refunds.”
“Tell her to go ahead, but also tell her to prepare a bill. The State will cover her lost revenue. After all, if it wasn’t for us, she’d have paying guests. Have you guys found a place to stay, or are you going to use the chopper to commute?”
“We talked about that. Using the chopper is expensive in both time and money. I’m sending a couple of the guys back to start processing what we’ve already collected. The rest of us are staying at a nice little hotel that isn’t normally open this time of year. Ms. Hicks arranged for that. I don’t know if the hotel has room for you and wasn’t sure about your plans. I know you don’t like to leave the Sea Siren.”
“I don’t usually mind for a day or two, but I’ll ask Rafferty to check on her tomorrow. I’ve got some evidence I’m going to secure at Jessica’s house. I’ll see if she’ll let me crash on her couch.”
“Okay, boss. I’ll let the guests up here know and tell Ms. Hicks. Could you tell Ms. Murdoch her cookies were much appreciated? They were delicious. We’ll see you in the morning.”
