"And just where did Mike Pritchard get this list? I'll deny bribing Dick for a job. Our work speaks for itself. Everyone knows we do good work."

  Kyle told her that Sally Boswick had found the flash drive with the information, which she gave to the police.

  "Where is the money?" Fiona asked.

  "That hasn't been found yet," Kyle answered.

  "So, exactly how do they know that these so-called bribes really took place?"

  Kyle shrugged his shoulders, hands up. "I don't have an answer for that," he said, "but I'm sure they will find it. The police will search until they do.

  "Are you submitting a new bid on the court house restoration job? I understand that due to Dick's death and the circumstances surrounding it, they are opening the bidding again."

  "Of course, we are," said Fiona. "And I’m sure we will win. Victor may be out of the running. Horace will be convicted. That leaves Hollis Lumber Yard as the winner."

  Kyle looked doubtful since he suspected that with Dick gone, some of those who had left the bidding wars would return if they thought the playing field was level.

  Kyle stood to leave. He opened the door to find Luther Rahn standing right outside it. He seemed to be listening to their conversation. Kyle nodded at the man who hurried past him into Fiona's office, shutting the door with a thud.

  Kyle made a note of the conversation and Luther's appearance when he got to his car. Driving off, he mused about Luther Rahn and his relationship to Fiona. His PI nose smelled something not right. He decided to talk to Detective Dunlap and compare notes.

  As he drove toward the police station, his cell phone rang. Looking down at the number he saw it was Arney, accountant for almost every business in Midvale Comers, including his own. His phone was hand’s free so he answered.

  "Kyle," Arney said, "I have found something strange. I just left Randy Haywood's motorcycle shop with their deposits for the day. I was there balancing their checkbook so I offered to take the money to the bank. He had two large cash sales a couple of days ago and he still had the money in the safe and he wanted to get it in the bank.”

  “I counted it out-it was about $30,000 in cash. Most of it was hundreds and some of the money looked and felt quite strange."

  Kyle could hear the undertow of excitement in Amy's precise voice.

  "Strange how," he asked.

  "The money has brown spots on it. Some of them are quite large. Now you know that our little group does investigation once in a while so I've had some experience with dried bloodstains and these spots look like blood to me. And some of the bills are greasy. What do you think 1 should do?"

  "1 think you should meet me at my office and let me see what you’re talking about. I'll be there in a few minutes."

  Arney agreed.

  Kyle came bounding up the stairs to his office to see Arney standing at the end of the hall by his office door. Briefcase in hand, a bright green scarf around his neck to ward off the cold, Arney smiled when he saw Kyle.

  "I can hear Percy inside. He seems impatient," he said.

  "He's been alone all day," Kyle explained, turning the key in the lock. The men entered the small office, a mirror image of Penny's at the other end of the hall. Kyle didn't have a receptionist so he used the reception as a conference room. A long walnut table stood off to one side, surrounded by several mismatched wooden chairs. Percy jumped up in one of the chairs ready for some attention.

  Arney put his briefcase on the table and gave Percy's big head a few rubs. He snapped open the brief case. With his usual precision, Arney had stacked the hundred-dollar bills in piles of 50, held together with rubber bands. There were two plastic bags holding the money.

  "I put the suspicious money, about $21,000, in this bag," he said, holding up the larger bag. He opened the bag. A strange odor assailed their noses. Kyle stuck his nose right in the bag, his eyebrows pinched together. He sniffed, stopped and sniffed again.

  "It smells like turkey," he said. "And I think I can discern a whiff of copper. I bet those brown stains are blood."

  "I think we should call Detective Dan. He will know how to proceed," Kyle said.

  Kyle picked up his desk phone and called Dan's private number.

  "Dunlap," said a voice.

  Kyle explained what they had found.

  "Is this the work of Althea and her group?" Dan growled. "Never mind, I'll be right there."

  A short time later Dan walked in the door. He brought some equipment with him.

  Looking at the plastic bag of money on the table, he poked at the contents with a pencil. Pulling a pair of latex gloves out of his crime scene duffel, he put them on then carefully reached in taking out one of the bills almost covered in a brown stain.

  "This looks like blood," he said.

  "That's what 1 thought," Arney said. "I wonder if it has anything to do with Dick's murder. Maybe the lab can test the blood for DNA?”

  "I agree," Dan said. "I’ll send it off to the lab."

  "All of it?" Arney asked. "Randy is not going to be happy about that. After all, it belongs to him. And we know if the police get it as evidence, it could sit there for months. I need to call him."

  "How about this," Kyle said. “We find the most damaged bills; make a note of them, take pictures of the rest of the money and then you can deposit it in the bank. Doesn't the bank have to destroy damaged bills and replace them?"

  "Yes, they do," Arney answered. "We could ask the bank about that. If they have to replace all of them, maybe they could all be sent to the crime lab. First though I have to call Randy. Can I use your office for a little privacy?" he asked Kyle.

  Detective Dan stood looking at the money, musing about its origin. Why a motorcycle shop? Then he remembered Kyle mentioning that Luther Rahn had recently ordered a brand-new Harley and paid in cash. Where did this money come from? And, if the stains were blood, how did they get there? And would they be able to get DNA from them and match it to a victim or a perp or ordinary citizen who cut himself.

  Kyle thought he could see Dan's mind working. He knew Dan would get to the bottom of this.

  Arney came back in the room. "Randy is on his way. I don't think he will object to a few of the bills being sent off to the lab, but I know his business hasn't been good and he has to pay the manufacturer for the bikes and meet his payroll."

  The men stood musing about the money, now spread all over Kyle's table. In what seemed like a moment, Kyle's office door opened and Randy Haywood came charging in.

  "What is this all about?" he asked, looking at Dan.

  "Randy, we think that some of this money has blood on it and we need to send it off to the lab for DNA testing."

  "How long will that take? I need the money to pay the Harley folks."

  "How long do you think you can hold them off?" Dan asked.

  "Probably till the end of this month, but after that I’ll be in trouble with them. They don't care if this money is evidence."

  "I know that bills that are whole but dirty or stained can be replaced at our local bank," Arney said. "We might have to give them notice since it is a lot of bills. It looks like a fourth of them are covered with some sort of stain and the bank has to send them to the Department of Treasury to be replaced, which could take some time. I don't know about that. I can call Hiram, the VP and ask him."

  "Do that," Dan said.

  Arney went back into Kyle's office to place the call. Dan proceeded to separate the damaged bills from the others, being careful to handle each one as little as possible.

  Arney returned with the information that "the bank can replace up to $1000 of the bills right away, but they need a few days to replace the others and they want the damaged bills ASAP or they would have to consider it a loan to Randy and he would be charged interest."

  "No way," Randy said, "I have enough debt. How long will it take to test it?"

  "The State police lab can take weeks," Dan said. "And I don't have the budget for a private lab."

  “I do," Penny said, entering the door. Kyle smiled and the other two men looked up in surprise.

  "Kyle texted me and told me what was going on," she explained. "I am certain this is the money left at the crime scene. I placed a call to Horace and he agreed to cover the lab expense."

  Kyle pulled out his cell phone, calling his favorite lab. After asking some questions and listening carefully, he clicked off.

  "If we bring it in today, they can have the results in 24 hours, max. It will cost about $2500. Will Horace be okay with that?"

  Penny nodded, "He gave me permission to go up to $3000 if necessary."

  They decided that Dan should be the one to take the stained money to the lab. "I’ll stop by the police evidence locker and get the vial of blood from Boswick," he said. "The lab will need it for comparison."

  Dan noted the serial numbers of all the money and took pictures of the undamaged bills. They all knew that the chain of evidence had to be protected in case the money proved to be what they thought it was and Penny would need it in the trial. Dan got out the labeling stickers, carefully placing the money back in the bags and affixing the label to each one.

  When he was done, the three left the office--Kyle and Dan on their way to the lab, Penny returning to her office, Randy and Arney off to deposit the $16,000 in undamaged bills at the bank.

  Later that evening, Althea, who upon hearing the news of the stained notes, called a meeting of the Society, opened the door of the book store around 7 pm to see her friends already at their places, waiting for her.

  "We have your favorite coffee," said Rose. "We’re waiting for you to hear Arney's story."

  Althea sat down, nodding to Arney, who proceeded to tell his tale. The others were pleased with the news.

  "I am sure that the blood will prove to be Dick Boswick's," he said. “I think we can be sure that the killer took the money from him after killing him. The question is who?"

  "Well, we know it isn't Horace," said Rose. "Did Randy tell you who spent all that money on a motorcycle? My goodness, I didn't spend that much on my car."

  "Randy is pretty sure it was Luther Rahn," Arney said. "But for the life of me I can't see why he would have any motive to kill Boswick. He's been in prison for the past five years and didn't even know him. And he certainly didn't have any financial tie to him that we know of."

  "Speaking of that, Mary, have you seen any new bids for the courthouse project?"

  "Yes, so far we have ten, including the original three, Fiona Hollis, Victor Miller and Horace. I think we got more because word went out that maybe this time the procedure would be fair. Our temporary assistant city manager is known to be honest."

  "I think we can eliminate the new applicants, although we should check them out. One of them could have killed Dick on the hope that the bidding would be reopened, 1 suppose," Althea said.

  Rose nodded, "I know most of the new group, some belong to my church I can check their alibis if you want."

  "That would be great," Althea said. "How soon can you do that?"

  "I'll get on it right away," Rose answered. "We have our church book club meeting tomorrow. And I can call the rest on some pretext or the other."

  "You're good at making up stories," Mary laughed. "It must be all that fiction you read."

  Rose beamed.

  "Okay," Althea said, "Let's meet tomorrow at our usual time. We should have the blood type results and more information. I know we are making progress."

  The group cleaned up their table and moved to the door. They didn't notice Luther Rahn sitting at a corner table, leaning forward, listening. After they left he picked up his cell phone. When he was connected, he said, "I'm coming over. We need to talk."

  Wednesday morning dawned with a surprise snowstorm. For reasons known only to the weather gods, the snow that was predicted to land far north came to Midvale Corners. Penny, up early with too much on her mind, was driving carefully down the unplowed streets to her office. JD, strapped in with his doggy seat belt, was making snuffling noises from the back seat.

  “I know,” Penny said, “you don’t like being tied up back there, but this old Jag doesn’t handle all that well in snow and ice. I want you to be safe.”

  As if to prove her point, the car started to slide around a curve in the road. Penny, hearing her father’s directions in her head, down shifted and straightened the car out. She turned into the parking lot of her office, bringing the car to a stop next to Althea’s old Ford Escort.

  “You’re here early,” Penny said, opening the door to her office to the smell of coffee with a touch of cinnamon.

  “Good morning,” Althea said. “I have some things to finish up before the day gets busy.”

  Penny smiled her thanks. She wondered what she would ever do without Althea. She took her briefcase into her office and got ready for the day. She was deep in thought when she heard a light tap on her open door.

  Looking up into Alex’s hazel eyes, she smiled, “Hello, come in, have a seat,” she said the words tumbling out of her mouth in a rush. She thought she might be blushing.

  Alex grinned. “Hello, I wanted to give you what might be some good news,” he said, sitting in one of Penny’s client chairs.

  Penny waited. “Ethan dropped by last night—just in time for dinner—strange, my mom didn’t seem all that surprised. At any rate, he said he was going through his pictures from last summer in search of anything that could help Horace. He thinks he might have taken a picture of him without realizing it. He was taking lots of pictures for the Chamber project. He has them in several shoe boxes.”

  “He doesn’t have them on his computer?” Penny asked.

  “No, he doesn’t like computers, he likes to hold the pictures in his hand. And he has the dates and times on the pictures—his camera does that. At any rate, he and my mom were going to go through the box for summer to see what they can find. She said she’d call you if they came up with something.”

  “That is so nice,” Penny said. “I don’t know how to thank them for their efforts.”

  “Well, we could take them out to dinner one night—not as a date, of course—just an evening out,” Alex suggested. “My mom still claims that they are not dating.”

  Penny nodded, “Sure, it wouldn’t be a date. Just the four of us having dinner.”

  Alex glanced at his watch, jumped up, causing JD to look up from his nap. “I have to get to court. You know how Judge Sanford will fine you if you’re late. And with the recent murder of Dick, the security takes forever.”

  “Go,” said Penny as Alex’s long legs carried him quickly out of Penny’s office. Waving good-bye to both women, he was out the door and on his way to a busy day in court.

  Across town at the Hollis Lumber Yard, Luther paced back and forth in front of the door to Fiona’s office. Hearing the click of the four-inch heels Fiona insisted on wearing, he turned to the sound. Fiona frowned, stopping at the door.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “I want my money. I want to move on,” he answered.

  “Keep your voice down,” Fiona said unlocking and opening her door. “Get in here.” She went into the office. Luther followed her. They stood facing each other.

  “I need some money. Either give it to me or …”

  “Or what? Don’t you dare threaten me. It’s not my fault you’re broke—I’ve paid you each week for standing around. I don’t how I’ll justify that to my brothers. You must have had some money—you bought that fancy Harley.”

  “You know where I got the money for that. Now I need some money to leave town.” He raised his hand.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Fiona said, glaring at him. Realizing that it might be best to get him out of town, she told him to come back after work that afternoon.

  Luther stomped out. Fiona sat down in her chair behind her desk. Her heart was racing, her breath shallow. She knew that Luther Rahn had a violent streak. She unlocked her bottom drawer, taking out the small pistol she kept there. She checked to make sure it was loaded, tucking it into her purse sitting on the floor where it would be handy if she needed it.

  The morning moved slowly for Penny. She felt like all she was doing was waiting; waiting for the blood test results, waiting for the Court of Appeals to rule on the motion, waiting for Ethan to find the one picture in hundreds that might help Horace, waiting for—her mind raced to Alex—what was she waiting for there?

  “Mike Pritchard’s on the phone for you,” Althea said, tapping lightly on the door. Penny jumped as if she had been struck by lightning causing Althea to jerk back from the door. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Penny picked up the phone to hear Mike saying, “I don’t care what you think, Dan, we have a trial coming up and I want a conviction. Oh, hi, Penny. I am faxing over the answer from the Court of Appeals. We won. We can question the jurors ourselves. And in the judge’s chambers.”

  “That’s great news. Will you draft the order or shall I?” Penny asked.

  “Will you have time to do it? I am a bit swamped here.”

  “Sure, no problem. I’ll send a proposed order over to you later today,” Penny said.

  “Good,” Mike said hanging up the phone in her ear.

  Penny got up, heading for the coffee. She stopped to tell Althea the good news. “I have to write the order so I’ll get on it right away.”

  Penny returned to her desk with a fresh cup of coffee and a blank screen on her computer. She stopped for a moment to wonder what the argument between Dan and Mike was about and then began drafting the document. She looked up an hour later to discover a sandwich sitting on her desk and the wan November sun shining in the window. The order finished, she sent it as an attachment to Mike’s e-mail and sat back to wait for his comments.

  “Thanks for the sandwich, Althea, I didn’t even hear you go out.”

  “You’re welcome. I took JD for a walk while I was out. You were totally engrossed in what you were doing.”

 

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