Read Muller, Marcia - [McCone 03] Cheshire Cat's Eye, The_(v.1,shtml) for Free Online

Wintringham—"
    "David."
    "David. Doesn't it strike you that it might be to your advantage to find Jake's killer?"
    He looked up. "How so?"
    "The crime did happen on your property, to one of your employees. I would think you'd feel some responsibility."
    "Of course I'm concerned…"
    "What if the murder had something to do with this project? Someone may wish to stop it. The murder may only be the beginning."
    He frowned. "Won't the police find that out?"
    I shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."
    He jumped up and began pacing. "I don't know. I have little faith in the police myself, I admit."
    "Often a private operative has more freedom to investigate than the officials."
    "A private operative like you?"
    "Exactly."
    He stopped in front of me. "You want a job."
    "I want to find Jake's killer, same as you."
    "And be paid for it."
    "It would take my time. I have to live."
    "Doesn't All Souls pay you?"
    "My time is billed to our clients, so…"
    "I see."
    He shuffled his feet indecisively. "I don't know. I don't have much money. It's all tied up in the project."
    "Our rates are reasonable."
    He nodded. "On the other hand, like I said, I don't have much faith in the police. Not after my last experience with them."
    "What was that?"
    He resumed pacing on the Oriental rug. "Three years ago there was another murder in that house."
    "Who?"
    He turned to me. The expression on his face was complex, tugging between sorrow and… what? I couldn't define it. "My father, Richard Wintringham. Perhaps you've heard of him."
    "He was an architect," I said, recalling what Johnny Hart had told Hank and me.
    "Yes." Wintringham sprawled in the chair again. "An architect, of sorts. He designed the Wintringham row houses. There are hundreds of them out in the Avenues."
    "They're stucco, each attached to the other."
    Wintringham's smile was taut with embarrassment. "You don't have to be polite, Sharon. They're dreary little boxes with two eyes of a window and a grinning mouth of a garage below. A critic once said that if you put a chain across the garage door, they would look like they were wearing braces. But after the war, they were a reasonable response to the housing shortage. And it's to my father's credit that he never went so far as to live in one."
    "Your father lived in the Queen Anne?"
    "And met his death there."
    "Exactly how did he die?"
    "The police theorized that he surprised a burglar. A number of valuable objects were taken, small things that could easily be carried away."
    "Any of them ever turn up?"
    "No."
    "And I take it the killer was never caught."
    "There were no clues."
    "When did this happen?"
    "Almost three years ago, on the twenty-sixth of May."
    "What was the cause of death?"
    "A blow to the head."
    I looked up. My eyes met his. The way Jake had been killed.
    "Are the police aware of the similarity?" I asked.
    "Yes, but they didn't seem particularly interested."
    "No, they wouldn't be. They'd just consider it a coincidence."
    "Do you?"
    "I'm not sure." I paused. I tend not to like coincidence as an explanation for similar events. "Perhaps the two are related. I might be able to find out something about your father's death by investigating Jake's." But even as I said it I felt it to be a cheap trick. Three-year-old murders are difficult, if not impossible, to solve.
    Wintringham, however, looked thoughtful.
    I pressed my advantage. "Will you hire me?"
    He bit his lip. "I guess I have no choice. I want to get to the bottom of this—of both of the murders."
    Again I felt a twinge of guilt, but only a twinge. Who knew what I'd turn up? "Good. Now, there's a minor problem. Technically I can only work for clients of All Souls." At his dismayed look, I held up my hand and went on. "But that's easily overcome. The way All Souls works, you pay a small yearly membership fee and you're charged on a sliding scale, according to your income. All you have to do is fill in our application and pay the fee, and we'll be in business."
    He sat up