Part 12 (1/2)
Yes, she knew it was strange to shop all afternoon long and not buy a single thing. And it was even weirder to say you were from one place and there be no record of you living there.
Yet just because Julie couldn't find out anything about the shy girl didn't mean she had taken the journal or that she had killed Alice. But one thing was certain-the pet.i.te blonde was hiding something.
NINE.
”Where was the book when it disappeared?” Frost asked as they entered Julie's office.
”Locked in the safe.” Julie paused. ”I think.”
”Think?”
”It's been a long couple of days.” Julie tapped a finger to her chin. ”I had just shown it to the guests-”
”All of them?”
She nodded.
”Together or one at a time?” he asked.
”Together. It was after everyone arrived.”
He took out his notepad and made a few notations as Julie filled him in on the details.
”The article that appeared in our local paper was picked up by a larger publication,” she said. ”Word got around that we'd found a Civil War journal here at the inn, and they asked to see it.”
”You're saying that your guests came here knowing you had the journal?”
”Yes.” She didn't want to believe that any of her guests were capable of stealing the journal, but the fact remained that someone had. Was it the same person that killed Alice Peyton? Or did she have two criminals under her roof? ”Or at least some of them did.”
”Who?”
Julie thought back. ”Sadie and Joyce knew about it. And Alice.”
”Our murder victim?”
”The same.”
”Anyone else?”
”I guess they were the only ones. At least they were the only ones who had said anything at the time.”
”I see.” Frost scribbled something on the notepad and then turned his sharp focus back to her. ”You brought out the journal for everyone to see. Then what happened?”
”I brought it back in here and put it in the safe. ... I'm almost positive.”
”And this was before Ms. Peyton was murdered.”
”Yes.”
The detective walked to the safe, studying it from a variety of angles. ”Could you have put the book away and then accidentally set it on a day lock? Or perhaps not even locked it at all?”
”Unfortunately, that's very possible,” Julie said.
”Did you unlock the safe when you discovered it was missing?”
”Yes,” Julie said. ”Then I searched the whole house for it.”
”We could dust for latent prints, but the possibility of getting a clear print that isn't yours would be a long shot.”
”Right,” she muttered with irritation, even though she knew it wasn't the detective's fault.
”Has anyone staying here shown an exaggerated interest in the book?” Frost asked.
Sadie and Joyce had been eager to see the book, but Sadie was a retired librarian, and Joyce seemed to follow her lead on most everything. Liam had seemed very interested as well, but given the facts that he was a writer and a professor of literature, that would only be normal. Kenneth, Susan, and Carrie had shown average curiosity, while Alice and Gregory hadn't given it a second glance.
”Wait a minute,” Julie said, pausing to get her thoughts in better order. ”Even the average Joe would find something old and rare a little fascinating.”
”Beg your pardon?”
”Alice and Gregory,” she said. ”Neither one of them even looked at the book.”
”And you think that's strange?”
”Well, yeah,” Julie replied. ”I think most people would be at least a little interested in a Civil War journal from 1861.”
”Noted,” Detective Frost said. ”Anything else?”
”I'm not sure if this matters or not, but Gregory was arrested for stealing a rare baseball card.”
”When was this?” he asked. ”When was he arrested?”
Julie shrugged. ”A couple of years ago.”
”And he came right out and told you this?”
”I searched it online,” Julie admitted.
”What about Alice Peyton? Did you find out anything unusual about her?”
”Yeah,” she said. ”I did. Alice worked for Eric Rutherford, the first book expert I called about the journal. Now Alice is dead, and the journal is missing.”
”Hmmm ...” Detective Frost wrote something in his small notebook.
”I'm wondering if the crimes are related.”
”It's possible, but hard to know for sure. I hate to say it, but so far our investigation has turned up nothing in the way of concrete evidence that would point to any one person being responsible for Ms. Peyton's death.”