Haunted in Death

Four

He beat her there, and was being served coffee and fawning attention by a young, elegant redhead in a slick black suit.

Eve couldn’t blame the woman. Roarke was ridiculously handsome, and could, if it served him, ooze charm like pheromones. It seemed to suit him now as he had the redhead flushed and fluttering as she offered cookies with the coffee.

Eve figured she’d benefit from Roarke’s charisma herself. She hardly ever got cookies on the job.

„Ah, here’s the lieutenant now. Lieutenant Dallas, this is Maeve Buchanan, our hostess, and the daughter of the proprietor.“

„Is the proprietor here?“

„My wife. Straight to business. Coffee, darling?“

„Sure. This is some place.“

„We’re very happy with it,“ Maeve agreed.

It was pretty, bright – like their hostess – and charmingly organized. Nothing at all like the cluttered junk heap Eve had expected. Art and posters lined the walls, but in a way she supposed someone might arrange them in their home if they were crazy enough to want things everywhere.

Still, tables, display cabinets, shining shelves held memorabilia in a way that escaped the jumbled, crowded stocking style many shops of its kind were victim to. Music was playing unobtrusively – something full of instruments and certainly not of the current era. It added an easy appeal.

„Please, have a seat,“ Maeve invited. „Or browse if you like. My father’s just in the back office. He’s on the ‘link with London.“

„Late for business over there,“ Eve commented.

„Yes. Private collector. Most of our business is from or to private collections.“ Maeve swept a wave of that pretty red hair back from her face. „Is there anything I can do for you in the meantime?“

„You’ve bought a number of pieces over the last several months from Radcliff C. Hopkins.“

„Mr. Hopkins, of course. Nineteen-sixties through Eighties primarily. We acquired a number of pieces from him. Is there a problem?“

„For Hopkins there is. He was killed last night.“

„Oh!“ Her cheery, personal-service smile flashed into shock. „Killed? Oh my God.“

„Media’s run reports on it through the day.“

„I… I hadn’t heard.“ Maeve’s hands were pressed to her cheeks, and her round blue eyes were wide. „We’ve been open since ten. We don’t keep any current screen shows or radio on in the shop. Spoils the… the timeless ambiance. My father’s going to be so upset.“

„They were friends?“

„Friendly, certainly. I don’t know what to say. He was in only a few weeks ago. How did he die?“

„The details are confidential.“For the moment, Eve thought. There were always leaks and the media couldn’t wait to soak them up, wring them dry. „I can tell you he was murdered.“

Maeve had a redhead’s complexion, and her already pale skin went bone white. „Murdered? This is horrible. It’s – “ She turned as a door in the back opened.

The man who came out was tall and thin, with the red hair he’d passed to his daughter dusted with a little silver. He had eyes of quiet green, and a smile of greeting ready. It faded when he saw his daughter’s face.

„Maeve? What’s the matter? Is there a problem?“

„Daddy. Mr. Hopkins, he’s been murdered.“

He gripped his daughter’s arm, and those quiet eyes skimmed from Roarke to Eve and back again. „Rad Hopkins?“

„That’s right.“ Eve held out her badge.„I’m Lieutenant Dallas. You and Mr. Hopkins had business?“

„Yes. Yes. My God, this is such a shock. Was it a burglary?“

„Why would you ask?“

„His collection. He had a very extensive collection of antique art.“

„You bought a good chunk of that collection.“

„Bits and pieces. Excellent bits and pieces.“ He rubbed his daughter’s shoulder and drew her down to the arm of the chair as he sat. The gesture seemed to help both of them compose themselves.

„I was hoping to eventually do a complete appraisal and give him a bid on the whole of it. But he was…“ He pushed at his hair and smiled. „He was canny. Held me off, and whet my appetite with those bits.“

„What do you know about Number Twelve?“

„Number Twelve?“ He looked blank for a moment, then shook his head. „Sorry, I’m feeling muddled by all this. Urban legend. Haunted. Some say by Hop Hopkins’s ghost, others by Bobbie Bray’s. Others still say both, or any number of celebrities from that era. Bad luck building, though I admit I’m always on the lookout for something from its heyday that can be authenticated. Rad managed to acquire the building a few months ago, bring it back into his family.“

„Do you know how it got out of his family?“

„Ah, I think Rad told me it was sold off when he was a boy. His father inherited it when his grandfather died. Tragically, a drug overdose. And it was Rad’s plan to bring it back to its former glory, such as it was.“

„He talked about it all the time,“ Maeve added. „Whenever he came in. Now he’ll never… It’s so sad.“

„To be frank,“ Buchanan continued, „I think he might have overreached a bit. A huge undertaking, which is why he found it necessary – in my opinion – to sell some of his artwork and memorabilia. And because I have a number of contacts in the business who might have been helpful when and if he was ready to outfit the club, it was a good, symbiotic relationship. I’m sorry this happened.“

„When was the last time you had contact with him?“

„Just last week. I joined him for a drink, at his invitation. That would be…“ He closed his eyes a moment, held up a finger. „Wednesday. Wednesday evening of last week. I knew he was going to try to persuade me, again, to invest in this club of his. It’s just not the sort of thing I do, but he’s a good client, and we were friendly.“

When he sighed, Maeve covered his hand with hers. „So I met with him. He was so excited. He told me he was ready to begin the rehab again, seriously this time. He projected opening next summer.“

„But you turned him down, investmentwise.“

„I did, but he took it well. To be frank again, I did a bit of research when he first approached me months ago. Nothing thrives in that building. Owners and backers go bankrupt or worse. I couldn’t see this being any different.“

„True enough,“ Roarke confirmed. „The owners before Hopkins had plans for a small, exclusive spa with restaurant and retail. The buyer fell, broke both his legs while doing a run-through with the architect. His brother and cobuyer were brutally mugged just outside the building. Then his accountant ran off with his wife, taking the bulk of his portfolio.“

„Bad luck happens,“ Eve said flatly. „Could you tell me where you were last night, between midnight and three?“

„Are we suspects?“ Maeve’s eyes rounded. „Oh my God.“

„It’s just information. The more I have, the more I have.“

„I was out – a date – until about eleven.“

„Eleven-fifteen,“ Buchanan said. „I heard you come in.“

„Daddy…“ Maeve rolled her eyes. „He waits up. I’m twenty-four and he still waits up.“

„I was reading in bed.“ But her father smiled, a little sheepishly. „Maeve came in, and I… well…“ He sent another look toward his daughter. „I went down about midnight and checked security. I know, I know,“ he said before Maeve could speak. „You always set it if you come in after I’m in bed, but I feel better doing that last round. I went to bed after that. Maeve was already in her room. We had breakfast together about eight this morning, then we were here at nine-thirty. We open at ten.“

„Thanks. Is it all right if we take a look around?“

„Absolutely. Please. If you have any questions – if there’s anything we can do…“ Buchanan lifted his hands. „I’ve never dealt with anything like this, so I’m not sure what we can or should do.“

„Just stay available,“ Eve told him. „And contact me at Central if anything comes to mind. For now, maybe you can point me toward what you’ve got on Bobbie Bray.“

„Oh, we have quite a collection. Actually, one of my favorites is a portrait we bought from Rad a few months ago. This way.“ Buchanan turned to lead them through the main showroom. „It was done from the photograph taken for her first album cover. Hop – the first Hopkins – had it painted, and it hung in the apartment he kept over Number Twelve. Rumor is he held long conversations with it after she disappeared. Of course, he ingested all manner of hallucinogens. Here she is. Stunning, isn’t it?“

The portrait was perhaps eighteen by twenty inches, in a horizontal pose. Bobbie reclined over a bed spread with vivid pink and mounded with white pillows.

Eve saw a woman with wild yards of curling blond hair. There were two sparkling diamond clips glinting in the masses of it. Her eyes were the green of new spring leaves, and a single tear – bright as the diamonds, spilled down her cheek. It was the face of a doomed angel – lovely rather than beautiful, full of tragedy and pathos.

She wore thin, filmy white, and between the breasts was deep red stain in the blurred shape of a heart.

„The album wasBleeding Heart, for the title track. She won three Grammys for it.“

„She was twenty-two,“ Maeve put in. „Two years younger than me. Less than two years later, she vanished without a trace.“

There was a trace, Eve thought. There always was, even if it was nearly a century coming to light.

Outside, Eve dug her hands into her pockets. The sky had stopped spitting out nasty stuff, but the wind had picked up. She was pretty sure she’d left her watch cap in her office.

„Everybody’s got an alibi, nobody’s got a motive. Yet. I think I’m going to go back to the scene, take another look around.“

„Then you can fill me in with what must be a multitude of missing details on the way. I had my car taken home,“ Roarke continued when she frowned at him. „So I could get a lift with my lovely wife.“

„You were just hoping to get a look at Number Twelve.“

„And hope springs. Want me to drive?“

When she slid behind the wheel, she tapped her fingers on it. „What’s something like that painting going to go for on the open market?“

„To the right collector? Sky would be the limit. But I’d say a million wouldn’t be out of the park.“

„A million? For a painting of a dead woman. What’s wrong with people? Top transaction in the vic’s account from Bygones was a quarter of that. Why’d Hopkins sell so cheap?“

„Scrambling for capital. Bird in the hand’s worth a great deal more than a painting on the wall.“

„Yeah, there’s that. Buchanan had to know he was getting bargain basement there.“

„So why kill the golden goose?“

„Exactly. But it’s weird to me neither of them had heard by this time that Hopkins bought it at Number Twelve. They eat breakfast at eight? No media reports while you’re scoping out the pickings on the AutoChef or pulling on your pants?“

„Not everyone turns on the news.“

„Maybe not. And nobody pops in today, mentions it? Nobody say, ‘Hey! Did you hear about that Hopkins guy? Number Twelve got another one.’ Just doesn’t sit level for me.“ Then she shrugged, pulled away from the curb.

„Hit the lab before this. The same gun that killed Hopkins killed the as yet unidentified female whose remains were found behind the wall at Number Twelve.“

„Fascinating.“

„Weapon was bricked up with her. Killer must have found her, and it. Cleaned the weapon. You see those, the hair jewelry, she had on in the picture? Recovered at the scene, also clean and shiny. One by the window which the killer likely used to escape, one left with the bones.“

„Someone wants to make sure the remains are identified. Do you doubt it’s her?“

„No, I don’t doubt it’s her. I don’t doubt Hop Hopkins put a bullet in her brain, then got handy with brick and mortar. I don’t know why. I don’t know why someone used that same gun on Hop’s grandson eighty-five years later.“

„But you think there’s a connection. A personal one.“

„Had to reload to put the bullet in the brain. That’s extremely cold. Guy’s dead, or next to it. But you reload, roll the body over, press the barrel down hard enough to scorch the skin and leave an imprint of the barrel, and give him one last hit. Fucking cold.“