Bones of a Feather - Carolyn Haines [7]
“Call the police,” I said. “At least now you have Tinkie and me to alibi your whereabouts and to verify your story.” Though I realized she could have left the window open before she met us in town.
“And what a shame such is required,” Monica said. “This is our home, the place where we grew up. Yet no one believes us. I’m sick of it.” She pivoted on her heel and left the room, her footsteps echoing on the beautiful hardwood floors. In a moment I heard her say, “There’s been another break-in at Briarcliff. Yes, thank you.”
When she returned, she was calmer. “A squad car is on the way.”
I examined the window lock, careful not to touch anything. The burglar hadn’t left prints before, so it was unlikely he’d return and be sloppy. Still, I didn’t want to contaminate potential evidence.
The lock was old and loose in the wood. Someone jostling the window could wiggle it enough to dislodge the latch. “When will the replacement windows arrive?”
“I’ll ask Jerome,” Monica said. “He handles the repairs.”
Eleanor approached from the rear of the house. “Tea is read—” She broke off, staring at the window and then at us, reading the distress on her sister’s face. “He came back, didn’t he? He knew we were gone and came in broad daylight.” A hand covered her mouth and her complexion paled. “He stole the most valuable thing we had, so what does he want now?”
That was a question neither Tinkie nor I had an answer for.
* * *
Whatever the Leverts’ standing in the community, their call brought Natchez Police Chief Albert “Gunny” Randall. The nickname said it all. An ex-marine, he deployed crime-scene investigators to dust and collect evidence, but his attitude told me he knew it would all be for nothing.
At my request, Tinkie ushered the Levert sisters to the kitchen so I could have a moment alone with Gunny, the name he insisted I use.
“The Leverts have hired me and my partner to write a report for the insurance company,” I told him.
He wasn’t surprised. “Four million is some kind of windfall. The sisters are doing what they can to make sure the insurance company pays out.”
I couldn’t deny it and didn’t want to. “Was there any evidence to counter the Leverts’ claim?”
“Nope, but there was nothing to back up the claim, either. Not a footprint or fingerprint or pry mark on the window. Nothing else was tampered with in the house. The burglar—if there was one—went straight to the necklace.”
I ignored the implication. “How did he, or she, open the safe?”
He cleared his throat. “The necklace wasn’t in the safe.”
“What?” The word was out before I could stop it. I remembered Monica’s earlier statement that the necklace would normally be in the vault. I hadn’t followed up.
“Now you understand my skepticism,” he said. “The sisters had the necklace out. For a new appraisal. Yes, I checked with Davidas’s Jewelry. The necklace was due in the store the next morning for the appraisal.”
“So the sisters weren’t lying.”
“No, but that’s easy enough to set up, isn’t it? Why didn’t they leave the necklace in a secure vault until time to transport it? Why leave it on top of a secretary? I’m having a hard time with this, and so is Mr. Nesbitt at the insurance company. The necklace should have been secured.”
“What’s the point of owning something so valuable if you can’t wear it and enjoy it?” I countered. I wasn’t defending the sisters, but I also wasn’t ready to believe they’d staged a robbery. They seemed to have plenty of ready cash. “If it were a Lamborghini parked on the street and it was stolen, you wouldn’t assume they’d planned it.”
He frowned. “True enough.”
I couldn’t believe it. Chief Gunny Randall saw my point. “What about the previous break-ins?”
“Same story. The sisters called, we came out. They say they’re replacing the windows, but until they do, a middle-school kid could get into the house. Last year, someone