Murder at the Library of Congress - Margaret Truman [75]
“Unless?”
“Some personal reason? Blackmail of some sort?”
“Perhaps.”
“No, it had to be professional, Annabel. Michele must have been using his research findings to point Driscoll in the direction of rare Hispanic finds, books, manuscripts. There’s no question about it, David Driscoll has come up with more important discoveries in recent years than any other single collector.”
“And donated a number of them to LC.”
“Yes, which makes his having paid Michele that much more unfathomable. If Michele knew where to locate these treasures, all he had to do was tell us and we would have gone after them.”
“Except Paul wouldn’t have augmented his income that way.”
“True, and if we’d gone after those materials as an institution, it would have had to be done in a public way. Having David Driscoll act as the go-between avoided having those items end up on the auction block and driving up the price. Is someone contacting Driscoll?”
“From LC? I don’t know. Cale may be. I understand that Huston, too, is trying to reach Driscoll, and I’m sure the police will want to see him.”
“This thing is exploding, Annie.”
“It certainly has that potential. I’m going to grab a sandwich in the cafeteria.”
As she was leaving, Consuela said, “Oh, you asked me whether I knew someone named Sebastian.”
“That’s right. His name came up in Michele Paul’s notes regarding the artist Reyes.”
“I realized later that I do know of someone by that name. I’ve only heard of him, never met him. He’s Mexican, lives in Mexico City last I heard. He’s a collector of Mexican books and art although you won’t find him at any of the usual gatherings of collectors. From what I know of him, he’s a crook wired into the higher echelons of the Mexican government and power elite. Here, I dug this out. It says he’s suspected of laundering drug money and using his import-export business to bring in drugs from Cuba.”
Annabel took the small, faded newspaper clipping from Consuela, read it, and handed it back. “Lovely fellow.”
“Why would Michele Paul be involved with someone like that?”
“I didn’t say he was, just that he noted the name Sebastian a few times in his file about Reyes. I’ll be back in an hour. I think I’d better hunker down for the afternoon in that lovely space you’ve given me and get some serious work done.”
The cafeteria was busy when Annabel arrived and she joined a long line at the sandwich section. She was eventually served and sought out an empty table. There weren’t any. But then she spotted Sue Gomara.
“Mind if I join you?” Annabel asked.
“Oh, sure. Please do.”
Annabel noticed that Sue was dressed for duty in Hispanic—jeans and a plaid shirt.
“Back to Cuba, Sue?”
“What? Oh, the newspapers. No. Consuela gave me a new assignment, going through some small collections and logging what’s in them. I’m definitely moving up in the world.”
“One small step toward becoming the Librarian of Congress,” Annabel said. “Good for you. Sounds like something you’d enjoy.”
“Better than filing Cuban propaganda. I mean, keeping track of what Cuban newspapers are saying is important.”
“No need to explain. Congratulations on your new responsibilities.”
Annabel started on her sandwich.
“Did you know Michele Paul real well?” Sue asked.
“No. I just met him a few times. You probably had more contact with him than I did.”
“I really didn’t like the guy, but you know that. It’s horrible what happened to him, his head bashed in and all. Have you heard anything more about who did it?”
“No. The police are—”
Sue guffawed. “The police! I don’t think they can find their way to work.”
“Pretty harsh assessment,” Annabel said. “You’ve had some dealings with them?”
“I sure have, and every one of them has been bad. I’ve been getting obscene phone calls for over a month now, but every time I report it, the cops sort of shrug it away. I suppose I’ll have to be killed by this nut before they’ll take it seriously.”
Annabel said, “I was an attorney in my former life. Obscene callers are generally passive types.”
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