Murder at the Library of Congress - Margaret Truman [87]
“David Driscoll.”
“Yes.”
“Go on.”
“And says he intends to go to LC.”
“LC? Library of Congress?”
“Or Librarian of Congress. He says he intends to go to LC and expose Paul’s financial arrangement with Driscoll.”
“He lays that out?”
“Yes. Portions of what Bitteman wrote are almost like a legal brief, building a case against Paul.”
“You’re the lawyer, Annie—the ex-lawyer. Is it a strong case?”
“I’m not sure because I don’t understand parts of it. I thought you might help.”
“If I’m able, sure.”
“Bitteman—and I’m certain everything on the discs was written by him—has a couple of pages of charts.”
“Charts?”
“Yes. Here. Put this in your computer,” Annabel said, taking one of the discs from the envelope on the desk and handing it to Consuela. When its table of contents appeared on the screen, Annabel reached over Consuela’s shoulder and scrolled down to CHART, hit Enter, and the file became visible. It was arranged in four columns, with a heading at the top of each: “Material,” “Value Pre-MP,” “Venue,” and “New Value.” Beneath the first heading was a list of dozens of books and what appeared to be manuscripts, each having to do with Hispanic or Portuguese subjects.
“We have these books here in LC,” Consuela said.
“I know. I’ve run across a few in my research.”
Consuela concentrated on the list. “I distinctly remember this one,” she said, touching it on the screen. “David Driscoll donated it. I recall it because of talk about it here in the division.”
“Talk?”
“Not exactly controversy, but some questioned its valuation. It’s a nice book, Annie, of genuine but modest value, worth maybe what’s in the second column alongside it.”
“What about the fourth column, ‘New Value’?”
Consuela nodded. “I think that was what Driscoll claimed it really was worth, ten times that first number.” She looked up at Annabel. “What does this mean?”
“Look at ‘Venue.’ ”
Consuela read from the screen: “ ‘Society of Latin American Scholars, 11/89.’ It must refer to the society’s annual scholarly meeting. It’s always held in November.”
“Any idea why that entry would be there under ‘Venue’?”
“No. Oh, wait. We’ve had a speaker from LC at the meeting every year since I’ve been here, probably a lot longer than that. November, 1989. I attended that session. Michele Paul was one of the speakers.”
“Do you have a record of when Driscoll donated that particular book to the library?”
“Give me a minute.”
After rummaging through a file cabinet, Consuela handed Annabel a printed form, its spaces filled in by hand.
“August 1990,” Annabel said. “Nine months after the meeting. Do you recall what Michele spoke about?”
“Not specifically. He tended to ramble, go off on myriad tangents.”
“Did he mention that book?”
“Possibly. As I said—”
“Look at the other items in the first column. Recognize any of those?”
“Sure. Oh, I see what you’re getting at. Just about all of these were Driscoll contributions to the library.”
“Were his other donations ever considered overvalued?”
“Yes, but that’s not unusual. People donating things to charity often inflate their value for tax purposes.”
“Inflate it ten times?”
“It does seem excessive.”
Annabel pointed to another item on the list, a map, and said, “According to Bitteman’s calculations, the map was worth six thousand dollars ‘Pre-MP.’ The new value he assigns it in the fourth column is a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. That’s more than twenty times its original value. Look at what Bitteman lists as the venue—Hispanic Insight, 6/90.”
“A magazine, well respected in the field.”
“I assume you have back copies.”
“Sure.”
She placed a call to one of the reference librarians, who delivered it within minutes. Annabel went to the index. “Look,” she said, handing the magazine to Consuela, “Michele Paul has an article in this issue.”
The two women huddled together to read the article’s lead.
“He’s talking about that map on the list,” Consuela said. “He’s claiming it’s vitally important to—listen to this: ‘… and when the map is found, as one day it certainly will be, scholars will