Old World Murder - Kathleen Ernst [107]
“That’s a nice little bit of nepotism.”
“Yeah. Of course Stan didn’t advertise the fact that Rupert was his nephew. The address on his job application lists the mother’s Waukesha address. Rupert didn’t show up for work yesterday. A county deputy went to the Waukesha apartment, but no luck. Fortunately I was able to pick him up.”
Chloe eyed him. “How?”
“I remembered his car. I’d seen him going into Stanley’s place. I’d been watching the house because I thought Stan might be the bookie we’ve been trying to identify.”
“And is he?”
“No. The extra traffic at the house was just friends of Rupert’s coming and going. One of whom was Carlisle. But I think Stanley really is trying to ride the kid straight, Chloe.”
She shrugged.
“The court date you saw noted on Stanley’s calendar was for Rupert. Stanley is planning to attend. He told me all the things he’s been doing to keep Rupert out of trouble.”
“Good for Stanley.”
“When he found out that Rupert was gambling, Stan went ballistic. That night I saw him barge into The Eagle’s Nest, he was looking for Rupert. And that takes us back to Carlisle. He was a gambler.”
“A gambler?”
“It started years ago, when Carlisle’s parents took him on some cruise. He got compulsive. It’s like that for some people.”
Chloe thought about that. She didn’t understand gambling’s appeal, but she supposed she shouldn’t condemn Joel because she didn’t understand his addiction.
“Anyway,” Roelke was saying, “after he and Nika moved to Eagle, he got in way over his head. He was in debt big time, to the wrong people. He couldn’t sell his vehicle or use his tuition money without Nika and his parents finding out. He got scared when Nika’s tires got slashed. He figured that was a message to him. These things can get ugly real fast.”
Chloe studied a passing cloud. She had never sensed anything in Joel except devotion to his fiancée. How had he managed to keep so much hidden? Why could she sense layers of emotion in old houses, and be so blind and deaf to what went on inside people right now?
“I do believe that at first, Carlisle just wanted to get the bowl for Nika,” Roelke said soberly. “‘Nika’s had too many hard breaks already,’ Carlisle said. ‘She won’t accept financial help from me. And that old bitch gave the bowl away. It should belong to Nika. She should at least have first dibs on writing it up.’”
Roelke glanced at Chloe. “That whole thing about getting an article published …?”
“That is important to Nika,” Chloe said. “But I’d like to think that she wouldn’t have accepted the bowl if it was stolen from the historical site.”
“So she says. And I do believe her.”
Thank God for small favors.
“But after Carlisle realized that his gambling debts had gotten him into serious trouble, he thought he could sell the bowl. He rationalized that it wasn’t really stealing because it should have been Nika’s anyway.”
“That logic is a little twisted.”
“Desperate people’s logic usually is. Anyway, he broke into the trailer to look for it. Then he thought you might have found it, and taken it home, so he tried to break into your house. He swore that Engel had given him the impression that you’d be at your parents’ house that night.”
Chloe thought back. “And I assume Joel was the one who broke into Kvaale that night you got called out?”
Roelke nodded. “He said he’d been at Sasso’s that evening with you and Nika, and heard somebody say something about storing a damaged artifact in the attic of one of the old houses. He took Nika’s key and went out to the Kvaale house to see if someone had tucked the bowl upstairs.”
“What about the rock through my window? He must have known by then that I didn’t have the bowl.”
“He was panicking.” Roelke picked up a cookie, put it back down. “Carlisle was trying to scare you into quitting. He said he was just trying to take care of Nika.”
Chloe frowned, trying to parse that through. Then, “Oh. I get it. He thought that if I quit, Petty might give my job to Nika.