Page 35 of Lost Cause
Abby shook her head. “We could never be confident he doesn’t have a key.”
“Then, the only way to secure them is to watch them all the time,” Burke said.
“We’ll get Gabe to do it,” Abby said.
“Perfect solution.” Burke met Sam’s eyes. “Be sure to let us know if you find anything else out of the ordinary.”
“Will do.”
He moved into the foyer with Abby. The strong, musty scent the house oozed seemed to get stronger. “Now that we have the journals, I’d like to hold back some of our questions for Victor until after we’ve had a chance to read them. We’ll keep the locket, velvet scrap, and the person in the greenhouse to ourselves.”
Abby cast him an appraising look. “You think the journals might give us reason to suspect him of harming her?”
“The more time we spend with him, the more I think anything’s possible.”
“Which means you also think he could’ve participated in the crown’s theft.” She fell silent for a moment, their footfalls echoing off the high ceiling. “I’m leaning that way, too, but I don’t have a clue what his motive is.”
“He could be trying to frame someone to get them out of his life.”
“It’s conceivable, but it’s a bit far-fetched, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps, but we need to keep all avenues open.”
“Maybe he told his son about it,” she said. “And he’s threatening to give it back to France. Victor doesn’t want that to happen, but he can’t take it with him, so he’s selling it.”
“Then why call us?”
“So his son believes it was stolen.”
“Could be.”
She stopped outside the closed dining room door. “I’ll go along with you wanting to withhold information and questions for now.”
Glad she saw his reasoning, he gave an affirmative nod. “I’ll take lead again, if you don’t mind.” He waited for her look of agreement.
She frowned instead. “I’m fine with that, but I have a recommendation.”
The last thing he wanted at the moment was to be told how to do his job, but he’d promised to keep an open mind with her. “Go ahead.”
“Dial it down a notch. Be less aggressive. Try to empathize with him.”
Her comment didn’t surprise him, but… “You were pretty hard-nosed as a sheriff. Seems like you’ve changed. Why?”
She rested her hands on her hips and stared up at him. “It’s not like I made a conscious decision to change. I was under a lot of pressure as a sheriff to succeed. That hasn’t changed. I still have intense pressure. How could I not when lives often depend on us? But it’s different. I don’t have a whole county watching and judging me. Just myself and my peers. So I’ve relaxed. Let go of the need to please others and feel more free to be myself.”
He understood, but who was the real Abby? Was she this softer, more compassionate version or was it all an act? He didn’t know, and he didn’t like the uncomfortable feeling that left behind. But it wasn’t the time to get into it. Now was the time to get some answers.
He opened the door for her, then followed her into the room. Looking bored, Gabe remained seated in the chair at the end of the long table. Victor sat to his immediate right, his face tight and angry. Directly across from him, Abby settled on one of the chairs and offered Victor a pleasant smile as if she was trying to soften him up.
Burke would follow her suggestion and take the kinder, gentler approach. He dropped onto the chair next to her. “When we checked the basement door locks, we found a set of footprints on the path outside. They’re small, like a woman’s or a small man, and lead away from the house. Who might’ve used this exit?”
Victor’s eyes narrowed. “No one, as far as I know. Who would even want to go down there?”
“Who has keys to that door?” Abby asked.
“You know I do, but also Ugo and Sylvia. As far as the footprints go, if it was one of them, that’s more likely Sylvia’s size. But I can’t imagine why they would want to exit that way.”
Burke could. “Perhaps they wanted to remove something from the house and didn’t want you to know about it.”
