Page 90 of Lost Cause
“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” she said, then listened again.
“Thank you so very much, Kelsey. I’d like to come by and thank you in person, but Victor had a stroke, and we’re at the hospital with him.”
As she listened this time, she nodded. “I will, and thank you again.”
She ended her call and looked at Burke. “Kelsey finished searching Victor’s property. Found nothing. She and her team also recovered all of the remains and are loading them on the helicopter. She’ll get back to us as soon as she has a cause of death or any other information.”
Burke hadn’t wanted Kelsey to find another body, but he had to admit to disappointment. Locating Estelle might’ve led them to finding the person who’d stolen the crown. “So we’re left with the belt buckle as our only lead on the guy.”
“Sam’s still working the grave. She might come up with something viable.”
“Let’s hope she does.” Burke looked at Victor resting comfortably. “When he wakes up, it’s definitely not a good time to show him the belt buckle. The stress might cause another stroke. Not to mention his grief if he knows the person who died. Even if he was estranged from his brother, if Vincent’s the person who was killed, it will come as quite a shock.”
“I agree. We should be cautious and check with the doctor again before talking to him.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Burke said. “If she says it’s not a good idea, we wait for Victor’s family to arrive and take the buckle to the antique dealer.”
“But I won’t leave until I’m certain Victor’s out of the woods.”
“Agreed.” Burke’s phone rang, sounding louder than normal in the quiet hospital room. “It’s Sam.”
“If she’s calling you,” Abby said. “She likely has results.”
Hoping for good news, he answered. “Putting you on speaker, Sam. Abby is here with me too.”
“Great,” she said, her voice enthusiastic. “We’ve been working on fingerprints from the mansion. The bad news is, I don’t have any matches in AFIS so far, so some of the prints remain a mystery. On the bright side, one unmatched print was located at several locations.”
“Where?” Abby asked.
“The greenhouse, Estelle’s locket, trunk, and her journals.”
Burke’s hope for a solid lead deflated. “Those are all things Estelle would’ve touched, so probably her print.”
“Problem is,” Sam said. “We don’t have her prints on file, and we obviously can’t take them, so there’s no way to prove it’s hers. If Victor could give us something he knew only she’d touched, we could make a match. We did lift another partial from the locket, but it didn’t link to anyone. We’re still comparing it with other prints.”
“Did you find the same print on the crown hiding place?” Abby asked.
“No, but we recovered three sets there. One is Victor’s. The other two unknown.”
“And the safe?” Abby asked.
“Just Victor’s prints,” Sam said.
“Then he was likely the only one who could’ve put the journals in there.”
“Likely,” Sam said. “Unless someone else wore gloves. And before you ask, Victor’s prints wouldn’t be smudged and would remain intact even if someone wore gloves afterward.”
Burke clenched his fingers. “So we really don’t have a lot to go on here.”
“We’re not down for the count,” Sam said. “My assistant is still working on the secret compartment in the office, the exitdoors, and the cells in the basement. I hope she’ll have results by the end of the day.”
“Any other results for us?” Burke asked.
“I finished analyzing the oil in the secret passageway. It’s definitely gun oil, but it’s old. My estimate says it was deposited in the eighties. And I matched it to the oil in the antique guns in Victor’s collection. It looks like there might be one gun missing.”
“So someone could’ve stolen one of his guns, and the oil timeline of the eighties could put it at the time our victim was killed and Estelle disappeared.” Abby’s excited tone had returned. “Kelsey doesn’t know how the man was killed yet, but maybe he was shot and the person who killed him used the secret passageway to hide the gun.”
“It’s possible, I suppose, but I don’t think the gun would drip oil in that manner. It most likely came from a leaky can.” Sam’s enthusiasm had mellowed. “But if you think this is an important lead, I can get with the weapons expert at the Veritas Center and have him weigh in.”
