Page 77 of Passions in Death
“And if you keep it on display, manage to have that showing?”
“I’d double it.” She sighed. “That’s the business of art.”
Outside, Eve started toward the car.
“Double it,” Peabody said. “That’s a big jump.”
“I’d say she knows how it works, what she can get. Friends or not, if she had a dead artist, she’d try for the posthumous showing. Likely, as manager, she gets a cut for finding an artist who sells, and maybe for putting on a showing.”
Eve got in the car, tapped her fingers on the wheel. “She was out of town, but could, possibly, have worked with someone else to do the cash-in thing. But I don’t see it. Unless she has a river of dead artists behind her, it doesn’t follow.”
“It doesn’t make real good business sense, either,” Peabody pointed out. “Find an artist, bring them along, then kill them to sell at a high price. You’d run out of artists sooner or later, or get a bad juju rep.”
“Bad juju.” Eve rolled her eyes, then pulled away from the curb. “And I hate to say you’re not wrong about the juju. Check and see about posthumous showings and/or sales through the gallery. But it doesn’t really follow.
“Let’s talk to Anton Carver.”
“He’s got a tight alibi.”
“Yeah, maybe we can loosen it. Or maybe he knows something. He was there when they took the art out of the studio. Maybe Erin got just happy enough to tell him she was going to book the trip. They’re not particular friends—according to Donna—so he’s not going to go blabbing to Shauna. She’s happy, excited, wants to tell somebody. And he’s right there.”
“And if she did say something…”
“Maybe she said something to someone else, or he did,” Eve finished. “Or maybe he or someone else who came in looked in the case she’s stashed. It was all in there, the tickets, the costume, the note.
“Carver and Lopez had sex in the studio, at least once.”
“Yeah, I saw that in your report. So maybe more than once. Maybe when the case was in there.”
“She’s pissed, and now more pissed. ‘You don’t want me, you’re not going to have anyone.’ Erin asks her to bring the case, and she takes that opportunity. Or Erin gets the case there another way, and Lopez, knowing what’s coming, follows her to the room. Erin tells her, and she’s ‘Let me help you change.’ She goes in first, or tells Erin to check the door, make sure it’s secured. Kills her, tries to make it look like a robbery, leaves the door unsecured.”
“The only person who knows who Erin told is Erin, and she’s dead.”
“That’s how it stands. A tight group like that, your tribe deal. You’d think something like this big surprise would make the rounds.”
“You knew Jenkinson was going for the DS exam, and we’re a pretty tight group in the squad. You didn’t tell anyone.”
“Jenkinson told Reineke. Yeah, his partner,” Eve added, and settled on the crappy lot to park. “And Reineke kept it in the vault. That’s respect. But this is a surprise thing, not professional. People like being in the know, but so far, nobody’s saying they knew.”
“We’ve got Donna.” Peabody got out of the car to walk. “She knew about the case, but not what it was for. I believed her on that.”
“So did I. But Erin told her she had a backup, and that tells me she pulled somebody in when Donna went to Baltimore—so the day before the party. Or maybe knowing Donna might have to book it to Baltimore, she set up a backup in advance. A just in case.”
“It was an important deal for her,” Peabody commented. “I can see a just in case.”
“Decker strikes me as the most logical, but she’d already put in time and trouble.”
“And you—Erin—don’t want to pile on. Lopez makes sense. In your report, it has Monday as her day off, so Erin would figure, hey, she’s clear.”
“On the other hand, why not ask someone outside the tribe, somebody who hasn’t had dick to do with showers, wedding prep, drunk girl parties?”
“And that points, possibly, to Greg Barney.”
“Shauna’s best friend’s cohab. Also logical. Lives and works easy walking to the D&D. Actually closer than Lopez. A longer hike to the studio for the case, but not a lot. Or she gets him the case and he stashes it.”
“Motive being he still has a thing for Shaunbar.”
“It’s personal. Whoever killed her,” Eve insisted, “it was personal. Sex, love, passion. Personal.”
