Page 64 of The Burnt
Declan pondered this. He took another sip of scotch. “Could be a coincidence. Probably that’s all it is. Those coats are pretty common…”
“Yeah. Probably just a coincidence.”
They both sat in silence before Declan said, “I mean, what would connect a man like Tom Semple to a low-end bottom-feeder like Archie Whitcher?”
Charlie took a sip of his scotch. “Yeah. Archie was definitely a crook and Semple is working with Simon in import-export, whatever that really means.”
Declan put down his glass on the desk. “Wait. Katherine said Archie used to store lots of boxes of stuff for other people in his basement.”
“Lots of boxes?” Charlie asked.
“Truckloads, sometimes. Like they were maybe from…”
“An import-export business?”
Charlie leaned forward. “What if Archie had been skimming a little off the top? And what if this came to the attention of the importer?”
“Simon might have been tempted to send out his right-hand man to look into it. It’s starting to look like our two cases may be connected.”
“What do we do now?” Charlie asked.
“Tomorrow, I want you to find out everything you can on Tom Semple. Dig as deep as you can into the recesses of the web.”
“Will do.”
“In the meantime, I’ve got to puzzle out what is motivating Katherine O’Grady.”
“What do you mean?” Charlie asked.
“My meeting with Gary this morning didn’t yield much, other than I’m slipping up when it comes to spotting a surveillance vehicle. It turns out the police have been watching the house allweek. One thought Gary planted in my brain was that Katherine just might be playing me.”
“Oh. That isn’t good.”
“No it isn’t. I hate being used. On the positive side, I’ve been looking into that mystery car that she photographed.”
“And you found out who owns it?” Charlie asked.
“I did.”
“So…who is it?”
“Florence Keough,” Declan replied.
Charlie stared at him blankly. “I have no idea who that is.”
“And neither do I. I just know that she is a seventy-eight-year-old woman who lives in Jasper.”
“Okay. And…”
“Katherine O’Grady was certain that the car had never been on that street until the day of Archie’s murder, which means either Katherine is lying, or an elderly woman was reckless enough to drive her car hundreds of kilometres down wintry roads from Jasper to Archie’s street then deny doing it. Or…someone used her car, with or without her permission.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Charlie asked.
“How do feel about going on a road trip to Jasper tomorrow? I want to talk to Mrs Keough in person and get to the bottom of this car business. It’ll probably go better if you come along so I can take advantage of your astute observation and intuition.”
“What about my background checks on Tom Semple?” Charlie asked.
“It’s mostly research work, right? Bring your computer along and you can hunt for details on the mysterious Mr Semple when we’ve finished up with Mrs Keough. And by the way, it’ll be an overnighter, so pack some clothes. Think of it as a contribution to our work–life balance. What do you say? Will you come to Jasper with me?”
