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XIX
The Fourth Tuesday
And why are we concerned with truth, and more so than with the self? And why do we care for ourselves, only through the care for truth?
Michel Foucault
Charlie slept in on Tuesday. He'd had not quite nightmares but dreams disturbing enough to bring him half awake several times. He'd gotten up twice, to go to the bathroom and to drink some water. He didn't really remember the dreams, but they were about Barrett and McKay. They all seemed to take place in an old house. He was obviously thinking about Barrett's house. In most of the dreams he was in the house, needing desperately to get out and finding himself either unable to move or blundering into the wrong rooms. He made the coffee stronger than usual and was on his second cup when Kate came into the kitchen. He knew better than to talk to her till she'd had some coffee, so he went to the front door to see if the paper was still there. Someone in the neighborhood regularly stole it if it wasn't picked up promptly. Charlie had never caught whoever it was, but a woman across the street had complained of the same problem, so it wasn't just him. He kept meaning to buy a large mailbox for the door so the paper wouldn't be left on the step. Happily, the paper was there and kept him busy while Kate completed her slow wake-up cycle.
It was ten before Charlie made it to his office. He worked on a paper he'd been writing on-and-off, comparing two philosophers each of whom would not have recognized the other as doing philosophy at all. Charlie had found an interesting point of contact between them, but so far he'd not been able to formulate a satisfactory conclusion. He was staring at the screen of his laptop, not thinking about the paper but about Shwayder and Hamilton. Making a decision, he saved his file and opened the browser, navigating again to the New Vistas Realty site. There he selected Hamilton's picture and printed it. Next he went to the department's page and selected Shwayder's picture and printed it. He trimmed both so they were about the same size and put them in an envelope that went into his coat pocket. Then Charlie walked to the club for lunch.
At a quarter to two Charlie went to the TA office looking for Jennifer Pullen. She had her back to him and was just packing her laptop into its case and he waited till she was ready to leave before speaking.
"Jennifer; looks like you're heading home. Could I give you a lift or do you have your car?"
"Dr. Douglas. I appreciate the offer; I don't have the car. Gas costs too much. But I'm not going home. I'm going downtown to meet a friend."
"That's even better, since I have a little shopping to do."
They walked to Charlie's car and as they were putting their seatbelts on Pullen asked:
"Was there something else about Wilson you wanted to ask?"
"Didn't think I'd fool you, but actually it's not about Barrett. Here, before we get going, have a look at this picture."
"Oh; that's the blond woman that was at Wilson's parties."
"Her name's Laurel Hamilton. The question I have for you is whether you've ever seen her with Jack Shwayder."
"With Dr. Shwayder? No, I don't think so. In fact I can't remember seeing him with anyone other than students on campus. I have seen him at Grimaldi's a couple of times, but he came in by himself. I don't think he noticed me. I go there sometimes with this guy I see whenever he can come to Kingsford. He has a job in Toronto. Of course, Dr. Shwayder could have been meeting someone who arrived after we left."
Pullen gave Charlie back the picture and they drove downtown. She got out in front of a bistro popular with students and Charlie drove off. He really had no shopping to do so he went home.
"Grimaldi's tonight, but we have to go early so I can talk to Flavia."
"Charlie, if your sleuthing includes a good dinner and a decent wine, you won't get complaints from me. What's up?"
Charlie filled Kate in on what Pullen had said and then went upstairs to take a quick shower.
Grimaldi's had no free tables even at six o'clock, so Charlie and Kate ended up waiting at the bar as they usually did. Flavia was busy serving drinks and food but Charlie got a chance to talk to her when she took them to a vacated table.
"Flavia, just a quick question. You'll no doubt remember this guy, but does he come in here often with this woman?"
Charlie held out the pictures of Shwayder and Hamilton and Flavia took a look.
"Oh, yes. They eat here since last Fall. Used to come once a week. He come late and wait for her. She tell me once she show houses to people who can only see them after work. The night he make big fuss about wine was first time he buy full bottle, not by glass. That was only night they come early. They no come back."
With that Flavia gave them menus and went to another table.
"So. Recent regulars. Interesting."
"Charlie, do you really think Shwayder is involved in this? Do you imagine he might have killed both Barrett and McKay? Otherwise, what would his role be? Maybe he's just involved with Hamilton."
"I guess what I find most difficult is picturing Shwayder shooting McKay. I must admit I'm more suspicious of Hamilton. But if she's just dating Shwayder, why would she go to the length of using that ploy on me?"
Just then Flavia brought their appetizers and the sleuthing was put aside. When Flavia picked up their empty plates Charlie complimented her on the appetizer but complained to himself about the so-so glass of wine.
"You know, Hamilton may have been genuinely candid. It must have been pretty obvious to her that you had some interest in her connection to Barrett and she didn't think of Shwayder. Maybe she leveled with you, and if she did, her involvement with Barrett probably was just about the house, even if she did have eyes for McKay."
"Do you believe that part?"
"I don't know. I only got a quick look at him at Marcela's."
Charlie and Kate finished dinner with an espresso for him and a Spanish coffee for her. The phone was ringing when they entered the house, but stopped before Charlie picked it up. There was no voice-mail message. Charlie changed and sat down with his book, deciding not to have any more wine. Kate was doing something upstairs and shouted down no when he asked if she wanted a glass.
Charlie read for a good hour before the phone rang again. He was quite surprised when it turned out to be Hamilton.
"Dr. Douglas; Charlie. I hope I'm not disturbing you but there's something I need to ask you. I don't know if you recall, or perhaps even noticed me, but I was at Grimaldi's with your colleague, Jack Shwayder, one night not long ago when we left in something of a huff. You and Jack exchanged words. I take it you don't get on. In any case, we talked earlier tonight and I mentioned I'd had lunch with you yesterday. He got huffy and was sure I'd been talking to you about him. I've been to dinner with Jack a number of times and I thought we got on. Why would he think I was talking about him to you?"
"I almost never talk to Shwayder. I was curious how you knew him, but if you recall he never came up at our lunch. The only reason I can think that he thought we were talking about him is that he may have learned that I've been asking some people about Barrett and McKay."
"Hmm. Well, I met Jack quite independently of Barrett. He came into our office and said he was thinking about a condo. I showed him one or two but decided he wasn't serious. He asked me to dinner and I went, but he didn't raise the matter of a condo again. I think he was a little surprised at the cost, or at least what one gets for the money. We talked mostly about music and news stories, and we both like good food. Then he gets snarky on me tonight."
"I'm afraid I can't help. What puzzles me is what he thought you might tell me."
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure Jack gave my name to Barrett when Barrett started looking for a house, but neither ever said so. Barrett said I'd been recommended by 'a friend' and Jack never brought it up; he never asked if I'd found a house for Barrett, never thanked me for helping him out. Maybe Jack doesn't even remember giving Barrett my name. Okay, look, this isn't going anywhere and I won't take up more of your time. I called because I
thought you might know something or even that Jack had talked to you. Thank you for listening, and if you ever do change your mind about a condo or just your house, give me a call."
Charlie said goodbye and called Kate down. While she was finishing whatever she'd been doing he opened a bottle of shiraz. So much for passing on it. When Kate sat down he gave her a glass and proceeded to tell her about Hamilton's call.
"So what did you think?"
"She made a mistake. She should have left it alone. Her ploy worked at lunch, but she was probably worried I'd figure it out, hence this call. But all she did was convince me that it was a ploy. Her alleged reason for calling was rubbish."
"I suspect you'd be delighted to find Shwayder's involved."
"Well, yes; I suppose so. But I can't buy it: Jack coolly shooting McKay and catching him off-guard? I could see him shooting Barrett, but McKay's an entirely different proposition. You know, the more I think about it, the more I consider McKay's experience, the more I think it was probably a woman who shot him. He wouldn't have expected it of a woman he'd gotten close to, and he probably had a superior attitude toward women anyway, whether or not he knew it. That brings me back to Milford. She and Hamilton are the only women in all this, aside from some of the students."
"You don't suspect a student, like that Pullen woman?"
"No, not really. Consider this scenario. What if Barrett and McKay or just McKay did hide the books in Milford's house? Now here's the twist: what if Milford trashed her own house to get the books and to make it look like she was victimized? If the books were hidden in Milford's house, she was in on the deal. That would explain why she fooled McKay and how she would know who the buyer was - assuming there was one."
"That's a really good idea, but what about Barrett? She has an alibi for that."
"Well, the idea I had was that Milford shot Barrett. She was angry enough at him and it was a way of cutting him out of the split. That's what she'd tell McKay."
"I think you're on to something, Charlie, and especially if they already had a buyer. If they did, Barrett would have become redundant as far as the book deal was concerned. Then, if Milford got greedy, and especially if she really didn't like McKay, she would have seen him as redundant, too. And McKay probably wouldn't suspect her. No; that's the hitch. For McKay not to suspect her, there must have been something going on between them and she deliberately misled us about not liking him."
"That works, but two things bother me: is Milford competent with a gun? And why would Barrett meet her in his office? She might have insisted on meeting in the office - say on the pretext of neutral territory. And she certainly wouldn't have him come to her house. It might have been simpler, too. She no doubt had never been to his new house and his office was more convenient. As for her handling a gun, it's especially important when she went up against McKay, even with the element of surprise. There's another thing. I wonder if Barrett knew where the books were. Here's what I mean: I'm sure it was McKay who acquired the books, then went to Barrett for help in selling them. If McKay got the books, he needn't have told Barrett where they were and hiding them at Milford's would make sense because I doubt Barrett would go along with stashing the books in his angry ex-lover's house. And McKay and Milford needn't have been sexually involved with one another; maybe they were just partners in the book deal."
"One more thing, Charlie. Someone willing and able to pay a million or more dollars for the books wouldn't want any part of something illegal: especially murder. The buyer may be waiting innocently to hear from the killer."
"That's true. In any case, if the books were hidden in Milford's house, they're gone. She would have handed them over to the buyer and then messed up her house to look as if someone had searched it. That way the books are gone and she's not connected. I wonder if DeVries can check her bank accounts for a big deposit. But then she wouldn't be that dumb. She'd put the money in a new account in a bank in the Bahamas or wherever."
"This is a strange situation. We have to assume there's a buyer for the books, but either it's someone who is an innocent bystander or a killer of two. And the difference seems to be whether Milford was involved and is herself a killer, or she's the innocent bystander."
"That pretty much sums it up. Do you think I should call DeVries again?"
"Well, you could call and tell her your idea about Milford and just see what she has to say. Maybe they've learned something - then again, maybe not."
With that Charlie and Kate packed it in and went to bed. Charlie mused for a bit while waiting for sleep, trying to picture Milford calmly pulling a gun on McKay and shooting him before he could react. It just didn't work, despite Charlie not really understanding why not. He just couldn't see Milford in that role, and if it didn't work, he had to think about Hamilton again. That did work. But would Hamilton also have shot Barrett? And if so, would McKay have still trusted her?