Dressed to Die: A Lindsay Chamberlain Novel (38 page)

"Creasey may have hidden the artifacts in the mine he
worked in, maybe in one of the played-out shafts. Lonnie
Cross got a job in the mine, found out about the stash, and
confronted Creasey. Something happened, and there was an
explosion. Perhaps Creasey planned it to get rid of Lonnie
Cross. Whatever the motive, Lonnie and three other men
died in the explosion and cave-in."

"The article said that Lonnie Cross was suspected of
causing the cave-in," Lindsay said.

"The survivor gets to write history." Sinjin stopped and
took a bite of sandwich and a sip of drink. "Creasey was
hurt pretty bad, from your description of his bones, but I
don't think he died. He knew he was in trouble, that someone might find out the truth, that someone might follow in
Lonnie Cross's footsteps. So, I think Creasey went to his
people after he got out of the hospital and had his family
send an obituary to the newspaper. I don't imagine that was
too hard. Newspapers don't require a death certificate.
Creasey changed his name slightly and headed south.

"But that bit of trickery didn't fool Billy, and Billy followed him. Maggie said that Billy was beside himself when
his little brother, Lonnie, died. He almost beat up a detective who suggested that Lonnie had caused the explosion.
Maggie said she was glad when Billy wanted to go to Georgia and work with Papaw. She thought it would be good for
him to get away. I think Billy caught up with Creasey at the
archaeology dig in Macon and killed him, to avenge his
brother's murder. One other bit of evidence: Billy was a tall
man, as tall as Papaw, and he was left-handed."

Lindsay absorbed everything Sinjin told her, turning it over
in her mind, comparing it with the facts she knew. She could
find no fault with his analysis, but that didn't mean it was true.
"What were the crates doing in Papaw's shed?" she asked.

"I think Papaw helped Billy cover up Creasey's death."

"Why would he do that?"

"When you thought Sid and Kathy had stolen the artifacts, you were willing to sacrifice those items if it would
keep peace in the family. You thought Kathy was carrying
my baby, and you didn't want anything to stand in the way
of me having a relationship with my child. As dedicated as
you are to archaeology, you were willing to sacrifice the
artifacts, if necessary, for your family. I think Papaw did
the same thing. Maggie was his favorite sister. She was
married to Billy. It would have killed her to have Billy
arrested for murder and sent to jail. He hid the body and the
artifacts in a safe place that only he knew. I don't think
even Billy knew where they were. Billy knew they were
hidden somewhere, he even alluded to his son of their existence, but I'll bet he didn't know where Papaw hid them."

"There's no proof to support your scenario. Papaw could
have killed Creasey," Lindsay said.

"I don't think he did. I think Papaw would have turned
Creasey over to the authorities when he found out about the
stolen artifacts. Billy's motive was much stronger. Creasey
had killed Billy's brother and his brother's fiancee. And
Billy had a temper. He may have confronted Creasey, and
they may have gotten in a fight. We'll never know exactly
how it happened. But you knew Papaw. He didn't have a
temper, and I don't think he did it. There was Creasey, a
possible murderer and thief, and there was Papaw, the
respectable archaeologist. Papaw wouldn't have been
afraid to own up to it."

"Unless it was deliberate murder," said Lindsay. She
wanted Sinjin to come up with some definitive piece of
information or logic that said her grandfather hadn't done it.

"He wouldn't have committed murder. He would have
turned Creasey over to the sheriff. I'm certain of it." Sinjin
reached out and took Lindsay's hand. "Papaw was proud of
his work in archaeology and proud of you. He would have
thought a lot about the legacy he was leaving to his son. He was worried on the day of your graduation what legacy he
was leaving you. I think that's what he was thinking about
in that picture."

"I want to believe that's what happened," Lindsay said.
"I wish we could know for sure."

"Sometimes you don't get to know for sure," he said.

"What are we going to do about it?" she asked.

"What's to do? The authorities have the same information we have. More, they have the skeleton. If they're interested and think of it, they can ask if the family has any old
photographs and go through the same process you did. We
have no evidence. We're just guessing."

"It will always look like Papaw killed that man and stole
the artifacts."

"Yes, and I don't know what we can do about that without accusing Maggie's dead husband of murder."

"You did a good job," Lindsay said. "Looks like you
have a little bit of detective in you, too."

He smiled. "Runs in the family, I guess. Besides, you
did all the work."

Lindsay had only one voice mail waiting for her when she
returned to her office from lunch-Will Patterson. She
dialed his number.

"You found out something, Will?" she asked.

"Yeah, quite a lot, actually. Kaufman was found in his car
on Chase Street at 9:30 last night by a couple who saw it in a
ditch. They called the police. The police think he was killed
someplace else, then the killer put his body in the car and
drove the car to where it was found. They don't have a medical examiner's report yet, but, as you said, they do know
he was shot and that your letter opener was added later."

"I don't suppose you discovered if he called anyone
before he left his office?"

"Yes, I found that out, too" Will said. "Kaufman called Chris Pryor at home. Chris wasn't there. He then called
Chris's shop from his car phone. The police talked to Chris,
and he told them that Kaufman wanted to know how much
his parents were paying you to find his sister's killer. He
told them that as far as he knew, I was the detective his parents hired, and Kaufman should ask me what your fee is."

"Why did Kaufman want to know that, I wonder?"
Lindsay asked.

"Chris told the police he didn't know," Will replied.

"Anything else?"

"I found out who was pointing Kaufman to you. It was
in his notes." Will paused.

Lindsay gripped the phone. "Who?"

"Ellis Einer. Know him?"

"Yes, I know him. I thought he was the one. Damn him!
I suspect that he had something to do with the artifact theft,
but I have no evidence, just a hunch."

"I'll keep my ears open," Will said. "If I hear about anything else, I'll give you a call."

"Ellis Einer," Lindsay said out loud after hanging up the
phone. "That son of a ..." She rose from her chair, grabbed
her purse and jacket, and stormed out the door. Walking
across the old part of campus was something she usually
enjoyed-the old buildings, huge ancient trees, green
lawns. Now, however, she saw nothing of the beauty as she
crossed in front of the library and made her way down the
grassy quadrangle to the Administration Building situated
next to the famous arch, the symbolic front door to campus.

Lindsay stopped inside the building's lobby only long
enough to look for Ellis Einer's office number in the directory. The assistant dean's office was at the end of the hallway on the first floor. She marched through the glass doors
and told the secretary she wanted to see Einer.

"Do you have an appointment?" the secretary asked.

Lindsay had to tell herself that this woman was not at fault. She forced herself to speak calmly. "No, but what I
have to see him about is important." A man came out of
Einer's office at that moment and Lindsay saw Einer sitting
at his desk as the door closed. "Oh, I see he's free," she
said, and before the gatekeeper could close the drawbridge,
Lindsay dashed into his office.

"Dr. Chamberlain, this is a surprise," Einer said, smiling
broadly. "What can I do for you? Please sit down."

Lindsay remained standing. "You can tell me why you
told Detective Kaufman that for a long time you have suspected me of stealing antiquities."

"I don't know what you're talking about." All traces of
his smile disappeared.

"Murder brings things out in the open, Dr. Einer. Don't
deny it, I know it is true. What I don't know is why."

Einer said nothing for a moment. Lindsay could see him
fighting to keep his temper. "I knew that there were some
thefts," he began slowly. "You have been living beyond
your means, and ..."

"What? Exactly why do you think that?"

"I know you have a $100,000 Arabian horse and a
$55,000 Land Rover, and you are a nontenured assistant professor who has been on the faculty only a couple of years. I
know what you make. You can't afford those luxuries."

"Dr. Einer, you have no idea what I can or can't afford.
How do you know about my horse?"

"My daughter has an internship with your vet. She was
quite impressed with your stallion and mentioned it to me."

"Did she also tell you that my mother raises Arabians
and she gave me the horse?" Einer said nothing. "And you
don't know what I paid for my Rover or anything about my
finances. How dare you use that flimsy evidence to justify
telling Kaufman that I'm a thief."

"Dr. Chamberlain. I suggest that you keep your voice
down."

"I suggest you do some serious repair work on my reputation."

"Perhaps it would be better if you leave."

"You know what I think?" said Lindsay. "I think you're
the one stealing the artifacts, and you accused me in order
to misdirect Kaufman."

Einer leapt up from his plush leather chair. "How dare
you ..." he sputtered.

"You use the rare book room where items are missing,
you know about the artifacts stored at Nancy Hart where
items are missing-you've complained enough about the
space-and you knew about the artifacts that my brother
brought from Kentucky."

"All that is rather weak, don't you think?" He relaxed,
folding his arms, smiling at Lindsay. "Besides, I knew nothing about the Kentucky artifacts prior to their disappearance. You certainly didn't tell me about them, and if you
ask Dr. Carter, he'll tell you he didn't tell me. I can't very
well steal something I know nothing about. And I would
watch very carefully whom you accuse of theft, Dr. Chamberlain. Your position at this university is very precarious."

"You've made sure of that." Lindsay turned and
marched out of his office and came face to face with Captain Grant and Officer Sharon Meyers. Obviously, they had
heard everything-as did everyone else in the office suite.

"Dr. Chamberlain," Grant said. "This is a surprise."

"How did you find out who Kaufman was talking to?"
asked Officer Meyers.

"I have sources," Lindsay said. "And why did you think
I drove a Land Rover?"

Before Officer Meyers could answer, Einer came out of
his office, his hand outstretched to Captain Grant, grinning
broadly again. "I'm glad you came by," he said, a little too
loudly, Lindsay thought.

"Watch him closely. Kaufman may have caught on to him," Lindsay said to Grant and Meyers. She turned to see
Einer give her a malevolent look.

Lindsay returned to her office, sat in her chair, and
stared at her grandfather's trowel sitting on the bookshelf,
thinking that she should feel panicked about what she had
just done. But she didn't. She felt relieved that the helplessness she had been feeling for days had lifted. Which astronaut said, "If you have only ten seconds to catastrophe, you
spend nine seconds thinking and then you act, no matter
what that act is"? Maybe it wasn't an astronaut, maybe it
was Mr. Spock. Whoever it was, Lindsay believed they
were right.

Frank burst in without knocking. "Lindsay, what in the
world were you thinking? Do you know who I've been
talking to?"

"Ellis Einer, no doubt."

"Yes, Ellis Einer. Lindsay, have you gone crazy? You
know, don't you, that there is no way they are going to renew
your contract after this? Just what were you trying to do?"

"Shake him up."

"Well, you succeeded."

"Good, did he confess?"

"Don't be flip, Lindsay. This is your career."

"Yes, I know it's my career, and I'm not going to sit
back and watch while Einer tries to destroy it. He's been
sitting up there in his plush office whispering in Kaufman's
ear, lying, slandering me, making me a grand larceny suspect, and I've been helpless up until now, because I didn't
know who was telling lies about me. Now that I know, I'm
not going to sit around and wait to see if things just happen
to work out in my favor."

"You think the answer was to go to his office and accuse
him?"

Lindsay stared at Frank for a moment. "Yes, I do. Do
you know why he said he did it?" Lindsay answered before Frank could say anything. "He said it's because he thinks
I'm living beyond my income."

Frank opened his mouth and closed it. He sat down. "So,
he admitted accusing you?"

"Yes, he admitted it. I told you before that I thought
Einer was the one talking to Kaufman. I had a friend confirm it from police records before I went to Einer's office.
Frank, the only reason he accused me was to make sure the
investigation for the missing artifacts went astray. As far as
I know, he had nothing against me personally. I think my
brother and I were simply convenient."

"But how did he know about the Kentucky artifacts?"

"He was here when the skeleton fell out of the crate."

"Yes, but there were no artifacts visible then," Frank
said. "I didn't tell him about them. It's not something I
wanted him to know about. He's always bitched about the
amount of storage space we use. Do you think one of the
students could have told him about them?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know who would
have. Sally and I asked around, and I really don't believe
any of the students have talked with Einer. They don't even
know who he is."