Let the Dead Sleep. Heather Graham

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СКАЧАТЬ Simon, if it’s so awful, why didn’t you just get rid of it?” Danni demanded.

      Gladys stopped abruptly. She slowly turned around and walked toward her. “Don’t you think I tried? I threw it in the trash, and it was back in the study the next day. I dropped it in a Dumpster on Bourbon Street, and it was back the next day. I buried it—and it was back!”

      She was delusional—or so she obviously appeared to Danielle Cafferty.

      “Mrs. Simon, really, you need to calm down,” Danni said. “We’ll go over and see the statue. Give me an address and we’ll come this evening. We close at seven.”

      A sigh of sheer relief escaped Gladys and she dug into her handbag for a card, which she handed to Danni. “Thank you...thank you. You’ve saved my life!”

      “It’s just a bust...a statue...whatever, Mrs. Simon. Please relax. Everything will be fine.”

      “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Gladys breathed.

      And then she was gone.

      Danni picked up the store’s old-fashioned phone. She started dialing as Jane came the rest of the way down the stairs.

      “You all right, Danni?” Jane didn’t hide her concern.

      “Of course. But I’m worried about that poor woman.”

      “Who are you calling?” Billie asked.

      “The police,” Danni said. “Someone needs to help that woman—perhaps see that she’s committed. She’s—”

      It was time for Quinn to make his move and he did so swiftly, setting his thumb down on the disconnect button before she could dial three digits.

      Danni stared at him in total indignation. “What the hell? Who are you—what do you think you’re doing?”

      “Don’t call the police just yet. Listen to me. The woman really needs your help. Ask Billie,” Quinn said. “I can try to follow her and get the damned thing, but I’ve already tried to see her and talk to her. She knows about your father and the shop, so you’re the one she needs to trust. You need to go and get the statue. But you don’t have to deal with this alone. I’ll be there.”

      Taken aback, she was still angry, but he saw sudden recognition in her smoldering gaze, along with shock and resentment.

      Maybe he wasn’t handling this well.

      “You...you were at my father’s funeral,” she said.

      He nodded. “I was his friend. He was a good man. The best. And you’re doing him a real disservice if you don’t continue his work.”

      “His work? His work was this shop and I’m keeping it open. Listen, I’m calling the police. That woman needs professional help—and I don’t believe you’re any more equipped to deal with her than I am,” she said.

      “Billie?” Quinn turned to Angus’s long-time assistant.

      Billie cleared his throat, looking at Danni. “Um, yeah, I don’t know how to explain it all, but your father would’ve gone out there and seen the statue.”

      “Who is he?” she asked Billie, inclining her head toward Quinn.

      “He is standing right here. I’m Quinn. Michael Quinn, private investigator.”

      “And you’re investigating crazy ladies with statues?” she asked sarcastically.

      “You should go see the bust, Danni,” Billie said.

      “What’s the matter with both of you? If I don’t call the police, I’ll live with a guilty conscience forever. She’s deranged! She could be a danger to herself and others.”

      Quinn stepped back. “By all means, then. Call the police. And maybe they can help her for a few hours—a few days. The danger will continue. I guarantee it.”

      “Really? And you’re so sure of this...how?”

      “Because I worked with your father on occasion.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know you,” she told him.

      “Um, I do,” Billie said. “I know him.”

      “I’ve seen him with your father, too,” Jane murmured. “But I don’t think you should trust him.”

      “She should trust him. Yes, she should!” Billie argued. “No offense, Jane, but you were never part of Angus’s real world. You’ve barely been around two years and you’re his bookkeeper, nothing more.”

      “Well, I never!” Jane said.

      “Jane is a wonderful employee and you will not stand here in my store and insult her!” Danni said indignantly.

      “Angus trusted me implicitly,” Jane declared.

      “Perhaps,” Quinn said with a shrug. “But that’s not important right now.”

      Danni looked at him warily. “You should state your business, your relationship with my father and then leave the store.”

      “I helped him. He helped me. I guess Angus wanted to protect you, his little princess,” Quinn said. “Well, it’s a shame and it’s sad and it’s probably too late.” He felt his anger growing, and he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t really her fault if her father had chosen not to share the depths of his life with her.

      But she should have figured out that he wasn’t just a shopkeeper or a collector! How naive could she have been? On the other hand, maybe she hadn’t been that naive. Maybe she’d just been gone too much.

      “Like I said, I don’t know you, and I was very close to my father!” she began. “Mrs. Simon is suffering and needs help but understand this—I am not trained or equipped to deal with mental illness, and I rather think you might have some problems in that area yourself—rather than being a person who’s capable of dealing with it!”

      “Call the police, then. Like I said, maybe they can at least buy her a few hours.” Although Quinn ignored her insult, he felt his fingers knotting into fists. He had to get out of the shop. There was no chance he’d offer unprovoked violence to anyone but he didn’t want to break anything there. He studied her for a moment and added, “If you come up with some sense, meet me at the Simon house at five. At five—I don’t care if you’ve closed or not. Billie handles the shop, anyway. He doesn’t need you here.”

      With that, Quinn turned.

      As the door closed behind him, he found himself shaking with emotion.

      And some of it was anger.

      Some of it was fear. Not for himself. He’d long since learned that fear, in itself, wasn’t a bad thing. But a man’s reaction to fear could be very bad indeed.

      He was afraid for the future. He hadn’t realized how much he’d depended on Angus Cafferty.

      * СКАЧАТЬ