A String of Beads (Jane Whitefield, #8)(105)

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of those,” said Harry. “Getting money is what they care about, so that’s got to be what Crane is doing for them. That’s the reason they have a stake in keeping Daniel Crane from getting caught for the murder. And now, for drugging the girl.”

“You can’t say what the stake is?”

“I know what you know. I’m not out there learning things anymore. I’m a leftover image stored in your brain. If I take a guess, it will be the same as yours.”

“Nick Bauermeister worked for Crane. Nick Bauermeister was a burglar. Maybe that’s what Crane does on the side—send out thieves and store the loot in his storage facility.”

“Not bad,” said Harry. “Would the Mafia take an interest in a whole storage place filled with stolen stuff—-electronics, furniture, watches, and jewelry? I’m guessing they might.”

“Of course they would. And that means that they still need to blame the murder on someone besides Crane,” said Jane. “They need to get Jimmy.”

Harry pursed his lips and squinted up at the dark sky. “I imagine they’d like to. The official story would be that the fugitive killer of Nicky B. came to a fitting end. But right this minute I think the one who’s in the most danger is Chelsea Schnell.” Harry turned his eyes to Jane. “Her and the one who shot one of their boys with a shotgun. But getting revenge for him would be their second choice. Take it from me, the dead are soon forgotten.”

“The hell they are.”

But Harry was gone. Only the plain brick wall remained.





27



In the morning Jane went for her run while it was still dark. She thought about John Felker, about her husband, and about decisions she had made years ago—some shrewd guesses and some mistakes that she regretted as much this morning as she had at the time. And then she showered and made breakfast for Mattie, Jimmy, and Chelsea. They talked about how beautiful the day was going to be.

Mattie mentioned that she had gone out alone a week ago and driven into the country for an afternoon. She had found roadside sales and swap meets along her route, where she had bought maple syrup and homemade baked goods, and seen lots of antiques and hand-sewn quilts.

Jane said, “Maybe I’ll take a look around one of these days. Which way would you recommend?”

Mattie said, “I drove out on Route Four. There was a sale at Canaan, and a big antique mall place out near Grafton. And there were a few places having garage sales and things. It was fun. There were people selling just about anything you can imagine.”

The talk turned to other subjects. Afterward Jane walked into the downtown section of Hanover. She was still looking around town for the kind of people who might be here to find Jimmy Sanders, but today she saw no likely suspects.

Jane returned to the apartment, turned on the laptop computer she’d left with Jimmy, and began to scan the articles in the Western New York newspapers. She checked the Buffalo News, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Niagara Gazette, and the Livingston County News. Then she found the websites of the four Buffalo local news stations and a site that reported on the city of Akron, New York.

Jimmy watched her reading for a few minutes, and then said, “What are you looking at?”

“When I was back home, I tried to get the police moving in the right direction, and looking at the right things. If something changes, I want to know.”

“Couldn’t you check with your BFFs, the clan mothers?”

“Not a good idea,” she said. “No more phone calls until this is over.”

Jimmy studied her for a moment. “You brought what sounded like good news when you came, but you seem just as worried.”

She looked up from her reading. “It’s not over yet.”

He nodded. “You said last night that you knew more. I didn’t want to ask in front of my mother and Chelsea, but did you find out who those guys in Cleveland were?”

“I have theories. When I went to watch Daniel Crane’s storage facility, I saw two men there and took their pictures while I pretended to talk on my phone. Ike Lloyd told me one was named Lorenzo Malconi. He’s the boss of the Buffalo family of the Mafia. The other man works for him.”

“What would they have to do with Daniel Crane?”

“I don’t know. They had some men with them, and they brought a big box to store in one of the storage bays. It could mean nothing. Criminals probably have things to store too. But the box could be something they don’t want to store on their own property, or even close to home. They had driven pretty far out in the country to store their box at Box Farm Personal Storage. As you know, that’s the place where Nick Bauermeister worked, and its owner is Daniel Crane, the man who raped Chelsea. I think Daniel Crane is the one who killed Nick Bauermeister, and that they’re trying to protect him.”

Jimmy stared at her for a second, and then looked across the room, his eyes unfocused. “That means—”

“All it means is what we already know—that we’ve got to stay out of sight for a while.”

“How long?”

“I’ve been careful to stay out of the Mafia’s way in the past, and I’ve managed to keep them from noticing me, so far. I think they’ll sniff around for a while, trying to find us. But at some point they’ll reach the conclusion that it’s a waste of time because it doesn’t bring them more money or power, and leaving us alone won’t hurt them.”