Ring of Lies (42 page)

‘
I—
’
Grace
tried to frame another question, but Jack’s s
ombre expression prevented her.

Jack leaned closer and tilted her face to his.
‘
Promise me, Grace.
’

She nodded her head.
‘
I promise.
’

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
‘
Now let’s go
eat and then
we can
see
what secrets your husband was hiding in that
safe.
’

Thirty minutes later,
Grace carried the tray containing their lunch into the office and placed it on the desk.
She picked up her plate and a can of soda
,
and
sat down in the chair opposite Jack.

‘
Found anything?
’

‘
Apart
for a few receipts
from the local gas station and one to
a
cleaning service
,
the desk is
pretty much empty
.
’

‘
That
doesn’t
surprise
s
me
.
Daniel
never threw a receipt away, no matter how mundane the purchase
.
But when it came to cleaning he
was barely house-trained
.  H
e di
dn’t know how to vacuum or dust.
What about the safe?
’

‘
I was waiting for you before I tried
it
.
’
He
picked up his sandwich and took a bite.

‘
Before you
do
, can I use the phone?
I’d like to call
my sister
, see if she’s at home.
’

Jack popped the tab on his can of soda and took a long swallow.

‘
I don’t see why not.
Mike
’s got
a tap on the
line
. It will register the number
, but won’t interfere with your call.
’

Grace lifted the receiver and
dialled
her
Catherine
’s
apartment
, but all she got was
her
answering service.
Next she tried
Catherine
’s cell phone, but that too, ran into her voicemail.

‘
No answer?
’
Jack asked.

She shook her head.
‘
I’m worried, Jack.
Y
ou’d think she would have been in touch by now.
’

‘
Sounds like something serious is going on.
Did
you contact her through her employer?
’

‘
I
didn’t think hearing about
her brother-in-law’s
death from some work colleague was a good idea.
I’ve left countless messages for her to call me, but she’s either ignored them, or just hasn’t picked up her messages in the last couple of weeks.
’

He shrugged.
‘
Maybe she’s taken a vacation.
’

‘
I suppose it’s possible.
She
can be fiercely independent when the mood takes her.
Even so, I don’t think she’d go off without telling me
.
’

‘
Are you two close?
’

Grace’s smiled faded.
‘
We used to be, but the last few years we’ve grown apart.
Catherine
is your ‘wild child,’ whereas I’m more—
’

‘
Dependable.
’

Grace smiled.
‘
I was going to say
more staid.
Catherine
was always getting into mischief, and that hasn’t changed.
She lives life at full tilt
, when she’
s not working
she’s dancing the night away in some club or other.
’

Jack said nothing.
Grace confirmed what he’d already surmised.
Catherine
was self
-
centred
and cared for no one but herself.

‘
Do have a picture of her?
’

‘
Not with me.
Why?
’

‘
I just wondered what she looked like.
’

‘
Catherine
is the pretty one of the fa
mily.
Long, wavy, b
londe hair,
and
brown
eyes
,
s
he’s taller than
me
and thinner too.
She’s never been short of admirers, but so far she’s remained single.
’

Jack grunted, and wondered why Grace had such a low opinion of herself.
He drained his soda and
was about to throw the can into the trash, when he noticed someone had dumped the contents of an ashtray into it
.

‘
Did Daniel smoke?
’

‘
Only a pipe.
I
smel
t
his
tobacco as soon as we entered the house.
’

He picked a half smoked stub out of the
trashcan
.

‘
Whoever else was here, smoked Cuban cigarettes.
I recognize the brand.
’
The same brand that Rosa smoked
before she had Emilia
.
He dropped the cigarette in
to
the
ashtray on the corner of the desk
.

‘
For all you know it
might be
the cleaner and
he or she
just forgot to
take out the trash
.
’

‘
Could be.
’
Jack
put the
trashcan
to one side.
He’d bag up the rest of the stubs and
give
them to Mike.
They might get lucky and find some DNA to link
the smoker
to
a member of
one of the
known gangs.
But he doubted it.

He crossed the room to where a large seascape hung on the wall
, and ran his fingertips around the frame. Satisfied
it wasn’t wired into
an
alarm
,
he
lifted
it
down
and rested it against a book
case
. Then took
a pair of exam gloves from his pocket
and put them on
.

‘
What are you thinking?
’
Grace asked.

‘
I was wondering why Daniel had a safe installed, yet didn’t bother to set the
burglar
alarm when he left.
’

‘
Perhaps he forgot
or was in a hurry
.
’

‘
Or
maybe
he wasn’t the last person to leave.
’
Jack looked at
the
old fashioned tumbler.

Grace opened her mouth and closed it.
Jack had a way of getting right to the point.

‘
I don’t know how many tries we’ll get at this,
’
he said.
‘
But give me some birth
dates
.
’

‘
Try ten, one, nineteen
,
seven, zero.
’

Jack spun the tumbler and tugged at the handle.
‘
Locked.
Give me
another.
’

‘
Three, seven, nineteen,
seven,
five.
’
Grace
held her breath
as he
turned the dial
.