“That’s right, because you’re not going in there.”
“But I need to make sure something wasn’t stolen.”
She didn’t bother to hide her irritation. “What?”
I gave her the quick version. “Savannah gave Baxter a red leather book box I made. There’s an old book inside. I didn’t see it when we came in earlier and I’m worried it might’ve been stolen.”
“A book,” she said derisively.
I speared her with a look. “An extremely rare, very fragile, two-hundred-thirty-year-old book. It could provide a motive for the murder.”
“I’ll check on it,” she said brusquely, and marched off to join her partner and Derek, already in the kitchen.
I lingered a few yards behind until Inspector Lee disappeared into the kitchen. Then I gave a little wave to Officer Marston, who nodded and pushed the door open for me.
“Thanks,” I said, and slipped inside. Apparently, he hadn’t gotten Inspector Lee’s directive to keep me out. I wasn’t about to give him a heads-up on that.
I pretended to be invisible as I hovered near the door. Peering around for the book box, I deliberately shielded my eyes from the sight of Baxter’s body in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, I didn’t have to see the body to know it was there. I could smell the blood. Had my ability to detect that acrid odor grown more acute because of the many crime scenes I’d come upon recently? Another weird question to ponder.
I ignored the police activity and focused on the walls and counters and shelves between the cooking and service areas. But I didn’t see the book box or the cookbook itself anywhere.
Derek stood beside the back door leading to the alley. It was closed now. “This door was ajar when we arrived. I would wager that the killer exited here, ran down the alley, and disappeared.”
“Who closed it?” Lee wondered aloud.
“I pushed it closed,” Derek admitted, then explained, “I was careful. Didn’t touch the handle, just shoved the wood panel with my shoulder. I didn’t want to take the chance that someone would wander in.”
“Probably a good idea.” Jaglom crouched to study the lock and the door handle. “I tend to agree on general principle that whoever did it left this way. I can’t imagine he’d go skipping through the restaurant and out the front door. He’d be sure to be seen that way.”
“He or she,” Lee added.
“The killer could also be a stranger who snuck into the kitchen through that open door,” I said, busting myself. Now Lee would probably toss me out of the kitchen, but I had to say something to divert her from honing in on Savannah as her main suspect. “It could’ve started out as a crime of opportunity. The door was open. Baxter was the only one left in the kitchen and the thief might’ve thought he was easy pickings. But Baxter fought back and the guy grabbed the first weapon he could get his hands on. The fish knife.”
They all stared at me and I shrugged self-consciously. “It’s just a theory.”
“Not a bad one,” Jaglom said as he used his gloved hand to pull the door open cautiously. Stepping out into the back alley, he took a look around, staring to his right and left for several long moments. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and angled it in both directions, then walked out of sight. After a minute, he returned to the kitchen. “It’s black as pitch out there at this time of night. And it’s not an alley, just a passageway between buildings, maybe three feet wide, with a gate leading to the sidewalk. The gate’s open, so I’m guessing that was the escape route. We’ll need to get a search started ASAP.”
“Too late to canvass the neighbors,” Inspector Lee mused as she took a cursory look outside. “We’ll get a team to go out first thing in the morning. Somebody might’ve seen or heard something.”
Mrrooowww.
We all turned at the sound coming from the open door and watched a cat poke its head inside.
“Hey, kitty,” Inspector Lee said, crouching down to lure the cat closer. When it rubbed its fat, furry body against her leg, Lee gently scratched its neck. “Where’d you come from? I’ll bet you saw something bad going on here earlier. You want to talk about it?”
I stared at her in disbelief. Once again, Inspector Lee had managed to surprise me. “You’re a cat lover?”
She stood and glared at me. “Wainwright, I thought I told you to stay out of here.”
But I was paying attention to the cat. “Is it hungry?”
“I doubt it,” Jaglom said. “That’s the fattest cat I’ve seen in a long while.”
“I suspect it’s been well fed,” Derek said dryly, picking up the big cat before the creature could wander farther into the kitchen. After holding it in his arms for a moment, he began to laugh. “Good lord, this animal is hugely pregnant.”