Page 8 of Cross & Crown

“That’s a lot to infer from what little we have.”

Nick shrugged. He’d always had a knack for seeing crime

scenes lay out. He never denied that he could be wrong, but

he usually wasn’t.

“One more odd job for this one, one of the dead guys had

a bag under him. They found it when they moved the body. It

had four books in it.”

“From the shop?” Hagan asked.

“We can only assume until the daughter gets here to ID

them. They’re all old, too.”

“Just old? Or old as balls?”

Nick barked a laugh before he could stop himself. “The

latter, I assume. Three early nineteenth century, one dating to the Revolutionary War. We can probably assume they were

in that display case along with whatever objects were taken

because everything else was just trashed, not stolen.”

“So, you’re a bookshop owner and you have this display

case set up with rare books,” Hagan mused.

“Uh huh?”

“The objects you’d put in there for atmosphere would be

related to the books, right? Somehow?”

“In my world they would be,” Nick agreed. He pondered

it briefly, then nodded and called over one of the uniformed

officers working nearby. “Do me a favor, bud, put out some

feelers to city pawnshops and dealers, stay on the lookout for

artifacts dating from 1750 to 1820. They might be stolen.”

The officer nodded and headed off.

Hagan scowled at the photo again. “Was the case wiped

clean? Why would they wipe it down if they were wearing

gloves?”

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