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“One, you parked your car in soe without their permission,” Leduc said

“Rico let us in He knee parked back here,” she said

“Deputy Vargas and I will be discussing that in es in the backseat of your car They’re plainly visible, so I have reasonable cause”

“We were shopping earlier That’s all that’s in the backseat,” Muriel said

I had to give her points for sheer audacity She wasn’t a good liar, but she was damn persistent By the time the car was emptied out, there were two more porcelains: one more like the two in the case, and a plate There was also a series of jade figurines that turned out to be ancient Chinese A series of four sinals painted for the first Marchands back in Europe, so they’d been in the fas in the trunk painted by a contemporary of Re a small fortune, but I wasn’t sure it was a small one

We ended up separating the couple so we could question them Sheriff Leduc still believed that Bobby was thered-handed, so to speak Even Duke thought it was suspicious behavior He had the one deputy I hadn’t ner, trade duties with Deputy Frankie so they could have at least one woo see the clues froathering up new evidence for the new crirand larceny in the sa his sain after Newh the murder scene and the blood evidence

We started with the bloody footprints, but to get to the upstairs, which held the “kids’” roo maze “How many square feet is this place?” I asked e finally came to a white-carpeted hallway that had crime scene tape wrapped around one doorknob and the post of a third staircase This one had a dark wood banister that curved in a spiral near the top, the wood glea with years of polish and care The as so lustrous that it made me want to stroke loves and booties overnot to leave evidence behind; it s difficult

“There are two estimates online and one in the last architect’s plans None of them is the same”

“I’ve never been in a house with three separate staircases before,” I said

“Me either This was the original randfathers started building onto the house When theto themselves”

I thought about what itand alh to ask I was here to try to solve a h reasonable doubt to delay executing Bobby Marchand, not to get nosy about how the other half lived Jean-Claude had , I had begun to realize just howseparate bank accounts so far, but he’d told me that I could know his finances if I wished to knoas almost scared to find out Was he this kind of rich and I just didn’t know it, and why did that thought bother me so much?

“Are you all right?” New into space for a fewat

“Yeah, I’ too hard and not too productively”

I could see the footprints on the white carpet down the hallway, but since there were supposed to be prints on the stairs, I decided to start with theundy carpet runner The color hid the prints a lot better than the white hallway did

I bent over on the second step so I’d be able to see it and the one above and below it better I didn’t kneel, because for so many reasons, I didn’t want to accidentally kneel in blood I had coveralls in ot very s or zo the killing yourself I used ertips to steady undy runner The carpet was held in place by ainst the bottom of each step The bars could be unfastened so that the stair runner could be cleaned or replaced without having to tear up carpet and dae the wood underneath I filed it away to remember if we ever replaced the carpet on the stairs in the house back in St Louis