Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

careful. Call the daughter first. Make an appointment.”
    Lucier got up, headed for the door. “Will do.”
    “Hanging out with some pretty lofty company, huh, Ernie?”
    “Me? I’m too low on the totem pole. They’re interested in Diana. I just tag along.”
    “Compounded with the house on Parkside Avenue, this is beginning to sound like Compton and his gang might be dabbling in the black arts. What’s your read on this? ”
    “ If he is, like you said, it’s none of our business . If he’s involved in kidnapping babies, it sure as hell is .” He started for the door and turned around . “ Do you believe in coincidences, Captain ?”
    “Yeah, I do. I’ve seen too many of them not to. But I still like to check them out.”
    “Me too.”
    Lucier decided to do more than check. Holding a list of names in front of him, he called Diana. “ Y ou think Jason might do a little more digging for you? For me, really, but I don’t want to run the search through the department. Man like Compton might have someone on the payroll.”
    “You mean a cop on the take?” Diana asked.
    “ Not necessarily . A little under-the-table appreciation w ouldn’t be unheard of , though. Money talks, or haven’t you heard? Will Jason help us?”
    “He’ll jump at the chance. He’s bored stiff at his tech job.”
    Lucier read off a list of names he wanted Jason to check, beginning with Phillip and Cybele Crane. “ Also, see what he can find out about Compton’s first marriage and his wife’s suicide.”
    “What’s going on, Ernie?”
    “I don’t know, but this is more than some rich people dabbling in the occult. Maybe Maia Compton can clue us in. She seemed willing to get at her father for reasons known only to her. How far will she go?”
    “I’ll call Jason,” Diana said and hung up.
    When Lucier called Compton International, Maia Compton’s secretary said that she left two days before on a troubleshooting assignment out of the country and probably wouldn’t be back for at least a month. How could Maia Compton have invited those two bozos into her house yesterday when she ’d supposedly left the country?
    He cradled the receiver and let out a long breath. This was becoming more complicated by the minute. Beecher tapped on his door and came in without waiting for an invitation.
    “Doesn’t your wife check you out before you leave the house?” Lucier asked , pointing at Beecher’s disheveled shirt. “Look at you. You’re falling apart.”
    Beecher gazed down at himself. “I don’t know , Ernie . I don’t look like this when I leave in the morning. Something happens during the day. A poltergeist must be following me around, messing me up.”
    Lucier laughed while the big man smoothed his shirt into the waistband of his pants.
    “What are we going to do with those two from yesterday?” Beecher asked. “We can’t hold them without charges, not that they’re anxious to leave .”
    “We’ve got time. Have they lawyer ed up ?”
    “Not yet, but when they stop shitting their pants, even those two will think of it.”
    “Let me know when they do.” Lucier rubbed his temple and leaned back in his chair. “I tried to make an appointment with Maia Compton, but her secretary said she left on a troubleshooting assignment the day after Diana and I met her at Compton’s and probably wouldn’t be back for a month. That means she couldn’t have set up those two idiots to steal the paintings because she wasn’t in town. Convenient, wouldn’t you say ?”
    “Well, ya . S houldn’t be hard to confirm. All we have to do is check the airline manifests.”
    “Compton International has its own fleet of jets, remember? They can go anywhere they damn well please.”
    “They still have to file a flight plan. Every plane does.”
    “Don’t think a man like Silas Compton can’t make things look like he wants. One of his planes could have flown to the Mid-East that day. Who’s to say Maia Compton wasn’t on it if he wanted her to be?
    “Meanwhile, I’ll make an appointment to see Compton. Wanna bet his family was at a July Fourth get-together yesterday and no one was at home? And wanna bet a dozen people will swear to it.”
    * * * * *
    D iana got up that morning, made coffee, and sat down to read the paper, but her mind wandered hopelessly . She felt rotten about her last meeting with Slater. So rotten, in fact, she resisted tell ing Lucier , because she was at a loss to explain her reaction. Not to