Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death

forgot that he’d asked me about the manuscript. UCLA finally straightened up and scored again, and Kendall didn’t mention the manuscript again.
    UCLA won handily, 49-3. We said goodbye to Kendall and headed home. I was pulling onto Wilshire when Pete said, “I don’t think you should tell Kendall about the intact manuscript page.”
    I glanced at him, surprised. “I didn’t tell him.”
    “I know, because I jumped in and asked you a question to distract you.”
    “Oh, you did that on purpose? You didn’t really want to know about penalty goals?”
    “ Yeah…I wanted to know about penalty goals, but I also did it on purpose. I didn’t want you to tell him anything.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t think I like him.”
    “Okay…why not?”
    “For one thing, he was all over you from the time he sat down.”
    “ What? He didn’t mean anything by that.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I…that’s just Kendall. He flirts with anything that moves – men, women, dogs, whatever. It’s just the way he is. He’s completely straight.” We were at a red light, and I looked over at Pete. “Are you jealous? ”
    “No, of course not. I just don’t like that kind of behavior. From anyone.”
    “Hmm. What’s the other thing?”
    “What other thing?”
    “You said you didn’t like him because ‘for one thing…’ What’s the other thing?”
    “Oh.” Pete was quiet for a couple of seconds. “I don’t know, exactly. He just sort of…sets off my cop radar.”
    “ Really? Why?”
    “I can’t explain it. It’s… it’s instinct or something. I don’t know.”
    “Huh. I think your radar might be rusty. As far as I know, Kendall’s as upstanding as they come.”
    “If you say so.” But I could tell Pete was still bothered. And I wondered if maybe he was a little jealous.

    On Monday, I tried to keep busy with other things, but it was hard to not think about what was going to happen that afternoon. As a result, my concentration was kind of shot, and I didn't get much accomplished. I invited Conrad to join Eckhoff and me in my office at 3:00, and he accepted. I also called Gillian to see if she wanted to be there, and she said yes. My office would be crowded. I borrowed a couple of extra chairs from Liz and squeezed them into the corners.
    At least the reference desk was a bit of a distraction. There weren't many people around, so Clinton stayed to talk after he gave us the word of the day (which was heliacal , meaning relating to the sun). I told him and Liz about the call we'd gotten and my appointment with Eckhoff and the caller at 3:30.
    Clinton looked surprised. "I would not have expected the thieves to be willing to meet at the university."
    "Oh, I don't think they'll agree to that. We'll have to arrange some other meeting place. They won't want to be that exposed."
    Liz asked, "The cops still have no idea who's behind this at all?"
    "They haven't been able to find any connections. Jennifer swears she didn't tell anyone about having valuable items in boxes, although we're starting to wonder if that's true. The old lady didn't have any family, at least none the police have been able to find. Wally, the dead guy, had no apparent connection to Jennifer or the old lady. The old lady's lawyer is a dead end. So we're kind of stuck. Which was the idea behind this little sting operation."
    Clinton said, "Why do you believe that your sister -in-law might have been untruthful?"
    I sighed. "I don't know if I believe it yet, but she does have a history of hiding things. Jennifer cares a lot about what other people think of her. That's why she never told anyone about the hoarding problem. So if she told someone about the boxes of books, she might not have admitted it to us because she wouldn't want us to think that she was dumb for doing that."
    Liz was aghast. "But that means she lied to the police."
    "Yeah, I know. I'm not sure she's thought about the consequences there. But I'm going to tell Eckhoff about it when he gets here."
    Shortly before 3:00, Eckhoff strolled into the library. He spotted me at the reference desk and came over. "Is this where I come for help?"
    I laughed. "Depends on what kind of help you need."
    He grinned. "This is the real-life version of the guru on the mountaintop, right? The answers to all the questions are right here."
    Clinton said mildly, "Sometimes the answers are within yourself."
    Eckhoff looked surprised. I made the introductions. "Uh, Detective Jonathan Eckhoff,