Love for Sale

the meeting?“
    “Possibly. He has his own loyal toadies at the Institute.”
    They were again interrupted, this time by the arrival of two men in grubby white uniforms coming to take away the body.
    “Stand by while I get everyone out of the way,“ Walker told them. “Lily, will you ask Robert to herd all the other members of this group into the dining room for breakfast and keep an eye on them. Is Mrs. Prinney ready to serve it? I don’t want gawkers. And see if you can find Harry Harbinger, or better yet, Ralph Summer, and ask him to come help me out here.“
    “I’ll do so,“ Lily said. She was glad to escape. She didn’t want to watch the removal of the body.

Chapter 7

    Lily couldn’t find Ralph Summer but was lucky and located Harry Harbinger very easily. He showed up almost immediately to act as guard on the guests who were confined to the dining room. Harry locked the doors to the outside. It was virtually the only big room at Grace and Favor that had locks on the windows. Harry stood in the doorway to the front hall, watching the guests.
    He didn’t ask questions, just did what he was told. He was a big, strong young man. That was all that was needed to keep them in place.
    Walker called the Newburg police station, which was the one closest to the Institute of Divine Intervention. He asked their chief of police, Leland Colling, whom he’d met several times and believed to be responsible, to pick up Big Jimmy Rennie and hold him until he could find someone to fetch him to Voorburg.
    “On what charge?“ Coiling asked.
    “For questioning in the murder of Brother Goodheart,“ Walker said.
    “Wow!“ Coning said. “This saves me the trouble of bumping him off myself,“ he added with a laugh. “You have no idea what a nuisance it is to have those people on our doorstep.”
    Walker smiled and added, “Get a warrant to search and seize every single financial document and box them securely. Keep what you box at the local jail until I find someone in the state treasurer’s office in Albany to pick them up.“
    “I have a fingerprinting expert here for a couple days to teach my staff about it,“ Chief Coiling said. “Want to borrow him?“
    “It couldn’t hurt. Thanks, Leland.”
    Howard Walker was fortunate to not only have a job, but have a deputy as well. Many of the smaller towns up and down the Hudson River Valley didn’t even have a police force. So it was common for small towns to call on the larger ones like Beacon, Poughkeepsie, and Newburg for extra help when they needed it.
    Keeping these four people confined and searching the Institute’s records was going to require more people than he had, even with Harry Harbinger as a part-time deputy. And more than his budget would allow.
    Walker went back to the master suite and, with Lily still taking notes, continued to question Edward Price.
    Walker was glad the younger man was willing to cooperate, but he felt contempt for him. Walker didn’t believe that these hard times justified bending your own moral rules and conscience just to have a job. To be fair, Walker had a reasonably good job himself. A job he genuinely liked.
    Robert brought up a tray of food and sat in on the interview. He was the only one eating enthusiastically. Walker and Price ignored the breakfast. Lily only picked at the eggs awkwardly with her left hand while she took notes with the right.
    “Tell me about the others. Start with the big redheaded guy who tried to leave,“ Walker said.
    “He’s Jackson Kinsey,“ Edward Price said. “Goodheart’s personal attorney. Disbarred in Vermont, or somewhere up there, but qualified in New York State. He’s bright but entirely without ethics.”
    Walker cast a dour look at Price, thinking this young man had no room to complain. “Why do you think he tried to bolt?“
    “I suppose to go to the Institute and snatch all the paperwork, especially the financial papers.“
    “He won’t see any of them until this goes to trial,“ Walker remarked.
    Robert butted in to say, “I guess Brother Good-heart won’t be doing his Sunday morning rant on the radio.“
    “Yes, he will,“ Price said. “He records all his talks on one of those tubular recording gadgets and somebody up there will probably have the wit to replay one of them near the microphone.”
    Walker glared at Robert, who went back to eating his breakfast.
    “Who is the one with the awful face?“ Walker asked.
    “I don’t know his real name. We all