Love for Sale

‘high on the hog.’ The best hotels. The most expensive food, drink, and women.”
    Walker nodded and then asked, “I trust your judgment. What about Nobby Hazard?”
    Mrs. Rennie merely shuddered at the sound of the name. There was no need to speak.
    “Jackson Kinsey?”
    She sighed. “You’re probably thinking I’m a vicious gossip. Mr. Kinsey is an outright crook. The only one there besides my husband who seemed a decent person is that young man Edward Price. I suspect he hates his job, but he’s never said so outright. He was upset about the orphans as well. It’s the only criticism I’ve heard from him. Of course, a few of the teachers and secretaries sometimes made complaints, but I never knew many of the secretaries. I seldom went to the big building, just the farmhouse where the orphans were.”
    She started to silently cry, tears running down her face as if she were unaware of it. “I’ve begged my husband more than once to get another job.“
    “What did he say?“ Walker asked, violating his promise not to ask about Big Jimmy.
    Apparently Mrs. Rennie had forgotten his promise as well.
    “He said he was too proud to live on my in- heritance. Good jobs are hard to find these days hereabouts, and he didn’t want me to have to leave this house. He knows how much I love it. I tried to convince him that since we had no children of our own, we might as well live on my money instead of his income alone. He wouldn’t hear of it.”
    Walker was reluctantly considering changing his opinion of Big Jimmy. Maybe the accountant in Albany was right that he was simply incompetent rather than crooked. If his wife wasn’t seriously misjudging him, he was apparently a good, honorable husband, at the least.
    “Of course, he’s going to have to consider it now,“ Mrs. Rennie said sadly. “Pottinger was the kingpin of the Institute and now he’s dead. What will become of the orphans now?”
    Walker had no answer to the question.

Chapter 14

    Life for most of the residents of Voorburg-on-Hudson should have gone back to normal for the rest of the week. Chief Walker’s prime suspects were released from the Asylum for the Criminally Insane late Wednesday evening, all except Nobby Hazard, who was kept because he appeared to be a true lunatic, if not a downright criminal. The director, who loved working with religious obsessivness, was still checking him out in several states to see if he had a criminal record.
    Walker doubted that his main suspect, the treasurer, Big Jimmy Rennie, would disappear when he was released. At least he wouldn’t if his wife was correct in her assessment of his devotion to her and knowing how much she loved her lifelong home.
    Edward Price had reported in to Walker that he’d gone to stay with his sister in Hyde Park while looking for a new job. He’d given Walker her name and address.
    Walker also assumed the attorney for the Institute was probably so entrenched in his home and private office that he wouldn’t be able to pull up sticks immediately. All Walker could accomplish was to continue to interview the few people remaining at the Institute. He would try to find out where the women who were listed in Pottinger’s address book had gone while he waited for word from Albany.
    A new problem suddenly emerged. Lily had already expressed fear to Robert that when Jack Summer had sent out his announcement of Brother Goodheart’s murder at a mansion in Voorburg, they’d be inundated with reporters from all over the country. But it hadn’t happened.
    Until now.
    The reporters had been busy covering the national election. However, when it was determined that Roosevelt had won, they turned their full attention to Voorburg and Brother Goodheart’s death. They’d started out at the Institute of Divine Intervention first, arriving in droves early Wednesday morning.
    Chief Colling had had to insist that doors all be locked and had tried his best to drive the reporters away.
    “There’s nobody here,“ Coiling told them. “Just one secretary and Goodheart’s attorney winding up his estate. And you know a lawyer’s not going to talk to you or let the secretary do so either.“ He didn’t bother mentioning the orphans or the teacher in the converted barn.
    Balked of their main source of information, it took them very little time to find out from the citizens of Voorburg which mansion was the site of the murder.
    Their invasion was what finally convinced Mr. Prinney that Grace and