Love for Sale

monstrosity Mrs. White had bought for the minister, Walker asked one more question as he handed back the toy cart. “What color was the car?“
    “This color,“ the boy said, holding up the cart, which had been painted black.
    Great! Howard thought. Almost every car in town was black.
    Apparently Joey cared deeply where each toy was put in the small trunk. “My daddy made me this. And this,“ he said, pointing out the brown-painted horse that pulled the cart.
    After Walker helped Joey put his toys away, Mary said to the boy, “It’s bedtime. See? Emily’s already asleep. Give her a little soft kiss and put on your pajamas.”
    When Joey went to change in the other room, Mary said, “I’m sorry you didn’t get any useful information from him. He’s just a little boy. Children that age don’t notice the same kind of things you and I would.“
    “Did anything he said mean anything to you?“ Walker asked.
    “No. It didn’t. All I care about is that she brought him back. And I swear I’ll never let him be outside again without me. I’m going to have a locksmith out. None of the doors have ever had locks. I never thought we’d need them.”
    Walker headed toward the door. “I’ll send someone first thing Monday morning. Try to jiggle Joey’s memory. Maybe he’ll remember something helpful.“
    “I will. I promise. But I don’t hold out much hope. Children’s memories are very selective—they only remember things that are important to them. This didn’t upset him in the least until I started hugging him and crying. He had no idea he was in danger. If you’d asked him about his ride in Jack’s motorcycle a few months ago, he could tell you all about it in detail because it was exciting.”

Chapter 21

    The next morning, before Walker let Ralph take the note away to Chief Colling’s pet fingerprinting expert, he copied it out, then wrote up a statement including the misspelled words. It read, I went to the lawyer then purchased my groceries and brought them home and nobody tattled on me. He wanted to keep the made-up message light so that nobody would feel threatened.
    The fingerprint expert probably wasn’t available on Sunday. Walker hoped Coiling would still have him around again Monday.
    Then he called the locksmith from Fishkill who’d installed the locks at Grace and Favor.
    “I have another job for you. A woman who lives with her two little children. One of them was temporarily kidnapped. I want you to install locks on all her doors and windows first thing in the morning. Just charge her for the hardware. She works hard to support her children. I’ll put in for your labor to the city budget for protection for a citizen. If they won’t pay it, I will. Okay?“
    “Howard, I made a good amount on those folks at the mansion. I’ll only charge her for half the hardware and you the other half. No labor charges. Fair enough?”
    Howard gave him directions to Mrs. Tower-ton’s house, grateful that the locksmith was such a good person.
    With these matters tended to, he took this revised version of the note on Joey’s jacket to Susanna Cooper and Kathryn Staley.
    Susanna opened the door, paled for a moment, and invited him in. Both women were wearing handkerchief bandannas around their heads. Susanna was holding a duster and Kathryn a large rag and a jar of what looked like vinegar. No wonder their home was so tidy. They probably did their cleaning every Sunday before going to church.
    “I’m sorry to interrupt your cleaning, but I need you to sit at opposite ends of the room and write down what I say,“ he told them, handing each of them a piece of paper from his notebook.
    “Why should we do this?“ Kathryn said in her best Brunhilde shriek.
    “Because I say so,“ Walker said firmly. “I can take you both to the jail to do it, if that’s what you prefer. You can stay there as long as it takes.”
    Susanna paled but said, “Kathryn, we’ll do as he says right now.”
    So she has a spine, Walker thought. Maybe she’s really the dominant voice when she needs to be.
    The two young women took chairs as far apart as possible. He told them to print the words rather than write in cursive, then read out the statement slowly. When they’d written down what he said, he took the papers carefully by the corners and put each in a separate envelope, already labeled with each name.
    He thanked them for cooperating, got into his car, and drove down the road until he was out of sight before