Who's sorry now?

of dry slats? Probably not.
    Perhaps, though, it was someone from a nearby town who had cause to visit often. Maybe somebody who had a grown child or children living in Voorburg and visited often.
    He wished he could fingerprint everybody, but that wasn’t possible or even legal. He’d have to have just cause to fingerprint anyone, although he’d fudged the law by tricking Mario.
    Still, knowing there was a record of all of the perpetrator’s fingerprints was reassuring. He wouldn’t have to depend on the man or woman leaving a single left hand thumbprint, if there was another attack on Mr. Kurtz’s person and safety. He was glad Jack Summer had interviewed him for the local paper. That might stop the perpetrator, knowing that Mr. Kurtz was an American returning to his own country for fear of the Nazis.
    He hoped that would stop whatever prejudice had led to the insult of the paint and the more serious attempt to burn down the building with Kurtz inside.
    It didn’t help, however, in finding out who’d succeeded in the horrible murder of Edwin McBride.
     

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    Wednesday, May 3, and Thursday, May 4
     
    LILY HAD GONE TO BED early with her textbook on anthropology. Her dog, Agatha, thought it smelled interesting since so many people had handled it when reading it. She had to keep pushing Agatha away. ”I’m glad my sense of smell isn’t as good as yours. Though how you can think a long-dead animal smells good enough to roll in defeats my imagination.”
    She eventually fell asleep with the book on her chest and Agatha sprawled on her feet.
    Thursday morning, after breakfast, she and Robert remained behind to chat.
    ”Does Jimmy Anderson, who has that expensive gift shop in the city, still call himself the Duke of Albania?” Robert asked.
    ”Of course. And I address him as such in case a customer is in the shop.”
    ”How does this work? I don’t think I’d trust him an inch to be fair,” Robert said.
    ”We agree on a reasonable price for each piece. He can add his profit to that, I take my meager commission out of the reasonable price and pay back the remainder to Mr. Kessler. What Jimmy and I agree is ‘reasonable’ is quite a high price to begin with because they sell so well.”
    She went on to tell Robert about Agatha smelling her well-used textbook because it smelled like so many other people. Then she asked, ”Did you get a lot of signatures last night?”
    ”More than twenty, including one of the old bats. She apparently can’t read or write so she signed with an X.”
    Lily laughed out loud. ”She just goes along for the other ones to read the return addresses? So what happens next?”
    ”I made an appointment to talk to the town treasurer and show him the signatures and explain the rest.”
    ”What is the ‘rest’?”
    ”That the Harbinger boys will make the letter boxes with scrap wood, but will charge for the work. Then they install hardware—which the city also pays for—that will hold combination locks. Customers buy these for themselves. We then buy duplicate numbered coupons that the fIrst two hundred people sign up and pay a dollar for.”
    ”Who gets the money?”
    ”Well, I do at first. But I have to give half of it back to the city treasurer. Then once a year, everybody who wants to keep their box, pays another dollar, and again half goes back to the city. If somebody doesn’t get enough mail to make it worth it, and wants to give it up, whoever is sorting gets to resell the box for the full price and keep all of it.”
    ”Sounds complicated to me.”
    ”Not really. The sorter makes half the money up front, and half each year, the whole amount if somebody gives up a box. And a meager payment back from the city every month.”
    ”So there’s actually money to make at the job?”
    ”Up front, of course. Not so much as it goes on. But I’ve been thinking of saving half of whatever I make when it goes into business, then give the other half to whoever takes over from me,” Robert explained.
    ”Who are you considering passing the job to?”
    ”Maybe that Susan person who works at the movie house selling tickets. She probably would make more money on this for less work and wouldn’t have to get her sister—who raises rabbits—to take care of Susan’s kids every night.”
    ”So it would be a day job while her kids are in school? What a good idea. Did you really think this all out for yourself?”
    ”Well, I had a little help from Howard and