The Monuments Men Murders (The Art of Murder 4)

Had they discussed this? Jesus.

“Right. How long were they married?”

“Three years. What does that have to do with it?”

Pretty much nothing. At this point Jason was just bumping into walls. Detective Roomba looking for an opening, any opening.

“What about the second husband?”

J.J. sighed. Pointedly. “He split up with the girlfriend. I haven’t been able to locate him yet.”

Had they had this conversation too?

“Did you actually talk to the girlfriend?”

“Hell yes, I talked to the girlfriend. She’s suing him for eight years of back child support. You know, this is not my first investigation.”

“I know. Sorry. I’m just…distracted.”

“I noticed. You should try getting some sleep once in a while. When are you coming back to the office?”

Jason thought about all those binders of all those newspapers. What was it he imagined was still left to find? A public declaration that MFAA Deputy Chief Emerson Harley had not taken part in the theft of national treasures under his protection?

He was not going to find that magic seal of approval.

And the truth was, he didn’t need it. He never had.

He said, “Now.”

Chapter Fifteen

“So here’s what we know,” J.J. said. “De Haan was not killed in his room. He was killed at an unknown location and his body dumped in his motel room.”

“Why?” Jason said. “That’s the second question. Why was no effort made to hide the body?”

J.J. glanced at the clock over the empty bookcase. “Okay. What’s the first question?”

“Why was he killed at all?”

J.J. shook his head. “What’s the answer?”

“To the second question? They didn’t want us looking for him. They didn’t want us poking around, getting search warrants—”

“They?” J.J. asked cautiously.

“They.”

J.J. clearly decided to let that go. He moved on through his notes. “Estimated time of death maybe around midnight. The temperature of the room complicates things.

Cause of death: blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. Weapon unknown, but something heavy and smooth, and edged. An iron? Not a brick. Not a rock. Here’s something interesting. Factory reset was used to delete everything on his phone.”

“The data can still be retrieved. His phone records can still be accessed.”

“In theory, yes. But who’s going to do that? Not Bozwin PD, I’ll tell you right now.”

“What are they calling it?”

“Robbery homicide.”