Why Not Murder

24. Follow Up

24. Follow Up

Maya went to the city address on Warren's business card that Winnie gave her. It was an old warehouse that had been renovated and kept its original exterior appearance. There were many separate suites in the building. Maya read the building directory and saw that all the businesses in the warehouse were connected to the art and interior decoration industry. She took one of the elevators to the fourth floor. At the end of a long wide hallway was the suite that Warren had supposedly used for his showroom. The signage indicated that it was a framing studio. She entered and found two women working at a very large table, in the midst of framing an old oil painting.

Both women looked up. The older woman asked, "How may we help you?"

The younger woman smiled and said, "We've met. Remember?" She pulled up her sleeve to show Maya that she was wearing the good luck bracelet Maya had given her.

"Certainly do," Maya answered. She recognized the woman she had searched Heather's flat with. "What a coincidence," Maya said.

The older woman was looking at them expecting an explanation and the younger woman said, "We met in connection with the landlady of where I used to live. New home led to this new job!"

"I'm glad to hear!" Maya said and then addressing them both continued, "I understand that Warren Lockmere used to rent this suite."

"Not exactly," the older woman said, "I've been here ten years. I used to rent a portion of my storage area in the basement to him, but he hasn't paid the rent for months now and I haven't seen or heard from him at all, so I changed the lock. Why do you ask?" Maya explained that she was trying to find him in connection with a missing woman.

Knowing this, the older woman wanted to help and said, "I actually have all the stuff he had still in the space he rented from me, if you would like to see it."

"That would be a great help," Maya said. The older woman directed the younger woman to take Maya there and handed the keys to the younger woman. The basement was gloomy. The woman said, "I'm not sure we ever exchanged names. I'm Patty."

"Maya," Maya said, "Do you know anything about Warren Lockmere?"

"Nothing except that he fell so far behind on rent that Mary had to change locks. I never met him." Naturally, Patty does not know that Warren is the same man as the man she knew as Wyler Roberts, Maya thought. They arrived and Patty unlocked the door to what was no more than a walk-in closet. Maya entered and Patty stood at the door. There was a file box inside, a clothing rack stuffed with hanging coats and suits, a few pairs of shoes and not a single painting. Maya checked the pockets of the clothes and found a ring of keys. She opened the box which was about one third full of papers, mostly receipts and looked through them. Amongst the invoices and statements, there was a receipt for the rental of a garage. Maya asked Patty if she knew where the address of the garage was and it turned out to be one of the garages that opened onto the back lane behind the building. Maya took out all the papers she felt could be relevant and put them into her deep shoulder bag's zipped inner pocket. As they were leaving she asked Patty where she was living now and wrote down the address.

"We would love to have you over for a visit," Patty said, "Since we moved, Jake and I have had a streak of good luck, funny how that happens. Must be the bracelet. He's got a great job as an account manager for Reliable Security and I got this job here, both through ads on the internet. Mary is a really nice boss and is teaching me everything and with such patience. Good things very often result from bad things."

"That's true," Maya answered, "Coincidence is destiny. I would love to come over for a visit, just let me know when," Maya said.

"I will," Patty replied, "The foreclosure's been completed and the house has been sold. There's now extensive reno going on. What's your email and I will get in touch." Maya gave her an email at Dog Electronics.