Why Not Murder

26. Search

26. Search

While Dog continued to search and research, Maya went to the house that Warren had occupied in town. It was on the road that spiraled out from the main square. Dirt shortcut paths traversed from outer to inner parts of the road between houses. Maya found the address. The house was very close to the road, with a thick mass of rose bushes between the sidewalk and the house. A sign was displayed in the first floor window which said 'For Rent - Immediate Occupancy'. Maya looked inside and saw the flat was furnished. The windows were very clean. The second and third floors appeared occupied. Maya rang the second floor, watching the curtains for any movement. When there was no answer she tried the top floor and a man answered. Maya asked whether she could have a word. In a moment she could hear him on the inside of the door. He looked out the window in the door and Maya displayed her old police ID. The man opened the door.

"I'm looking for Warren Lockmere," Maya said, "and understand that he lives here."

"That's right," the man answered, "He used to live here, rented the flat now up for rent. Haven't seen or heard from him lately. He's way behind on rent."

"Is that his furniture in there?" Maya asked.

"No, the furniture and kitchenware are mine," the man said, "It's rented as fully furnished."

"Were there any personal items belonging to him?" Maya asked.

"A lady came here when I first put the place up for rent who said she was a friend of his and I had no reason not to believe her," the man replied, "She looked through all his personal stuff, didn't take anything and said I could get rid of it all. There was just clothes."

"Were there any paintings?" Maya asked.

"Only those," the man said pointing to two poor quality landscape prints tacked to the wall like posters. They weren't copies of Winnie's work. Maya asked if she could have a quick look-around and was shown into the flat. Nothing was there to interest her and she thanked the man and hoped he would rent to good people soon.

Maya returned to Dog's but he still had no clue as to who had done the executions and was perspiring at his computer. They arranged that she would return later that day and sleep there because train service may be disrupted at times. She wanted to take the first train to Marhaven in the morning.

In the meantime she went to the Laymuir residence to find Winnie. Winnie, Maya was sure, was the lady who had looked over Warren's stuff. The only one at the residence was Jim, the gardener. He said that Cook and Conrad were in town picking up groceries and that Hilda had driven Winnie for an appointment. Maya had cut through the forest directly from Dog's place to get to the Laymuirs' and according to Jim they had left about the time when Maya would have been looking for Warren's old apartment. As they stood talking, a fly that was larger than life flew over their heads, an arm's stretch away.

"One of the Mrs' drones," Jim said, "It's annoying but it's not like more of my privacy has been taken from me. Cameras are watching us now." Maya decided to use the time to her advantage, aware that Jim would not question what she was doing. She would search for the missing hard drives. First she went into the greenhouse and shut the door so quickly that the drone did not follow her in. It watched her from the windows with its gigantic eyes. The hard copies would have to be kept in a dry place. Maya realized that she would have to invent a plausible reason for what she was doing in case she were asked. She assumed the cameras were on and being monitored by the newly-hired security company. Maya took a thorough look around the greenhouse pretending to be interested in the plants growing there but did not see any drawers or other places where the hard copies may be. She didn't know when the others would return. There was a door from the greenhouse to the main house and Maya went to Winnie's quarters and knocked gently but the door was locked. So she went down to the kitchen and found pencil and paper and wrote a note for Winnie saying that she had come to the house because she needed to speak with her about new developments. She went back to Winnie's quarters, folded the note and slipped it under the door. Maya took the same way back to Dog's as she didn't want to cross paths with the others on their return. She wanted to speak to Winnie at the Laymuir residence.