"You mean he never interacted with the good people of Pinewhittle?"
"Hardly any, Adam did interview more applicants his last month here. Maybe he was finally feeling the need for human companionship. Since Adam denied all their applications, that company probably wasn't very pleasant. Most sadly, the last person Mr. Midas interviewed was Clint's son. Cale applied for a small loan to get his brakes repaired. Adam refused approval – " Shirley's voice caught. She swallowed and sobbed, "Cale's brakes failed the next morning at this very intersection. We all saw – " Shirley choked completely and pulled a tissue from a box to wipe her eyes.
"I know," the detective assured gently. "Mr. Turner told me about the wreck. Oh, Shirley!" Mick suddenly snapped his fingers and changed the subject to a lighter topic, "I almost forgot why I came in here. Have you heard that our soon to be newlyweds are going to be living in Adam's . . .? I mean . . . the bank's house?"
"No!"
"Yes. Clint, Bufford, Mop, and I are going to open the house and get it ready for its new occupants. The problem is that we don't have a key. Clint told me to ask you – "
"I have one!" Shirley broke in quickly. "Adam loaned his key to me when I first started making deliveries, so I could have a duplicate made. I entered and set the papers and groceries on a table by the door."
"So you went out there without seeing Adam either. Was he gone very often?"
"No, he was always there and would yell to me from the bedroom. Adam would have money on the table for the food. I'd take enough to reimburse me for my expenditures and leave the receipt."
Mick looked at Mrs. Teller quizzically. "I think you were right in the first place."
"About what?"
"He was strange!" Shirley smiled sadly. She fumbled in her purse and handed Mick the key. "I really enjoyed our chat," Loneshark complimented the receptionist as he rose to leave.
The detective immediately left the bank. Loneshark took the shortcut across the fields past the abandoned abode and up the hill to his shared cabin to retrieve his pilfered fingerprint equipment. Mick loped down the slope to the empty house. Mick had waited patiently for a chance to inspect Adam's former residence. Loneshark collected prints from various areas inside the house. All the fingerprints appeared to have been made by the same man except for a few smaller impressions on the table by the front door. The detective assumed they were Shirley's. Having studied the earlier set intensely, Mick was sure the new prints didn't match the ones he had lifted from the mantel's glass casket. Loneshark didn't expect the fingerprints of Adam Midas to be on file, but he would have Isaac run the new prints through the system to be certain. The detective conducted a thorough search of the house but found nothing of
