The Chocolate Mouse Trap by JoAnna Carl Read Free Book Online Page B

Thousands. Julie lived in an apartment complex, remember? Nobody left the track of a size fifteen extra wide Nike on her carpet, if that’s what you mean.”
    “In other words, the tracks aren’t any help. I suppose there aren’t any fingerprints either.”
    “Fingerprints are never any help unless you find somebody to match them with. And then you have to prove that somebody was never in the apartment at any other time, for any other reason.”
    By now Hogan and I were sitting in chairs in front of the brick fireplace in the living room. He pointed to the wood stacked inside. “Do you want me to start you a fire?”
    “No, thanks. Joe’s coming over. He likes to do it. All you guys are fire builders.”
    Hogan smiled. “I hope he can cheer you up, Lee. I know that having a friend killed is a real jolt. All I can tell you is that it does look as if somebody broke in, probably some kind of burglar. My guess is that Julie surprised him, he panicked and hit her.”
    “She was a little thing, Hogan. A foot shorter than I am. It wouldn’t have been hard to kill her.”
    He nodded. “Yeah. My Holland buddy told me that. Anyway, the burglar must have decided to get out of there in a hurry.”
    “Where did the tale about the dark guy walking down the alley come from?” Hogan looked surprised, and I repeated the gossip Lindy and I had gotten from Margaret Van Meter.
    Hogan shrugged. “I hadn’t heard that one. But I doubt a witness would have seen if a guy walking down the alley was dark or fair or in between. The temperature was close to zero that night. If the guy wasn’t wearing a heavy jacket and hat, his hair and skin would have been the color of ice. Anyway, the Holland detectives think the killer just took the few things he could carry in one trip, which makes them think he was on foot.”
    “He wouldn’t have wanted to look like Santa with his pack.”
    “Right. He couldn’t have carried anything too bulky. Which might be why he took the computer, but not the monitor or the keyboard—”
    “Monitor or keyboard? But Julie had a laptop! She had it along the day she came down to see the mouse samples she ordered for the Schrader banquet.”
    “There were two computers. She had that flashy new Gateway she carried around to plan parties with. It’s still there. And she had an old Macintosh that she used for correspondence and e-mail.”
    “That’s a weird way to manage your computer life.”
    “Maybe not. She kept the Macintosh connected to the phone line. The laptop was in a brief case.”
    “And it wasn’t stolen?”
    “The laptop was inside the case and stashed in a closet. The burglar probably didn’t realize what it was.”
    “You say the killer didn’t take the Macintosh keyboard? What else did he take?”
    “I didn’t hear the whole list. Her jewelry box was gone. The descriptions are circulating. Her grandmother and uncle say she just had a few family pieces.”
    “Their idea of a ‘few family pieces’ might include the Kohinoor. So nothing else is missing?”
    Hogan laughed. “No, there’s more. But I haven’t seen a list. All I know about specifically is her mouse.”
    “You mean the killer took her computer and mouse, but not the keyboard?”
    “Not a computer mouse. A real mouse.”
    “Julie had a mouse?”
    “Apparently it’s a Schrader family tradition. My buddy was laughing about it. The Schrader lab originally did a lot of testing involving mice, and the family members all think they’re wonderful pets. So Julie had a pet mouse, a white one. She kept it in a fish tank in the living room. The tank got knocked over, and the mouse escaped. It hasn’t been found.”
    “Oh, my gosh! That’ll come as a surprise to the next tenants.”
    “Her uncle set a trap—you know, one of these live traps—and left it there. I assure you that the Holland PD doesn’t want the mouse as evidence. As soon as it turns up, they’ll call the uncle.”
    “One of the Holland cops will