Chapter 11
Lee entered the study first, scanning the room for any changes. "Okay, Amanda, where do you want to start?"
Amanda grinned toothily. "I want you to go lean against the credenza and put your hands about where you think you would normally put them."
"If I put my hands down, then I might taint some evidence, Amanda," Lee protested.
"I understand, which is why I don't want you to actually touch anything. Just hover them over where you think you would put them down," Amanda explained.
Lee looked at the credenza, then back at his wife. "So you want me to lean against it and just show you where I think I'd put my hands?"
"Lee, it's not that hard. Look, I'll even demonstrate for you," Francine snapped. She sidestepped him, leaned against the wood, and hovered her hands beside her hips. "If it were me, I'd put my hands about here."
"Okay, smarty pants. Let me over there." Lee waited for Francine to move, settled his hips against the credenza, and lowered his hands, stopping just above the edge of the wood. "Happy?"
Amanda glanced over to the desk and grabbed two pens from the cup on the corner. She carefully placed one pen under each of Lee's hands before she stopped and started laughing.
"What?" Lee glared at her, confused. "What?"
Francine leaned to the side and shook her head. "Well, I guess we have a general description of size and possible build for our suspect."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lee demanded.
"You fit perfectly in the space where the books have been moved," Amanda explained between giggles.
Lee bobbed his head slightly. "Very funny. Can we pretend we're actually professionals now and do what we came here to do?"
"Of course." Amanda waited for Lee to move before she knelt down and started lightly coating the area under the edge of the credenza with the fingerprint dusting powder. "I think I got something." She paused for a moment then added, "Let's see if we get just as lucky on the other side." She repeated the dusting process and smiled widely. "Looks like our suspects were sloppy. There are prints on both sides. Who wants the honor of using the tape to lift them?"
"I'll do it." Francine grabbed the fingerprint kit from the edge of the desk where Amanda had left it.
Lee raised his hand and quickly placed it over the bag. "Wait. We have to make sure we do this by the book. We don't need someone saying we planted fingerprints or anything else for that matter, just because you're so close to this one." Hazel eyes met angry blue ones, so he quickly added, "Let's photograph everything as we do it. We all know what can happen when fingerprints are faked. Stemwinder taught us more than one lesson."
"Fine. I'll take the pictures, you and Amanda play the good federal agents," Francine conceded.
Lee reached into his pocket, pulled out the camera, and handed it to Francine. Amanda began dusting to the top edge of the credenza while Francine began snapping pictures. He reached into the bag and pulled out the adhesive tape before he moved closer to where Amanda was working. Carefully, he pressed the tape over the now-visible fingerprint, rubbing it gently before peeling the tape back and placing it onto a white card.
"Nice job, Amanda. Looks like we have three clear prints on this side and if I see it right, a palm print on the top." Lee continued to focus on his task, hearing the click, click, click of the camera's shutter.
After several minutes, the trio of agents had collected multiple prints from the credenza. "Looks like the police missed a few," Amanda joked.
Lee smiled at his wife. "Well, who would have thought to search under the edge?"
"Lee, something's bothering me," Francine interjected.
Lee's smile immediately dropped. "What's wrong?"
"Call me crazy, but I still can't get over the missing chair. Jonathan was such a stickler about the chair being in the exact position all the time."
Lee studied the rug where three depressions were clearly defined. He looked around the room but nothing else appeared to be out of place. He moved from one side of the room to the other, hoping a different angle would reveal a clue of some kind. "I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say it was here recently, based on those divots."
"Then where would you move it, if something happened to it?" Amanda piped up.
Lee narrowed his eyes as he contemplated Amanda's question. He lifted his head and immediately walked into the hallway, a confused Francine and Amanda following him. He scanned the entryway but continued to move toward the back of the house where the kitchen was located.
"Francine, where would Jonathan put the trash? Outside or in the basement until pickup day?"
"Outside…" Francine said slowly.
Lee yanked the backdoor open, immediately spotting the two barrels and something covered by a dirty blue tarp. He walked over and slowly tugged on the tarp, revealing a three-legged chair underneath. "Is this what you've been talking about?"
"Yes, but why is it out here?" Francine stammered, stunned.
"I think the bigger question is how did this armrest get broken and why does it look like there's some sort of adhesive on the broken part." Using the tarp, Lee carefully lifted the chair away from the barrels. As he did, the seat of the chair shifted. "Francine, you called this a cane chair, right?"
"Yeah. The seat is made of some woven cane material." Francine got closer to Lee, her eyes getting wider. "That's not the seat I remember. That one there is stuffed."
Lee exhaled loudly. "I think we may have just opened another can of worms. Let's get this back to the Agency along with those fingerprint cards and start solving this mystery."