Free The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza by Lawrence Block Page B

servicesand rates. If his pet resembled him, he probably had a basset hound.
    When I was finished Carolyn just sat there shaking her head. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I’m sorry about the glove, Bern. I feel rotten about it.”
    “These things happen.”
    “I thought I’d be a help and look what I did. I might as well have left a trail of bread crumbs.”
    “The birds would have eaten them.”
    “Yeah. I can’t believe she’s dead. Wanda Flanders Colcannon. I can’t believe it.”
    “You’d believe it if you saw the picture.”
    She shuddered, made a face. “Burglary’s fun,” she said. “But murder—”
    “I know.”
    “I don’t understand how it happened. The other burglars, the slobs, got there before we did.”
    “Right.”
    “And turned the place upside down and stole God knows what and left.”
    “Right.”
    “And then came back? Why? Don’t tell me it’s true about criminals returning to the scene of the crime?”
    “Only to commit another crime. Remember, we didn’t know the Colcannons were planning to leave Astrid. We thought they were staying overnight.”
    “I’m sorry about that, too.”
    “Don’t be. You couldn’t know otherwise. The point is, the other burglars probably made the same assumption. Suppose they grabbed up everything they could, took off over the rooftops, then decided they’d like to have another shot at the wall safe. They had time to pick up a torch or a drill. They might not have brought the right equipment the first time because they might not even have known about the safe, but if they had time to pick up a torch and all night to work on the safe, why not give it the old college try?”
    “And then the Colcannons came home right in the middle of it?”
    “Evidently.”
    “If they did, wouldn’t the burglars make them give them the combination of the safe?”
    “Probably. Unless they’d already opened it.”
    “If they had, why would they still be hanging around?”
    “They wouldn’t. But the Colcannons could have walked in the door just as the burglars were on their way out.”
    “Wouldn’t they leave the way they came? Through the skylight?”
    “You’re right,” I said. I frowned. “Anyway, there’s a third possibility. There could have been a third set of burglars.”
    “A third set? How many people knew that damned dog was going to Pennsylvania to get laid?”
    “Maybe these last burglars weren’t real burglars,” I suggested. “Maybe they were kids or junkies on the prowl, just roaming across the rooftops to see what they turned up. They’d notice the broken skylight and drop in for a look around. There were still plenty of things there to steal if you were an amateur on the prowl. Remember the radio? That would bring the price of a bag of heroin.”
    “There was at least one television set. Plus some stereo components on the second floor.”
    “See what I mean? Loads of goodies for a thief with low standards. But there wasn’t a lot of money, and sometimes amateur thieves take that sort of thing personally. You know how muggers sometimes beat up people who don’t have any cash on them?”
    “I’ve heard of that.”
    “Well, there’s a class of burglars who get the same sort of resentment. I can imagine a couple of punks dropping in through the broken skylight, picking up a radio and a portable TV, then deciding to hang around until the householders come home so they can rob them of their cash.” I followed that train of thought for a minute, then dropped it and shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. I may have to spend the next week looking over my shoulder for cops, but basically we’re in the clear. The thing is, they’re going to find the guys who did it. There’ll be a lot of heat with her murdered, and Richler was right. He said somebody would blabat a bar and somebody else would overhear him. That’s what usually happens and it’s how most crimes get solved.”
    “And you think we’re all