Free Jingle Bell Bark by Laurien Berenson Page B

something.”
    â€œLike what?” I leaned over and had a look. “What Henry’s daughters look like? How will that help?”
    â€œI don’t know. You’re the one who wanted to snoop around. You think of something.”
    Something that would justify our pawing through even more of Henry’s private things? I didn’t think so.
    But since the pictures had already been spilled out onto the desk, I had a look at them. Henry must have been the photographer; he didn’t appear in any of the shots. Most were pictures of his house and the surrounding neighborhood. Included, too, were photographs of the Bowens’ house, a local park, and the junior and senior high schools.
    â€œHow very banal,” said Aunt Peg.
    â€œMaybe he was trying out a new camera. Or maybe he was thinking of moving and wanted to have a record of where he used to live?”
    â€œIf I do say so myself, that’s about the silliest idea you’ve ever come up with.” She gathered up the photographs, slipped them back into the envelope, and placed them back where they’d been. “Nor do I see an address book. Maybe that neighbor woman knows how Henry’s daughters can be reached.” Aunt Peg pushed the desk drawer firmly shut. “Let’s go see if she’s back, shall we?”
    We checked to make sure we’d left everything as we’d found it, then locked the back door behind us. “You know,” Aunt Peg said as we started back across the yard. “It occurs to me that maybe we should have worn gloves. Now I suppose we’ve left our fingerprints all over everything.”
    Alice and I had done the same the day before.
    â€œToo late now,” I said. “On the other hand, if the police want to know what we were doing in Henry’s house, we have a perfectly logical explanation.”
    â€œIf they’re dog lovers,” Peg muttered.
    Betty Bowen hadn’t returned home during the time we’d been inside Henry’s house. And Johnny had probably been watching us out the window; he opened the front door before we were even halfway up the walk. I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t have something better to do in the middle of the afternoon. I guessed his age at a year or two on either side of twenty. Why wasn’t he in college or at work?
    â€œFind what you wanted?” Johnny asked with a smirk. He threaded his index finger through the key ring I held out to him and twirled it out of my hand. “That Henry, he was pretty busy for an old guy. He had stuff going on all the time.”
    â€œDid you know him well?” I asked.
    The young man shrugged. It seemed to be a habitual expression of his feelings toward the world. “We’ve been living next door to each other forever, so I guess we’ve crossed paths. I used to mow his lawn when I was little.”
    â€œNot any more?” asked Peg.
    â€œAfter he retired he started doing it himself. Kind of put me out of a job. Like I said, Henry was always up to something over there.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t happen to know how we could get in touch with his daughters, would you?”
    â€œNah. All I know is that they live far away. My mom might know, though. Do you want me to have her call you?”
    â€œThat would be great. Thanks.”
    I dug a piece of paper out of my pocket. Johnny found a pen and I wrote down my number. I’d barely finished before he snatched the slip of paper and shut the door in our faces. Johnny might have been accommodating but his manners could use a little help.

8
    A unt Peg headed home after that, and I drove Faith and Eve back to the Brickmans’ where I had planned to pick up Davey; except that as it turned out, he wasn’t there. “The kids were playing outside and saw Sam’s car drive up,” Alice explained. “Apparently, that seemed like a good enough reason for everyone to go and congregate at your house.