"We need to check the stairs for a ha-haI... "We need to check the stairs for a ha-haI should
have thought of that first thing
"What's a ha-ha?" I asked
Wireman was turning back"The one at El Palacio
is four steps up from the bottom of the main
staircaseThe idea - she said it was her father's
- was to have it close to the front door in case
of fireThere's a lockbox inside it, and nothing
977
much inside the lockbox now but a few old
souvenirs and some pictures, but once she kept her
will and her best pieces of jewelry in thereThen
she told her lawyerHe insisted she
move all that stuff to a safe deposit box in
Sarasota
We were at the foot of the stairs now, back near
the hill of dead waspsThe stink of the house
prada clutch was
thick around usHe turned to me, his eyes
gleaming"Muchacho, she also kept a few very
valuable china figures in that box He surveyed
the wreck of the staircase, leading up to nothing
but senseless shattery and blue sky beyondif Perse is something like a
china figure that John fished off the bottom of
the Gulfyou don't suppose she's hidden right
here, in the stairs?"
"I think anything's possible
"I'll bet you anything that there's a ha-ha," he
said"We repeat what we learn as children
He brushed away the dead wasps with his boot -
they made a whispery, papery sound - and then
knelt at the foot of the stairsHe examined the
first stair riser, then the second, then the third
978
When
balenciaga motorcycle handbags he got to the fourth, he said: "Jack, give me
the flashlight
iii
It was easy to tell myself that Perse wasn't
hiding in a secret compartment under the stairs -
that would be too easy - but I remembered the
chinas Elizabeth liked to secrete in her Sweet
Owen cookie-tin and felt my pulse speed up as Jack
rummaged in the picnic basket and brought out the
monster flashlight with the stainless steel barrel
He slapped it into Wireman's hand like a nurse
handing a doctor an instrument at the operating
table
When Wireman trained the light on the stair, I saw
the minute gleam of gold: tiny hinges set at the
far end of the tread"Okay," he said, and handed
back the flashlight"Put the
gucci backpack beam on the edge of
the treadWireman reached for the lip of
the riser, which was meant to swing up on those
tiny hinges
"Wireman, just a minute," I said
979
He turned to me
"Sniff it first," I said
"Say what?"
"Sniff itTell me if it smells wet
He sniffed the stair with the hinges at the back,
then turned to me again"A little damp, maybe,
but everything in here smells that wayWant to be
a little more specific?"
"Just open it very slowly, okay? Jack, shine the
light directly insideLook for wetness, both of
you
"Why, Edgar?" Jack asked
"Because the Table is leaking, she said soIf you
see a ceramic container - a bottle, a jug, a keg -
that's herIt'll almost certainly be cracked,
black fendi spy bag and
maybe broken wide open
Wireman pulled in a breath, then let it out
As the mathematician said when he divided by zero,
here goes nothing
He tried to lift the stair, with no resultmust have been
a hell of a small key-"
"I've got a Swiss Army knife," Jack offered
980
"Just a minute," Wireman said, and I saw his lips
tighten down as he applied upward pressure with
his fingertipsA vein stood out in the hollow of
his temple
"Wireman," I started, "be carefu-"
Before I could finish, the lock - old and tiny and
undoubtedly rotted with rust - snappedThe stairtread
flew up and tore off at the hingesWireman
tumbled backwardJack caught him, and then I
caught Jack in a clumsy one-armed
balenciaga motorcycle handbag hu