“One of the teammates hid the documents, then,” I concluded. “Dickson would never be celebrated for the genius that he was while alive—”
Freidman smiled a little. “But Edison would never get the credit for those inventions.”
Chapter Fifteen
LEE WASafter the drafts.
Obsolete now they might be, but early schematics of countless inventions that would have otherwise altered the course of the entertainment industry as we know it today would be worth an unprecedented amount at auction.Especiallywhen presented in front of the right audience… like the elite of Hollywood.
And Lee taught at a film academy. While he certainly was no doctor of cinema history, who could say he hadn’t learned of the Dickson stories on his own? And if the murdered Casey Robert had been one of Lee’s students, Casey could have easily told his teacher that his grandfather owned a mysterious Kinetoscope and footage.
The relentless attempts at procuring the three reels made me believe Lee felt they were necessary clues that would lead him to the location of the lost drafts. Andmaybehe would have figured out where they were hidden after watching the test movies.
But while Lee Straus might have been more handsome than me and stronger than me… he was notsmarter than me.
The Emporium was still shuttered after having lost the front window for the second time in the same year. I bent down, set my books carefully on the sidewalk, then unlocked the metal gate. I hoisted it up and eyed the exceptionally classy plywood that my new landlord had put up while the police had been investigating yesterday.
He’d thought to spray paint “Snow’s” across it in big blocky letters.
Real charming, but I’d have to deal with it later.
One crisis at a time.
“Yoo-hoo!”
I turned to my left. Beth was waving from where she stood at the rear of an open delivery truck.
“Morning,” I called, waving in return.
“What’re you doing here?” Beth asked before signing the electronic scanner our mutual delivery woman, Jamie, held out to her.
“I work here,” I answered.
“Smart-ass. Isn’t it Calvin’s birthday?”
“He’s working too,” I called.
“It’s your fault, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Not technically.”
Jamie jumped off the back of her Citywide Delivery truck and walked down the sidewalk toward me. “Are you open?”
“No.”
“I’ve got a package for you. Want me to scan it as recipient not available—come back tomorrow?”
“Who’s it from?” I countered.
“You think I’ve got that entire truck memorized?” she asked in a falsely annoyed tone, jutting a thumb over her shoulder.
“I know you do,” I replied. “This entire block would go to hell in a handbasket if they put you on a different route.”
Jamie smiled at that. “You’re such a sweetheart, Sebastian. Last name on the package is Robert.”
I dropped my keys. “James Robert?”
“Yeah, I think that was it.”
