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Chapter 25
WELL, THE FLOWERSdoneed watering,” observed Jamison.
They were standing in the middle of Costa’s loft in downtown Baronville.
It was open and airy, with exposed brick walls, and decorated with a flair that might have come from the combination of a deep wallet and professional design assistance.
“It’snice,” said Jamison as she looked around the space. “No expense spared, I’d say. There was a plaque downstairs that said this was one of the old textile mills. At least the Baron family left something to the townspeople.”
“Well, Costa won’t be enjoying it anymore,” noted Decker.
He glanced at a shelf built into one wall. On it were various framed photos.
He went overand studied them one by one.
“Look at this.”
Jamison joined him.
He was pointing to a photo of a Little League baseball team holding a banner.
“So what? We saw from his office that the bank sponsored baseball teams.”
“Right, but look at the coach.”
Jamison ran her eye over the tall, lean man smiling back in the picture.
“Good-lookingguy. Who is he?”
“John Baron.”
“What? You’re kidding.”
He looked at the date engraved on the frame. “This was taken a year ago. So Baron coached a team sponsored by the bank but doesn’t know Costa, one of the bigwigs there?”
“Well, I guess that’s possible. I mean, you don’t have to meet the coach to sponsor a team. You just have to write a check.”
“But this is the only business-related photo here,” said Decker. “The rest are of mountains and rivers and the sights of the area. Costa might have been an amateur photographer. But why only this one photo here? The other Little League team pics are in his office.”
“I don’t know.”
He walked over to the window and pointed. “That must be John Baron’s place up there on thehill.”
Jamison joined him at the window. “Wow, even from here you can tell it’s huge.”
“And apparently falling apart.”
“Well, I can only imagine the upkeep. It must cost a fortune just to heat the place.”
“I don’t think Baron has a fortune, not anymore.”
“He might only live in a portion of it.”
“It wasn’t cheap to furnishthisspace,”said Decker, turning his attention back to the apartment.
“I guess Costa’s job paid relatively well. And I would imagine the cost of living here is pretty low. And he probably saved some bucks from his time in New York.”
“Granted, but why here?”
