For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series by Albert Simon Page B

tipper than Wayne and they got up and
walked out the front door.

    Palm Canyon Drive was fairly
busy after lunch and the temperature was in the low nineties,
certainly bearable for a walk. They walked next to each other
towards the Hyatt Regency Suites hotel. Rosie had indeed slowed her
walk; Henry had no trouble keeping up with her. They must have
appeared an awkward couple though; Rosie was barely over five feet
in her heels while Henry was just over six feet tall in his
loafers. No one paid any attention to them, and they didn’t pay
attention to anyone else on the street.

    “ So after I started at the
real estate office, Rex was very nice to me and suggested that I
take some computer classes at College of the Desert.” Rosie
explained. “I did and started working on entering the properties
into the Multiple Listing Service that all the agencies across the
country use.” “You mean the realtor.com website that I used to find
my house here is connected to your Multiple Listing Service?” Henry
asked. “That’s right, there’s a regular update, but MLS has been
around a long time before the Internet and has been used by agents
across the country for decades.”

    They reached the Hyatt hotel
and without discussing it, turned around and headed back towards
the Blue Coyote and Rosie’s car. “You know, you might be able to
find out a lot more about some of his past customers if you could
look at Rex’s computer.” Rosie suggested. “That’s not a bad idea; I
suppose Wayne’s team has already checked his place out pretty
thoroughly.” Henry thought of all the things that Wayne told him
didn’t amount to much and decided that he should probably head for
Thornbird’s home that afternoon. “Rex carried a set of keys with
him and he had a spare set in his office. But I’m sure your friend
Wayne can get them to you; if not...” Rosie suggested. Henry looked
down at Rosie appreciatively. “You know, you and I could make a
good team at this detective stuff.” “You flatter me.” Rosie’s face
turned the color of her hair. “I do hope you find out which one of
his former customers were that upset with Rex as to do this to
him.”

    They had walked back to her
car while talking and got in to drive back to Rosie’s office. Henry
leaned into the back seat for the manila folder and started looking
through Thornbird’s past real estate sales. Rosie pulled her car in
next to Henry’s in the parking lot and turned to Henry, “You know,
this morning I thought we were going to have a standard business
lunch, but I want you to know that I had a really nice time being
with you.” This time it was Henry’s turn to blush the color of her
hair. “Me too, you’ve helped me a lot and not just with my
investigation.” She held out her hand which Henry took into his
own. “Can I call you for dinner later this week?” He smiled at her.
“I’d like that, I’ll be expecting your call.” She smiled as she got
out of the car. “See you then.” She waved to him as he got into his
own car and she walked up the steps and disappeared into the real
estate office.

    I’ll be darned, Henry
thought, of all the things I expected to find while investigating
this murder; I certainly didn’t expect to find this. He started his
car and headed for the police station to see if he could get the
keys to Thornbird’s house from Wayne Johnson.

Chapter 7

    Henry took the four stair
steps up to the police station in two long strides. He pushed open
the door and signed in at the front desk. The reserve officer
behind the bullet proof glass asked him who he was there to see and
pushed a visitor badge through the slot under the glass. Henry took
the badge, peeled off the backing and stuck it to his shirt. Before
September 11, if he wanted to see Wayne, he basically walked in and
waved at the officer at the desk. That the world had changed that
day was apparent - here was one more sign.

    He wondered if after the
tragedy they had