The Dead Play On by Heather Graham Page B

table.
    Larue spoke first, telling them about the holdup in the street and progressing to the two murders. Quinn, in turn, explained everything that had happened with Arnie Watson and how Tyler Anderson was convinced that Arnie had been murdered.
    Larue frowned and said, “The ME reported Arnie’s death as an accidental overdose. Based on the circumstances, we accepted that finding. And I’m still not a hundred percent convinced his death is connected. These other murders... They were about as brutal and sadistic as you can get.”
    “The connection makes sense,” Quinn argued. “They were all musicians. The holdup? Only their instruments were stolen. After that, things escalated. First you had Arnie’s death. Maybe it was a gentler murder because the killer and Arnie were actually friends. But Arnie didn’t have the sax on him. Not the right sax, anyway.”
    “I wonder why that was,” Danni put in.
    “What?” Quinn asked her.
    “Arnie had been playing with Tyler’s group that night. But he wasn’t found with his sax, and his family had the...special sax after he died, when his mother gave it to Tyler, who left it here with us. So what happened to his sax that night?” Danni asked.
    “Maybe he had a different sax and his killer
did
take it,” Larue suggested.
    “That seems like the most logical explanation,” Quinn said. “The killer lured him to Rampart, where he killed him when no one else was around. He stole the sax from him. But then he discovered it was the wrong one and figured maybe Arnie needed money and had sold it.”
    “Could be,” Larue said.
    “But he stole all the instruments when he robbed that group of musicians, right?” Danni asked.
    “He did,” Larue answered.
    “If he was looking for a saxophone, why take other instruments?” she asked.
    “So that no one would know he was looking for a sax?” Quinn suggested. “Anyway, somehow the killer got Arnie to go with him. Maybe he was a friend, or maybe he preyed on Arnie’s generosity, which seems pretty well-known, and pretended to need help with something. Maybe he even told him another vet needed help. When Arnie was dead, he took the sax then discovered later it was just a regular sax, not worth what a Penn Special is. Or maybe it wasn’t the monetary value. Maybe he knew it supposedly had special powers and what he wanted was to play as well as Arnie played. And then he started trying to figure out where the sax had ended up, first hiding his goal by stealing a bunch of different instruments. Then he started targeting people he thought were likely to have ended up with it, and when Morelli and Barrett couldn’t or wouldn’t tell him, he got pissed off and killed them.”
    “Sounds like a good working theory,” she said.
    “Where is this sax you got from Tyler?” Billie asked.
    Quinn pointed out the case where it was sitting under the table.
    Billie picked it up and opened it carefully then took out the instrument.
    “You play?” Danni asked him with surprise.
    “If you can play a bagpipe, the sax is a piece of cake.” He coaxed a few off-key notes from the sax. “I didna say I could play well,” he said. “Give me a minute.”
    He began to play again. The sounds were suddenly clear and good.
    “Nice,” Danni said.
    “Is it the sax itself? Is there something special about it?” Quinn asked.
    “It’s a good instrument,” Billie said. “But...”
    They all sat in silence for a long moment, staring at Billie and the sax.
    “It’s a sax,” Billie said at last.
    Quinn laughed suddenly. “Okay, so, apparently, the ‘magic’ doesn’t come out for us.”
    “All right, no offense, guys, but I’m feeling like a fool—sitting here and waiting for a sax to do something,” Larue said.
    “We’re not offended,” Danni said and looked at Quinn. “We need to call Tyler and get him to take us out to meet Arnie’s family. We have to know more about that sax.”
    “I’ve got to go home and study some