“And the easiest way to break up the library…”
“… was to leave a document proving that the books had no money value. Done by an expert no one would challenge. Only Stan and 1 knew, and he asked me to keep that secret until the last of his estate was disposed of. The house was the last of it.”
And now we all know. Ballard left the appraisal among his papers but tucked a copy for good measure among his books. Emery Neff found that appraisal, scanned it, and jumped to the logical conclusion: that McKinley was a crook, lowballing so she could buy the books for a song. But Bobby had taken the time to actually read the appraisal. He alone knew the truth, that McKinley had been duped. That’s why he was trying to reach McKinley when the deal between Neff and himself had begun to go sour. Maybe a better deal could be struck with McKinley.
Greenwald offers more coffee, served with a sad little smile.
“Stan got the appraisal he wanted. We traded houses the night the appraiser came out. The books she looked at were mine.”