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Chase, who’d produced his badge and now held it out to the garage owner, said, “Right now I’m not really interested in how the notebook came into Kristina Careen’s possession. Were you aware that your father worked on a Mustang on October 14th thirteen years ago? He even wrote down the license plate,plus a list of the work he did on that car.”

Vince, who’d darted an unhappy look at Chase’s badge, shook his head. “No idea what you’re talking about, detective. What my dad did or didn’t do thirteen years ago is not something I’m aware of, I’m afraid.”

“Were you working here at the time?”

“Oh, sure. I’ve been working here for as long as I can remember. All my life, in fact.”

“Maybe I’ll jog your memory,” said Chase. “The car your dad worked on was involved in a hit-and-run accident that killed a little girl named Poppy Careen, Kristina and Dominic Careen’s seven-year-old daughter. The car was registered to Dunc Hanover, and he brought it in the morning after the accident to have the bumper replaced, the front right fender fixed and repainted and generally all traces of the accident removed. Your dad did the work off the books, and never told the police and nor did Mr. Hanover.”

“Is that a fact?” Vince shrugged. “My dad did a lot of dodgy stuff back in the day. But I can assure you that the way we do things now is all above board. Nothing of that sort of stuff goes on here anymore. I’ve made sure of that when I took over the business.”

“So your dad never told you about the Careen case? Or the work he did on Hanover’s Mustang?”

“Nope. Not a word. And now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got plenty of work to get on with.”

“Did you deliver your father’s notebook to the Careens?” asked Odelia.

“No, I most certainly did not. If I did, I think I’d remember.”

“Do you have any idea who did?”

Vince shook his head.“No idea, sorry. Now can I get on, please?”

Chase eyed the man a little annoyedly. He didn’t enjoy being given the runaround, and it was obvious we were being given the runaround now. But finally he nodded curtly, and we walked out, leaving the busy garage owner to get busy with his busy life.

But Chase wouldn’t be Chase if he didn’t decide to go check out the garage and poke around here and there. And since Odelia is cut from the same cloth and so are Dooley and me, we followed the cop’s example. And that’s how we came upon a rusty metal drum. Next to it, some ashes had fallen, and judging fromthe smell, there had been a recent fire.

“Looks like someone burned something here recently,” I said.

“Ooh, that’s right. That little black book had burn marks,” said Dooley.

“Odelia!” I called out, and gestured to our human, who was just trying to peer in through a greasy window near the back of the garage. “Over here,” I said.

She quickly came over, and examined the contents of the drum.“Looks like someone burned Jefferson Gusta’s notebooks,” she said as she dug out a half-charred leather cover, exactly the same kind of leather cover Jefferson’s notebook had sported.

Chase had now also joined us, took the leather covering from Odelia, and deposited it into an evidence bag.“I’ll have it checked against the notebook,” he said. “Chances are it comes from the same collection.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” suddenly the irate voice of Vince Gusta sounded.

He was walking up to us with furious step and Chase held up the plastic baggie.“Been cleaning house, Mr. Gusta?”

“What’s it to you?” the irate garage owner demanded.

“I’m investigating four murders, and if I find out that you’ve been burning evidence of a crime, it’s got everything to do with me. And what’s more, I hope you’re aware that it’s against the law to destroy evidence, or to lie to the police and hamper an ongoing murder inquiry. In factI could arrest you right now and charge you with obstruction of justice.”

“All right!” said the man, holding up his hands. “So I cleaned out some of my dad’s old files. I didn’t think there was any harm in that. He had boxes full of the stuff, and I wanted to get rid of them once and for all.”

“You weren’t aware that there was evidence of a crime in his notebooks? And please think carefully before you answer me this time.”

Vince sighed and took off his ball cap and scratched his graying mop of hair.“I had heard of the Poppy Careen business, yes.”

“Your dad told you about it?”

“He did. Said that the person responsible for the hit and run had asked him to fix up that car so it looked as good as new.”

“Was he aware that he was assisting a criminal in covering up a crime?”

“At the time he had no idea that the car had been involved in the Careen girl’s death. It was just another job for him. Later he found out what happened that night, and put two and two together. But of course by then it was too late. The damage was done. So he decided not to get involved and not to mention what he did to anyone.”

“Except to you.”