Sean sighed. “My first pro bono case then. That’s another topic I’ll have to discuss with Mr. Eagleton. If he really is desperate for money, that could have spurred him to steal the manuscripts.”

“Did Eagleton tell you how much they wanted?”

“Fifteen thousand per manuscript. I don’t know enough about publishing to decide whether that’s an unrealistic figure or under market value. What do you think?”

I considered it for a moment, but I had to confess to Sean I wasn’t sure, either. “The Veronica Thane books have been out of print for thirty years, and Eagleton has been the only one that I know of to show any interest in reprinting them. I don’t know that any big publishing houses would pay that much. I suspect they wouldn’t.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” Sean said. “I almost forgot. Eagleton mentioned that he expected to be negotiating with Mrs. Cartwright’s agent. She was supposed to be there but she never showed up.”

“Mrs. Cartwright mentioned that tonight at the hotel.” I frowned. “That’s really odd. Teresa talked to someone in Ms. Thigpen’s office the other day and was informed that she was already en route to Athena. She was flying into Memphis and would pick up a rental car to drive down. I wonder what happened to her.”

Sean’s expression turned grim. “I don’t like the sound of that.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Let’s call Kanesha and report this. The agent may have gotten lost trying to find the Marters’ house or decided to do a little sight-seeing, but if she didn’t . . .”

He punched in a number. “Voice mail.” He waited a moment, then left the deputy a message with a brief summary of the potential issue.

He set the phone on the table when he’d finished. “I have to say, Dad, with all that you’ve told me, I have a feeling there’s something hinky going on here. The missing agent could be connected, too. How, I don’t know.”

“It’s all strange.” I thought for a moment. “You said earlier that Kanesha found the manuscripts. Did she have a search warrant?”

“She did, but I doubt she would have needed one. Eagleton told me he was convinced the whole thing was a practical joke on Eugene Marter’s part. He thought Marter was simply jerking the sheriff’s department around and was happy to cooperate.”

“But Marter wasn’t, as it turned out,” I said. “Do you know where exactly Kanesha found the manuscripts?”

“In between Eagleton’s mattress and box spring. Not an imaginative hiding place.”

I agreed. “What do you think? Did he take them?”