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pulling here?
I had sort of fallen for his gentle approach, but he was trying mousetraps again.
And Jeffie s mild avuncular attitude was fading fast.
I m pulling damned hen s teeth tryin to get you two to tell me exactly what you did. You keep sayin I m wrong, but you ain t come up with anything you say is right.
Let s try once more, then, Cindy said reasonably. We did not kill or injure him. The last time we saw him was at the Delly the morning he threw me against the table and Alex took lovely pictures of the bruises. Peter
Minot will have a set in his mail Monday.
She picked up her drink, sniffed it and put it down. To continue, we have already told you McCurry was not here when we arrived home shortly after twelve. The dog ran around the yard and found no one and no odors
of interest. Once in the house, Alex collared the dog and I picked up the fire tongs and we went from room to room. McCurry was not here, and from Fargo s reactions, had not been here.
We had some brandy to calm down and went to bed. So, Sheriff. I shrugged. If McCurry was killed near this building, it was before we got home. Had we been here, we might have slept through whatever kind of fight
went on, but Fargo would not. And just for the record, my gray blazer is in Provincetown. The only blazer I have here is navy blue wool. To the best of my knowledge, Cindy has no gray blazer anywhere.
Oh, it ll turn up somewhere, I m not worried about that. But just to finish our little play here. Alex, I think you about got back to the house, when you heard something behind you. I think Mickey had woke up like Doc Ellis
says they sometimes do and was staggering down the trail. In his mind he might have been trying to get to his car, or might even have been coming here for help, forgettin it was one of you who had hit him in the first
place.
He lit his last cigarette and winged the crumpled pack into the wastebasket.
You couldn t let him just go on, so you yelled for Cindy s help. And she gave you that old green coat she was wearing, which she had found, probably tossed by who knows into the mudroom. You pulled it on and
supported Mickey on down the hill, hoping to get him into his car. But we saw a badly mashed shrub about halfway there and guessed he finally fell. After that, you carried him to a level spot near the road and laid him out
again, like he fell. Either you put his face in the water to make sure he stayed put, or he moved and accidentally did it himself. Anyway, I m pretty sure Doc will find he drowned. Then you went back to the first place, walked
around until you found a log where you could hide your coat, then got your rock, and put it by him. Case closed.
I was almost tempted to laugh, and to cover it turned and asked Cindy to make some coffee.
Case crazy. I told him. Jeffie, I am in fairly good shape, but Mickey was a heavy man. Not fat, muscle. Maybe I could have dragged him up the trail. But he s my height and solidly built. I m not at all sure I could do it.
And I can tell you, I could not carry him from here to the back door! And then trot a half-mile up the trail to get the rock, run down again to put it near him and come back up the trail to the house? Next you ll have me leaping
tall buildings in a single bound! And after all this, you are saying he drowned? If you got this as far as a courtroom, the jury would be rolling on the floor.
The bastard just smiled and looked smug.
I thought of another point to burst his thick balloon. You ll have to send a bunch of stuff to your county forensics people. That will not only take time, it will prove you wrong.
Oh. He gave me a sweet smile. It won t take long at all, our own forensics department will have it put together in a day or so, and Doc Ellis is doing the autopsy.
You have a forensics department? I couldn t believe it.
Yep. One of our girls is pretty darn good at stuff like this.
Cindy carefully handed me a mug of coffee and got back into action. One of your girls? How old is she, fifteen?
Fif& oh, I see. Pardon me. The young woman is thirtyish. Have to have a couple of female deputies these days or we d be in trouble. Anyhow, Gloria is fascinated by it and has read a lot on the subject. He actually
looked proud.
Oh, God, Cindy murmured. I about choked on my coffee.
Now I m not about to arrest you ladies today. I know the case is a little wobbly in spots. They will be cleared up shortly, however. And I am telling you: do not leave town. I mean it. You will not get a hundred miles. And I
assure you, you are much more comfortable here than in our little jail. Good-day, ladies, I ll be in touch.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
We sat and looked silently at each other for a few minutes. Then Cindy snapped into cleaning mode.
Throw those terrible drinks out they are poisonous and put the glasses in the dishwasher. And wash those ashtrays. She, in the meantime, was scrubbing the white pine kitchen table as if she were removing the
Ebola virus. I tried the vacuum in the living room, but it was far from a total success. Professionals would indeed be needed. As I finished or gave up she came in, plumped and straightened the sofa pillows and
plopped onto it.
Well, Mr. Moto missed a big fat clue that would have yanked the filthy rug out from under our calm night s sleep story.
What s that? I felt drained and groggy.
When he came into the living room this morning, the sofa was a mess, where the three of us had tried to sleep on it, and the bed in our room was neat as a pin, where I had made it& yesterday morning.
So it was. I just had my mind on getting the gun out of his way.
Yes. You know, this whole plot of Johnson s would have me thinking I was living in a sequel to Weekend at Bernie s, if it weren t so serious. Changing clothes, running up and down the trail dragging and carrying a body
that s not a body, going back for the rock. It s Keystone Kops all the way.
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