house
for sale over on Mulberry. We went by and looked at it.”
“So a realtor can vouch
that you were there?”
“No, we just stopped by,
looked in the windows, looked out back. Lieutenant, do you think I’m wrong for
dragging my feet? I want to do what’s right for my marriage.”
“That’s something the
two of you have to work out for yourselves.”
I could see I wasn’t
getting anything else out of Jennifer, so I had Lou go get her husband. If they
hadn’t had time to agree on where they were on Monday, I didn’t want to give
them a chance do so before I talked to each of them separately.
It didn’t matter.
Scott’s story agreed with his wife’s. The only other thing I could get out of
Scott was that in some ways he was tired of living in a castle where he had
only one room to call his own and someone else decided the menu and at what
time they ate.
+++
After Scott left, Lou
escorted Trish into the den and asked her to have a seat.
“Sorry to have to talk
to you under these circumstances, Trish, but I needed to check with everyone.
Where were you on Monday afternoon?”
“Well, I had class until
1:50. Then I went to the Student Center to grab some lunch. See, I have
classes from 10:00 on, and 2:00 is the first chance I have to eat. It was tough
at first, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
“And what time did you
leave the Student Center?”
“Probably a little after
3:30. I’m not sure.”
“Why did you stay so
long?”
“Well, I took my time
eating and studying, and then I got to talking to a couple of people.”
“Can anyone verify that
you were there?”
“I’m not sure. I mean
I’m sure there are people who can say they saw me, but whether or not they’ll
remember that it was Monday, I’m not sure.”
“But you’re sure it was
Monday?”
“Of course, Lieutenant.
Monday was the day my life turned upside down. I loved Gramps. I’ll miss him. I
should’ve told him that more often, but he seemed to be in the library all the
time. I mean unless we were eating. I didn’t get time alone with him the way I
used to.”
With that, Trish shed a
few tears. They seemed genuine, but women have a way of manipulating men any
time they feel the need.
+++
Tom Brockman was the
only one left to question. As soon as he sat down I confronted him on where he
was on Monday afternoon.
“In my office.”
“We have witnesses who
say you weren’t.”
“But I was. I was trying
to get caught up on some things. I locked the door and didn’t answer the phone.
I received a couple of calls and someone knocked on the door, but I didn’t
answer either.”
I let him go. I’d check
with Sam to see if his witness checked the door to see if it was locked. Our
questioning was over. No one had an alibi that satisfied me, but no one
incriminated himself or herself.
+++
On the way to my place,
Lou and I devised a plan. Because some of the cards were on pages where two
chapters were listed, first we’d look at those that were on a page with only
one chapter. We knew which word those letters went in.
I got a clean sheet of
paper and wrote down only those letters.
E A M C
S K C T P J
R
L
I studied the letters
and immediately formed an opinion. Evidently the extra hour of sleep did me no
good. Only the first word remained the same. All of the letters of the first
time remained intact. We were down to three possibilities. Either the first
word was “mace,” or “came,” or it contained one or more of the three “O’s” or
some combination of the missing four letters, none of which we could possibly
identify.
We wanted to get all of
our stupid ideas out of the way as soon as possible, so we wrote down all the
letters of the alphabet to see how many of them were the first letter of any
book of the Bible. Well, at least it was quick. That’s more than can be said
for any other idea we had. After only a few minutes, we were able to eliminate
B, F, Q, U, V, W,
for sale over on Mulberry. We went by and looked at it.”
“So a realtor can vouch
that you were there?”
“No, we just stopped by,
looked in the windows, looked out back. Lieutenant, do you think I’m wrong for
dragging my feet? I want to do what’s right for my marriage.”
“That’s something the
two of you have to work out for yourselves.”
I could see I wasn’t
getting anything else out of Jennifer, so I had Lou go get her husband. If they
hadn’t had time to agree on where they were on Monday, I didn’t want to give
them a chance do so before I talked to each of them separately.
It didn’t matter.
Scott’s story agreed with his wife’s. The only other thing I could get out of
Scott was that in some ways he was tired of living in a castle where he had
only one room to call his own and someone else decided the menu and at what
time they ate.
+++
After Scott left, Lou
escorted Trish into the den and asked her to have a seat.
“Sorry to have to talk
to you under these circumstances, Trish, but I needed to check with everyone.
Where were you on Monday afternoon?”
“Well, I had class until
1:50. Then I went to the Student Center to grab some lunch. See, I have
classes from 10:00 on, and 2:00 is the first chance I have to eat. It was tough
at first, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
“And what time did you
leave the Student Center?”
“Probably a little after
3:30. I’m not sure.”
“Why did you stay so
long?”
“Well, I took my time
eating and studying, and then I got to talking to a couple of people.”
“Can anyone verify that
you were there?”
“I’m not sure. I mean
I’m sure there are people who can say they saw me, but whether or not they’ll
remember that it was Monday, I’m not sure.”
“But you’re sure it was
Monday?”
“Of course, Lieutenant.
Monday was the day my life turned upside down. I loved Gramps. I’ll miss him. I
should’ve told him that more often, but he seemed to be in the library all the
time. I mean unless we were eating. I didn’t get time alone with him the way I
used to.”
With that, Trish shed a
few tears. They seemed genuine, but women have a way of manipulating men any
time they feel the need.
+++
Tom Brockman was the
only one left to question. As soon as he sat down I confronted him on where he
was on Monday afternoon.
“In my office.”
“We have witnesses who
say you weren’t.”
“But I was. I was trying
to get caught up on some things. I locked the door and didn’t answer the phone.
I received a couple of calls and someone knocked on the door, but I didn’t
answer either.”
I let him go. I’d check
with Sam to see if his witness checked the door to see if it was locked. Our
questioning was over. No one had an alibi that satisfied me, but no one
incriminated himself or herself.
+++
On the way to my place,
Lou and I devised a plan. Because some of the cards were on pages where two
chapters were listed, first we’d look at those that were on a page with only
one chapter. We knew which word those letters went in.
I got a clean sheet of
paper and wrote down only those letters.
E A M C
S K C T P J
R
L
I studied the letters
and immediately formed an opinion. Evidently the extra hour of sleep did me no
good. Only the first word remained the same. All of the letters of the first
time remained intact. We were down to three possibilities. Either the first
word was “mace,” or “came,” or it contained one or more of the three “O’s” or
some combination of the missing four letters, none of which we could possibly
identify.
We wanted to get all of
our stupid ideas out of the way as soon as possible, so we wrote down all the
letters of the alphabet to see how many of them were the first letter of any
book of the Bible. Well, at least it was quick. That’s more than can be said
for any other idea we had. After only a few minutes, we were able to eliminate
B, F, Q, U, V, W,
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