The Case of the Three Rings by John R. Erickson Page A

that?” We cocked our ears and listened. A refrigerator door opened and closed. Dishes clattered.
    Drover let out a gasp. “Oh my gosh, he’s stealing food!” All at once, a light came on in his eyes and a grin spread across his mouth. “Wait a second. Maybe it’s Slim.”
    â€œWhat? Drover, this is no time for jokes. What I saw wasn’t Slim.”
    â€œYeah, but sometimes in the middle of the night, when his hair’s a mess, he looks like a monster.”
    â€œOkay, pal, you think it’s Slim? You go check it out.”
    â€œMe!”
    â€œIt was your idea. Go, move it!”
    I pushed him out of the bunker and he tip-toed across the room. At the door that led into the kitchen, he stopped and peeked around the corner. A moment later, he dived back into the bunker.
    â€œYou’re right, it’s not Slim!”
    â€œSee? You need to listen to your superior officers. Any idea who it might be?”
    His teeth were chattering. “I don’t know, but he’s nine feet tall and I think he has vampire teeth.”
    â€œGood grief. Do you think he might eat dogs?”
    â€œWell, I don’t know. He was eating something.”
    â€œYes? And what was it? I need facts, Drover, facts and details.”
    He rolled his eyes around. “Well, let’s see…oh yeah. I think it was a boiled turkey neck.”
    I stared at the runt. “A boiled turkey neck!”
    â€œThat’s what it looked like.”
    I took a deep breath and climbed out of the bunker. “Drover, do you see what this means?”
    â€œHow can a turkey neck mean anything?”
    â€œPlease listen carefully.” I stuck my nose in his face and raised my voice. “There’s only one man in the whole world who would eat a cold, left-over, boiled turkey neck at three o’clock in the morning.”
    â€œGosh, you mean…”
    â€œYes! What you saw in the kitchen was Slim Chance. He lives in this house. He sleeps in that bedroom down the hall. We see him every day. He isn’t nine feet tall, he doesn’t have vampire teeth, and I can’t believe you thought he was a monster.”
    â€œWell, you said it first, and you barked at him too.”
    â€œI did not bark at him. You’re the one who…” I blinked my eyes and glanced around. “Drover, when this thing started, we were asleep, right?” He nodded. “In other words, our minds might not have been operating at full capacity?” He nodded.
    I crept across the room and peeked into the kitchen, then returned to the spot where Drover was waiting. “It’s Slim. He’s eating a turkey neck. I’m canceling Ranch Red Alert.”
    â€œOh good!”
    â€œAnd Drover…” I moved closer and lowered my voice. “I think it would be best if we kept this to ourselves—you know, inside the Security Division.”
    â€œYou mean…”
    â€œYes. That business about Slim being a Charlie Monster…ha ha…it’s so ridiculous, we don’t need to spread it around.”
    â€œYeah, somebody might think we’re just a couple of dumb dogs.”
    â€œExactly, and think of what a bad effect that could have on morale. We must protect ourselves from lies and gossip.”
    â€œYeah, even when they’re true.”
    â€œEspecially when they’re true. Lies that contain a germ of truth can be very contagious, so here’s our story: We heard dogs barking but it wasn’t us. We don’t know anything about anything. Got it?”
    He grinned and gave me a wink. “Got it.”
    â€œGood! Now, let’s go into the kitchen and see what’s going on.”
    Okay, we’d had a little mix-up, a simple case of mistaken identity. Ha ha. But when a guy’s jerked out of a deep sleep, he sometimes…anyway, let’s back off and start all over again.
    It must have been around the end of May. Wait. May comes in the