A Summer Murder by John Paulits

Author:John Paulits [Paulits, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wings ePress, Inc.
Published: 2022-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Eleven

I’d fallen asleep quickly the night before, but waking up proved to be a chore. In the light of a new day, last night’s doings were hard to believe. I left my bedroom a little after ten. When I did the math, six hours of sleep, I felt tired all over again. Cliff lay on the sofa reading the Sunday Bulletin.

“One of the cops had to go get this for me,” he said. “They wouldn’t let me leave the house. You believe this? And you guys have to call in sick tomorrow. Hanahan’s orders. No work. Somebody else wants to talk to us, and he’s not available until tomorrow.”

I shrugged. “A day off’s a day off. What time did the girls get home?”

“I don’t know. I went to bed.”

“Where’s Willy? Mickey?”

“Sleeping, I guess.”

“We can’t leave the house?”

“Maybe we can now. I got up too early for my own good. Couldn’t sleep anyway. The cops weren’t sure whether we were still confined to quarters, so one cop went and got the paper for me. Two of them are outside hanging around in case Denny shows up. Maybe they think one of us planned to warn him.”

“They think he killed Eileen?”

“Don’t you?”

I sighed. “I don’t see how it could have been anyone else. Maybe he went crazy like he did at the Towne House. Remember?”

“Sure I remember. He smoked pot and drank beer then, too.”

“I wonder where the two of them went last night.”

“Him and Eileen?”

“Yeah.”

“Some dark place where they could smoke, no doubt. People are upstairs.”

“People?”

“Cops. Fingerprints. Magnifying glass. Deerstalker cap. Whatever the hell they do, they’re doing. I’m glad it happened up there and not down here. Be awfully hard to read the paper in so much commotion.”

“Wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“The girls are going to be blitzed. Very little sleep last night. They have to be awake by now with so many people tromping around.”

We heard clatter and footsteps on the other side of our ceiling.

Mickey stepped out of his bedroom. “Did they find Denny?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Cliff said. “We’d’ve heard about it if they did. Two cops are outside in case he shows up here. If they had him, the cops would leave.” He repeated his story about getting the newspaper.

“Christ, he’s stupid!” Mickey said, referring to Denny. “Him and his dope.”

“You think he did it?” I asked.

“He gets crazy when he smokes. He pulled his wang out to the little girl when he was high. He baseball-batted those windshields at the Towne House when he got high.”

After a few seconds of quiet contemplation of Denny’s habits, I said, “We have to stay down until tomorrow.”

“What? Why? Cops say so?”

“Cliff says so.”

Cliff explained from behind his paper.

“I bet we have to tell the story twice, and they check to see whether it matches,” Mickey said knowingly. “I seen them do it on TV.”

“Jesus, listen to the noise. The girls gotta be awake,” Cliff said. “Why don’t you go up and see if they’ll come make us breakfast.

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