The Empty Coffin by Robert Wise

Author:Robert Wise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

22

THE CALENDAR ON SAM SLOAN’S DESK AT the Nevada Street station reminded him that Thanksgiving Day was coming tomorrow. Time both appeared to race by and at the same moment stand still. Some of the day the Henry/Hammond case seemed to be resting next to a stone wall, then, at other moments, the entire investigation zoomed by. In fact, the murder case had unfolded at a high rate of speed, with crucial pieces simply falling into Sam’s lap. Yet the problem of finding the young man’s body and locating Jester remained unsolvable.

“Hey, Sam,” a policeman called from the doorway. “That big ugly guy is back and wants to talk with you. I told the front-desk officer I’d relay the message.”

“Where is he?”

“An officer took him down to interrogation.”

“Thanks.” Sam waved gently, sending the detective on down the hall.

Sloan sat at his desk, thinking about the situation. Ape possibly wanted to get on his way out of town. Did he need him? Maybe yes. Maybe not. Probably. Sam scratched his head and got up from his desk. All he wanted was a big clue to know where he might find that missing body.

When Sloan walked into the interrogation room, Ape sat in his usual chair, wearing the same T-shirt and overalls that he’d worn that first Friday night. The old clothes looked like they had gone through a washing machine sometime over the weekend. From the smile on his face, Ape appeared to be in a better frame of mind.

“How ya doin’, brother?”

“Fine.” Sam sat down across from Ape. “Still working the case.”

“Good!” Ape smiled even more broadly. “Ex-so-llent.”

“What brings you down here?”

Ape fidgeted in his chair. “Well, I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout movin’ on, and you told me to hang around until you gave me permission to leave town. So I thought I better check in.”

Sam studied the man. George Barnes still had the overpowering awesome look that concealed a gentle heart. No questions about the fact that he had turned out to be one of the most cooperative witnesses Sam had seen in a long time.

“Kinda wanted to know what you’d turned up to date.”

Sam leaned back in his chair. “Got two problems, Ape. Can’t find the corpse. Can’t find Jester. You developed any new memories on those two fronts?”

Ape shook his head. “I’ve been tryin’ all weekend to jar my ole head, but nothin’ new comes up. I think I drained everything out of my crankcase.” He shrugged.

Sam pulled at his chin and rubbed the tip of his nose. “Ape, why don’t you come with me and take a look at something.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sam stood up and beckoned for the man to follow him. They backtracked down the hall that led to Sloan’s office. “I want you to look at a map that might help jar your memory a bit.”

“Yeah?” Ape stayed right behind Sam.

Sloan opened his office door and pointed to the opposite wall. “I put up a map of the area that I want you to study.” He pointed to his office wall.

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