True-Life Adventure by Smith Julie

Author:Smith, Julie [Smith, Julie]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

The message was dated that day, Monday. Jacob had called me first thing that morning. I was flattered.

I dialed Kogene Systems, asked for Jacob Koehler, and waited confidently. The receptionist said she would check to see if he was in. Then she said he wasn’t.

The number he’d given me was the office, but undaunted, I called his house. No answer.

I was getting annoyed.

There being nothing else to do, I brought Joey up to date, telling him about the fire and little Terry’s leukemia and how I had single-handedly figured out where Lindsay was and put the cops on the trail.

No matter how much you give them, editors always want more. Joey asked if I’d checked with Blick to see if he’d found her. The truth was, I hadn’t thought of it because he said he’d call me, which just shows you how overconfident a person can get when a woman like Sardis looks at him twice.

Obligingly, I called Blick.

He was his usual charming self: “I don’t want to talk to you, you son of a bitch.”

“What’d I do now?”

“Look. We had a little personal difference or two, so you gave me a bum steer to get even. Very funny, Mcdonald. Very amusing. Only I used a lot of man-hours checking out those addresses you gave me, and that was taxpayers’ money. Maybe you think I’m a dumb cop, hotshot, but I take my job seriously. I can’t prove two people wouldn’t of got killed if you hadn’t played games with me, but I can prove I wasted a weekend checking out some phony lead for some two-bit intellectual. Next time I see your fat face I hope it’s smashed in about eight or ten places.”

Two-bit intellectual! I wished he’d go back to “asshole”. I should’ve hung up then. There was no reasoning with that ape. But like a fool, I tried anyway: “It was an honest mistake, Howard.”

“Like hell.”

“I thought she’d be there, I swear to God.”

“You know little Terry’s father, Jacob? He says the kid ain’t sick.”

“The kid’s aunt says she is.”

“The kid’s aunt’s a loony.”

Joan might be at that. She certainly had been. She still changed moods a lot faster than the average person and sometimes she displayed what the shrinks call “inappropriate affect.” But even if she was a loony, what reason would she have to make up a story about Terry’s fatal illness? To throw us off the track, so we’d waste time looking for Lindsay in the wrong place? In that case, why not tell the police instead of me? I didn’t get it, and that made me cross. But since I was a two-bit intellectual, my finely tuned wit was in no way affected by my mood. I handled Blick as brilliantly as always.

“Takes one to know one,” I said. And hung up.

I tried calling Jacob again. He still wasn’t in. I asked when he would be. I might as well not have bothered.

The hell with it. I’d go there and wait for him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.