The Familiar Compound Trickster by Kenneth Tucker

Author:Kenneth Tucker [Tucker, Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction/General/Literary
Publisher: Kenneth Tucker

Chapter Ten

August 16, 1938. Ness was not particularly good at remembering dates, especially as time elapsed, but he wouldn’t forget August 16, 1938. It was etched in his memory. Even as he rose from his chair in Coudersport to descend the stairs for the dinner that Betty was preparing, the date again rose in his mind like an image from a witch’s cauldron. August 16, 1938. August 16, 1938.

When the call had come to his office, he had been at his desk poring over the documents relating to Moe Dalitz, one of the leaders of the Mayfield Road Gang that would soon be facing indictment.

“Mr. Ness,” Dugan’s voice crackled amid the wire-hum, “looks like we got another one. Another torso slaying!”

Ness felt as though his heart had experienced some inexplicable paralysis. “Where? When?”

Dugan quickly sketched the events surrounding the discovery. Three young men had been rummaging about in a scattering of refuse at the corner of Lake Shore Drive and had discovered the severed remains of a woman. Briefly Ness debated whether to hasten to the scene, but looked down at the papers on Dalitz and decided that for the moment they demanded his attention. He thanked Dugan, assured him that he would get back to him the following day, and requested that he be apprised of any developments.

As he returned the receiver to its cradle, Ness regretted that he hadn’t chosen to drive immediately to the sight. Fleetingly he considered reversing his decision. With a dry smile he reasoned that he must feel somewhat like a bloodhound who’s been given the whiff of a suspect’s boots and then restrained from joining the pack in its attack. He returned to the papers on his desk.

About an hour later the telephone’s harsh ring intruded into his thoughts again. He picked up the receiver.

“Mr. Ness, this is Dugan again. You won’t believe it, but we found another one, right here at the same place.”

“The same dust heap!”

“Yes, indeed. Some members of the crowd that were standing up by a bridge, smelled something rotten, quite rotten in fact. They began poking about in the rubbish and discovered human bones.”

“Are you sure they’re not from the other victim?”

“The coroner claims they’re not. Looks like we’ve got ourselves another double homicide.”

Ness could no longer remain in the office. He had to be there at the scene, examining the evidence, no matter how gruesome, questioning the coroner and the officers on the scene. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow to do so. He asked Dugan to keep the discoverers there until he arrived.

As he hung up the phone, tension raised his legs like pistons. He removed his summer hat from the clothes tree by his desk, turned off the light, locked the door, and headed for the departmental garage.

Not much time was needed for him to reach the refuse dump. Dugan waddled toward Ness’s car. He held an unlighted cigar that he periodically chewed. The area was still ringed with neighbors and thrill seekers who felt themselves eerily compelled to look upon the handiwork of the gorgon.

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