The Pumpkin Eater: a Sam Dawson Mystery by Steven W. Horn

Author:Steven W. Horn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

WHETHER WE CLIMB, WHETHER WE PLOD,

SPACE FOR ONE TASK THE SCANT YEARS LEND,

TO CHOOSE SOME PATH THAT LEADS TO GOD,

AND KEEP IT TO THE END.

EPITAPH

—RACHEL DOROTHY FOUNTAIN

THERE WERE NO RED LIGHTS OR SIRENS as Sam felt there should have been. Instead, the sheriff’s deputy had arrived unceremoniously in a white Chevy Caprice that someone on a low budget had made look like a police car. The deputy, an overweight young man with bad skin who had attempted to grow a mustache that involved fewer than two dozen whiskers, acted like Joe Friday, a seasoned veteran of big-city crime. He referred to Sam as “sir” and used the term incessantly. He instilled little confidence with Sam and made Elle nervous, as evidenced by the long, glistening strands of saliva that descended from the corners of her mouth.

“Are you sure nothing else is missing, sir?”

“No!”

“Sir?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t had time to inventory everything. There were thousands of negatives and proofs in those cabinets,” he said, waving his arm in the direction of the file cabinets with their drawers ajar and their contents strewn over half the room.

“Sir, then how can you be sure there’s anything missing at all?”

“Because everything that was in the darkroom is gone and there are entire files that are missing.”

“Which files, sir?”

“I told you, the ones marked ‘Oxford, Iowa’ and ‘Cambridge, Colorado.’” He thought how lucky he was that he had taken the box of files appropriated from Mount View with him to New Castle.

“Do you know why those particular files have been stolen, sir?”

Sam hesitated before he answered. He wanted to shout “Hell, yes, I know!” But did he really know why? And if he thought he knew, did he want to share it with Joe Friday, Jr.? He was on to something and this confirmed it. The robbery was deliberate and specific. Nothing else appeared to be missing. There was no attempt to cover up their singular mission. They could have stolen the other files, cameras, and darkroom equipment. It was the Eris material they were after.

“Sir?”

“Oh, not really,” he said indifferently as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Those files contained photos of a project I’ve been working on.”

“Project, sir?”

“A book. A book on rural cemeteries.”

“Do you know who would want those photos, sir?”

“Hey, this is a cutthroat business I’m in,” Sam smiled. “It was probably one of my competitors wanting to slow me down. You know the public can only afford so many coffee table books. If they buy my book on cemeteries, they won’t buy somebody else’s book on wild horses or the amazing world of mushrooms. This happens more than you realize. It’s just that it has never happened to me before.”

“Sir, do you know the names of these competitors?”

“No, it’s anybody with a camera and an idea. Look, are you going to dust for fingerprints or something?”

“I don’t think that would be of much use, sir. This was a professional job. They wouldn’t have left any prints.”

Sam stared at him in disbelief.

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.