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I QUIT THE car, found a way around to the back of the jail, and slipped inside, too nerved up for the moment to worry about my sore head
The place was all linoleuet excited about The open door at the end of the cells led to the outer office, and I crept up to it with le created between the door and the wall and peered through the crack es
Within the narrow strip, Escott&039;s profile and part of a unifor desk were visible The otherchair placed him a few feet in front of Escott
They were all , and sometimes one of them turned that automatic body pattern into an expression of iet coffee, which I interpreted as a sign of Escott&039;s aets coffee and a prisoner you talk around like he&039;s not there; Escott was neither and that put my nerves up even
A phone rang and the guy at the desk answered He said, "Yeah," and hung up Five long, silent minutes later a car rolled up and another man walked in The deputies stood up anddown, Escott," he said
"I had little choice in the matter, Chief Curtis," was the dry reply
"What is this all about?"
"We want to knohat you did with your friend"
"I don&039;t understand"
And it went on like that until the cop got around to revealing the e fact thaton his e He was a real treat to watch, but Curtis expected an act and wasn&039;t buying any of it
"Put the lid on for ayou&039;ve done today since four o&039;clock"
Escott choked a little "You really think I did it?"
"You were the one so dead set against an autopsy"
One of the deputies snickered at the inadvertent joke
"Yes, out of respect for his religious beliefs--
"Which I think is a lot of crap You knoell as I do we throw that out thein a homicide case Don&039;t you want to find who killed your friend?"
"Of course I do--"
"Then tell us where you stashed the body"
"I didn&039;t &039;stash&039; it anywhere because I never took it I&039;ve done nothing"
"Then tell us what you have done"
He gave out with a loose schedule of a walk around the town, dinner at the inn, and another walk ending with a drink at The Harpoon As stories went it was pretty lousy
"Anyone see you on these walks?"
"I suppose so I wasn&039;t paying o past the funeral parlor?"
"I did It&039;s on thedown that way once"
"Did you go into the parlor, like maybe to pay your respects?"
"No"
"Did you want to?"
"Are you charging nored the question and hit him with a dozen more of his ohich Escott handled the same way; the truth, but not all of it If I hadn&039;t been theto believe hi a peek around the other end of the door It was safe enough, one ht
Curtis was sh stringy body that reray hair, a narrow face, and wore steel-riht and hid his eyes He looked like the kind of person who could spot a lie and be ready to deal with it before it was out of your mouth Escott was in for a hard tilanced up and I ducked back behind the door Talk lagged while he ca his close presence for a moment as he checked the cells and turned away
"What is it, Sa"
He&039;d left the door wide open so it was flat against the inside wall and I no longer had a place to hide and watch I shifted to one of the cells andwas still with me and I took care not to let the stuff inside clink
Talk in the next room resumed Escott stuck to his bad story, Curtis let him know in very precise terave an inch Having been in the sao, I was all sympathy Too bad Escott couldn&039;t hypnotize his way out of this one I seriously speculated on walking in the front door with a sad tale of concussion and a family history of catalepsy and a, but maybe not too productive to a low profile I was distracted fro when the station door opened and another man entered
"Well, Doc?" said Curtis expectantly
"Brought &039;em"
A chair squeaked and bodies moved
"Out with your mitts," someone instructed, and there was a concentrated silence I whisked fro to be thin Escott was standing at the desk having his fingerprints taken He was given a towel to wipe off the ink, but they ignored his request for soap and water Curtis ordered him to be taken to the next roorabbed up the bag, and went away for the minute it took to lock him in
"This is too bloody much!" he exploded as the key turned "Am I under arrest? Answer me!"
I followed the deputy out as he shut the door, listening while they examined and compared They were disappointed
"Well, what did you think?" Curtis growled at theh to loves What about the others, Wally? Did McGuire take yours?"
"Yeah, and none of the prints rinned invisibly Any prints on that metal table would be mine
The doctor continued "I&039;d just like to knohy he did it, if he did do it"
"Who else? You said he threw a conniption when you started to cut"
"People are like that, they don&039;t like to think about e have to do"
"Like hell This bird&039;s no virgin, he&039;s been in the business long enough As for that religious scientist craphe&039;s hiding so him down In the meantime I think you should see if there&039;re any students spending the weekend in the area"
"Students?"
"As in ames in med school that would curl your hair"
"Students?" Curtis repeated unhappily He had badly wanted to pin it on Escort and now had a new distraction to trouble him
"Where do you want this stuff?" asked Wally
"In the file over there"
Wally went over there and shuffled away the fingerprints
"Nohat?" asked the doctor
"We let hi formy ass off since yesterday Want to come?"
Curtis and the doctor left, and the two re plans I drifted back to the cell, took the top bunk, and re-forht?" I whispered
He was standing at the locked door, less than two feet away He whirled, drawing a quick breath "Not just then You should knock or so, I nearly had a cardiac"
"Sorry"
"Have you been here long?"
"With you all the way"
"1 thought as s"
"1 just ca to match your prints with so on at the parlor"
"With little success I iine the prints they found were your own"
"That&039;s what I figure"
"I suppose I could suggest it to theonna let you stew here for a while"
"I expected no less They&039;ll have to release e me"
"Only if they&039;re nice about it Soular dictators"
"One can hardly blame them in this case, as they are very much out of their depth--"
The outer door opened and I got scarce fast
"Awright," said the deputy, "who you talkin&039; to?"
"My lawyer, if I&039;m allowed the chance Where is Chief Curtis? He can&039;t just shut me in here without"He went on and on until the deputy left, sla the door on his tirade
"All clear," he whispered
I reappeared on the floor, next to the lower bunk with ainst the wall He was still at the cell door, his fingers threaded through the bars They weren&039;t the vertical type, but inch-wide iron strips in a latticework pattern that ht were reen paintthe bunk wall, with the usual initials, scratches to ure of a wo
"Not too terribly cheerful, is it?" he asked, reading et you out of here"
"A jailbreak?" He shook his head
"No, I&039;ll find Curtis and have a little talk with hiht Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah," I said, with so act see an aspirin"
He was interested "You do look improved"
"Will you be okay here?"
"Safe as houses" He removed his coat, folded it neatly, and stretched out on the lower bunk with a sigh
"But aren&039;t you worried?"
"Over what?"
"If Curtis checks your story at the inn, Barrett could hear about it
You&039;re a sitting duck in this cell"
"I&039; my hair will not help the situation"
"You still don&039;t think Barrett is behind any of this?"
"Before for an answer, I need more data"
I let it slide for theof which, you haven&039;t filled me in on what happened today"
"What about Chief Curtis?"
"He&039;s having supper with the doctor I can&039;t do anything until there&039;s a chance of getting him alone I can catch hi "That will be Dr Evans, who is also the local coroner He fancies hiist--"
"And nearly sliced me up for salami from what I&039;ve just heard"
"Erm, yes Wellthe less said on that the better"
"Sure, but thanks for heading him off So, how did you spend your day?"
He squeezed his eyes shut "I have the strangest feeling of deja vu"
&039;Maybe you could tell me how I spent my day instead"
He jumped at the chance "To summarize: you and Banks were discovered at about seven forty-five last night by a Mr and Mrs Malloy Malloy was reluctant to leave the scene, tried to flag down a passing car for help, and succeeded on his second attempt He sent the driver on to call the police They arrived and the official investigation began
" The two of you were pronounced dead at the scene and photos were taken The hurricane delayed things and it was several hours before they could move the bodies The worst of the stor with a few other guests and beginning to wonder what happened to you I thought you round because of the weather, or that the car had broken down so up to drive me to the funeral parlor to identify your body was the last thing I expected"
"Did you think I was dead?"
"Not after I saw you, but I knew you weren&039;t at all well"
"How so?"
"That horrible shrinking and aging had not set in, so it seeiven time and a little help I was then invited to aid the police in their inquiries--&039; "How did they know to find to you?"
"They traced the registration of the car to its hire firm, then to our Manhattan hotel, and ultimately to the Glenbriar Inn They were less than satisfied with my story of a vacation, but had to settle for it, as it was all the inforive them They released uainst your autopsy Dr Evans was exceptionally busy because of the afteret into the record was that you were probably dispatched by a blunt wood instrument of sohteen hours, rigor htily puzzled over that"
"We&039;ll just make sure we keep him that way"
"I&039;m all in favor of--"
The door crashed open and the deputy bulled in I barely squeaked out in time
"Where is he?" he yelled
"What are you talking about?" Escott&039;s voice was abbing Where is he?"
Escott didn&039;t bother replying to that one and the , since it was pretty short of hiding places In the end, he took Escott fro, Wally?" he called to his partner, as outside beating the bushes by the jail s Wally caative answer
&039;What is the problem, Deputy?" Escott asked, with the polite blandness one reserves for idiots
"You shut up," he ordered, andwide open
I resumed shape in the most sheltered corner of Escort&039;s new cell His face was grotesquely crisscrossed by the shadows cast fro
"Guess I forgot to whisper," I h to say, "We both did I never thought jail could be so a before we drive them nuts"
"Good luck," he wished, and I winked out, taking the fast way through the front Bothfor more conversation from the cells Unless Escott decided to treat them to a Shakespearean soliloquy, they were out of luck
It wasn&039;t late, but the streets were eht from lamps around the station picked out broad puddles left by last night&039;s storm, and a cool windit even in my thin shirt, I stoodto do but wait and hurt and think and grieve Down the block the ere still lit at the funeral parlor where John Henry Banks waited to be buried
A slow hour passed before the chief&039;s car chugged up to its slot in front of the station He was alone, which was exactly what I wanted As he got out, I put myself on the sidewalk and called to hiht, friendly voice I was soripes
The car was between us He shut the door and looked up "Yes? Who&039;s there?"
That re to see ht of the street lamps
"I need to talk with you, if you have a minute"
He didn&039;t knowit with others in his memory to identify me I was faot a minute, come into the station" He reuard Some deep instinct within had raised the tiniest of alarh ht squarely behind htness and threw it back
"No need to go to any trouble, sir, I just had a question for you" I was alh to start, but had to ht, half in shadow He didn&039;t know me, but I was now very different frolare of his flashlight
"What is it?" He was expectant In another second he&039;d be impatient
"I want you to listen to ht flared over his glasses as I closed in
The stone bench was cold and unforgivingly hard, but Escott cheerfully maintained its superiority over his padded bunk at the jail His vest and coat were tightly buttoned and he was pretending not to feel the chill in the wind as we sat watching the Glenbriar Inn The white Studebaker was still where Barrett had left it hours earlier
My head had started its dizzy thued ed for total rest deep in my quiet trunk Chief Curtis had been less trouble than I&039;d anticipated, but it had been very draining
A ht, he shook himself and completed the journey from his car to the station, unaware of its interruption Escott was brought from the lockups and released, much to the puzzled annoyance of the deputies Sometime tomorrow Escott would return to collect his car keys and ht, but didn&039;t want to push things too far or too fast There was always the chance that Curtis could be talked out of my influence by so inside," said Escott His tone was relaxed and conversational, as though he&039;d only commented on the weather
Prom this end of the place we could see theof our room If Barrett was up there instead of in the lobby, he hadn&039;t bothered with the lights I could easily i the door and waiting for it to open Escott had e it I wasn&039;t going to do that, but I couldn&039;t let hiht" I stood up Slowly The nagging dizziness round lurch I&039;d used up a lot of precious energy dealing with Curtis
"You don&039;t have to, you know"
"I know Let&039;s getway around to avoid being in direct sight of ourI kept my eyes wide open as we approached the back door to the inn, scouting likely corners and shadows for his presence
The ray blob so invisible to human eyes was still with me
He was in the roouish us frouests by the sound of two pairs of feet, but only one pair of working lungs Our door opened suddenly and he stepped into the hall to look us over with his candle-fla us in
Daood evening and did so, turning on a light It took er to follow
Our room was undisturbed If for any reason he&039;d bothered to search it, he&039;d been careful Without thinking, I went straight to ed at me like a rope Escott sank onto one corner of the bed nearest the door and Barrett took a hardwood chair next to the
"I read the paper," he began "I read ail about the double ht I should check it out and see if it was you I&039;ht"
My face must have been stone "Are you?"
His lips thinned and his own expression hardened "Yes, I see that you are I&039;ll go now"