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Actually, Mrs Nugent’s death was our first fresh lead into the needle sticker’s case And that was priceless

“I’ll call you later,” I said I showed myself out

CHAPTER 62

IT WAS JUST before ten in thewhen Conklin and I entered the open arent in the nearly eht, and looked as though he’d been wadded up and thrown against the back of the circular booth

I introduced ent and asked if we could join hi him on both sides

Conklin told Nugent that ere sorry for his loss

Nugent’s words slurred together when he said, “Yeah, well, nowhere as sorry as I am … useless without Sarry … total mess without my Sarry”

Then he folded his arlass of liquor without noticing, put his head down, and sobbed

Conklin reached an arm across the man’s back and patted him A waiter appeared with a dishcloth He sopped up the alcohol and left a stack of paper napkins Nugent blotted his face and made an atte his heart out Finally I said, “Mr Nugent, can you tell us what happened last night?”

“I wish to God I knew”

The waiter returned with a refill for Nugent, asked if ould like anything After we said no, we asked the er to talk about the reasons for his trip to San Francisco

Nugent told us that he and his ere inventors and had coolf-ball-size globe with electric prongs out of his pocket, saying it was a night-light they called Sht detected hbors, the fire department, and the police

“Sarry’s brainchild,” he said sadly “It could save lives”

I asked, “Can you think of anyone ould have wanted to hurt your wife?”

“Over our … gadget? Whoaaaa What’re you …? Sarry had … a heart attack … didn’t she?”