2005-08-26

45.
“Appetite”

“You had a couple of phone calls,” Mehitabel told him as he walked in the door.

“Things really are picking up,” He grinned back at her and then gave her a big kiss. “What’s for dinner?” He asked with more energy than she could recall for a time.

“Pot roast,” She said.

“I love pot roast!” He spoke in happy loud tones. She laughed. The case must be going well.

“Who were the calls from?” He said as he loosened his tie.

“Well, Archie called from Washington, said he got some notes from the autopsy to share,” She said as she brought a big pitcher of iced tea to the table.

“Good, good,” Pappy said as he cut and buttered a roll and began to wolf it down. “What else?”

“That Doctor from the College called to tell you some of his friends and he had written a paper on your letter and had mailed you a copy. It should be here in a couple of days.”

As she walked by he grabbed her, pulled her onto his lap and gave her a big kiss.

“I think we’re going to solve this,” he told the startled woman.

“That’s great,” She told him, “Can I go get dinner now?”

He laughed, kissed her again and let her go. He poured himself a large glass of iced tea and put in a couple of spoonfuls of sugar. It was a blindingly wonderful concotion.

“You going to wait to call Archie till after dinner?” She yelled from out in the kitchen.

“Think so,” He said, “Just in case he has any bad news. Don’t want to hear it just now. I’m in too good a mood.”

Out in the kitchen she closed her eyes and thanked the lord. This was the man she loved, and, for however short a time it would be for, it was lovely having him home again.

46.
“Putting Things in Line”

Pappy put a call into Archie and requested all the information on the autopsy be sent to him. He had a feeling about a few details they might not have taken note of before the events of the last day.

Then he called the Professor at Ames and was told, “Your killer
is almost certainly the titular head of some sort of loose knit group. Not really anything as defined as an organization, but some grouping that feeds on almost religious ritual. There is a childlike quality evident in the process of making the note. Someone was trying to be like someone he had read about. This is not the kind of thing done by people who really kill, but, more often, by those who consider killing. More like a game. Teenagers write secret stories with this kind of feel.”

So much of this was falling into areas he was considering. He didn’t have a full picture in his head, but he did think things were just waiting to come around.

He and Bel were having a nice lunch when she brought the real world back into the discussion.

“You heard that he won, didn’t you?” She said and he looked back with the comprehension of a wooden post.

“Porter. Porter Gates, he is going to the State Senate. He will be your representative.” She told him.

Something in his stomach did not set well from that time. At one time he would have been thrilled with such a event. Now, he was not so sure.

“He thanked you in his acceptance speech,” She said, looking up from the Ames newspaper that she had subscribed too the day the local paper folded.

“Did he thank Wiley Earl?” Pappy said, and was sorry a moment later.

He made a mental note to have Archie find Evan at the agency and have the former trooper get back in touch with him.

And then he was going to have to have an audience with his Congressman.

2005-08-26

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