Free Death by Facebook by Everett Peacock Page A

anticipation, the full force of teenage angst she remembered
having the first time he picked her up on a date, in an old beat up
1972 Camaro convertible.
    He
was still a handsome man. Time had done him the same favors it
seemed to reserve for every other middle aged man: the touches of
gray in his hair, the fine lines in a slightly tanned face and the
sparkling eyes that still hinted of promise.
    Stopping
her thoughts before they took her any further beyond reality, she
finally tasted what made Burr's so famous. The ice cream, with
fountain soda fizzing around every sweet molecule was surprisingly
good.
    The
large diameter straw was perfect and she glanced over at him again,
feeling giddy now, the ice cream moving her to grin. Just then, he
stood up, waved his hands a bit and smiled over at her.
    “ Everyone,
everyone, please,” he was saying, trying to get the table's
attention. “I have an announcement.”
    Agatha
became one with the ice cream, and froze.

    ~~~

    Alex
took the stool next to Larry. The Lava Lounge was unusually noisy.
As he looked around he saw all the regulars, then he saw the
headlamps.
    “ Who
are those guys?”
    Larry
leaned back a bit to check them out again. “Tourists. Or
escapees, not quite sure.”
    “ Thanks,
honey,” Alex said as the bartender slid a perfectly frosted
Lava Lager in front of him. “Been waiting on this all day.”
He took a full minute to slowly down the entire contents. “Another,
por favor!”
    “ So,
did you get those boxes sorted out?” Larry asked.
    Alex's
eyebrows rolled a little. “Yeah, it looks like we have files
from twenty years ago in that storeroom. Amy came in a bit early so
I was able to finish up quickly.
    “ Hey,
did you get that telegram to Private Turner?”
    Larry
looked over at the bartender and nodded. “I gave it to a guy
who said he was Private Turner, but we were just talking about that.”
    Alex
frowned in confusion and took a short swig of his second beer.
“Funny thing that guy. His Sergeant was telling him to get his
ass back to Ft. Bragg and Amy just told me he extended here for
another week.”
    Larry
stared at Alex for a moment and then over to the bartender.
    “ No
way!” Larry and the bartender both exclaimed in perfect unison.
    “ What's
this about not being so sure it was Turner?” Alex asked with
just the slightest hint of trouble in his voice. He could hear the
Sergeant yelling at him from some far off place.
    The
bartender turned to get the ten gallon bag of roasted macadamia nuts
and proceeded to refill all the bowls at the bar, while keeping her
ear finely tuned to Alex and Larry.
    “ Look,”
Larry recited. “I left your office after talking to you,
walked out and around the corner and saw what I thought was Private
Turner come out of Cabin #94. Dressed in khakis, boots, Army issue
jacket and an Army ball cap. I ran up to him, saw the short hair,
asked if he was Turner and he said yes.” Larry took another
long drink of his rapidly disappearing beer. “So, I told him
it was important and put the telegram right into his hands.”
    Alex
grabbed enough of a handful of macadamia nuts that the bartender came
back around and refilled the bowl a second time. “So, what's
the problem? Sounds like you did it to me.”
    “ Yeah,
well, everyone in this bar is telling me that guy is no guy. Our
illustrious bartender says so. One of the headlamp guys over there
tried to pick her up.”
    Alex
cringed a bit at that.
    “ Well,
in his defense, it was before she cut all of her hair off.
Apparently last night she was quite the looker. But, tonight she
looked like any other farm boy recruit ready to ship out.”
Larry shook his head a bit.
    Alex
studied his beer a few moments, captivated by the impossibly infinite
supply of bubbles rising to the top. “Strange. But hey,”
he raised his mug toward Larry in toast. “Another Lava Lounge
mystery eh?”
    Larry
smiled, raised his mug and tapped Alex's mug so hard it made