Free The Skeleton Takes a Bow (A Family Skeleton Mystery) by Leigh Perry Page B

drive to find another pay phone. I knew I was being paranoid from watching too many episodes of
Leverage
, but I just wasn’t comfortable making the call from our landline and didn’t want to call from the same phone as last time, either. It took me long enough to find a pay phone that I was actually starting to wonder about how much a burner phone would cost and exactly where I could buy one.
    I finally spotted a pay phone outside a drugstore, parked, and tried to walk casually over to the phone, which meant I tripped over the curb and nearly ran into a shopping cart. So much for being circumspect. Fortunately nobody paid any attention to me as I dialed the number.
    “Pennycross Police Department Tips Line,” that same voice said, sounding just as bored as she had the first time I called.
    “I need to report something about that missing person, Robert Irwin.”
    “Yes?”
    “I don’t know if you’re the person I talked to before, but a few days ago I called in a tip about a suspicious incident at Pennycross High School’s auditorium. A friend of mine said he’d heard something that sounded like a man being bludgeoned to death.”
    “Yes, I remember your previous call quite well.”
    It was probably physically impossible to hear somebody’s eyes roll, but as the mother of a teenager, I can sense when it’s happening. I went on anyway. “At the time I thought it was something to do with the body that had just been found, but that was before I found out that that body was a woman and an overdose victim. So now I’m thinking that the murder my friend overheard has something to do with Irwin’s disappearance. I’m pretty sure that he was the victim, and that the murderer hid the body somewhere.”
    “Do you—I mean, does your friend have a reason for suspecting that Mr. Irwin was the victim in this alleged event? I seem to recall that you—that nobody actually saw the event.”
    “No, he didn’t see anything,” I admitted, “but it stands to reason, don’t you think? Since Irwin is missing? I know the police took a look at the auditorium when I called before.”
    “Oh?” she said.
    I realized I shouldn’t have been so certain about that—it implied more knowledge than I was supposed to have. “I mean, I’m sure they investigated because you guys are so thorough. But now that we know who the victim was, probably, it might be worth more investigation.”
    “I’ll certainly pass on the information,” she said. “Are you sure you—or your friend—don’t want to come to the station so we can get all the details?”
    “I’m sure,” I said. “You know all I do—I’m confident that you guys can handle it from here.” Then I hung up and walked back to my car, going as fast as I could without running. At least I didn’t trip again.
    “What did they say?” Sid wanted to know as soon as I got back home. He and Madison had been waiting for me in the living room.
    “It’s not really a conversation—I give information, I don’t get any back. She did ask a few questions, but nothing I could answer.”
    “But she believed you, right?” Madison asked. “The police are going to investigate?”
    “I hope so.”
    “They have to,” Sid said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself. “I just hope they wait until tomorrow to process the scene so I can be there to watch them go all
CSI
.”
    It seemed to me that if the police believed me, they’d investigate that night and not wait for the trail to get even colder, but then again, it seemed to me that the woman I’d spoken to still thought I was a nut job.

13
    T he rest of the evening was spent on normal stuff; at least, it was for me and Madison. We had dinner; she did homework; I cleaned the kitchen. Meanwhile Sid scoured the Web for more information about the missing man and kept checking local news outlets to see if anything investigative was happening at PHS. He was still at it when those of us in the family who require sleep