Free Murder in the Library by Steve Demaree Page B

grandson-in-law, and Tom Brockman, the T.A. who rented a room from him. And
you might as well include his friend Joe Guilfoyle in this. I don’t think any
of them did it, but we need to know. Find out where each of them was yesterday,
and if any of them had any problems with the Colonel. Next, check out all of
his neighbors, particularly Bob Downey, his newest neighbor. He’s been there
for two years and claims to have seen someone enter the house yesterday. Find
out what you know about him. Also, there are some people we know who’ve been in
the house this year; a plumber, an exterminator, and the mailman. Find out
which plumber, and what exterminator they used. And there’s a maid and handyman
who come once a week, Earl and Myra Hoskins, find out what you can about them. Talk
to the other people they work for. Also, last week the Colonel remembered three
people he’d had problems with years ago, all of them at the university. Two
were students, Daniel Terloff and Carla Bauerman. The other one was a guy who
said the Colonel kept him from getting a permanent job with the university,
Michael Belding. He’s still in the area, a high school teacher. Just get this
to me a little at a time, as soon as you can.”
    “Sure thing, Cy. Have
you and Lou eaten breakfast yet?”
    “That’s next.”
    “Want to stop by for
some green eggs and ham?”
    “And forgo the best
restaurant in six states. Just get to work.”
    I hung up the phone,
picked it up again to tell Lou I was on my way, and turned to leave. Just
before I opened the door, the phone rang. Even Sam wasn’t that quick, but I
picked it up because I was curious. Very few people had my number.
    Mary, the dispatcher on
duty, was calling to tell me that a young man had seen someone about to enter
the Colonel’s house on the previous afternoon. When I asked what the man had
said, I was told that all that the caller could say is that the man had long,
brown hair and a beard. I got the young man’s name and address. He was a
university student, and she said he would be home from class a little after 11:00. That gave Lou and me plenty of time to enjoy our breakfast, if that was possible.
     
    +++
     
    I added a few ounces to
my frame. Lou probably took off a few. Both of us smacked our lips a few times,
and ambled to Lightning, redistributing our breakfasts as we went. I’d heard
that there are devices you can put on your car to tell you the best way to go
to get to where you want to go, but being a man of few vices or devices, I
didn’t have one of those, either. But if I find out that they can also tell a
person where to find a parking space close by to cut down on walking, I might
change my image and splurge on one of them. But in the meantime, because we
were headed to an area near the university, we had to park a couple of blocks
away from our destination, which allowed us an opportunity to slosh our
breakfasts some more. Many huffs and puffs later, at least as far as I was
concerned, we arrived at our destination to find out our witness lived on the
third floor. If I’d known what he looked like, we might’ve waited until he left
again, but since we didn’t, Lou and I had to tackle the old-fashioned version
of the Stairmaster. On the way up the steps, I remembered to ask Lou for our
message of the day. “Something old, something new,” he replied. There was no
way I was going to get married, so no one had better come up with something
borrowed and something blue.
    A good half hour later,
we arrived at the third floor a few ounces thinner. I wouldn’t be a happy
camper if we got up there only to find out the building had an elevator.
    We found Mark Blakeman,
a tall, thin, dark-haired, young man in apartment 3-A. We identified ourselves.
    “So, you must really
want this guy, huh?”
    “Just tell us who and
what you saw.”
    “Not much. Just some
hippie dude that looked out of place.”
    “Did you actually see
him enter the house?”
    “Actually, I did.