Free Ask Not For Whom The Panther Prowls by Astor James Monroe

with the past and get rid of
the crap. The townhouse was in a good school district, so we could
move in if we wanted. Otherwise, we would just sell it. I'd let her
decide that. There was a firm she used for her father's estate
sale. They'd paw through everything, evaluate it, sell it what they
could get and haul the rest off to the dump. For a fee, of course.
It was well worth it.
    Laura let me
keep my distance. I signed the paperwork, gave her authorization
and went off to keep busy. Her call was a surprise. “Will, you need
to come here. I'm at the townhouse.”
    “ Why?”
    “ I can't say
over the phone. It's important.”
    “ Has the cat
coughed up another hairball?” It was our prearranged cover for a
distress call.
    “ No, he's
fine. No hairballs”
    I quickly
made my way back to the townhouse. Laura was sitting on the couch
in the living room, smiling amidst the disorder, with a shoe-box on
her lap. “The sale agents said we probably didn't want to sell
this.”
    “ Why?” Laura
liked one or two of the pieces of jewelry I'd given Helena, and
insisted that the rest go. I couldn't imagine her wanting to keep
Helena's shoes. Especially, this pair, in an old box from the
discount shoe store in Toco Hills.
    “ Come here.
Sit next to me and look.”
    I sat and
took the box from her. It was extremely heavy. Laura chirped in
excitement, “I think it's part of the missing gold.”
    I opened it. Something like a hundred ounce bars
were neatly stacked in the box. On top was a letter. It was in
Helena's handwriting. I started to read it, then gave it to Laura.
“It's really for you.”
    Dearest Will,
    If you've found this, I'm long dead. I
wasn't a very good wife for you in the end.
    Laura commented, “I told you she was a
skank.”
    I'm
sorry and please forgive me. I hope you found someone else, someone
who would faithfully love you the way I can't. Let her read this
and make sure she understands you are totally hers now. I can't
undo the pain I'm sure I caused you, but maybe these will help you
to build a new life.
    H.
    We sat there
silently for a moment. Laura looked at me. “Will, it's not ours. It
belongs to the university, the state, it's evidence.”
    “ Evidence of
what? It was Helena's, she's clearly given it to me. It is ours.
They don't want to see it, hear about it or anything. It will only
cause them problems.”
    Laura was dubious about my argument. “I'm not
sure about that Will.”
    I took Laura's hand and squeezed it. “I'm not
letting you turn this in. If nothing else, it will be Danny's
college tuition.”
    Laura kissed
me. “I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight. You know Will, we need
to go over everything in this house before the estate sale. Who
knows what else is here?”
     

14. Return of
the Chemist.
    Dr. Rogers watched the television in the nursing
home. There wasn't much else to do. Nor was there much choice in
what they watched. Fox news. Its fictional version of current
events didn't help bring the psychiatric patients back into touch
with reality. On the other hand watching it made the first months
of his extended trip even more surreal. Unfortunately, the massive
dose of nano-encapsulated LSD he took was beginning to wear off,
and the news was changing from an enjoyable background of
improbable events to what was simply an annoying noise.
    One local
exclusive caught his notice. The dart murderers were caught. Not
quite, but one was caught and the other had skipped the country for
home. The news anchor was interviewing some APD detective or
another about how this violent and lethal gang had been rounded up
due to the cooperation of Georgia State University. He shouted
“Like Hell.” Then he turned to the blue-haired woman in the
reclining chair next to him and said, “Time to wake up. It's been
real Ethyl, but I must be going.”
    It wasn't clear that she understood what he
said, and it wouldn't have mattered in any case. He pushed the
lever on his chair, stood up and stretched.