Free The Puzzle of Piri Reis by Kent Conwell

the lobby to me, and grabbed
my arm. "Hey, Tony, appreciate you putting me up last
night. I didn't know where I was this morning. I must
have had a lot to drink last night. Last I remember was
a banana daiquiri."
    "You had half a dozen more after that"
    He shook his head. "Well, come on. I'll buy us
lunch. I'm starving."
    "Can't" I held up the tape. "Got to watch this."
    A leering grin curled his fat lips. "Porno, huh?"
    "Not quite."
    "Well, I'll watch with you"
    "I thought you were hungry"
    "We'll call room service. I'll pay"
    Twenty minutes into the video, Jack grunted, pushed
to his feet, and, grabbing his hamburger and beer, announced he was going down to the River Walk. "You can
stay up here and watch that boring stuff if you want"
    I chuckled. "See you later."
    Rebecca Wentworth had nailed one thing about
Ervin Maddox: he never strayed too far from the buffet, although he indulged himself in very little of its
fare. I don't think a single guest going through the line
escaped him.

    Jack was right. The video would win no Oscar as a
thriller, but about forty-five minutes or so after Jack
left, Maddox, wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbows, disappeared through an arch leading to the restrooms. As minutes passed, and he didn't return, I began
to wonder.
    An hour later, he emerged from the arch. An hour in
the bathroom? Not likely. Maddox had lied. Why?
    A thought hit me. I dialed George Moffit at the museum. "One fast question," I said. "Does the arch leading to the restrooms by the Columbus exhibit lead
anywhere else in the museum?"
    "Why yes," he replied, clearly puzzled. "The hallway leads to the front lobby"
    I thanked him and hung up, wondering just where
Maddox had spent that hour. Still, there might be a
logical explanation for his absence.
    I dialed Maddox's home number. When he answered, I asked, "Did you, by any chance, leave anytime during the exhibit at the museum on the
second?"
    He hesitated. "No. I parked my car in the museum
garage. I even have receipts with time in and time out
if you wish to see them"
    His last remark took me by surprise. "Receipts. Do
you make it a practice to keep parking lot receipts?"
    In a surprised voice, he said, "Why yes, doesn't
everyone? Business deductions."
    After hanging up, I studied the video on the TV.
What if he had left by another means?

    Quickly I began dialing local taxi services.
    By the time the three-hour video ended, I had discovered that a cab company had picked up a fare in front of
the museum at eight thirty and dropped it off at 2112
Fairchild, and another company had picked up a fare at
that same address but had no record of where the fare
was taken, or when he'd been dropped off.
    I hesitated. 2112 Fairchild. Odom's place! My
pulse picked up. I was on to something. "Isn't that unusual?" I asked the dispatcher in regard to the destination of the second fare.
    "Yeah, but not with this joker. Casey would forget
his head if it wasn't tied on. But he's dependable for
the most part. Ain't much of that around no more"
    "How can I get in touch with this Casey?"
    "Can't. He's on a fishing trip. He'll be back Saturday. He's scheduled to work Sunday"
    "Good. Can I leave my name and number?"
    After hanging up, I leaned back and stared at the
wall, wondering if that fare could have been Maddox.
    I rewound the tape to the point Maddox came back
into the picture. I replayed it noting the time on my
watch. An hour later, the exhibit closed down. An hour.
If the museum closed the exhibit at ten then Maddox
didn't return until nine o'clock.
    "That would work," I muttered, jotting the new information on my note cards. "Fifteen minutes there,
fifteen minutes inside, and fifteen minutes back to the
museum."

    Before I confronted him, I would show the cab drivers
a picture of Maddox and see if they could identify him.
    I paused, shaking my head as a cynical thought
crept into my head. Perhaps that's why he pulled such a
switch in