Free Murder Misread by P.M. Carlson Page B

standing.”
    Charlie squeezed his eyes
closed. It came back to him, the sense of horror, the rippling
water nearby, Bart’s heavy breathing right behind him. He said,
“Well, I can’t be certain, but I think the metal bridge was almost
overhead. A little bit ahead of us, maybe. Check with Bart.
Professor Bickford. He might remember.”
    “ We will.” A noncommittal
nod of the dark head. Charlie, hungry for a reaction, couldn’t tell
if the detective believed him or not. Porter, too, was listening
without a flicker of emotion, as though this were some goddamn
poker game. Where the hell had they found his memo book? Hines
said, “So you didn’t pass under the metal footbridge?”
    “ I don’t think so.
But—well, you know, I did cross over it before, when we were on the
way to Plato’s.” Charlie leaned forward, forearms on his desk,
eager to explain the idea that had just come to him. “And you know,
we stopped a moment to look down at the lower trail. When we saw
the man hiding down there. So it could be.”
    “ You’re suggesting it may
have fallen from the upper trail at that time? Do you remember any
moment when it might have happened?”
    “ Well, no, not really. But
I don’t remember any other time I dropped it, either. Damn it, if
we’re going to go by my memory, that book is still in my
pocket!”
    “ I understand, Professor
Fielding.” Hines’s voice had slowed, but there was nothing lazy
about the sharp eyes that were measuring Charlie’s discomfort.
“It’s difficult to remember all these details, I know. But we have
to try. Now, back to Dr. Ryan. You and Professor Bickford were
standing on the trail where she told you to. Now, where was
she?”
    “ Next to—to the
body.”
    “ Which side? Left, right?
Near side, far side?”
    “ Uh, far side. And to the
left, away from the creek.”
    “ You said she was waving
her arms.”
    “ Yes, she had on that
light blue shirt, waving both arms, and yelling for us to stop.
After she told us to keep people away she said she was going a few
steps farther along the trail to head off anyone coming from the
campus.”
    “ So she went on, farther
away?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ How far?”
    “ Well, we could still see
her so it was probably just this side of the bend. You know, where
it angles up again.”
    “ Yes. And you and
Professor Bickford were where?”
    “ Where we were stopped.
Not quite under the metal footbridge.”
    “ Did either of you move
away from there?”
    “ Well, Bart was pretty
nervous. Guess we both were. He said we should go check the other
branch of the lower trail, beyond the little stone bridge, to see
if anyone was running off that way. But Maggie was right that we
should keep people away until the police came. So finally we
decided he should stand on the stone footbridge to stop anyone
coming down from College Ave., and I’d look farther along the
trail.”
    “ I see.” Hines glanced at
Porter, then back at Charlie. “He stood on the bridge, and you went
along the trail by the creek, away from the body?”
    “ That’s right.”
    “ How far did you
go?”
    “ Not far.”
    “ You went under the high
bridge? The College Ave. bridge?”
    “ Oh, yes. A few yards past
it.” Palms damp, heart pounding like the soundtrack of a western,
praying that the killer would not be there. “Then I heard sirens
and when I looked across the creek I could see police coming down
the trail from College Ave. So I went back to where Bart was, and
we talked to them.”
    “ Right. You’d seen no one
when you went to investigate the trail?”
    “ No. But of course it
wouldn’t be hard for someone to hide, really, because of all the
bushes and bends in the trail.”
    “ Okay. So at the time of
the arrival of the first officers at the stone footbridge, you’re
on the left branch of the trail. Ms. Ryan has gone along the right
branch all the way past the body and is waiting on the trail beyond
it, and Professor Bickford is standing on