Dead Letter
Page 9
Herculeah struggled up the hill toward them. Meat continued his lonely progress up the hill. He hoped he would be able to get a ride home with the Joneses. Herculeah was getting all the sympathy—which she certainly deserved—but his legs were weak, too.
Herculeah’s mother was out of the car now, running toward her. “Are you all right?” She hugged Herculeah and then pulled back to look at her.
“Oh, Mom.”
“Don’t ‘Oh, Mom’ me. I’ve been frantic. Where were you? Where was she?” She decided she had a better chance of getting the truth from the construction workers.
“I don’t want to worry you, ma‘am, but she was locked up with a Doberman. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
“A Doberman? A dog?”
“Attack dog.”
“Oh, Mom, Dad, I have so much to tell you.” She broke away from her mother’s embrace to hug her dad. “Dad, Roger Cole did it.”
“What?”
“Killed Amanda Cole. And when he knew I knew, he locked me in with the Doberman. They were coming back later to kill me, if the Doberman didn’t do it for them. These guys saved my life.”
“Slow down,” her father said.
“Well, remember I found that letter in the lining of Amanda Cole’s coat?”
“Well,” Cobby interrupted, realizing it was going to be a long story, “hon, if you’re taken care of, me and Sam will be on our way.” He turned to Herculeah’s father. “If you need us, we’ll be here tomorrow, on the job—just ask for Sam and Cobby.”
“From what little Herculeah’s said, I understand you helped her, and I’d like to thank you.”
“Our pleasure. She’s quite a gal.”
“I’ll check with you tomorrow.”
Meat joined the scene just as Herculeah turned to Sam and Cobby. And then she said something Meat would remember for the rest of his life.
“You men were just wonderful.” Her gray eyes, shining now with tears, turned to include him. “All three of you.”
27
DOUBLE DUTY
“Meat,” Herculeah said, “do you think that somewhere in the world there is someone exactly like you?”
“Oh, I hope not,” Meat said without thinking, “for their sake.” Then he added quickly, “I mean, one of me is enough.”
Herculeah was talking on the phone to Meat. “Now don’t talk long. Your father’s going to call,” her mother had said.
“I’ll hang up as soon as I hear a beep.”
Herculeah continued. “Well, Meat, the reason I was asking is because I felt such a kinship with Amanda Cole. It wasn’t just that she was my size. It was—oh, I can’t explain it. If you haven’t had the feeling—and you obviously haven‘t—well...”
“Do you think your dad’s going to nail Roger Cole and the watchman?” Meat said, abruptly changing the subject, because he wasn’t enjoying the one they had.
“Yes.”
“But I remember that your father said it was sort of a policeman’s belief that if he didn’t nail his killer inside of a week, his chances of ever getting him were divided by half for every week that passed—something mathematical like that—and this has been years!”
“My dad also believes that no murderer ever left the scene of the crime without leaving some physical evidence behind him. If it’s there, my dad’ll find it. Didn’t you see the expression on his face?”
“He didn’t have any expression.”
“That’s the whole point. Meat, that’s when my dad’s really dangerous. His face gets like a mask. It’s almost scary. It got like that when he found out I’d been shut up with the Doberman, and I knew then that he’d nail those two men somehow.
“If nothing else, he can get them on what they did to me—aggravated assault and intent to commit bodily harm. But that’s not good enough. I want him to get them for murdering Amanda Cole. I promised.”
“You couldn’t really promise. She’s dead.”
“A promise to a dead person is more binding than any other. Oh, and I have to tell you about my mom. She made me start from the beginning. I told about finding the note and the key, and she exploded. ‘Not another key! Haven’t you learned your lesson about keys? You find a key, you find a body. First it was Dead Oaks. Then Madame Rosa ...’ There’s no reasoning with her when she gets like this. I said, ‘Mom, the key is useless. The lock is gone.’ But I had to go upstairs, get the key, come back, and—”
There was a beep and Herculeah said quickly, “Oh, someone’s trying to call. It’s probably my dad. I’ll call you back.”
Meat hung up the phone. He continued to sit there. He looked at his watch. Time moved so slowly when he was waiting for a call from Herculeah, and then when the call came, it would be over in a minute.
The house was too quiet. Even when nothing was happening at Herculeah‘s, her house didn’t feel this quiet.
He looked at his watch again. He would have thought it had stopped if the second hand hadn’t been moving.
When the phone rang, finally, Meat picked it up on the first ring.
Herculeah said, “My dad got them. I knew he would. He got them!”
“He’s arrested them?”
“Yes!”
“Both of them?”
“Yes, and guess what the evidence is?”
“I can’t.”
“Remember the last two words of Amanda Cole’s note?”
“No.”
“‘Look inside.’ Remember, I kept wondering what that could mean? Then, when I went in the house, that’s what was so distressing—there was nothing left that anything could be inside of.”
“Yes.”
“Well, there was something left. And there were more sheets from the address book inside. Guess where?”
“Give me a clue.”
“They were inside the mattress of that old cot in the stable. When I tore the bed apart, trying to get a weapon or tool of some kind, the mattress fell on the floor and the pages all came tumbling out.
“I didn’t see them because it was dark, but my dad did. He says it’s all there—all the proof he needs.”
Meat was still going over it in his mind when Herculeah said, “Well, I’ve got to go.”
“Already? We just got started.”
“My father is coming over to give me one of his lectures.”
Meat wished his father would come over, even for a lecture.
“But let me just say one more thing,” Meat added, not wanting the conversation to end.
“Sure.”
“When I was at the dentist’s office, I had a premonition about stables. Remember, one of Hercules’ labors was cleaning the Augean stables.”
“I know.”
“But now I’m wondering if, instead, it could be the watchdog! Another of Hercules’ labors was bringing Cerberus, the watchdog, from hell.”
“That does describe the Doberman.”
“I agree.”
“Hey, maybe I did two labors in one—double duty,” Herculeah said, grinning to herself. “Even Hercules didn’t do two at the same time.”
“Maybe. Anyway, you’ve still got a long way to go.” He paused. “And you don’t have any premonitions?”
“About the next one?”
“Yes.”
“If I tell you, you’ll tease me.”
“No, no, I won’t. I never tease people because I know how bad it feels to be teased. Have I ever teased you?”
“No.”
“So tell me.”
“Oh, all right. A bull.” There was silence, then Herculeah went on quickly. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I’m still hung up on stables, that I couldn’t possibly be threatened by a bull, that I‘m—”
“No, that is not what I’m thinking,” Meat said, interrupting. “I’m thinking the Cretan bull.”
“What?”
“Capturing the Cretan bull—that was one of Hercules’ labors.”
“Well, I don’t know what
a Cretan bull is, and I can’t explain why I know this, but, well, this is a different kind of bull. But just as—”
She broke off.
“Just as what?”
“Deadly,” Herculeah said.
There was another pause while Herculeah’s hair started to rise and Meat’s fears did, too. Herculeah forced herself to laugh. “Anyway, can a bull be any more dangerous than a Doberman?”
“We’ll probably find out.”
“Good night, Meat.”
“Good night, Herculeah.”
What’s in store for Herculeah?
Don’t miss her next terrifying adventure,
DEATH’S DOOR
Herculeah Jones finds herself in the middle of yet another mystery when her best friend, Meat, barely escapes a hit man’s bullet. Whoever had Meat marked for a hit must have mistaken him for someone else. But who? Herculeah is determined to find out. Yet just as she begins to piece together the clues, she’s kidnapped and taken to Death’s Door, a mystery bookstore that may be too aptly named. And now lurking somewhere in the store is the assassin, and this time, he’s determined not to miss.