“As time permitted, I studied the Hardesty household to learn each person’s movements. I wanted to learn their patterns, without getting to know them too well, even though none of them had ever met Carl Bauerman. I learned who went where, and when. One day, when no one was home and the neighborhood seemed deserted; I sneaked across the back yard, removed a pane from the back patio, and deposited the inhabitants of an ant farm onto the Hardesty enclosed porch. My trick worked. The next day, Tom Johnson received a work order to go to the Hardesty house and spray for ants. In all, I made five trips to the Hardesty house. The first time I went dressed as Tom Johnson, and when I found myself alone on the second floor, I spotted a set of keys, and made wax impressions. I almost got caught, because Mrs. Hardesty sneaked down the hall just after I’d returned the keys to the purse.
“I might have gotten too cute and taken my acting experience too far, because on the second trip I donned a different disguise, yet signed the name Tom Johnson to the work order. I pressed my luck even further when I made a third trip. It was on that third trip that I discovered that my house and the Hardesty house had one convenience in common, a hook in the back of the living room closet that, if turned correctly, caused the back wall to slide away. In my house, as you now know, it slides away into a secret room. In the Hardesty house, it gives way to a passageway, a passageway I hoped to navigate, but soon found out that the old man was smarter than I. I couldn’t figure out a way to enter the library from the passageway, or to enter the library without being photographed by that surveillance camera. I must say I was surprised when I found out there was a camera in the passageway, the day you showed me my picture.
“My only hope was to drill a hole in one of the library’s walls, and so, one day, when I checked off that all of the house’s residents had gone away, I entered the house, drilled a hole, and blew the note into the room. I see now how stupid that was, but at the time I only wanted to make the old man sweat for a while.
“Most of the house’s residents were predictable in their coming and going, but Prof. and Mrs. Hardesty were not. I took a chance that day and practiced blowing a dart into the room to see how far it would travel. I attached a string to the dart, the same string I used to retrieve the dart on the day I murdered the old man.
“I’m not sorry I did it, although I’m sure the old man didn’t deserve such a fate. But ever since my wife and daughter died, my life has been a living nightmare. I had to do it, and now I’ve to suffer the consequences.
“Well, there you have it, unless you have any questions.”
“None of your three characters look anything alike. How were you able to do it?”
“Lieutenant, it’s amazing what a person can do to make himself or herself look much different from his or her normal self. Take that lineup, for example. I think one or two of those people you paraded across were women, but I can’t be sure. Is it true that that old man was able to identify me today?”
“How did you know it was the old man?”
“Well, he’s the only one who came close enough to see me. How did he do it?”
“He said it was the eyes.”
“Well, I’ll admit the eyes are harder to disguise. We can change the color with contacts, but nothing else, other than change the skin around the eyes.”
“But back to your disguises. You’re a slender man. Tom Johnson isn’t. How did you do that?”
“Simple, Lieutenant. I used an inflatable vest. And Tom always wore long sleeves, no matter how warm the weather.”
There wasn’t much more we could do. Bauerman confessed. We had it on tape, and on paper. Lou stepped out into the hall and motioned for an officer to take Bauerman away.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lou closed the door and the two of us silently gathered our thoughts. I don’t know how I’d have acted if I was in Bauerman’s place. Belding, whose wife refused to call his attorney before Monday, would be a resident of the city-county jail until Monday. If it had turned out that Belding was our murderer, it would’ve been hard for me to control myself. Belding has lost only a job. Jobs are replaceable. Bauerman lost a daughter and a wife, and while sometimes some people learn to deal with the loss of a loved one before his or her time, people are much harder to live without than jobs are.
After a few minutes, Lou’s eyes met mine, and we began to talk. I don’t know how long we talked, but it was as long as it took. We’d lost a friend, and now it was time to give him up. After a few more minutes, we opened the door, but our day wasn’t done. We had another stop to make. In a way two stops.
+++
Martha must have looked out the window, because she opened the door before we scuffed our shoes on the porch. She knew that it was over, and that’s what we’d come to tell her. Before words were exchanged, Lou and I embraced Martha, and a few moments later, Jennifer and Trish, as they entered the room.
After sharing hugs with my friend’s family, I began a difficult explanation of what had happened. I tried my best to show them Bauerman’s point of view, without minimizing the Colonel’s life and the grave results of what had happened because of Bauerman’s actions.
When we’d finished, Martha looked at me and said, “Cy, what are you going to do now?”
“You mean right this minute?”
“I mean right this minute.”
“I think you know what we have to do.”
“Stay as long as you like.”
With those words, Lou and I turned before others saw that our eyes were beginning to water.
“We’ve got to get something out of the car,” I mumbled.
Lou and I walked out the door, and to the car. God had smiled upon us. There were leftovers from our version of feed the entire police force the night before.
On the way to Martha’s house, we stopped by my place, snatched two Strombolis and two hoagies from the refrigerator, and warmed them in the oven. We weren’t being pigs by taking two sandwiches each. There was no way we were warming up leftover fries, and it would take strength to do what we planned to do.
Lou and I walked up the driveway, around the house. We looked up as we rounded the corner and had our first glimpse of our tree house. We continued to walk, but looked down from time to time to keep from falling. When the tree house was almost upon us, we stopped.
“You first, Cy. You’re the oldest.”
“And the heaviest.”
“You said that. I didn’t. Okay, quit stalling.”
Lou and I knew what we had to do, for ourselves, for the Colonel. The Colonel told us the lift would hold up to five hundred pounds. The time had come to test that.
I set the meter, put our food in the lift basket, stepped on board, and prayed. I pushed the button to set things in motion, and in a matter of a couple of seconds, a surprised overweight lieutenant found himself up in the tree, and able to step into the tree house. I heard cheers from below. I sent the apparatus down and was soon joined by my friend and colleague.
“I just thought of something, Lou. The Colonel didn’t say how much weight the tree house would hold, did he?”
“Don’t worry about it, Cy. Earthquakes aren’t common around here. If we fall, someone in the house will come running.”
Somehow, my friend’s words didn’t reassure me all that much. I braced myself against the tree trunk and lowered myself to the wooden flooring of our tree house. Lou did the same. Neither of us wondered how we’d get up, until we were seated. Oh, well! We had just traveled back to our childhood.
I reached into our cooler and lifted out a couple of glasses, filled them with ice, then lifted out a couple of Diet Pepsis. We poured our drinks, prayed, and began to wolf down two sandwiches. We scarfed down the food in record time, and returned to the boys we once were. We sat there reminiscing for quite some time, until the sound of footsteps warned us we were no longer alone.
“Hey, Cy, Lou! Are you two still up there?”
“Why is the tree sinking?”
I hear
d the laughter from below, and then a reply.
“No, it’s just that Jennifer and I think the two of you got to know a side of Gramps that we never knew. Would you mind if we came up and you shared some stories?”
“Do you think the lift will hold you?”
“Very funny, Nero Wolfe.”
“So, you know him, too. Hurry up and get your carcasses up here, but be careful.”
I did a double-take when they showed up at the same time, but then I realized that one of me weighed more than two of them. We were thankful that the Colonel constructed for us the largest tree house in existence, for there was plenty of room for everyone. I smiled as Trish reached back and lifted a pie from the basket.
I don’t know how long it was when we finished our therapy session and four people descended from the tree house feeling better than they had. Lou and I hugged the girls, refused an invitation to stay for supper, and ambled off toward Lightning, who had been patient long enough.
“Hey, Lou, do you realize what we just did? We allowed girls in our tree house.”
+++
Lou and I left Martha’s house feeling better about things. We were on our way back to retirement, but it wouldn’t be long before we were once again back at work
As I drove down the street, Lou turned to me and said, “Cy, now that things are over I need to tell you something I’ve kept to myself the last couple of days. I didn’t want to tell you until we’d solved the case. Cy, this past week I’ve gained over two pounds.”
I was about to congratulate him when he continued.
“I’ve eaten what you’ve eaten these past few days, because solving the Colonel’s murder meant so much to both of us, but now that things are over, you’re on your own again. Once again, I will cut back on what I’m eating. It’s not that I don’t like to do my Wii workout. I love it, but once a day is enough. If I eat right, I can cut back to once a day and lose weight. These past couple of days I was too tired to get in my second workout. And another thing, Cy, I want to invite you over to try out my Wii. After all, best friends should Wii together.”
I knew he’d backed me into a corner. And I knew he was right. Friends Wii with friends. But I had no intention of hula hooping or doing any exercise that required me to try to stand on one leg. I had enough trouble standing on two. And there was no way I was cutting back from two pieces of pecan pie, friend or no friend.
3 Murder In The Library Page 23
