Go Out With A Bang! Read Free Page A

doing. He wrapped his arm about her and
kissed her forehead. He was just about all the family she had, him
and Sandra, his globe trotting sister.
    'Everything seemed fine,' said Poppy. 'But he was strangely
quiet. I asked him if there was anything wrong, and he said no.
He...held me and kissed me. He said something. I thought it was a
bit odd when he said it. He said, everything will be okay and that
he would fix it.'
    'Fix
what?'
    Poppy
sighed. 'He didn't say. Was he working on anything before that
building blew up?'
    Bernie
thought back. 'Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll talk to Morris
about it in the morning. I have the code to get into Fred's office.
We'll take a look and see if we can find anything.'
    'Good
idea.'
    Bernie hugged her again. 'Come
home with me. Let me and Debbie take care of you.'
    'I need
to be here for him when he turns up.'
    'Okay.
But if you change your mind, just come over. If there's nobody
home, you have a key so just let yourself in. Take
care.'
    * * *
    The
Chief keyed in the code to the Ferret's office. Morris and Crowe
followed him inside. It was an eerie feeling to be in there with no
Fred Ducket and everything turned off and looking like some dead
spacecraft from an alien planet.
    The
Chief stroked the top of “Old Cranky”. 'Think we should turn it on?
Perhaps there's a clue in there.'
    Morris
said, 'This is the Ferret we're talking about. I doubt anybody
could get through his security.'
    'Did he
ever write anything down?' the Chief asked.
    Crowe
said, 'With an actual pen on actual paper? Not a whole
lot.'
    Bernie
looked at the detectives. Men he knew well and trusted completely.
He knew they wouldn't be holding anything back from him.
Almost.
    'I'm
just going to ask this once. That witch case a few months back.' He
noticed the involuntary shudder Morris gave. It was obviously still
a raw experience. 'To this day, I don't know what happened in the
end. Neither does Andersen.' He saw the guilty look that passed
between Morris and Crowe. 'Is there any possibility the Ferret
going missing has anything to do with that witch case?' Crowe
studied his shoes and Morris stared at the ceiling and the Chief
bristled.'Stanley? Vincent?'
    'I
hadn't thought about it until you just mentioned it,' said Morris.
'I can't see a connection.'
    The
Chief said, 'You can't see a connection or you don't want to see
one?'
    'That,
is a very good question. Both. I don't see the one having anything
to do with the other, and I really wouldn't want to have to go down
that path again.'
    The
Chief wasn't entirely happy with that answer. 'Stanley. I know
Poppy was involved in that somehow. I'll tell you something you
don't know. D I Andersen and I actually considered disciplinary
action against you two for withholding information pertinent to the
case.'
    Morris
shared a shocked look with Crowe. They didn't know that. Morris
reacted first. 'I would have resigned if you had done that,' he
said.
    'Me,
too,' said Crowe.
    The
Chief said, 'We figured that. You are two of the best detectives we
have. It was a messy ending and Andersen and I both know you two
held something back. I asked Fred what had happened, just as my
niece's husband. I got stonewalled just like with you two. I just
want you to give thought to the possibility of it being linked
somehow with that case.'
    'We
will,' said Morris.
    'Right.
Moving on. What's happening with the Petroxel case?'
    'We just
need to take a formal statement from Ralph Thorman,' said Morris.
'Not much else we can do until the bodies are removed, when we can
try to identify them.'
    'Okay.
I'll let you get on. Lock this place up on your way
out.'
    With the
Chief gone, Crowe said, 'Can you believe that? Disciplinary action
against us?'
    'The Old
Man's right,' Morris conceded. 'We did hold info back.'
    'With
bloody good reason.'
    'Come
on. Let's go see Thorman.'
     

Chapter 6
    Ralph
Thorman told his secretary to hold all calls and bring in
refreshments for him and the