Annie Hansen Mysteries

Chapter 5

Samir was down at the Serendipity Hotel, already having his first argument of the morning, when my Vespa scooter and I put-putted down the street past the old white building, past the sign that said, Flapjacks and steaks, all you can eat Tuesdays. I noticed they"d torn up the sidewalks again and fresh asphalt smoked in the cold morning air. I was heck bent for velvet to Lorne O"Halloran"s place, Private Investigator. He was my boss since I stole that swag and got sent to community service and probation under his supervision.

Flapjacks and steaks, all you can eat TuesdaysI"d met Samir and his Sudanese pals in an English as a Second Language class I"d volunteered to teach. It was serendipity, hee, hee. Then the court sent me to the Powolski"s group home and Samir was there. Since my mom had died and left me her float house I was real ticked they wouldn"t let me stay at the float house, but I had steeple sized hopes that I"d be let off soon, maybe eventually get a pardon from Erna at the Justice Department in Victoria. My probation was over and all, now I got paid to work for Lorne "cause I was such a dang good Private Eye.

I parked the scooter and rocketed up the stairs, two at a time, to Lorne"s office. He didn"t seem surprised to see me. “The doctor,” he said. “You heard.” He rearranged some papers on his desk.

“Yeah. Tell me about it,” I said. Lorne took a gulp of black coffee and crushed out a cigar in an ashtray shaped like a horseshoe. Edmonton, Alberta was etched into the metal semicircle. Lorne"s face was round, too. He was round, all around. Lorne was fat and bald and loud. He reminded me of Mr. Powolski.

Edmonton, Alberta“The Doc"s dead as a crushed beetle. You got the call? Somebody"s pretty sick, I"d say. Security, or maybe it was the caretaker, found the door open and called the cops. Doc was on the floor, no locks broken. The Justice Department in Victoria gave the case to us, said they needed somebody the street people trust. Constable Tom and the sergeant were working all night on this.”

“Ugh. I can think of one or two I know, if they were real high on somethin", but we don"t have no psychos in this town besides me, far as I know. Would have to take a psycho to do that. This is a sick, sick case, you"re right. Just a minute while I heave up my greasy eggs and bacon.”

I didn"t puke, of course, but this case sure made me feel sick, thinking of Doc"s slimy brains all over the floor and the hole in his cranium, who"d do that.

Doc wasn"t my friend but I knew him. Everyone knew Doc, the high-end pill pusher, and even he didn"t deserve this. I pulled my sturdy body up even straighter and smiled. On the other hand, it was work for Lorne and me. I had the stamina of a Peterbilt truck and loved to get my lily-white hands dirty. But a surgical drill into the skull? Gruesome.

Even my voices were quiet, probably shocked that somebody else had thought of this before they did. Wouldn"t put it past them to suggest it, but they never had. I shuddered and counted the freckles on the back of Lorne"s hands. Now what?

“The impossible just takes a little longer. We"ve got the case, Annie.

Victoria called, like I said, and they specifically asked for you.”

“The Doc"s clients were d**g addicts and crystal meth freaks, trying to come down and get clean. Could be any one of them after more methadone.”

“Yeah. Any one of the five street people. Or we"re supposed to think that. So it"s up to us, we"ve got to go out there and find out who did it.”

Serendipity Island was fairly big in area for a Gulf island, had a small town nestled into its crags and mountains and shores.

“It"s up to me, you mean.” I picked my teeth with the edge of a fingernail and sighed. “Where do I start? Could be any one of them boys living on the street and looking for his next fix, short on cash, Doc wouldn"t give him any more methadone, hit the Doc over the head with—what?”

“Could be any kind of blunt instrument to knock him out first, then the drill.”

I thought. Hard. The voices whispered in my head, Stupid. You"ll never figure this out. Why"d you think you could do this job in the first place? I talked out loud in order to drown them out, tried not to let on I"d heard them.

Stupid. You"ll never figure this out. Why"d you think you could do this job in the first place?“Doc had all kinds of instruments could be used to bean him. He was an old guy, Doc was, fat as a rasher of dollar store bacon, and would"ve gone down like a polled ox.”

“None of the instruments are missing. All accounted for, his nurse says, including the b****y drill, and she says she left late yesterday and Doc was closing up.”

“Really?” I sat up. This might not be so hard after all.

“No,” Lorne said, reading my mind. “It wasn"t the nurse who killed her employer. Firewall Eddie in Security says he saw her go home before ten, and the caretaker backs him up. The coroner says time of death was just before midnight.”

“She came back?” I would cover all bases. “Does Eddie have an alibi?”

“I know what you"re thinking,” Lorne said, lighting another stogie.

“Firewall Eddie has keys.”

“Yeah.”

“He has an alibi. The caretaker was there with him that night at the time of death, which forensic establishes at within a few minutes of midnight.”

Both friends of mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. This was no job for the weak of heart, but better to be strangers or acquaintances than good friends with the suspects. My emotions never got in the way, but I was a human sss after all. I smiled.

human