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and-eighty-pound babbling corpse down the hill and placed him by the creek. Jeffie says either I put him where he would breathe some water, or he moved. Anyway, I then remembered the bloody rock with hair stuck in it,
went up the trail, got it, came down the trail and put it beside him and went up the trail past the house. Nearly at Blackstone Farm, I shoved the green coat under a rotting log, where it was found, covered in leaves, dirt, etc
plus a splotch of blood. They also found a footprint they say matches my sneakers near the first place Mickey was laid out.
As Jeffie then said: Case closed. Cindy gave a little bow from the sofa.
Funny, Alex, Vonley said, you don t look like an Olympic wrestler.
Ray laughed. I m not sure even one of them could have done all that. You say he weighed one-eighty, Alex?
Close to it. He was almost exactly my height, but square-built and very muscular. I imagine he worked out a lot.
We gravitated toward the deck. Ken went to the kitchen and came back with crackers and a slab of Stilton we had bought. We all refreshed our drinks. Swallowing a sizable bite, Vonley muttered, Okay, ladies what
really happened?
I began. We were at the Bromfield with two friends we had made here in town. Later I ran into Branch Redford and had a drink with him in the bar. He had had a few, but wasn t really drunk. He was upset about
Mickey s actions and obviously afraid of what else he might do. Mickey was particularly, Branch told me, angry at Clay and Sara and us for putting a wrench in his works. Branch got a phone call from a woman called
Mildred at the Dew Drop Inn. He had hired her to be nice to Mickey, hoping that would keep him entertained overnight. I judged from the call she was refusing to go to a motel with him; he had already slapped her around
and got bounced out of the Dew Drop, and she was scared of him.
I grabbed the last morsel of Stilton and talked around it. Branch said Mickey was a loose cannon, and he was the only man left holding a rope. He wished for Marines. He had begged Jeffie to arrest Mickey on any
kind of charge and hold him till this morning, but Jeffie said he had no reason to. Then Branch squared his shoulders and said something like, Here goes St. George to find the dragon. Wish me luck. Well, when St.
George found the dragon, he killed him.
That s not proof of anything! Vonley exploded.
I know, but it s indicative of how he saw himself: he had to save Mickey s would-be victims. Also add this two things I finally remembered. Branch was wearing a gray blazer and, I think, gray pants. He also had on
sneakers of the same brand and design as mine. I had noticed them once before. And that night, dancing with him, I noticed them again. What particularly got my attention was how small his hands and feet were almost
delicate. He s about Cindy s height, but his hands and feet are small, even for a short man. And if you find the sneakers, I think one of them will have a worn spot on the edge of the sole.
Now there, my good Captain, you have something! Ken sounded very relieved.
It s enough for a search warrant, at least, Vonley admitted. How did the actual fatal blow come about?
I don t know. But a good guess would be: Branch was driving up to his sister s to see that all was well. He either saw something or just stopped on impulse to see if the cabin had been entered. Mickey was here and
he wasn t afraid of Branch, he held him in contempt. He would not have been leery that Branch would hurt him. Branch found opportunity to hit Mickey with the rock to stun him, so he could call the cops to arrest him for
trespass. But for whatever reason, he thought he had killed him. Rather than leave him near the cabin, he dragged him up the trail to the creekside and placed the rock nearby. He probably went home, thinking Mickey was
out of things for good.
It s all possible, Sonny agreed. How did you get that black eye, by the way?
Later. It s all Fargo s fault.
The dog ate your homework, eh? Well, go ahead. How did this peripatetic corpse get down the trail?
Cindy returned to the deck wearing a sweater and bringing one for me. As I put it on, she took up the narrative.
The sheriff told us some story about people with head wounds suddenly regaining consciousness. They carry on conversations, sometimes walk around and sometimes even get back to their homes. I don t know if
there s a word of truth in it. He says a Dr. Ellis told him about
Ray interrupted. It s quite true. And I ve known Butch Ellis since med school. He could have been chief surgeon at any hospital you could name, but he married a nurse who didn t like big cities any more than he did. So
they opened a small clinic here. He is a fine doctor.
I m glad to hear it, Cindy nodded. Because what we think happened depended on that. We think Tommy Blackstone was walking up the trail. Why he was walking in the pouring rain while his mother had a perfectly
good SUV we have not guessed. Anyway, at some point he met Mickey stumbling down the trail, and we think he was probably muttering something about getting to his car. Tommy supported him, headed down to the
main road where Mickey s car was found. Once again, cloth fibers were all over the place. She took one of her rare cigarettes.
I wrapped it up.
At some point we guess Mickey passed out and fell into the brush, and Tommy carried him the rest of the way to where he was found. He obviously had spotted either the wound or the rock or both, because at some
point he brought the rock down, placing it near Mickey. He may have thought Mickey had hit his head and now died& maybe he had.
How do you know it was Tommy? Ken asked. I hate to see him mixed up in a killing. It will destroy Sara.
At the Bromfield Inn earlier, he was all dressed up, I answered, and his jacket was dark green with blue glints in it. Then a deputy found one that looks like it and seems to be about Tommy s size.
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