Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [28]
“I doubt it, but we’re not going to be able to prove it by this. Whoever did this was slick, I’ll give them that. Look at this.”
I studied the section under the lens and saw the jagged tearing of the cord’s insulation. “What am I looking at? It’s about what I expected.”
Markum took a pencil point and as it slid under the magnification, it grew twenty times in size. “Look here, at the very start of the tear. What do you see?”
“The line is cleaner than the rest,” I said.
Markum nodded, then switched off the light. “I suspect the first cut was made with a knife, then the gap was rubbed over a piece of wood until the edges softened.”
“So let’s take this to Morton. He’s got to listen now.”
Markum shook his head. “I doubt it. The police work by something called the chain of evidence, and this one’s been lost. What’s to say we didn’t make that little nick ourselves? Even if he believed us, it’s not exactly overwhelming evidence, is it?”
“So what do we do?”
Markum thought about it a second, then said, “We watch, and we wait. I’ve a feeling this particular drama hasn’t played to its end just yet.”
“You know, it might help if I had the slightest idea what you were talking about.”
Markum laughed so loud it nearly shook the panes of glass in his office. “Harrison, I’ve spent too many hours alone talking to myself for lack of decent company. You keep your eyes open during the day, and I’ll do the same at night. Between the two of us, we’ll have someone at River’s Edge watching all the time.”
“Do you think Aaron’s death had something to do with the complex?”
Markum shrugged. “I’m not sure what to think just yet. I’m afraid there’s nothing else we can do about it right now.” He started to hand the cord back to me, then hesitated. “Do you mind if I keep this?”
“Be my guest.”
He nodded, opened the safe in his closet and slammed it shut. “There, I feel better about it already.”
My stomach rumbled, and Markum said, “I’d say you were late for a bite of supper.”
“I’m hungry, I admit it. Care to join me?”
He laughed. “I had breakfast an hour ago, my friend. We work on different schedules, in so many ways. Good night, Harrison.”
“Good morning,” I said, and he grinned broadly at me. Markum was more of a mystery after every conversation I had with him than he had been before. Yet again I promised myself that one of these days, I’d surprise us both and take him up on his offer to take part in one of his salvage operations. It would most likely be many things, but I doubted boring would be among them.
It was frustrating not being able to do anything more about Aaron’s murder. No matter what Sheriff Morton thought, I believed just as much as Markum did that Aaron Gaston had been helped along.
Proving it was going to be another matter altogether.
I heated a can of soup, made a sandwich, and was just sitting down to eat when someone knocked at the door of my apartment. As I walked over to see who it was, I wondered about Belle’s decision to live on the property in the only apartment in River’s Edge. There was no doubt it was a time-saver on the commute, since I was living right over the top of At Wick’s End, and it was great not having any rent or utilities to pay, but the downside was that it was extremely difficult to ever get away from it all. It explained Belle’s retreat on the roof, and why I’d been spending more and more time up there lately. But when winter finally set in, what was I going to do? I couldn’t see going to the refuge when there were icy winds coming off the river, let alone snow. I’d have to find someplace else to get away.
Pearly Gray was at the door, running a hand through his luxuriant gray hair.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he stepped inside. There was a clipboard in one hand.
“Late? For what?”
He glanced at my small dining table and said, “You forgot about our meeting, didn’t you? We can do this tomorrow, there’s nothing urgent.”
Then it hit me. We’d decided to have a meeting once a month so I could keep up with what was going on at River’s Edge, and I knew without looking at