Three to Conquer (4 page)

             
Giving a deep grunt, Ledsom said, "I'll send a car out there right away. Maybe the boys will pick up something else. Meanwhile, you'd better give me the dirt you've collected."

             
Harper recited it, finished, "Obviously there are now two leads I couldn't follow, even if I wanted. They are properly your work because you have the facilities. First, have any three fellows answering these descriptions been let out of prison or climbed the walls recently? Secondly, has any young girl answering this description been reported missing of late?"

             
A tolerant chuckle sounded before Ledsom replied, "We
'
ll tend to those, and about six more angles you've missed."

             
"For example?"

             
"Where did they get the clothes they're wearing, the money they're spending,
the
car they're using, the gun they fired?" He was quiet a moment,
then
continued, "We'll send out a flier that may bring us the answers. With luck, we
'
ll learn the tab-numbers on that Thunderbug. Ten to one it's stolen."

             
"I could push on along this route and perhaps learn more," said Harper. "They may have stopped for beer or a meal, and talked out of turn within somebody's hearing. But why should I bother? What do I pay taxes for? I have business of my own to do."

             
"You're arguing with yourself, not with me," Ledsom pointed out. "Nobody's asking or expecting you to do anything." He hurried on with, "Of course, we really do appreciate the part you've played so far. It shows fine public spirit. Things would be easier for us if everyone were as helpful."

             
Harper removed the phone from his ear, stared at it suspiciously, put it back and said, "Why can't they have visiscreens on these things in rural areas?"

             
"What has that to do with anything?"

             
"One could watch a guy's expression while he's plastering on the butter." He hooked the phone, turned,
said
to the oldster, "They're coming straight out. You'd better see if you can recall any item you may have overlooked. They'll need everything you can give them."

             
Returning to his car, Harper set about his normal affairs, confident that so far as he was concerned the episode was finished.

-

             
He stopped at the next town, found a suitable hotel, booked a room for the night and took in a show during the evening. He listened to the midnight news before going to bed, but it made only brief mention of the killing.

             
The stereoscopic video gave the murder a little more attention, with pictures of troopers and deputies searching the loop-road.

             
Both radio and video were more interested in vagaries of the weather, sports results, the round-the-globe race, and a complicated legal battle between the government and the Lunar Development Company.

             
He had a sound sleep, arose at eight, breakfasted and spent the morning at the Schultz-Masters Research Laboratories. They needed certain special micromanipulators, and displayed the flattering attitude that only Harper could make them. At one o'clock he left, with two tough technical problems solved, two more yet to be considered and a provisional order in his pocket.

             
After a meal he started homeward and at three-thirty was halted by a prowl car at a point forty miles from the scene of yesterday's shooting. One of the two troopers in the car got out and came toward him.

             
He watched the approach with surprised interest, because the oncomer's mind was warily broadcasting,
"Maybe and maybe not; but if so, he won't get away with U
this
timer

             
"Something wrong?"
Harper asked.

             
"You Wade Harper?"

             
"Yes."

             
"A call went out for you half an hour ago; Captain Ledsom wants to see you.
"

             
"
I saw him yesterday.
"

             
"
This is today," the trooper reminded.

             
"Can I talk to him on your short-wave?
"

             
"
He wants you in person.
"

             
"
Any idea why?"

             
The other shrugged. His mind showed that he did not know the reason but viewed Harper as a major suspect, merely because he was wanted. It showed also that he and his companion were ready to cope in effective manner with any refusal.

             
"Mean to say I've got to take time off and go all the way to the barracks?"

             
"That's how it is. Turn her around and get going. Make it a steady pace, not too fast, and no monkey tricks. We
'
ll be right behind."

             
Feeling rather peeved, Harper did as instructed. It wasn't that he was in a great hurry—in fact, he had time to spare-but he disliked being given peremptory orders without adequate motive.

             
He had been the same in this respect since he'd worn rompers. Perceptive mind
resented dictatorship by nonper
ceptive mind. To do exactly as he was told smacked of the sighted being led around by the blind.

             
Occasionally, he chided himself for his mutinous tendencies. Mental isolation, the lack of intimate contact with a mind similar
to his own,
could lead to feelings of superiority. Harper had no desire to be humble, but he had less inclination to be sat upon. He was a seeker of the middle way.

             
Tramping unwillingly into Ledsom's office, he thumped himself into a seat that creaked, stared belligerently across the desk and read the other's viewpoint as easily as an ordinary person reads a book.

             
"Well, here I am."

             
Ledsom said pointedly, "We're having a tape-recording this time." Leaning sidewise, he switched on the apparatus. "Where were you the night before last?"

             
"At a hotel."

             
"Which one?"

             
Harper told him.

             
"What time did you leave there?" Ledsom inquired.

             
"At nine-thirty."

             
"Where did you spend the morning?''

             
"At the Pest Control Station.
"

             
"
Until when?"

             
"Close on one o'clock. I then had dinner.
"

             
"
Where?"

             
"At the Cathay, a Chinese restaurant.
"

             
"
With whom?"

             
"Nobody; I was by myself. Say, what's behind all this?"
The question was pure concealment; he could watch Ledsom's brains fizzing.

             
"Never mind, Mr. Harper, just answer the questions. You have nothing to fear, have you?"

             
"Who hasn't? Any minute Gabriel may blow his horn."

             
"You know what I mean." Ledsom eyed him, without the friendliness of yesterday. "At what
time did you leave the Cathay?"

             
"About two
o'clock,
give or take five minutes.
"

             
"
And after that?"

             
"I headed for Hainesboro. I had business to do there today at the Schultz-Masters place.
"

             
"
You came this way?
"

             
"
Of course; it's on the direct route.
"

             
"
You were passing the loop-road about when?
"

             
"
Four o'clock."

             
"Now tell me exactly what happened from that point onward."

             
"Oh, Lord! I gave you the whole story yesterday. You've got it in writing."

             
"I know. And now we want it again." Ledsom's mind added, "A
liar needs a good memory. This is where we find contradictions in his stories, if any."

             
Harper went grimly through the account for the second time while the tape-recorder purred on. It was the same in all details.

             
"About that trick gun you've got," said Ledsom. "You wouldn't be in the habit of carrying a second one, such as a .32, would you?"

             
"No I wouldn't."

             
"There's a large, deep pond in the woods about fifty yards from where Alderson was killed. Did you notice it?
"

             
"
I didn't enter the woods.
"

             
"
Did you know of the pond's existence?
"

             
"
No."

             
"You told us you went up that road for a certain purpose.
Presumably you were balked by what you discovered. Did you achieve that purpose?"

             
"I did."

             
"When?"

             
"After I'd called Forst on the radio."

             
"You found Alderson, called the police and then went into the woods?"

             
"It wasn't necessary to go into the woods, there being no ladies present."

             
Ignoring that point, Ledsom went on, "At what time did you leave your hotel yesterday morning?"

             
"You've asked that one before.
N
in
e-thirty."

             
"And you were all morning where?"

             
"At the Pest Control Station.
If you're trying to catch me in a contradiction, you're wasting time and breath. We can go on this way for a week."