Page 14 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Road Kill

Fassner closed his book. “That’s enough, Miss Gramercy. We
know what happened from that point onward. Thank you for your
information.” He stood up.
She took the hint and got to her feet. “Glad to be of service,
Captain. I should tell you that something about what I saw is
bothering me, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
Fassner looked at me. “Well,” I said soothingly, “you did witness a
terrible tragedy. It’s perfectly normal for you to be bothered about it.
And you shouldn’t feel in any way personally responsible for what
happened: your presence didn’t cause this accident.”
Labelle smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Mr. Holloman. I meant that
the whole thing doesn’t add up for me. I hope the police will look
into it carefully and find the answers.”
I moved quickly to usher her out of the office. But Captain
Fassner had to run through his repertoire. “Oh, Miss Gramercy,” he
said casually. “Are these your glasses?”
She turned and regarded him with disbelief. “What would my
glasses be doing in the pocket of your jacket, Captain? If you look at
the inside of the left temple, you will find your own name imprinted.”
With that she left my office, smiling and shaking her head in the
way children do when their elders commit an act revealing some
social or intellectual incapacity. I composed myself and faced the
thoroughly thwarted officer of the law. If apoplexy were not one day
the cause of his death I would be surprised.
He was not ready to relinquish my desk, having once again filled to
overflowing my creaky old swivel chair. “I hope you don’t have too
many here like that one,” he muttered. “Damned smart-ass but an
incredible witness. I pity the poor guy who marries that girl
someday—he won’t be able to get away with anything.”
I nodded, momentarily willing to be a member of his ad hoc
confraternity dedicated to placating an incomprehensible and
capricious goddess. Labelle had indeed displayed qualities hitherto
unsuspected. Observant, yes; but imaginative?
“Then you find her version of events credible?”
“It fits with what we found on that hillside. The ground was
already trampled when I got there, so looking for footprints was
hopeless, but one of those trees has a root that snakes out of the
ground for a few feet just in front of the edge. And the angle of the

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