Rescue

message from ‘Dawn’ not twenty minutes before.“
    “ ‘Dawn,’ he said?“
    “That’s right. And he claims to have taken the message himself. Only he says the printer’s down, so he has to read it off the screen to me.“
    Tidyman caught up. “Instead of handing it to you.“
    “Right.“
    “And you figure Adair was dead before ‘Dawn’s’ message came in for you.“
    “Right again.“
    He pursed his lips. “You figure this—the hotel guy, you know his name?“
    I liked that Tidyman didn’t, and relaxed a little. “Yeah. Clark .“
    “You figure this Clark is in on the setup you’re trying to sell me?“
    “And maybe made the anonymous call to your station.“
    “You know about that, too, do you?“
    “I guessed.“
    Tidyman gave me the dour expression. “And just how am I supposed to check all this?“
    “Easy. Call Clark and see.“
    “Call him?“
    “Right. I’ll work the buttons, just so we don’t have the problem of your dialing some rapid-response force by accident. When you get Clark on the line, just ask him to ring my room.“
    “Probably already have a deputy there, though.“
    “Fine. Just ask Clark if he got any messages for me. He’ll deny it.“
    “He will?“
    “Sure. That’s how he and whoever’s in on it will cover themselves. Clark’ll say, ‘Never was any message from any ‘Dawn,’ Sarge, and the computer and printer have been fine all night’ That way, when I’m caught at the house after you get the ‘anonymous’ call about me, I look like a killer making up a story about a supposed ‘message’ with no hard copy of it from the Lodge’s printer to show you.“
    Pursing his lips again, Tidyman thought about it. “Make the call.“
    There was a phone next to the small sofa. The line was long enough to reach to the rocking chair. I dialed the Lodge, got a ring, and passed the receiver, keeping the muzzle of my gun at respect distance from Tidyman.
    He held the receiver to his ear. “Hello, this is Sergeant Whit Tidyman of the Sheriff’s Office. Who’ve I got?... Well, Clark , let me ask you a question. Any deputies still there?... You let them in? Good. Now, I have another question. Did this John Francis get any telephone calls today?... That’s right....“ A frown. “He did not? No messages at all, you sure of that?... Well, we’re trying to track him, see maybe where he went, like to somebody might have tried to reach him.... And your message system, that’s been working all right?... So there’s no chance he got a message you wouldn’t know about.... No, you did just fine telling my deputy that.... No, just sit tight and help out if you’re asked…. Yes, thanks and take care now.“
    Tidyman set down the phone.
    “See?“
    Looking up thoughtfully at me, he said, “Clark— Clark the Clerk, you notice that?“
    “ I did.“
    “ Clark , he’s damn sure you didn’t get any messages from anybody.“
    “Now do you believe me?“
    Tidyman said, “Could be Clark says you didn’t get any messages because you didn’t. The whole message business might be just something you made up.“
    “And I called your station anonymously, to let you know somebody should run out to Dawna’s house, too?“
    “Yeah.“
    “But then why come to you, right?“
    Tidyman didn’t respond.
    “And why not just shoot you now, since you didn’t fall for my story.“
    Still silence.
    I said, “After all, the state of Florida can execute me only
    once.“
    Tidyman nodded his head, slowly. “Oh, somebody’s gonna fry for this, all right. But I’m getting the feeling it isn’t gonna
    be you.“
    I lowered the revolver to my thigh. “You believe me.“
    A glacial sigh. “I wished I didn’t. But Billups, he’s been acting peculiar for a while now. Missing his shifts, kind of going off on his own. Even angling for special duties, like providing security for the Reverend’s tent meetings, when I’d have thought that’d be the most God-awful assignment a deputy could draw. Besides, you’re right that it’d take two strong men to do what I saw at Adair’s house tonight. How about you tell me now what you wouldn’t back the first time I had you in to the station?“
    Holstering my gun, I told him about Eddie Haldon and Belinda up in Boston , but left out the part about Lonnie Severn and the hunting camp. Tidyman shook his head, like a child overwhelmed at first, then getting a grip by focusing on details. When I’d finished, he said, “Jee-zus.