The Puzzle of Piri Reis (23 page)

The frozen expression on his face slowly melted.

I continued. "I don't know if you've heard the news or
not, but Lamia Sue Odom has been murdered. Although
the justice of the peace declared Bernard Odom's death
accidental, I believe Odom also was murdered. Now,
you had motive."

Quickly, he tried to compose himself. "Motive?
What motive?"

"Professional jealously for a start. You resented the
fact that many in the art world considered Odom's professional accomplishments superior to yours. And you
have a violent temper. With him out of the way, you
were San Antonio's resident expert of antiquities."

He started to interrupt but I held up my hand. "I'm
not one of those silvery-tongued prosecutors, but believe me, they can take that jealousy, couple it with the
fact you had opportunity, and hand the grand jury a
sound enough argument to put you on trial for felony
murder."

I paused for a few seconds for my words to soak in.
"Now, as far as I know, you might have left the lecture at five after eight and sat in the museum lobby until
nine. All you have to do is come up with a reliable witness. Otherwise, your best bet is to tell the truth"

The slight man studied me a moment before dropping
his gaze to the floor. He drew a deep breath, straightened his shoulders and smiled wanly. "If you don't
mind, Mr. Boudreaux, I could use a drink."

In the den, he poured a straight Scotch, downed it,
then poured another. He held up the glass to ask if I
wanted one. I shook my head. He downed the second,
then cleared his throat. "I was there that night. I was
infuriated with Bernard regarding a recent authorship
of an article in National Archeology, a scholarly publication most experts in the field of historical archeology consider the bible."

He hesitated when he saw the puzzled frown on my
head. "Sometime back, Bernard suggested I join him
at the Dallas County Museum of Natural History for
joint research on the four miniature coffins containing
the organs of Tutankhamen, who was born during the
Eighteenth Dynasty. I-"

A red flag popped up in my head. "Hold on a
minute. If I'm not mistaken, when I asked you before
if you two had ever collaborated, you became indignant at the idea."

His pale face colored. In an almost inaudible voice,
he muttered, "I'm sorry. I lied to you" He looked up at
me hopefully. "When I learned he was dead, I was
scared. I didn't want to be connected with him in any
way at all"

I eyed the slight man warily. Tell one lie, and it's
easy to tell a second. I nodded. "Go on"

"As I said, this was the first joint effort. The truth is,
I thought maybe a relationship favorable to me might
develop from our collaboration but I was mistaken.
When the article was published, it bore his name only.
I didn't know what I was going to do when I got to his
house but I was furious. I planned to confront him at
the exhibition in front of everyone but he didn't show
up. So, I went to his house"

He paused, downed his drink, and poured a third.
"We argued and got into a pushing match. I shoved him
and he hit his head on the end table. I hurried to him,
afraid I'd hurt him badly. But I hadn't. I helped him sit
on the couch, and then he cursed me and shoved me
away, telling me to get out" He paused and shrugged. "I
did. He was sitting on the couch when I left"

"You say he hit his head"

Maddox nodded and touched a slender finger to his
forehead. "Right here. It was bleeding a little."

"Not the back"

19'No.

"And you say when you left, he was sitting on the
couch?"

"Yes. He was bending over holding his forehead in
his hands."

"Did anyone see you leave?"

"I don't know. The light was on in his secretary's
office but I didn't see Edna."

"What time was that?"

"Around eight thirty or forty"

I jotted down my notes. "And Friday afternoon, say
from noon to four, where were you?"

"Friday? This last Friday?"

"This last Friday."

He pondered the question a moment. "Oh, I spoke at
the monthly meeting of the Daughters of the Alamo. It
was an annual affair with members from around the
state. It's held on the grounds behind the Alamo. I was
there until after five."

I remembered the crowd I had spotted before I
swung off the balcony of the Cattleman's.

Heading back toward the Odom mansion, I sorted my
thoughts. I wanted to take a look at the den once again
and see for myself just where Maddox left Odom on the
couch. If Maddox was telling the truth, that meant that
after he left, someone entered the den and saw Odom
sitting on the couch, his head in his hands.

If someone had discovered him in that position, it
would have been a simple matter to strike Odom on
the back of his head, and then when he fell to the floor,
suffocate him.

But why? The map or money or both?

Now, after the death of Lamia Sue, the only ones certain to benefit financially from Odom's death were Edna
Hudson and Ted Odom.

Then there were Cobb, Hogg, and Maddox, all of
whom would benefit from possession of the map.

A couple of discreet inquiries into the Daughters of the Alamo and I would find out if Maddox had indeed
been their speaker. That might absolve him from any
connection with Lamia Sue's death but not Bernard
Odom's.

In fact, I told myself, looking back over my notes, the
only suspects not in the proximity of the Odom mansion
that night were Papa Poggy and Lamia Sue, and she was
dead.

The mansion was dark. No one answered the door.

Muttering a soft curse, I climbed in my Silverado
and gave Joe Hogg a call, but his maid, Carmen, explained that he and his wife were attending the grand
opening of a new dealership in Austin. "Mr. Hogg said
they should be in late tonight. If not, first thing in the
morning."

I thanked her and headed for the hotel, planning on
going back over my notes and trying to find the pieces
of Odom's puzzle that had escaped me.

And then, Jack Edney showed up.

I had spent a couple of hours working on the last
puzzle when there came a knock at the door. I hesitated, studying the puzzle for which I was desperately
trying to find a key.

The knock came again.

I peered through the peephole and saw the panshaped face of Jack Edney wearing a worried expression. I rolled my eyes. The guy had impeccable timing.
Every time I was in the middle of a job, he showed up.

Well, this time, I had some serious work to do if I
wanted to have my facts straight for Chief Ibbara the
next morning. I had no idea what was on his mind, but
Jack would just have to go back to his little table on
the River Walk where he could ogle the young ladies
and guzzle his old fashioneds.

As soon as I opened the door, Jack rushed in, his
eyes bright with excitement. "Tony, the cops got hold
of me yesterday up in Austin."

I shrugged. "So? You told them what I said, didn't
you?"

He nodded jerkily. "Word for word. That we just
drove around San Antonio for an hour or so, then
spent another hour or two on the River Walk, nowhere
in particular. The cop tried to nail me down to a particular place but I told them I wasn't paying that much attention."

"Perfect." I grinned.

His frown deepened. "Yeah, but I don't think he
bought it. He acted suspicious."

I laughed. "Cops and lawyers, by nature, are suspicious. They'll always think the worst" With a wry
shrug, I added, "Unfortunately, they're right more
often than not. But don't worry. That's exactly what
we did, sightseeing around town and on the River
Walk."

A tiny grin of relief crept onto his face. "I thought I
did it right." He released a long sigh. "Well, I feel a little better now. For a while yesterday, I thought I was
up to my neck in alligators, and they were chewing at
you know what."

I laughed. "That bad, huh?"

His round face grew animated. "Tell me about it. I
had to go back Friday night to handle a couple of
problems at one of the complexes out on Highway 290. When I got up Saturday morning, all four tires
were flat. Some joker had let the air out of them."

"And it isn't even Halloween yet"

Jack frowned. "It wasn't funny. And then the cop
showed up. He stayed an hour or so. After he left, I was
ready for a sugar fix, so I headed to Dooby's Donuts for
some coffee and a couple of eclairs when I almost had a
wreck. An idiot wrecker pulling one of those big pickups with the side all torn up pulled across the road right
in front of me. I slid sideways trying to stop"

While I've never been a great believer in chance,
I've knocked around this crazy world long enough to
know that every so often, fortune steps up with a tantalizing offer impossible to believe. I started to laugh at
his string of misfortunes but a niggling little thought
tugged at me. "A big pickup?"

"Yeah. One of those with the big tires."

Suddenly, my pulse shifted into second gear. I was
almost afraid to ask the next question. I had the feeling
that several pieces of the puzzle might suddenly tumble into place if I got the right answer. "A red one?"

Jack frowned at me. "Yeah. Hey, how'd you know?"

My pulse hit third gear. "And it was the right side
that was torn up?"

He nodded again. "Yeah. The passenger side."

"Where was the wrecker taking the pickup?"

His frown deepened. "Into some dealership."

"Which one?" I held my breath, waiting for that
certain name.

Jack shrugged. "Beats me"

I muttered a curse under my breath and grabbed my
jacket from the closet. "Where's your car?"

"In the parking lot. Why?"

I pulled him after me. "We're going for a ride."

As we headed up 1-35, I brought Jack up to date
since Friday. Ninety minutes after we left the hotel, we
turned off 1-35 onto Ben White Road. Two blocks
down, Jack pointed to a car dealership. "There it is."

I looked in the direction he indicated. My hopes
plummeted when I read the marquee in front of the
dealership, COLEMAN AND SONS FORD.

Being a Sunday, the dealership was closed. I nodded to the locked gate. "Pull up there."

Jack braked the Cadillac to a gentle halt.

"Is this where the wrecker pulled in?"

"Yeah" Suddenly he stiffened and jabbed a finger
toward the rear of the lot. "Hey! There's the pickup.
At the back of the lot with those other wrecked
cars"

Quickly I climbed from the car. "Wait here"

"Huh?" Jack frowned. "Where you going? The place
is closed."

"I'll be right back," I said, swinging a leg over the
locked gate. "Don't worry."

By now, the sun was dropping below the horizon,
and from the clear sky, a blanket of chilly air settled
over the city.

A sharp voice stopped me just before I reached the
pickup. "Hey! What are you up to?"

I looked around as a uniformed security guard approached. "Hi"

An older man, he wore a frown. "The place is closed.
You're trespassing."

"Sorry." I nodded to the pickup. "I was driving by
and saw this off-roader. My son is out at UT. He has
one like this, and I stay worried about him. You know
how these kids are today with these things. They try to
drive them over and through anything."

A knowing grin replaced the frown on his face.
"Yeah, I know."

"Anyway, when I saw it, I almost had a heart attack.
I just wanted to see if it was his. For all I know, he
might have been hurt and ended up in the hospital, and
I wasn't notified."

The older man shook his head. "Yeah. I got kids too.
They're all growed up now but I still worry about them.
Sure. I understand. I'd feel the same way. Go ahead and
look"

"Thanks" I walked around the pickup, noting the
deep scars on the passenger side of the pickup. The
only identification was the dealer's license from Coleman and Sons Ford.

I grinned at him. "Nope. Not his. That's a relief." I
headed back to the Cadillac.

"I'm glad," he said, falling in beside me.

Looking around at the expansive lot and buildings,
I remarked, "This is some place here"

"Yeah. Ben Coleman owns it. Or he used to. Still
owns a part of it."

I was too busy figuring out how to find the owner of
the pickup to pay much attention to the older man. The
only solution I could see was to make another trip over
the next day, and then the word "Hogg" sliced through
my concentration.

"What's that? Did you say Hogg?"

The security guard nodded. "Yep. Sure did. Old Ben
was on the rocks, about to lose everything two years
ago and Joe Hogg, who's got more car dealerships than
the good Lord has angels, bailed him out for a share
of the business." He paused and shrugged. "I don't
know how much, but knowing that Hogg shyster, it was
a big chunk."

I glanced around the lot. "I don't see any pickups
here. Does Coleman have them on other lots?"