Forty Leap by Ivan Turner Read Free Book Online Page B

meaning. It was
the word he had chosen for his explanation. He was telling me in a
way that suited him that he could do whatever he wanted. I
identified him as pompous.
    Closing the door behind me, I began to shrug
out of my coat. The two gentlemen had originally made themselves
comfortable on the couch. When I had walked in, Winslow was reading
a novel, which he had quickly stashed inside his coat, and Li had
been staring at the door.
    The good host in me demanded that I offer
them a drink. The angry and depressed individual that was on the
outside squashed that impulse. Even the threat implied by Li’s
statement had had no effect on me.
    “I thought that had all been cleared up,” I
told them.
    It was Li who said, “At that time, we were
unaware that you had been fired from your job recently.”
    And that, of course, would be my motive. “I
didn’t find that out until the day of the threat.”
    “About that…” This time it was Winslow who
spoke. His entire tone and demeanor were different. It was clear
that each of them was meant to ask certain types of questions.
Their styles could keep a person off guard, while each different
question could be posed in a correct way as determined by the two
detectives. “Your replacement had actually been on the job for
almost three weeks on January 3 rd . What’s unclear is
that you say you didn’t know you were…let go…and yet someone else
was doing your job.”
    “I hadn’t been to work in a while.”
    “Any particular reason?” This, from Li.
    I hesitated, unwittingly giving them the
impression that they had caught me in a lie. The trouble was that
they had caught me in the truth. “I have been experiencing episodes
of lost time.”
    “I’m not sure I understand,” Winslow
said.
    “One minute it’s six o’clock on Friday. The
next minute it’s 3 o’clock on the following Wednesday.”
    Winslow looked like he was trying to
understand. Li looked skeptical.
    “When did this happen to you last?” Li
asked.
    “November 23 rd . Around four
o’clock.”
    “And the ‘next minute’ was the morning of
January 3 rd ?”
    I nodded. I didn’t expect them to believe me.
My own brothers didn’t believe me.
    Winslow took over again. “So, where were you
for all of that time?”
    I shrugged very matter of factly. This was
becoming old hat to me. “Nowhere.”
    “You don’t sound sure,” Li accused.
    “I’m not sure,” I replied.
    “Does anyone else know about this?” Winslow
asked.
    “No one who believes me,” I answered. “Except
maybe Morty.”
    Winslow suddenly produced a pad and flipped
through it. “That would be…Morris Yovanovicz?”
    If I was supposed to be surprised about the
fact that the detectives had Morty’s name on hand, I wasn’t. I just
nodded.
    There was this uncomfortable silence between
us. I stood there, looking from detective to detective, each one
looking at me. I suppose they were looking for some facial
expression that might give away some vital piece of hidden
information. But I was hiding nothing. If they wanted to know
something, they would simply have to ask.
    So they did. Or, rather, Winslow did.
    “Um…you are aware that Mr. Yovanovicz is
deceased?”
    “I’m aware,” I said sadly, under my breath.
Morty’s death seemed far away. Even though, by my reckoning, I had
seen him just two days before, the interruption of my schedule and
the loss of my mother had detached me from reality. All of the
people I knew and all of the things I normally did seemed
surreal.
    Li asked, “Can you account for your
whereabouts on December 17 th , about six o’clock in the
evening?”
    The question caught me off guard and I
hesitated, trying to figure out what I had been doing on that date.
It took only a moment for me to realize that I had missed it
completely, but the hesitation was noticeable and branded me a liar
once again.
    “I wasn’t anywhere,” I said. “I told you
that.”
    Li continued, “Of course you did. Can