The Victim at Vultee Arch
Page 27
EPILOGUE
The following Saturday, Margaret and I were having lunch on the deck when the phone rang. It was Chad.
“Mike, have you heard the news?’” he said.
“We never turn on the TV or radio on Saturday or Sunday. I like peace and quiet on my days off,” I said. There wasn’t much that couldn’t wait for Monday, but my claim was an exaggeration.
“Henry Griffin is dead,” Chad said.
“What happened to the weasel bastard? I was looking forward to watching him squirm at his trial.”
“The Cottonwood police were escorting him to the county jail in Prescott. The police understood how much everyone in Cottonwood hated him. He had on a vest and was surrounded by officers, but it didn’t save him. Bridger and Gordon were young football heroes, known by almost everyone in the Verde Valley. Art was highly respected, and he had lots of friends,” he said. Chad was deliberately delaying the punch line to get my goat.
“The news about Art’s safe deposit box hasn’t gotten out yet,” I said. “People don’t know that Reggie’s fingerprints were all over the gun we found in Art’s closet. So who killed Sir Henry?” Chad would delay telling me until I admitted that I was anxious to know what happened.
“Well partner, it’s important to know that those Kevlar vests won’t stop a sharpened hunting knife driven by all the force of a three hundred pound pro wrestler. Chris Moore just pushed an officer out of the way and rammed the knife into Griffin’s heart.”
I felt no sympathy for Griffin, but I was sorry about Chris Moore. He’d probably saved my life when he prevented Art from taking another shot at me at that Mexican restaurant. I’d seen him with Bridger and Gordon, and I knew he loved those boys. “Was Chris apprehended?” I asked.
“Oh he didn’t resist arrest after he killed Griffin,” Chad explained. “He even apologized to the officer he’d pushed out of the way to get to him. Most folks I’ve talked to are convinced that Chris was temporarily insane because of the heinous nature of the Johnson murders. Even the arresting officers are supportive of a plea bargain.”
THE END
Also available by Charles Williamson on Kindle are: The Dead Priest of Sedona: Book One of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Dead Chef of Santa Fe: Book Two of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Murders at El Tovar: Book Three of the Mike Damson Mysteries Temporal Foam: A Novel of Accidental Time Travel
The Argonauts of Phoenix: The Second Adventure in the Temporal Foam Black Dot: Jack Dunn, Cyber-Detective
Green Glow: Jack Dunn, Cyber-Detective Volume Two