by Peter Ponzo
Chapter 23
When the reports started comin' in Ah didn't think nothin' of it. Some ape 'scaped from the zoo, roamin' the streets. Then it hits me. A gorilla. The big fingerprints at the Flanagan Motel, and the hair. An ape had bin at unit 17? Forensic was confused. Ah runs to the office of Chief Clements. His secretary, Ms. Halstead, she ain't at her desk so Ah barges right in. She ain't at her desk 'cause she's on Fuzz's knee and he's playin with her lungs.
"Boone!" he yells. "What the hell are you doing here!" Fuzz jumps up and Holstein falls down. She sticks her blouse back in her skirt, runs outta the office. "For Christ sake," Fuzz grumbles, "knock before you barge in!" He straightens his tie which don't need no straightenin'.
"Sorry Chief," Ah says, "but Ah got a idea 'bout thet gorilla. Yuh know these stories 'bout an ape thet escaped from the zoo? It's bin in all the papers. Yuh know, Ah think thet ape was at the Flanagan. The big fingerprints? Ape prints. The hair? Ape hair."
"Mmm," Fuzz says, "ape hair." He don't look too happy. "You're saying that this bloody gorilla gets out of the zoo, lets himself into the Flanagan, kills the occupants, then roams the streets of our great and glorious city?"
"Somethin' like thet," Ah says. "But the zoo ain't close to the Flanagan, yet they's a connection with the Oerschott case." Ah waits, but Fuzz ain't sayin nothin', so Ah keeps goin'. "T'other day Ah met up with Ms. Fleetsmith, tells her 'bout the big fingerprints at the Flanagan, Ah says they's big like a gorilla, she looks sorta strange, like she knows somethin' she ain't tellin'."
"So what's the connection?" he says.
"Don't rightly know, not 'xactly," Ah says, "but when she hears the word 'gorilla' she looks a mite confused."
"Listen, Boone, anybody'd looked confused if you said there was a gorilla in the Flanagan Motel. The zoo is maybe twenty miles from the Flanagan and this ape just …what? Hitchhikes?" He turns his chair and looks outta the winda. "So that's your connection?" he says, not lookin' at me.
Ah takes a chair, starts in with mah explanation.
"The way Ah figures it, chief, is thet this here Dermafix stuff is made from a weed thet grows in the jungles of Brazil, and they's apes in thet jungle, and when a fella takes some Dermafix ...," and Ah pause fer effect, "thet fella—"
"Boone, you asshole, there aren't any gorillas in Brazil!" Fuzz is now lookin' straight at me.
"But Chief ... deep in the jungle, ya know ..."
"No gorillas in Brazil," he says. "No gorillas, no apes, just monkeys. Look it up in the library. Watch National Geographic on TV. Ask any ten year old. Now, if you've no more to tell, let me be."
Ah leans outta mah chair and heads fer the door. Time's up.
"And send in Miss Halstead," he says, jest as Ah closes the door.
Outside, Ms. Cornelia Halstead is typin' like mad.
"Ms. Halstead," Ah says, "the boss'd like to see y'all. Yeah, all of ya." Ah hook a finger over mah shoulder, gives her a big smile. She jest keeps typin', face sorta red.
No gorillas in the jungles of Brazil? Mighty strange. Ah look in mah notebook, finds the number of Ms. Fleetsmith. Ah dial the number, wait awhile, then hear:
"You have reached the residence of Miss Francis Fleetsmith," Curry says. "If you would like to leave a message ..."
"Mr. Charles Curry?" Ah ask.
"... and/or your name and telephone number, then I will relay the information to Miss Fleetsmith when she returns. If you would like—"
Curry keeps right on goin' like he don't hear me, so I says louder:
"This is Willum Boone, TO police, and Ah'd like to talk to Ms. Fleetsmith ..." and Ah pause fer effect, "... 'bout gorillas."
Curry stops talkin'.
"I beg your pardon," he says. "Gorillas?" They's a shake in his voice and Ah figure he knows somethin'. "Mr. Boone, sir, did you say gorillas?"
"Hello, this is Fran Fleetsmith!" Ah recognizes the voice of Ms. Fleetsmith. She jest barges right in on the conversation like she's been listenin' all along. "Texas? Is that you?" she says.
"Yes ma'am," Ah says. "Willum Boone, at your—"
"Charles Curran," she says.
"Beg pardon, ma'am?"
"His name bears little resemblance to a spice. It's Curran, not Curry. Get it? And what's this about gorillas?" she says.
"Well, ma'am, you may recollect that Ah told you 'bout the big fingerprints at the Flanagan Motel. Big like a gorilla, Ah said."
"Mmm," she says, no more than thet.
"Y'all was in Brazil," Ah says, "to git thet Dermafix, right?" Ah says.
"Right," she says. "So?"
"Did y'all see gorillas in Brazil?" Ah asks.
"There are no gorillas in Brazil. Listen, cowboy, what's on your mind?"
"Ms. Fleetsmith, Ah'd be obliged if Ah could talk to y'all? It's mighty important."
They was quiet on the line, then she says, "Mmm, okay. Let's see ... it's nearly noon. Why don't you drop by for lunch. Charlie can fix us something."
"Ah'd like thet fine, ma'am."
No more talkin', she jest hangs up, so Ah heads out and gits there at twelve.
PART NINE