Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 03 - Snow Cone Read Online Free Page A

blared and woke us at 8:00 A.M.  Our meeting with Joseph Stanwick, the geologist at Vanderbilt, was set for 9:30.  I rolled out of bed and threw a nearby shoe at Galveston.
    “ Get up.  Time to get moving,” I said rubbing my eyes.
    “ But I was having…”
    “ I don’t care who you were having.  Let’s get going.”
    Galveston grunted and pulled on his wrinkled pants while still in bed.  “I need some coffee.”
    “ And probably a breath mint,” I shot back.
    Galveston only grunted again and tried to flatten his hair with his hand.
    We had been in hotel rooms for over a month, and the hard beds and equally hard sheets were getting old.  We both hoped this would be an easy case, but we knew never to think anything would be easy.
    I grabbed a few stale pastries from the hotel’s continental breakfast as Galveston slowly sipped his coffee.  We functioned poorly in the morning, and this one was no different.  I had to push Galveston toward the exit door and to our car so we would make the meeting on time.
    We drove to Vanderbilt University, which was in the southwestern part of Nashville.  The campus was beautiful.  The leaves of the trees lining the paths were turning color, and the Jeffersonian architecture of the Peabody College building stood as a gem sitting on a vast green lawn. 
    I loved college campuses.  They were a world inside a world, and I missed being involved in academia.  I had been a lecturer and Associate Professor in economics and finance at the University of Maryland, but a new job with the International Monetary Fund pulled me away.  That was years ago, and my life had taken a dramatic shift since then.
    Galveston and I strolled through the campus, trying not to look at the beautiful college women walking past.  We walked to the Science and Engineering building where the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences was located.
    Professor Joseph Stanwick was sitting at his desk when I knocked on the door.
    “Professor Stanwick?” I asked, just to make sure we had the right man.
    “ Yes, hello,” he said as he got up from a desk cluttered with papers and books.  “You must be the two investigators from Icarus.”
    “ That would be us,” Galveston answered.
    “ It’s so nice to meet you,” Stanwick replied, shoving his hand at Galveston.  “I love your business name, Icarus.  I’m a fan of Greek mythology.”
    “ It suits us,” I stated.  “I’m Roger Murphy, and this is Dan Galveston.”
    He shook our hands again and had a bright smile on his face.
    “Please, do sit down.”  He motioned for us to sit, but the office was so cluttered that there was no place for us to go.
    “ Sorry, sorry,” he said, pushing stacks of books onto the ground.
    I noticed that Professor Stanwick was a bit nervous.  It was understandable since he had probably never talked to a pair of private eyes.  Not that we were that intimidating.  I was just glad he didn’t respond with, “what?  You guys are it?”
    The Professor must have been in his early fifties.  He had a good touch of gray in his hair but was in good shape for a man of his age.  The jeans he wore were slightly tattered, and his Polo shirt was wrinkled.  He didn’t appear stuffy or full of himself like many of the professors I had known. 
    Galveston and I sat down on a pair of well-worn, wooden chairs, and Stanwick returned to his desk.  He leaned forward eagerly, waiting for something.
    “ Professor…” I started.
    “ Please, call me Joe.  My students even call me Joe.”
    “ Okay, Joe.  What can we do for you?”
    “ Well, I talked to Bill, and he said you guys did an amazing job.  We go back many years.  I once was one of his clients.”
    “ You don’t say,” Galveston chimed in.
    “ Yes, I used to be a singer-songwriter.  I gave it up when I couldn’t pay the bills.”  Joe let out a laugh.  “That was over thirty years ago.  Bill was great and set me on the right path.  We’ve been