for
his friend to sit down. “I couldn’t wait for you so I had a donut
while I was sitting here and I put in our regular order.” Wayne
said as Henry slid into the booth. “Your usual, if you don’t mind.”
“No, I don’t mind at all.” Henry said. “Though one day I may
surprise you and have something else, what will you do with all
that smoked salmon once I order the chicken fried steak?” Henry
always ordered the bagel with cream cheese and lox with extra
capers. He had thought of getting something else, but Sherman’s had
great lox and he enjoyed eating something that he would never have
thought of ordering in Eagle River.
“ Good morning, I’m happy to
see the two of you; do you guys know it isn’t Thursday?” Millie
said carrying their breakfast orders to the table. “Hello, Millie,
how’s George?” Henry answered after Millie put his bagel in front
of him. “Ornery as ever, I sent him down to the senior center early
this morning, couldn’t deal with him.” Millie and George had been
married for over fifty years; Millie worked at Sherman’s to get
away from George while George played pool at the senior center to
get away from Millie. They were very happily married and Henry was
envious.
“ Ever hear of Rex
Thornbird?” Wayne asked after Millie left them alone. Henry put
down his coffee cup, “The name sounds familiar, but I don’t think I
know who that is.” “Oh, you know of him all right, the top real
estate agent in Coachella Valley, the mid-century specialist, the
guy who sells all the old Alexander homes in your neighborhood.”
Wayne continued while cutting his short stack into small pieces
with his fork. “Oh, yeah, I know who you mean.” Henry said, “I see
his name and picture on For Sale signs around my neighborhood, it
seems like he likes our area.”
“ Liked, -past tense - not
likes.” Wayne said. “That is one guy who is not going to like
anything anymore.” “What happened?” Henry asked, carefully spearing
a caper with his fork. “Not sure, he’s dead as dead can get; I
wanted to bounce some ideas off you so that’s why I’m buying
breakfast.” Wayne replied, reaching for more syrup. “He was found
very dead in an empty house yesterday afternoon after his car was
tagged for being parked on the street too long.”
“ What do you mean by parked
on the street too long?” That had certainly not been a crime in his
old jurisdiction in Eagle River. “Apparently, one of the parking
enforcement guys tagged it after a neighbor complained that it was
parked on the street for three days.” Wayne continued. “The
dispatcher ran a trace, found out it was registered to Thornbird,
called his office and the receptionist told them that he had not
been in for several days.”
Wayne took another sip of
coffee and continued. “The officer checked the front door of the
house which was locked, but when he went around the back, he found
the patio door open. At that point, he smelled that there was
something wrong, went in and found Thornbird on the kitchen floor
in a large pool of dried blood. From the smell and the way the body
looked it seemed as though he had been there for almost a week.”
Wayne put the last of the pancake in his mouth. “No sign of a
struggle, the front door was locked, the key was in a lockbox that
the real estate agents use, but the patio door was open and all the
lights in the house were on.” He wiped a bit of syrup from his
moustache and pushed the now empty plate away from him.
“ How did he die?” Henry
asked. “It looks like a crime of opportunity,” Wayne answered, “He
was hit once on the back of the head with one of those old
fashioned dial telephones. The murderer pulled it off the wall and
beaned him with it; must have hit an artery or something, he went
down on the spot. The coroner is doing the autopsy now, he may have
hit his head on the kitchen counter on the way down, but it looks
to me like he went down from the