With a Twist Read Online Free

getting any of mine.”
    “Get me a small order of beef with pea pods.”
    “That sounds good. How about a large order and we split it?”
    “What about the Mu Shu pork?”
    Herb patted his expansive belly. “I’ll get that too. You think I got this fat just looking at food?” He turned, heading for the stairs. “Where’s Wyatt’s phone book?”
    “It’s on his desk.” Insight struck. “Herb! That might be another clue!”
    “Chinese food?”
    “The phone book! It’s open to a page.”
    I squeezed past my portly partner and raced up the stairs. The phone book was where I left it, BURGLAR ALARMS covering the left-hand page. I went through each of the listings, put there was no black marker. I checked the other page, and didn’t see anything unusual. But on the very top of the right hand page was spillover from the previous entry. A listing called CHARLIE’S , with the phone number 847-209-7219.
    When I noted what subject came alphabetically before BURGLAR ALARMS in the phonebook, I grinned like an idiot. Then I pulled out my cell and called the number. After four rings and a click, a male voice answered.
    “This is Charlie.”
    “This is Lieutenant Jack Daniels of the Chicago Police Department.”
    “That was fast. Edward would have been pleased.”
    “You helped murder him?”
    “No. He killed himself. I helped set up all of the other stuff, but I had nothing to do with killing him. I’ve got proof, too. Footage of him jumping to his death.”
    “Off of your crane. Or platform. What is it you use?”
    “A hundred foot platform. He went quick—in less than four seconds. He preferred it to the agony of cancer.”
    Herb sidled up to me, putting his ear next to the phone.
    “How did Wyatt find you?” I asked Charlie.
    “The want ads. He saw I was selling my business. I guess that’s how he came up with this whole idea. Pretty clever, don’t you think? He bought me out, plus paid me to assist in setting up the scene. Nice guy. I liked him a lot.”
    “You know, of course, we’ll have to arrest you.”
    “I know. Which is why my office phone forwarded this call to my cell. I’m on my way out of the country. Edward paid me enough to lay low for a while.”
    “One hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars.” I remembered the number from the empty bank account.
    “No, not nearly. Edward lived very well for the last month of his life. He spent a lot of money. And good for him—what good is a life savings if you can’t have some fun with it?”
    “Not much,” Herb said.
    I shushed him.
    “Can I assume, Lieutenant, that you’ve figured everything out? Found all the clues? If you know everything, I’m supposed to give you a reward. Edward has this list of questions. Are you ready?”
    Not knowing what else to say, I agreed.
    “Okay, question number one; how were the doors locked from the inside?”
    “You removed the entire door and frame while the door was already locked. Edward, or you, used a reciprocating saw to cut around the door frame. Then one of you glued new trim to the inside of the frame. When the door was pulled back into place, the trim covered the inside cut marks. Then you nailed the frame in place from the outside, and put more trim around the edges to cover the outside cut.”
    “What gave it away?”
    “Sawdust on the outside matt, a receipt from the hardware store, a new electric saw in the basement, and extra trim in the closet. Plus, the door didn’t open all the way.”
    “Edward purposely left all the clues except that last one. The door was heavy, and I couldn’t fit it back in the hole perfectly. Question number two; how did it appear Edward jumped to his death in his living room?”
    “He’d been drawing his own blood for a few weeks, using the catheter in his arm, and saving it in the refrigerator in mason jars. Then he used a turkey baster to fill a super soaker squirt gun with his blood, and sprayed the living room. I assume he read enough mysteries to