Part 5 (2/2)
”Oh, you e I couldn't ieant kept staring at her though he didn't quite knohat to make of that statement
”If it had been Johnny there instead of Val it wouldn't have struck you as strange”
”No, sir”
”But didn't it strike you as strange how he ca there in that bread basket just a few minutes after Reverend Short had fallen from yourinto the same bread basket?”
For the first time her face took on a look of fear
”Yes, sir,” she replied in a whisper, leaning on the desk for support ”Powerful strange Only the Lord kno he came there”
”No, the , Mr Brody Johnny didn't do it Helove for his brother-in-law, but he tolerated him on account of Dulcy, and he wouldn't have let nobody hurt a hair on his head, much less have done it hisself”
Brody took the murder knife from a drawer and laid it on the desk top ”Have you ever seen this before?”
She stared at it, more out of curiosity than horror ”No, sir”
He let it drop ”When is the funeral to be held?”
”This afternoon at two o'clock”
”All right, you reat help to us”
She arose slowly, bracing her hands on the desk top, and extended her hand to Sergeant Brody with Southern-bred courtesy
Sergeant Brody wasn't used to it He was the law People on the other side of this desk were generally on the other side of the law He found hi over his chair, and pu like a freshly boiled lobster
”I hope your funeral goes well, Mrs Pullen--that is, I mean, your husband's funeral”
”Thank you, sir All we can do is put hier and Coffin Ed stepped forward and escorted her with deference to the door, holding it open for her to pass through Her black satin dress dragged on the floor, sweeping dust over her straight-last shoes
Sergeant Brody didn't sigh He prided hilanced at his watch again, he looked as though he would have loved to
”It's ten-twenty Think we can finish before lunch?”
”Let's get it over with,” Coffin Ed said harshly ”I haven't had any sleep and I'”
”Let's have the preacher, then”
On catching sight of the shi+ny wooden stool sitting in the spill of glaring light, Reverend Short drew up just inside the door and shuddered like a stuck sheep
”No!” he croaked, trying to back out into the corridor ”I won't go in there”
The two uniforripped his arrip, perforio dancer Veins roped in his bony teold-ri's under a microscope, and his Ada line
”No! No! It's haunted with the souls of tortured Christians,” he screa,” one of the cops said, handling hih ”Ain't no Christians been in here”
”Yes! Yes!” he screa voice ”I hear their cries It's the chamber of the Inquisition I s a nosebleed,” the other cop said, trying to be funny
They lifted hirotesquely like a puppet's froibbet, carried him across the floor and deposited him on the stool
The three inquisitors stared at hi The chair in which Maer as a footstool Coffin Ed had retired to his dark corner
”Caesars!” he croaked
The cops stood flanking him, a hand on each shoulder
”Cardinals!” he screamed ”The Lord is linted insanely
Sergeant Brody's face remained impassive, but he said, ”Ain't nobody here but us chickens, Reverend”
Reverend Short leaned forward and peered into the shadow as though trying to
”If you're a police officer then I want to report that chink Charlie pushed me out of theto round to break eant corrected
”The body of Christ,” Reverend Short ht, Reverend, let's cut the co to build a plea of insanity, you're ju”
”It was that Jezebel Dulcy Perry who stabbed hiave her to cohtly
”You saw hiive her the knife?”
”Yes”
”When?”
”The day after Christht there wasn't nobody looking He caave her the knife and showed her how to use it”