M Y S T E R Y S O L U T I O N
"Remember the beer bottle cap in Trosclaire's fist?" J.J. asked.
"Budweiser," Lt. Abadie said, brightening. "Hey, the guy's
son-in-law's nicknamed 'Buddy.' He our man?"
"Nope."
"The plant manager. Wiseman. Budweiser. Wiseman. Close enough."
"Again, nope," Legendre said. "Trosclaire had something else in mind.
Know who created Budweiser?" Abadie looked at him, puzzled. "A guy
named Adolphus Busch."
"So?"
"So Trosclaire's partner's name was Adolph Schmidt. And Adolph gave
his name to his son, Ad. That's the guy Trosclair was trying to name."
"Why would he kill the old guy?" Abadie asked.
"Wiseman said something about Schmidt being squeezed out. That happens
in takeovers. Even workers who are stockholders can get canned."
Abadie waved a dismissive hand. "This 'Adolph' stuff is about as solid
as cotton candy," he said. "Hell, I could make as good a case for ole
'Buddy' Fournet to have killed Trosclaire. Where's your proof?"
"My proof," J.J. said, "is that you've been keeping details of
Trosclaire's murder under wraps. All we mentioned was that a dueling
pistol was the murder weapon. Ole Buddy Fournet made the logical
assumption when he said something about 'drawing down' on his
father-in-law. But Ad Schmidt wanted to know, 'Who in their right mind
would cave in somebody's skull over a business deal.' Only the murderer
would know how the gun had been used. He's your man all right."
"Damn it, Legendre," Abadie said rushing for the door, "why'd you let
him get away?"
"He won't get far with you on his trail," Legendre said. His throat
felt a little dry, so he went out into the hot Sunday afternoon in
search of a bottle of Rex.
The first person to correctly guess the solution to the mystery was Davide Di Lazzaro of Rome, Italy. |