An Owl Too Many Read Online Free PDF

it?”
    “No, I merely hypothesize one. They’re fast, silent, easy to hide, and easy to ride on a path like this. I myself would have ridden a bicycle. But then I always do.”
    “You do?” This was clearly not what Haverford would have expected from a multimillionairess, but he nodded. “That’s a good point. Edwards, you and Andrews take a look around. See if you can find any bicycle tracks.”
    The two officers scouted the area with their lanterns. They didn’t find any bicycle tracks, but they did turn up a sizable heap of black plastic not more than twenty feet from the oak tree. It looked brand new.
    “This is interesting,” said Peter. “It wasn’t here this morning.”
    “How do you know?” Haverford demanded.
    “At the president’s request, I walked the path to make sure there were no obstacles that might give us trouble. We’d be working in the dark, you understand, so as not to disturb the owls. They don’t like light, it interferes with their hunting.”
    “I see. And you’re quite sure the plastic wasn’t here?”
    “Oh yes. I spent a fair amount of time walking around the tree; big old oaks like this are apt to have holes in them where owls can nest. I also searched the ground for owl pellets, those little balls of fur and bones they regurgitate after they’ve eaten a mouse or whatever. I couldn’t have missed a great wad like that, I’d either have taken the plastic away myself or sent one of the college groundsmen over to pick it up. That’s not to say it wasn’t around, I probably wouldn’t have noticed if it had been still rolled up and hidden under the leaves.”
    “What do you mean, still rolled up?”
    “Just that it looks brand new and is the kind of plastic sheeting that comes in rolls. Gardeners and landscapers use the stuff as a mulch, to keep weeds from growing and to reflect heat up on their plants. It also prevents moisture from soaking into the ground and can turn your garden into a desert if you don’t watch out, but I’ll spare you the lecture. Could we spread it out and have a look?”
    “I guess so, if we’re careful.”
    Handling the plastic through paper napkins left over from Iduna’s picnic, pages torn from Sergeant Haverford’s notebook, President Svenson’s red cap, and anything else they could find to protect the surface from their fingerprints and preserve any others that might be present, the lot of them worked the bundle carefully over the path. Stretched to full length, and paced off by Peter, it measured all of a hundred feet and didn’t show them a thing.
    “Maybe they just used it to wrap up the bicycle,” one of the state policemen suggested.
    Haverford gave him a look. “No sense trying to guess. We may as well roll it up and take it to the lab. Careful, try not to pick up any leaves or twigs.”
    “What about the rope that must have been attached to the net?” Peter asked.
    “We haven’t found any on the ground, maybe it’s still up in the tree. Did you have anything special in mind, Professor?”
    “I was just wondering whether the rope had been cut or broken. That could indicate whether Emmerick fell by accident or was deliberately dropped. I forgot to look before the body was taken away.”
    Haverford clearly hadn’t thought to look, either. “We’ll know definitely when we get the lab report,” he fudged. “Thank you, Professor Shandy. Now could we get your statement, Dr. Svenson?”
    He got it in about seven words, then wasted a good deal of time trying to extract the names of persons who might have had both the inclination and the ready funds to hire somebody to assassinate the president. By the time he got around to Professor Daniel Stott, Haverford was visibly shaken. When Stott said he hadn’t noticed Emmerick’s getting caught in the net because he’d been ruminating, the sergeant got downright nasty. Peter’s efforts to convince him that Professor Stott was only telling the plain truth because Dan always