So the killer searched the house, but maybe he had been squeamish about touching the sick man’s bed. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t found it. Or maybe Jonathan Thomas woke up and recognized him.
The light came on. That had to be it. If Jonathan Thomas had recognized whoever was there, that explained why he had to die. The killer might not have been willing to risk letting Jonathan’s disease run its natural course. If Thomas had recognized him and told the nurse, Riley would have listened, would have believed him, and would have told someone else.
“Hello, are you there?” The dispatcher interrupted my train of thought. “I said, is there anything else I can do to help?”
“Yes, there is. Do you know the other dispatchers, the ones who work for other companies?”
“Sure.”
“Call them. See if anyone went to that same address later that night and picked up someone else. If so, find out where they took him. Can you do that?”
“No problem.”
“How long will it take?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes or so. There aren’t very many of us at that time of night.”
“Look,” I said, “it’s important. If you could check it out and get back to me here, I’d really appreciate it.”
I gave him Mavis Davis’s telephone number. When I hung up the phone and turned around, Corky was there in the kitchen doorway, standing with one front paw poised in the air, eyeing me distrustfully. The moment I stepped away from the phone, he started barking again, so hard that he literally bounced up and down with every bark.
Mavis came to the doorway and grabbed him up again. “Are you finished?” she asked.
“No. I’ve left word for someone to call me back here, if it’s all right with you. What you told me is really important. We’re having it checked out right now.”
“Checked out. You mean you don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that. I’ve found the cab company that brought…” I paused. “That brought her to the house,” I said carefully. “Now we have to see if anyone else picked her up and took her away later on.”
“You mean she didn’t live in that house?”
“No.”
Mavis shook her head disapprovingly. “You know, in my day, young women weren’t allowed to go gallivanting around town at all hours of the day and night. It’s no wonder they get into such trouble nowadays, is it?”
“No,” I agreed. “It’s no wonder at all.”
She offered me coffee. I accepted, grateful to have something to do while we waited for the phone to ring. It was actually only ten minutes later when the call came through. Mavis answered it and then handed the receiver to me.
“This is Larry down at Far West,” the guy said. “This Detective Beaumont?”
“Yes.”
“Well, a Yellow Cab picked a guy up from there about three-thirty yesterday morning. Took him to 6886 Greenwood Avenue North. I talked to the driver. He remembers him real good.”
“How come?”
“The guy wasn’t wearing any shoes.”
“Larry, thanks. I’ve gotta run.”
My hand shook with excitement as I pressed down the receiver button. I was finally getting somewhere, making progress. I dialed direct to Sergeant Lowell James’s desk in the department.
“Where’ve you been, Beau? We’ve got people looking all over for you.”
“Never mind that. I’m onto something. Where’s the Cole’s?”
Cole’s is a reverse directory that makes it possible to locate people by address or phone number rather than by last name. It’s a bill-collector’s bible. It’s good for detectives as well.
Sergeant James went off the line momentarily. “I’ve got it,” he said when he returned. “Now, what’s the address you want?”
I gave it to him. Greenwood Avenue North, number 6886. While I waited for him to look up the information, I entertained myself by tapping a pencil impatiently on the wall beside the phone. The noise set Corky off again. If he’d been my dog, I would have strangled him on the spot.
“Got it,” Sergeant James said. “The name’s Osgood, Daniel P. Osgood.”
“Holy shit!”
“Who is he? What’s going on?”
“Get me a backup team and get them there pronto. I’ll meet them at that Greenwood address in…” I paused long enough to look at my watch. “In fifteen minutes.”
“Who is Daniel P. Osgood?”
“The man who killed Richard Dathan Morris and Jonathan Thomas.”
“The man? I thought we were looking for a woman.”