Cliff

Chapter 14 -- Phone Phred

Sally didn't say anything. She just walked away, down the street towards her place, walking calmly and not at all wanting to run. Not at all. Tom walked beside her, and seemed to borrow her artificial nonchalance.

When they got inside, though, it was a different matter. "What did you take?" Tom asked, breathlessly.

"A postcard. It was addressed to Bob from some guy named Fred."

"Isn't that like stealing the mail? Can't we go to prison for that?"

"Possibly. I don't care. Only if they catch us. Besides, the card was delivered to Bob. It isn't the post office's responsibility any more. The card belongs to Bob. If we're stealing, we're stealing from Bob. And I'm sure Bob wouldn't mind. Now, do you want to know what it says?"

Well, sure. They read it, several times. It kept on saying the same thing. That Fred didn't know much, but that Bob was to call him if he wanted to. Well, Bob maybe didn't want to anymore, but Sally & Tom sure did!

When Fred answered, he sounded friendly, if somewhat puzzled. The first real question was the most difficult to phrase. Sally didn't want to scare him off or make him cautious, but she had to know who he was, and why Bob wanted to correspond with him.

"Fred, we don't know each other. My name is Sally McDougal and I'm calling from Goose Cove, and I have a postcard you sent to Bob Smith two days ago. I called you at the number you wrote on the card."

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Bob Smith died on Sunday. I'm trying to contact all of his friends to tell them. Were you a friend of Bob's?"

"No, I wasn't a friend of his. I only met him once, and didn't remember that until he called me. He wrote me a letter asking about a computer he had bought from me two years ago. "

Fred told Sally what he could remember. He had purchased the computer at an estate sale in Piddely, California three or four years ago, he can't remember exactly. He never used it much. It sat around for a couple of years and then got sold very cheaply to Bob through a notice on the school bulletin board.

In the letter Bob had asked Fred about a disertation draft that was supposed to be on the computer, but Fred had never seen the disertation and knew nothing about it.

Sally had a lot more questions, but Fred had no more answers.

"What do you remember about the sale?"

Fred thinks he remembers that someone died. They must have died young, from the stuff for sale, he seems to remember.

Sally pounded forward, "When, Fred? Where in California? How did you find out about it? What were their names? What kind of computer was it? (Fred doesn't remember) How much did you pay for it?"

Fred didn't know the answers to any of the questions, but was now curious. He asked if the computer or the disertationfile had anything to do with Bob's death. Sally told him that she didn't know, but that she was looking for it.

"I can't be worth much now. It was pretty old when I had it."

When it becomes obvious that Fred was becoming frustrated and more than a little curious, Sally thanked him very much and disconnected.

"Tom, I think the computer is important. The missing computer."

"So what about the computer? Why is it important?"

"I don't know, but it is. Bob was asking about one of the files on the computer, a draft dissertation. Fred didn't know anything about that."

Fred said that he got the computer from an estate sale in Piddley, California three or four years ago. He says he never used it.

"And now the computer is gone, and Bob is dead. I wish we had that computer."

"I do too. But we don't. It probably isn't the computer we want, it's what's on the computer. There was something very important on that computer. Bob didn't put it on there, or he wouldn't have to ask about it. Fred says he doesn't know anything about it, and never used the computer for anything. That leaves us with whoever had the computer before Fred did. "

"But," Tom said, "we don't know who that is. Fred didn't remember."

"We only know where the sale took place. Piddly, California. How would you like to go to California, Tom, to read some old newspapers."

"How does that help us? I mean, sure, but why?"

"The estate sale might have been advertized. We can read all the ads for a couple of years ago. That will tell us the name and address. I wonder where Piddley is, anyway?"