Rebel in Time

'Dead? Murdered? Just like that? I can't get over it, and frankly, I find it hard to take in. I was working with him, right here on Friday night. Now… Poor Harper. Couldn't something have been done?'

'I'm sorry, Bob. When his body was discovered, it was far too late. He had been dead for some time when we got there.'

'Perhaps earlier? If I had called the police earlier instead of hacking around here and doing nothing—'

'Please. Don't beat yourself. He died during the weekend, so there is no possible way that you can possibly assume any blame. But there is something you can do now to help.'

'What do you mean?' Kleiman took a sip of the cold coffee, then made a wry face and pushed it away.

'I mean you can help me find the man who murdered him. The police are very certain about who it was.'

'They are? There was nothing in the papers about it.'

'That's because the facts aren't for public consumption yet. Harper's death is just part of a far more important case, one that is highly classified. I'm talking about the disappearance of Colonel McCulloch.'

'A mystery that, you should pardon my saying this, you shouldn't bother to solve. Old Snarly can stay vanished and no one will miss him.'

'Not even if he is the one who killed Harper?'

'He did?' Kleiman twisted around in his chair and leaned forward. 'This is the truth? He's the momzer who killed Allan Harper?'

'We are almost certain that he is. And I am equally certain that the murder, his disappearance, as well as a number of other items, that they all tie in with the Gnomen project.'

'How?'

'You tell me.'

Kleiman shook his head in bewilderment. 'You've lost me, really lost me. What can I possibly tell you that could help the investigation?'

'You can let me know about the project. The way I see it something here, something to so with the work in this laboratory, captured McCulloch's attention. In order to find out what that was I want to find out everything that McCulloch knew about the operation here, everything that he might have uncovered on his own or that Harper might have told him. For openers, what can you tell me about their relationship? Were they very close?'

'Not that I knew. In fact, now that I think about it, they barely talked to each other. If anything I always had the feeling that Harper was afraid of the Iron Colonel, even hated him. I caught him a couple of times looking at McCulloch when he didn't know he was being seen, with his face all twisted like he would like to kill the man. But he never said anything at all about it.'

'They must have had some sort of relationship — or the colonel wouldn't have killed him. Why? Did Harper know something about him — or perhaps Harper discovered McCulloch doing something here in the lab…'

'That's impossible. The colonel was a dunce. I doubt if he knew enough about technology to even change a fuse. About this highly complex and specialized electronic equipment I can guarantee you that he knew bubkas, or even less.'

'That's important information. So now we know that he couldn't have operated alone in here. If he somehow did make use of the time machine, then he must have had to have help. Could it have been Harper who aided him? But you said that the man hated him. So perhaps Harper was being forced to help him — which would explain his dislike of the colonel. There would certainly have been no love lost if McCulloch were blackmailing him.'

'Makes a good theory. So what's next?'

'Could the colonel and Harper have had access to the equipment when you weren't here?'

'Why not? Harper usually stayed on working here after I left at night. McCulloch could have joined him. He did almost all of the electronic maintenance in the evenings, so I could set up the experiments during the day. That's why he never came in until after noon. It was a good schedule for both of us.'

Troy rubbed at his jaw as he looked around at the roomful of unknown machinery. He had the strong sensation that the answer was right here, obvious, waiting for him to pick it up.

'So if they were here alone at night they could run the machine, even make unauthorized experiments?'

'I don't think they would do that. For one thing I wouldn't permit it.'

'How would you know?'

'A good question.' Kleiman stood and paced back and forth, thinking better on his feet. 'There might be a record of their staying on here at night, but I'm not sure. I think the guard just logs people in and out. But so what? That just means they were on the spot, but it doesn't say anything about what they were doing. That means nothing. Did they use the machine? I have no idea. If they left any records of any experiments I've never seen them. We'll never know.'

'But we have to know. Think. Isn't there a record book kept of what is done here? Maybe there is a dial that shows if the machine has been turned on and off?'