Simple Genius

“Well, I can’t be a hundred percent positive. But he brought the stein back with him on the trip he took overseas while he was working here. I can try and find out if Monk did go to Germany by talking to Sheriff Hayes. He might have convinced Ventris to let him have a look-see at Monk’s passport.”

“Germans at Camp Peary and Monk visited Germany,” Sean said thoughtfully.

“What else did Champ tell you?” Horatio asked.

She filled them in on the rest and added, “And he very clearly has a schoolboy crush on me.”

“Crush him if he tries anything,” Sean said firmly, drawing an interested look from Horatio.

“Might not be that easy. He has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.”

“Yeah and the man flies his own plane. Alicia told me.”

“Actually, it isn’t his. It belongs to Babbage Town. In fact I’m going flying with him day after tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure I like the idea of you alone with that guy at fifteen thousand feet.”

“I have no interest in joining the Mile High Club if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“I know he has an alibi for the time Rivest was killed but still,” Sean said.

“No, he might not.”

“What do you mean? I checked the computer log,” Sean said. “He was in Hut Number Two until three in the morning.”

“Champ probably has override privileges on the security system. Plus he’s a super-brain. Are you telling me someone like that can’t manipulate a simple computer log?”

Sean looked chagrined. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Did you talk to a real person who was there that night to confirm what the computer log said?” Michelle asked.

“No, but I’m going to correct that mistake right away. Good catch, Michelle.”

“I have my moments.”

“Now I really don’t like you going up in the plane with the guy.”

“I know, but you’ll get over it.”

“And I found something else out,” he said. “Remember I asked people if they saw anything out of the ordinary the night Rivest was killed?”

Michelle said, “And nobody did.”

“Well, I went back and asked a slightly different question. I asked if they’d seen anybody around Rivest’s cottage, including people who should have been there.”

“I’m not following,” Horatio said.

Michelle interjected, “He means other scientists, guards, etc.”

“And cleaning people,” Sean said. “And one of the guards saw a cleaning person in uniform pushing a laundry cart down the road toward Hut Number Three around one in the morning.”

They both looked at him. “Don’t you see? What better way to carry off wet towels, bath mats and a plunger than in a laundry cart?”

Michelle was the first to speak. “There’s no better way. Good catch right back at you.”

Horatio spoke slowly, “So a cleaning person killed Rivest?”

“No, more likely someone dressed as one. And I checked the laundry building. No soaked towels, bath mats or plungers ever showed up there.”

“But if that’s the case it was a woman who killed Rivest then,” Horatio said. “I mean it would be far easier for a woman to dress up as a woman, right?”

Sean shook his head. “I didn’t say it was a woman. In fact the person said it was a guy. I checked with the cleaning supervisor. They have about as many men as women doing the cleaning work here. But a woman could put on pants and pretend to be a man.”

“So we need to find out who was on duty that night,” Michelle said.

“Yes and no,” Sean said. “Certainly we’ll get the list and run it down, but I’m thinking it could be an outsider disguised as a cleaning person who came here and did it. You show up in a uniform with a genuine-looking ID badge, who’s going to question you?”

“Or it could be someone who works at Babbage Town disguised as a cleaner,” Michelle added.

“That could be even more troubling.”

Sean turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Michelle asked.

“To find out if our resident genius, Champ Pollion, was actually in Hut Number Two or maybe pushing a laundry cart filled with evidence after drowning Len Rivest.”

CHAPTER 63

SEAN COULDN’T FIND A LIVE PERSON who’d seen Champ at Hut Number Two until three in the morning the night Rivest had been killed. That resulted in Champ Pollion being put back on the suspect list for Len Rivest’s murder. While he was walking back to Alicia’s cottage he got a call from Joan.

“We got a communiqué from the owners of Babbage Town,” she began.

“Who are they?” Sean asked quickly.

“Don’t know.”

“Then how do you know it’s legit?”

“There are passwords and a secure channel access that was set up. It’s them. Anyway, since Rivest was killed they’ve been rethinking our presence on the scene. Now if you were showing any progress…”

“Joan, I am busting my ass trying to do just that. You’ve never seen stone walls thrown up like the ones down here. And we don’t even know who our client is.”

“What have you found out?”

Sean hesitated and then filled her in on the German POW angle.

“You really think that might have something to do with Monk Turing’s death?”