Read Online Monkey on a Chain by Harlen Campbell - Free Book Online

you?”
    “Maybe. I want to talk about the murder of James Bow.”
    “Okay. What is your name?”
    “I am a friend of his daughter, April.”
    “Where is April? All her friends are worried about her. Mrs. Stillwell is worried about her. Where is she?”
    “She’s safe. She came to me because she is afraid for her life.”
    “That doesn’t make sense. She should have come to the police if she was afraid. We would have protected her. Where is she?”
    “What is the nature of your interest in her?”
    “We want to protect her. Where are you calling from?”
    “Guess. Do you know that she was in classes all morning on the day her father was killed?”
    “I am aware of that. Why did she run away?”
    “Do you know that she left home before her father the morning he died?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you think she had anything to do with his death?”
    “We don’t believe she set the bomb that killed him, no, but we don’t understand why she ran away. She should come to the station and explain her behavior. Are you her attorney?”
    “Do you have any other reason to believe she was connected with his death?”
    Blankenship decided to try an end run. “If you aren’t her attorney, I really can’t talk to you about April Bow. Is she there with you? Can I talk to her?”
    “Yes and no. Do you have any evidence that she was involved in the killing? Other than speculation?”
    “She disappeared immediately after her father’s death. Naturally we are very curious about that.” He sharpened his tone. “If she is concerned about protecting herself, she can contact an attorney or the Public Defender’s office. Someone will be provided to look after her interests. Someone who is an attorney.”
    “The night of his death, she went back to her home to get a diary. She was very upset and wanted the emotional comfort and sense of closeness to her father that the diary would give her. She found that the house had been torn apart. Did your officers do that?”
    “Of course not. Torn apart, you say?”
    “I say very thoroughly searched. Miss Bow naturally became very frightened. She came to me for help. Despite her natural desire to help locate her father’s killer, I have advised her that going to the police at this time might be dangerous. I suspect that her father’s killer is targeting her as well.”
    Blankenship abandoned the formal tone he had used up to that point. “Why?”
    “Have you been in her house recently?”
    “Not since the investigation.”
    “Go again. Someone set a grenade with a trip line. A booby trap. For her. I disarmed it, but the line and can are still there. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
    “I was in ’Nam,” he said slowly. “Damn it, who are you?”
    “Just a friend. An uninvolved friend. One who doesn’t want to see her stuck for a killing she couldn’t have done just because she’s convenient.”
    “Look, if she’s in danger, we can protect her. Better than you.”
    “Maybe,” I told him, “but she’d lose her freedom while you were protecting her. And I don’t think you’re going to find the killer.”
    “Why not? Do you know who did it?”
    “I know who didn’t do it. April Bow didn’t do it. Bow was still home when she left the house. So the bomb had to be set after he left. He returned, for some reason, and the bomb went off. But April’s time can all be accounted for. She was in classes until your officer notified her of the death. On top of that, she had a very good relationship with her father. She loved him. He treated her very well. She gained nothing from his death and she lost a great deal. She didn’t kill him. You have no interest in her.”
    “I have an interest in talking to her,” he said. “Who are you? Why is she afraid to talk to the police?”
    “She’s afraid for her life,” I said.
    He asked again where I was calling from.
    “We just flew into Orange County,” I told him and hung up.
    April was still staring at the ceiling. Her