The Maltese Cube (Chapter 14)

What happened in Chapter 13

Mac puts some pieces together and finally tracks down Newton. Newton explained why he still had the Maltese Cube. Before Newton could go into detail about what to do next, he’s shot by an unknown assailant and dies in front of Mac, but not before giving him a key to a storage locker that Newton says holds the Cube.

Chapter 14
In search of clues

Newton was dead. There was nothing more I could do for him on this plane of existence. I lowered his head down to the ground and stood up.

I looked in the direction of where I had seen the shooter, but that person was long gone. Whoever had done the deed was one heck of a shot, as firing a silenced pistol accurately was not the easiest task in the world.

I walked over to where I thought the shot had come from and found a single shell casing from what I assumed was the murder weapon.

Pulling a pen from my pocket, I picked up the shell without touching it, dropped it into a small plastic bag, and placed it in my pocket.

Glancing around at the rest of the park, I saw that no one had taken notice of the drama that had just unfolded. Newton’s body was hidden from view in the grove of trees that we had been talking from, so it was doubtful that anyone would find him soon.

Walking out of the park, I found the nearest phone booth and called a police lieutenant I was friendly with named B. H. Astronomer(1).

‘Barry, there’s a body in the northwest section of the park that I think you’ll be interested in.’ I said.

‘Really now.’ said Barry. ‘How did you run into this alleged body?’

‘He was shot in front of me.’

‘Is that a fact? I don’t suppose you’re going to make my life easier and confess to the crime?’

‘Not likely Barry.’

‘Didn’t think so.’ He said. ‘How did it go down?’

‘I was talking to him about a case I’m on and someone shot him through the trees with a silenced gun. An automatic. I found the shell casing back where I saw the person afterwards.”

‘Did you see who did it?’ he asked.

‘No I didn’t. Just a quick look at someone running away.’

‘Who’s the victim?’

‘Newton.’ I replied.

‘Aw geez. The poor sap. What were you working on that someone wanted him dead?’

I wasn’t sure how much to say. I liked Barry and as far as I know, he liked me. But this was murder. Something the police took a dim view of. I had further complicated matters by not staying with the body and removing evidence.

Barry may be my friend, but if I was implicated in this, he would send me down the river as quick as you please. I decided to stick with the truth, but not all of the truth. I didn’t have time to go down to the Station and answer a lot of questions right now.

‘It looks like industrial espionage. There’s a lot of money involved.’

Barry sighed. ‘Isn’t there always a lot of money involved? Mac, I can’t keep this quiet for long. If you can’t come forth with some answers and soon, I’m going to have to haul you in.’

‘I understand Barry. I know most of the principles involved in this and I should be able to come up with something later today.’

‘Alright Mac. Don’t make me look bad. I’ll be expecting a call today. AND I expect you to hand over the casing you found too. You’ll need to show me exactly where it was before you removed it.’

‘Sure will Barry. Thanks for trusting me on this. You won’t regret it.’

‘I already regret it.’ He said before hanging up.

Notes for Chapter 14

(1) B. H. Astronomer – Apple uses code names for all their machines prior to their introduction. One of the machines was code-named Sagan (After Carl Sagan the astronomer). Apparently, Mr. Sagan was less than delighted to be associated with Apple and demanded that they change the name. As rumor has it, Apple complied by changing the code name to BHA. Though never admitted openly, it is thought that these initials stood for Butt-Head Astronomer.