Chapter 4
Dr. Hugo Gibbet dumped the body of Fiona Anderson into his recently dug pit. Normally, he would have hired someone else to do this kind of work, but he thought a little exercise would be nice. Besides, nothing clears a weary mind like methodically shoveling loose dirt over a stiff body.
That’s probably good enough; he thought to himself, brushing the dirt off his jeans. They probably won’t find her for a good two weeks.
Gibbet glanced at his Rolex and figured he better get back into town. He had told Nick to meet him for lunch at the Greasy Monkey, a local Chinese restaurant that had recently become his favorite meeting place. he ditched the shovel and started jogging into town.
Walking into the stuffy restaurant, Gibbet noticed that it was more packed than ever. The Greasy Monkey’s popularity was not hindered in the least by its strange name.
“Hey Changchang, how’s the wait?” He asked the waitress at the front desk in a friendly manner.
“Not so good, mista Gibbet. This is the busiest day we had for long time; you gonna have to wait two howas” the small Asian woman said in a thick accent.
“Are you sure? Check again, it doesn’t look that busy,” Gibbet said slyly as he placed a crisp twenty-dollar bill on the desk.
“Oh! I’m terribly sorry mista Gibbet,” she said in a shocked voice, throwing her hands in the air, “It seems I was mistaken, a table just opened up en back.”
Gibbet chuckled, Changchang probably made more in bribes than her actual salary. He followed her to a small wooden table next to the window. Outside, it was just starting to snow. The snowflakes melted as soon as they touched the sun warmed ground.
The small TV on the wall grabbed Gibbet’s attention; It was playing the local news. He couldn’t quite make out what the announcers were saying, but luckily, the subtitles were on.
“The body of a scientist named David Straight was found buried in the forest surrounding the out-skirts of Mayfield, yesterday. This is the fourth scientist to be murdered in the past two months. Police say they are hot on the murderer’s trail and expect to gain enough evidence to convict their prime suspect within the next couple of days…”
“Not likely,” gibbet muttered to himself, taking a sip of water.
“Not likely what?” Nick said in a deep rich voice. The man was a rhinoceros, weighing in at around three hundred pounds and towering at a height of 6’5’’. At full sprint, the man was more destructive then the average bulldozer. You could audibly hear the cheep Chinese chair grunt as the man sat down.
“Oh, they just found Dave, and they say they’re hot on the trail of his murderer” Gibbet said casually, a waitress came over and they both ordered.
“Why don’t you think that’s likely?” Nick asked.
“Because I did too good of a job,” Gibbet said, smirking his pearly white teeth.
Nick took a nervous glance around the room, “Do you think we can just freely talk about that here?” he said, gesturing to the other people cheerily talking amongst themselves.
Gibbet burst out laughing, “Honestly, I’ve talked about things much, much worse then a few murders here; the people are too busy munching their sesame chicken to pay any attention to what other people talk about!”
“I guess you’re right,” Nick said, still looking a little nervous. “Could we at least talk a little more cryptically?”
“Sure, whatever,” Gibbet said casually. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the scattered conversations of everyone in room.
“Did you find it?” Nick asked as the waitress brought out their food.
“Find what?” Gibbet said, stuffing a chunk of the Greasy Monkey’s famous sesame chicken in his mouth.
“Oh come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Nick said, tucking a napkin underneath his collar; he didn’t want to ruin his bright orange tie. “The key. The key is the only thing that’s been on your mind the last two months.”
Gibbet shook his head, “I Didn't find it. I thought for sure Fiona would give in and tell me where it is, but she was about as helpful as a soggy pancake.”
“So what are we going to do now?” Nick said. There was no doubt in his mind that his genius friend was already planning his next move, and probably the next couple moves after that. ”Fiona was the last of the scientists. It seems we’re back to square one.”
“Not necessarily, “Gibbet said with a smile returning to his face. “One of those scientists has to know where the key is, but they didn’t tell me, even under the persuading effects of extreme torture.” He paused for effect, “Tell me, Nick, what is the only thing that can keep a man silent when he is being tortured?”
“The safety of loved ones?” Nick tried, he was a smart man, but not nearly as smart as Gibbet.
“Precisely.” Gibbet practically gleamed.
“So you think the families know where it is,” Nick said with realization in his voice.
“I already sent some of your men to pick up David Straight’s wife.” Gibbet said. “If the spouses don’t tell us anything, we’ll move on to the kids.”
"You don't do cryptic talk very well, do you?" Nick said, standing up, "Oh well, thanks for lunch, I assume you're picking up the check."
Gibbet nodded, "you can pick it up next time."
