[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Science of Blood Splash Analysis. Now, young man, what do you make of this?
You may come this way, there s nothing to be damaged along the path.
I was not actually interested in what he made of the mark on the ground,
although what he had to say would tell me what kind of man I had been given to
assist me. The corporal picked his way across the ground, following the faint
path left by generations of deer, and looked at the soil where I pointed.
 That from a boot? he offered.
I looked up in surprise. Not only had he seen the gentle depression cut into
the turf, he had recognised it.
 Very good, I told him.  Anything else?
 The lieutenant was sitting on that rock, wasn t he?
Page 125
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
For this, I wanted to look my assistant in the eye or, in any event, from a
standing position. I braced myself to rise, and the polite lad took my elbow
to help me.
An unremarkable face, with pale brown eyes and corn-silk hair, crooked teeth,
the upper-body musculature that comes with physical labour from childhood, and
the exaggerated muscles of hand and wrist that indicate far too many hours
bent over a cow s udders: dairy farmer s younger son, escaped into the Army, I
diagnosed. His was a face of boyish innocence, which on closer examination
hinted of a vein of well-concealed humour. That combination can only mean
intelligence.
 How do you know that s where he was sitting? I asked Larsen.
 The marks on the stone. The moss is all mussed along the top, and there s a
scratch where a metal grommet scraped it.
 Lichen, not moss, I corrected absently. He grinned suddenly, so that he
looked about eleven years old.
 Me and my pappy did a lot of hunting. They sometimes use me as a tracker
here, when one of the horses wanders off or something.
I sent a vote of thanks in the direction of Major Morris, and said,  A
veritable Natty Bumppo. What see you here, young man?
 I m not that good, and there s probably not all that much to see, what with
the ground being a little on the dry side beforehand and then the rain
afterwards. One man was sitting here smoking, another man came up behind him
and knocked him off the rock. Looks like one or both of  em sort of rolled
around the ground a little, and although I don t know about blood splash
patterns and all, you can sure see the blood right there.
 Where Lieutenant Raynor lay dying.
 He was a good man. The lad pulled off his cap in an unconscious tribute,
staring at the hand-sized smear of red-brown.
 You knew him.
 He d only been here for a little while, but it s not a very large base, you
get to know most of the officers. And he was one of the good ones.
 Any ideas about who would have wanted to do this?
 Nope. Most of the fellows felt the same way about him I did.
 I see.
 What was he doing out here, do you know?
I turned to look over the great shining expanse of the Pacific, set alight by
the low-lying sun.  He was sitting and looking at the moon, smoking one of his
small cigars, and waiting to meet a man he regarded as a friend. And I suspect
that the man who did this had his own ambiguous feelings about Raynor. He
killed him, but he couldn t quite bear to turn his back and abandon Raynor s
dead body out here on the hillside, knowing what the gulls would do to it. Nor
could he bring himself to push Raynor off the cliff to the sea.
 Wouldn t be all that easy, to push him off.
Page 126
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
 Why do you say that?
 Oh, it looks simple, just roll something over and splash, but in fact the
slope s just a little too gentle for that.  Bout six months ago, we had a
horse break its leg along here, had to shoot it, and the major ordered us to
shove it off the cliff. Took ten of us the better part of the day to get the
cursed thing anywhere near the water.  Course, a man d be simpler, but not
real easy. Not unless you could pick him up and throw him.
I studied him for a while, so intently that the young man began to look
nervous, as young men do.  Let us take a closer look at that cliff, I said.
At that, his nervousness increased.
 Uh, mister, I really wouldn t if I was you. I mean, no offence meant, but
you re not a real young man.
 I shall endeavour to remain on the land side of the water-line, Corporal.
My youthful helpmeet sheltered my every step as we approached the steeper
portion of the cliff, although I could see what he meant, that at this part of
the cliffs, there was no convenient spot at which one could absolutely
guarantee that a rolled object would continue rolling without fetching up on
rock or shrub.
I could also see something else. At the very point at which the slope became
impossible, when I had resorted to hunkering onto my heels with one hand on
the ground and Corporal Larsen s firm grip on my coat-tails for support--the
point, in short, at which farther progress became impossible--I spotted a lump
of white half-way to the breaking waves, and even more precipitously, a light
shape that could be the raw colour of broken wood.
I looked around into the worried brown eyes of my assistant.  Which position [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]