The Traveling Corpse by Double Edge Press

blackout, but I don’t think that’s tha way it
happened.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œI don’t think that tha tissue was dropped
until after all tha people were outta tha hall, includin’
the clean-up bunch. Otherwise it would’ve been swept up.”
    â€œYou’re right, DeeDee!” Annie exclaimed,
“You’re a real-life Miss Marple.”
    Doc, proud of his wife, said, “She sure is
right about that! But, if the body wasn’t taken outside until
later, then where was it during the second half of Bingo?”
    â€œDo you suppose the body was moved twice?”
Art asked,
    Now it was Annie’s turn to look at her
husband with pride, “Art, I think you’re right. That must be what
happened. That murderer sure was busy! That’s what makes it all so
very confusing. It’s a hard trail, trying to follow a moving
corpse. And without a body, we can’t get any help from the law.
They’re the ones who should be solving this mystery, not us senior
citizens.” She rubbed her temple, “Can you imagine! He moved the
body twice!
    While she was talking, Doc pulled out an
empty drawer/trolley and examined it. “Look at this, will you?” he
said with excitement in his voice. “See how it’s made? The bottom
and ends aren’t solid—just rails three or four inches in from the
sides and ends to hold the folded tables. When it’s empty like
this—no tables in it, you could easily stuff a body through the end
rails, there’s plenty of room, and when you put the drawer back,
the body would be pushed further under the stage. That’d make a
good hiding place.”
    Art bent down to study it. “I wonder why the
killer didn’t do that in the first place. It’s a better hiding
place than in the drawer with the decorations.”
    DeeDee asked him to pull the next drawer all
the way out too. Then she bent down to peer under the stage. “Well,
look at you!” Doc said, surprised. “You’re squatting down like a
young thing. Guess your sciatica isn’t bothering you now!”
    â€œOh, ya know how it jest comes an’ goes. I’m
doin’ okay right now,” DeeDee said. “Please pull out some more
drawers so I can see better.” She tugged at her slacks to loosen
them around the knee; then she duck-walked under the stage. In
another minute she spotted something and yelled out to the others,
“Bingo! There’s a shoe under here, an’ it’s a woman’s shoe, fer
sure! It’s jest back here behind Drawer #9. I’d say this is a very
strange place ta find a woman’s shoe!” The space under the stage
wasn’t high enough for her to stand up; so she waddled over to pick
it up, then wiggled back out and thankfully stood up straight and
stretched. DeeDee held up a woman’s blue denim sneaker.
    Annie shouted, “Bingo, yourself, DeeDee.
You’ve hit the jackpot! I’d swear that that sneaker matches the
denim jeans that body was wearing when I saw it. I remember
thinking that it was the same shade of light blue as the denim
jumper I was wearing last night.”
    The four friends agreed that under the stage
was a very unusual place to find a shoe. And the fact that it
matched the body’s jeans made it even more interesting.
    â€œWhere do ya suppose is the matching shoe?”
DeeDee asked.
    Annie had a pretty good idea where its mate
was, she said, “I’ll bet that when we find the body that there will
be a light blue denim shoe on its left foot.”
    DeeDee said, “That sounds right ta me.” Then
she hurried to the kitchen for more aluminum foil to wrap it up.
“Got to protect any fingerprints.”
    â€œI think we’re done here. Come on to the
kitchen,” said Doc. “I’ll make us some coffee.”
    â€œThat’s a wonderful idea,” they all
agreed.
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Wednesday, 6