:11:02
Will call later, the message said.
:11:05
That was 10 hours ago.
How long is "later"?
:11:08
What to do in a hot wind, smelling
of jasmine except wait and sweat...
:11:13
... and prime the body to sweat more?
A phone directory might help.
:11:18
I'd never heard of Johnny
speak of any relatives...
:11:21
... but I was ready to try anything.
:11:25
"Prendergast, Prescott, Prestwood."
:11:28
Stalled again, like a jeep
on synthetic gas.
:11:34
48 hours since he'd called
and no word.
:11:37
I'd pitched the Cardinals
into the pennant...
:11:41
... and set the Red Sox down
in the World Series.
:11:44
Suddenly, Johnny's service record
came to me like a photograph.
:11:50
He'd enlisted October 11, 1943.
:11:53
Whatever jam he'd got in
must have been just before that.
:11:57
It might have made the papers.
:12:08
There it was, Father.
All over page one.
:12:11
Only five weeks before Johnny enlisted
under the name of Drake.
:12:39
The rest was what you'd expect.
Nationwide search. A murder indictment.
:12:44
Search for Johnny goes limp.
:12:47
Story dribbling off
until it fell out of the paper.
:12:52
The newspaper gave me answers...
:12:54
... but there were three things
I had to find out:
:12:58
How could Johnny be a murderer?