He glowered at her and continued his story.
“And that?s when her necklace was gone,” Chip said. “It was a cluster of diamonds on a gold
chain. Eight diamonds. They added up to a full carat.”
“Can you please get on to the details!” I demanded.
“We?re sorry about the necklace,” Dutch said tersely. “Can you finish your story.”
“Yes, well,” he said, “so we excused ourselves and came back up here, hoping maybe we
could find it.”
„That?s when the man got shot,” Harriet said, nodding even more exuberantly as she got in
the big one. Chip?s bubbly cheeks turned scarlet at being upstaged.
“Did you see anybody?” I interjected.
They both shook their heads.
“Did you hear them? Did they say anything?”
“I?m not sure,” Chip said firmly.
“Well, they did say something,” Harriet piped up again, “or at least one of them did. He said,
„You?re finished.”
“You?re not sure, Harriet,” Chip said curtly.
She nodded her head vigorously.
“Would you recognize the voice if you heard it again?” the Stick asked.
Chip said, “We weren?t paying much attention. We heard somebody on the walk, the
footsteps stopped—”
Harriet jumped in, stealing his thunder again. “And there was „You?re finished? and bang!”
Big nod.
Chip?s face twisted in anger. “Harriet! May I please tell the story?” he said.
“What else is there?” I asked.
“Harriet screamed and the killer ran away,” he said, glaring at his future wife to keep her
quiet.
“Nobody?s dead yet,” Dutch growled.
“Well, you know what I mean,” the kid said nervously.
“Which way did this person run?” I asked.
“We couldn?t tell,” Chip said. “You can?t really tell because of the buildings, uh, the sound..
“Acoustics, is that what you?re talking about?” Stick asked. “Exactly,” Chip said, and he
started the nodding routine. I was true. With fog so thick you could hardly see your feet, and
with the three buildings forming a kind of box, it was impossible to tell where sound was
