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“you’re all right?” the professor shouted at bob. “what about my car? what about - what about everything?”
bob stopped waving his arms, but kept coming up the hill.
he looked at the professor, and the professor looked at him.
they both lost track of time as they stood in the rain, thinking their thoughts.
“we better get out of here,” bob finally said. “before somebody comes along.”
“and sees those bodies.” he added when the professor made no reply.
“who is we?” the professor finally asked. “you killed them, i didn’t.”
“they were accidents,” said bob. “i didn’t even touch the guy, he just fell off the ladder.”
“that’s what you say,” the professor said. “i didn’t see anything.”
bob stared at the professor. “i thought you were my pal. ”
“i don’t know what gave you that idea.”
he is bigger and stronger than me, the professor thought. and he might have the proverbial strength of a madman!
the professor turned the full force of his cosmic mind power on bob, and after a while bob turned and walked back down the hill.
the professor chuckled as he watched bob walk past the two wrecked vehicles and down the road in the rain.
ha ha, the poor fool, he thought, he doesn’t know about the million dollars in the basement!
the million dollars that is now all mine, because the old lady has been so conveniently done away with…
ha, ha, ha!
the professor felt in his pocket for the note mrs morris had given him with the directions to the treasure in the basement. it was there, and its crinkled satisfyingly in his fingers.
he turned and headed back to the house. he noticed the old lady’s body lying on the ground.
should he just leave it there? would anybody driving by see it? probably not.
and the handyman’s body, lying up against the house, who would see that?
especially in this storm.
but the two wrecked cars at the bottom of the hill - somebody might well notice those.
the professor looked back down the hill at the cars. was there any chance either of them could be moved? it sure did not look like it. should he waste time checking?
precious time he could be using digging up the million dollars?
suddenly he had an inspiration. an inspiration of the type that had served him well in so many similar situations before.
he would drag the two bodies down the hill. and if the cars could not be moved, and he suspected they could not, he would put one body in each of the two cars, and if the police or any other nosey parkers came along, they would just assume that they had crashed together.
with luck, nobody would even come up the hill and ask if he had heard anything.
and if they did… well, he would think up something. say that it was his house, that he was taking a nap, had not heard anything…
or maybe he would be down in the basement digging up the money when the police came, and he could tell them he was changing a fuse….
it would all work out. and he would be rich!
he came up to mrs morris’s body on the driveway. he reached down and began tugging on it.
damn! it was heavier than he expected. and the handyman’s body would be even heavier.
maybe he should have kept bob around to help him. he could always have gotten rid of him later, one way or another.
oh well, he could not be expected to think of everything.
he started dragging the old lady’s body down the hill. it was slow work.
suddenly he slipped and lost his grip on the body and fell face first in the mud.
the wind was knocked out of him, and he lost consciousness.
he did not know how long he lay there…
when he regained consciousness , the storm was howling around him more ferociously than ever.
he was covered with mud from head to foot.
he looked back at the house and had one thought.
to get inside.
he tried to get up.
part 21
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