, Pt
“Mr. Graham, you don’t know me. My name is Edwina Broome. I was a friend
of Luther Whitney.” Broome? The name was familiar. The message
continued. “Luther told me that if anything happened to him I was to
wait a little bit and then I was to send the package on to you. He told
me not to open it and I didn’t. He said it was like a Pandora’s box. If
you looked you might get hurt. God rest his soul, he was a good man,
Luther was. I hadn’t heard from you, not that I expected to. But it just
occurred to me that I should call and make sure that you got the thing.
I’ve never had to send something like that before, overnight delivery
they call it.
And I think I did it right, but I don’t know. If you didn’t get it,
please call me. Luther said it was very important. And Luther never said
anything that wasn’t true.”
Jack listened to the phone number and wrote it down. He checked the time
of the call. Yesterday morning. He quickly searched his office. There
was no package lurking there. He jogged down the hallway to his
secretary’s workstation.
There was no package there either. He went back to his office. My God, a
package from Luther. Edwina Broome? He put his hand through his hair,
assaulted his scalp, forced himself to think. Suddenly the name came to
him. The mother of the woman who had killed herself Frank had told him
about her. Luther’s alleged partner.
Jack picked up the phone. It seemed to ring for an eternity.
“H-hello?” The voice-was sleepy, distant.
“Mrs. Broome? This is Jack Graham. I’m sorry for calling you so late.”
“Mr. Graham?” The voice was no longer sleepy. It was alert, sharp. Jack
could almost envision her sitting up in bed, clutching at her nightgown,
looking anxiously at the phone receiver.
“I’m sorry, I just got your message. I didn’t get the package, Mrs.
Broome. When did you send it?”
“Let me think for a minute.” Jack could hear the labored breathing. “Why
it was five days ago, counting today.”
Jack thought furiously. “Do you have the receipt with a number on it?”
“The man gave me a piece of paper. I’ll have to go get it.”
“I’ll wait.”
He tapped his fingers against his desk, tried to stop his mind from
flying apart. Just hold 0,4 Jack Just hold on.
“I’ve got it right here, Mr. Graham.”
“Please call me Jack. Did you send it by Federal Express?”
“That’s right. Yes.”
“All right, what’s the tracking number?”
“The what?”
“I’m..Porry. The number on the upper-right-hand corner of the piece of
paper. It should be a long series of numbers.”
“Oh Yes.” She gave it to him. He scribbled the numbers down, read them
back to her to confirm it. He also had her confirm the address of the
law firm.
“Jack, is this very serious? I mean Luther dying the way he did and
all.”
“Has anyone called you, anyone you don’t know? Besides me?”
“No.
“Well if they do I want you to call Seth Frank, Middleton Police
Department.”
“I know him.”
“He’s a good guy, Mrs. Broome. You can trust him.”
“All right, Jack.”
He hung up and phoned Federal Express. He could heav the computer keys
clicking on the other end of the line.
The female voice was professional and concise. “Yes, Mr. Graham, it was
delivered at the law offices of Patton, Shaw & Urd on Thursday at
ten-oh-tWO A.m. and signed for by a Ms. Lucinda Alvarez.”
“Thank you. I guess it’s around here somewhere.” Bewildered, he was
about to hang up.
“Has there been some special problem with this package delivery, Mr.
Graham?”
Jack looked puzzled. “Special problem? No, why?”
“Well, when I pulled up the delivery history of this package it shows
that we already had an inquiry about it earlier today.”
Jack’s whole body tensed. “Earlier today? What time?”
“Six-thirty P.m.”
“Did they leave a name?”
“Well, that’s the unusual part. According to my records, that person
also identified himself as Jack Graham.” Her tone made it clear she was