“Might I get you another cigar?” Pony asked Governor Crimm in a sullen tone as Regina held the cue behind her back and knocked a ball into two more balls, all three of which spun off at impossible angles and smacked into pockets.
“I must admit, I’m very disappointed to learn that he might have been trying to poison me,” the governor added. “I think we should go back to having tasters. Huh, make that scoundrel one, as a matter of fact.”
“If you can find him,” Andy replied. “My guess is, he’s going to disappear and probably already has. It’s too bad we don’t have any hard evidence on him yet or we could have arrested him before he left the mansion.”
“Sounds to me like Trooper Truth has plenty of hard evidence,” Crimm commented with an insinuation in his tone. “And that indicates to me this renegade columnist may be Trader’s accomplice. How else would Trooper Truth know about my being poisoned, now tell me that, unless he had something to do with it?”
Andy hadn’t anticipated this turn in the governor’s thoughts, and he got a little worried. If Hammer were subpoenaed and asked under oath if she knew Trooper Truth’s identity, she would have to reply truthfully and Andy could find himself in a world of trouble.
As if Crimm were privy to Andy’s thoughts, he said, “I need to talk to Superintendent Hammer and find out what she knows.”
“I’m sure she’d be happy to talk to you, Governor,” Andy said. “But she’s had a terrible time getting hold of you and never hears from you.”
“Never hears from me?” The governor gave Andy a magnified eye. “I’ve written her a number of notes, not only about her poor little dog, but inviting her to official functions!”
“She’s never gotten them, sir.”
“So that damn Trader was interfering with everything!.” He was getting very put out.
“Seems to me he’s been lying to you from the start,” Andy agreed.
“A fresh cigar would be a good idea,” the governor said to Pony, who was still waiting patiently in the doorway.
Crimm stubbed out his half-smoked cigar in Regina’s ice cream dish, which he mistook for an ashtray. He was getting impatient as his unsportsmanlike daughter tapped one ball after another into the pockets.
“That’s why I don’t like to play with you,” he said to her. “I never get to shoot. I may as well not even be in the room. Tell you what I’m going to do, son.” Crimm directed this to Andy. “I’m going to assign you to a special undercover investigation. I want you to find out who Trooper Truth is as quickly as possible and see just what his involvement with Trader might be. And while you’re at it, let’s get the dentist back and make sure those Tangier people aren’t up to any other mischief.”
“Why don’t you put both Andy and me on a special mission, and I’ll help him solve crimes and get bad people off the streets?” Regina suggested as the last solid ball spun across felt, banked several times, and sank out of sight. “Maybe he can teach me to fly, too.”
“Maybe Miss Regina and Mister Andy should help out with that fisherman who just burned up,” Pony said from the doorway. “I hear things aren’t going too well. Some old woman ran over the body, a bicycle, and a tackle box. The troopers are talking about it. They say a mean Hispanic’s on the loose and will probably kill some other poor black person the same way.”
“And what way might that be?” the governor inquired.
“Spontenuous consumption.”
“Well, I ‘spect Doctor Sawamatsu will be the judge of that,” was Crimm’s response.
He had appointed the most recently hired medical examiner himself, and he had the utmost confidence in the infallibility of Dr. Sawamatsu, who had originally come to Virginia for the sole purpose of studying gunshot wounds. His intention had been to take his training back to Japan, but the traffic was so bad there and he was so tired of living in a crowded house with people he didn’t know that he lingered in the Commonwealth well beyond the completion of his internship. Then the governor, who was always trying to attract Japanese businesses and tourists to Virginia, called Dr. Sawamatsu one day.