Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Greed case’

DNA, Whatever That Is

DNA comes up a lot in this job, but what it is exactly, don’t ask me.

We were in Addie’s apartment in College Town, which is near the downtown towers, but very different, with lots of grass and none of the downtown shadows. Addie’s apartment was full of light. A couple of tennis racquets stood in one corner and under the couch Bernie and Addie were sitting on lay a tennis ball, no doubt about that, even though I couldn’t see it.

“The DNA results came in,” Bernie said. “The lab says we’ve got a match.”

“Meaning it’s my great grandmother’s sister Betty?” Addie said.

“They can’t say that precisely,” Bernie said. “Just that it’s a female related to you on your mother’s side.”

“But who else could it be?” Addie said.

Bernie nodded.

“So,” Addie said, “Betty was a script girl and she was killed on the Greed shoot and no one was punished?”

“That’s it,” Bernie said.

Addie was quiet for a while. Bernie just sat there. Me, too, although I wanted to root around under the couch for that tennis ball pretty bad. Finally she said, “Should I be crying? It was so long ago.”

Bernie nodded. Then he opened up the film can with the Martin Ramirez painting inside, took out the painting – that strange picture of trains and tunnels – and said, “Can’t think of anyone else who should end up with this.”

He handed her the painting. Addie cried then, but not much.

Story Structure

“Yes,” said Addie, great granddaughter of Addie Kline, twin sister of Betty, script girl who disappeared. “She went for a hike and never came back. Search teams looked, but they didn’t find her.”

“Where was this?” Bernie said.

“Death Valley. She was working on the Greed shoot. My great grandmother Addie was never the same, my mom told me. Apparently she felt that part of her soul was missing. I just wanted to know if you found out anything. I don’t like stories without endings.”

“Stories without endings is the modern way,” Bernie said.

“I know,” Addie said, “but that seems perverse to me. Our lives have a beginning, middle and end, so why shouldn’t the stories about them have the same structure?”

“I don’t know,” Bernie said. “This is above my pay grade. Are you a professor or something?”

Addie smiled. “In training.”

“Got any money?”

“Some. Why?”

“We’re going to need some heavy equipment, a backhoe maybe, for a day or so.”

“What for?”

Bernie turned to me. “I think Chet knows.”

Oops. Hadn’t really been following this, mostly on account of some interesting scraps I was finding under the table.

Into Thin Air

“Vanished into thin air?” said Lt. Stine. “How is that possible?”

We were out in the canyon, a whole bunch of us – Lt. Stine and some uniformed guys – they had Kelo, Portia, Freddie and Trimmer all safely cuffed in a cruiser – Bernie and me, plus Suzie; and don’t forget Iggy. But the thing is the film had vanished into thin air. That’s exactly what happened – I saw it with my own eyes.

“Iggy?” Bernie said. “What did you do with the film, little guy?”

Iggy liked Bernie. He ran around in circles, stubby tail wagging, and lifted his leg against a cactus.

“Think we should dig around that plant?” said Lt. Stine.

Table d’Hote

We’re back. Lots of fun. Got to hang out with Rocky. What a dude, but guess what. He never gets any table scraps! Never ever! Was I shocked or what?

Tomorrow, back to Greed. As for the soundtrack – great idea!