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.There was also a contingent of press.Minicams and print journalists jostled one another for position."I don't see anyone who might recognize us," Remo said, easing the car into a parking slot."Something is wrong," said Chiun."I smell death in the air.""I just hope it's not what I think it is."They got out and sauntered up to the edge of the waiting crowd.A sheet-wrapped body was being carried out.The electronic press crushed close as if the anonymous body on the gurney were the most important figure on earth."Don't they normally take bodies into a funeral parlor?" Remo said, loud enough for anyone to hear."Not when the body is the owner," a print journalist said.Remo winced."Esterquest?""That is the name over the door.""What killed him?" Remo asked."No one knows the what, but the police have a pretty good idea of the who.""Who?""Thrush Limburger.He paid the guy a visit less than an hour ago, and now he's croaked.""Yeah, and Limburger's missing," added another reporter."Which proves he's guilty," said a third."How does one thing prove another?" asked Remo."It ain't coincidence.""Yeah," echoed the first reporter."The only question is where Limburger went to.""My guess is Argentina," yet another reporter ventured."Argentina?""Yeah." The man chuckled."Argentina has a lot of beef and at three-hundred odd pounds, it's a cinch Limburger isn't about to hide out in a country where he has to eat bugs.""Can I quote you on that?" the first reporter wondered.The other shrugged."Sure, just don't use my name."The first reporter raised his voice and looked around."Anyone else hear that Limburger took off for Argentina?"A sharp-faced woman perked up and said, "Yeah.Just now."The first reporter scribbled something on his notepad."Good.That gives me two sources.My editor won't squawk.""Wait a minute!" Remo said."He just floated that rumor and now you're going to print it?""Now, it's rumor.After they print it, it will be news.Don't you know how this game works?""I'm getting an education," Remo growled."Listen, while you're in the rumor-mongering business, I caught Senator Ned Clancy porking Jane Goodwoman in the back of Clancy's limo."The reporter made a disgusted face."We can't print that!" he exploded."Why not?" asked Remo."It's unsubstantiated."Remo cocked a thumb at Chiun."My friend here also saw it.""Yes, it is true," said Chiun."The pig Clancy was porking the other pig Goodwoman.""That makes two of us," said Remo."And Clancy's a married man now, isn't Page 63ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhe?"The reporter made a face."That's a character thing.We don't do character issue stories.They're no fun anymore.""I give up," said Remo.He searched for a pay phone and finally found one.It was an old-fashioned glass booth, which meant he could call Harold Smith with a modicum of privacy."Smitty? Remo.This isn't getting any better.Everywhere Chiun and I go, we meet a face from our past.Remember that coroner I mentioned? He just turned up dead.And get this, before he disappeared, Thrush Limburger dropped in on him too.According to Limburger's assistant, he came out all excited, claiming he'd figured out HELP.""It is possible," Smith said slowly."Maybe.But get this: I saw Limburger's van rolling in when I was pulling away from the coroner's place.I thought it was another politician, at the time."Smith's voice grew concerned."Obviously, Limburger spoke with the man just after you did.""Yeah, but when I left him, Esterquest didn't have a thing.The way I figure the timing, Limburger couldn't have spent ten minutes with the guy-and he has HELP all figured out?"Smith's dry voice grew doubtful."Odd.For all his showmanship, Limburger has a reputation for telling the truth.""Why? Because he calls his network Tell the Truth? Isn't that like a used car salesman calling himself Honest John?""This is very odd," Smith said."Perhaps Limburger is not what he seems, after all.""Well, Limburger's assistant seems to be telling the truth that Limburger was kidnapped, if the press's reputation for missing the real story still holds.But here's another flash: the assistant claims a California Highway Patrol roadblock stopped Limburger's van just before he turned up missing.""He suspects them?""According to him, one of the cops had a ponytail tucked up under his uniform cap.""California Highway Patrol officers must adhere to a strict grooming code,"Smith mused."That's what I figured."Across three thousand miles, Smith seemed to lean closer."Remo, this whole affair is becoming very strange.""Yeah.Any minute now I might start believing that Nirvana West is under a hole in the ozone, myself.""Unlikely," said Smith."But there is another thing you should know.""What's that?" Remo asked."Before he went off the air, Thrush Limburger pointed out that there is no such thing as a Chinchilla Indian.The tribe is actually called the Chowchillas.Theodore Soars-With-Eagles is a fraud.""That part I already figured out," Remo said dryly."Remo, I have looked into his background.His real name is Theodore Magarac.""Doesn't sound very Chowchilla to me.""It is Latvian.Magarac is Latvian on both sides of his family [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]