A Man Is Missing

“And as far as Ed Harvel’s concerned, Dewitt, I rang him up and told him we’d got the case solved and the murderer in jail.

“And now, if you folks feel like it, we’ll get Mrs. Adrian disposed of, and then I guess we can have a little something to eat. I’ve been up pretty nearly all night working on this thing, and I ain’t as young as I used to be. When I go without sleep, I’ve got to have lots of food to keep the energy up.

“I told Harvel you’d done a fine job of detective work up here, Dewitt. And Harvel was proud as punch. ’Course I told him that us country fellows had to put a few little finishing touches on, here and there. Just because it’s our county, you know, and the voters sort of look to us to keep things in line. But I told him you’d done most of the work.

“Okay, Hank, let’s get the matron over here, and then we’ll go down and see what we can find. Deer season’s open now, and a friend sent me a loin of venison. I took it down to Ted Collins’ place and told him to have things all ready to give us a good venison feed when we showed up.

“Oh, yes, another thing. The insurance companies that had the policies on Adrian’s life, in favor of his wife, are pretty grateful. Ed Harvel tells me they want to make sort of a contribution. So I guess, come to figure it all out, we done a pretty fair day’s work. Whatta ya think, boys?”