Icy Clutches

Chapter 16

Mr. Pratt, I'd like an answer.” John was nearing the end of the morning's interviews. He was getting tired. Too much information, too many unconnected pieces. And maybe a little too much breakfast. All those complex carbohydrates were sleep-inducing. Not to mention Gerald Pratt.

Pratt was holding a match to his pipe, nodding to show an answer was somewhere along the way. In the meantime, he was sucking in great gulps of smoke and puffing them back out again like the old Camels sign on Times Square. Puh…puh…puh…

Was he stalling? How could you tell? The gaunt, rawboned Pratt wasn't ever going to win any medals for speed. John glanced at Julian Minor in the chair at Pratt's left. Minor had his elbows on the arms of the chair, his hands resting lightly on his thighs, fingers splayed. Lips pursed, head bent, he was studying the perfect crescents at the ends of his flawlessly filed fingernails. One wing-tipped toe tapped noiselessly, discreetly, on the floor.

If Pratt didn't say something pretty soon, they were all going to fall asleep.

"Answer's no,” Pratt said.

"No, what?” Jesus, what was the question?

"No, I never heard Jimmy'd had any trouble with this Steve Fisk. Never heard he had any trouble with anybody."

"He had some trouble with investors in Sea Resources."

Pratt puffed tranquilly. “That,” he said, “was business."

So it had been. Julian Minor had done his usual meticulous check on everyone involved, alive or dead, and had found that James Pratt had been more than a simple graduate student in 1960. It had been the time of the first great cholesterol scare, and Pratt had been involved in a dubious scheme to harvest kelp and process it into tablets that were supposed to lower blood cholesterol. Pratt and his partners, deeply in debt, were in hot water with creditors and investors. At the time of the survey they were being sued and were about to be investigated by both the IRS and the King County Prosecuting Attorney. Two years after Pratt's death, his partners, who had provided the capital (Pratt had supplied the botanical expertise), had paid backbreaking fines and gone to prison for three years.

"Were you involved in Sea Resources yourself, Mr. Pratt?” John asked.

"Not me. Jimmy was the businessman in the family."

"I understand you fish for a living?” More of Julian's legwork.

"That's right. Out of Ketchikan.” He rearranged his long frame in the chair, showing welcome signs of life. “Pink salmon, mostly. Sometimes a little chum. Got me a fiberglass work boat, thirty-four-footer, diesel powered, radio, radar, the whole shebang. Big power reel on the afterdeck with a couple of hydraulic gurdies. Rigged for gill netting and trolling both."

John understood about four words of this, and not just because the pipe had remained between Pratt's teeth the whole time. But at least now he knew the guy was capable of stringing together more than two sentences in a row when he was talking about something that interested him.

"No kidding,” John said.

Pratt was encouraged by this show of interest. “Rigged to handle longline gear, comes to that,” he added with quiet pride. “For halibut. Brought in a 440-pounder off of Hoonah last year. Name's Inez." He removed the pipe. “The boat."

"Mr. Pratt,” Minor said, restlessness spurring him to speech, “I'm given to understand you have the room next to Professor Tremaine's."

"That's right.” He looked at the ceiling and ticked off names on his fingers. “Miz Yount, me, the professor, and Dr. Judd, all in a row. Don't know where the others are."

"Did you hear anything unusual in Professor Tremaine's room last night?"

"Unusual?"

"Did you hear anything?"

There was a long, long silence. “Well, I did hear some voices, now that I think about it."

John and Minor both sat up. “Angry voices?” Minor asked. “Arguing?"

"Just talking."

"No other sounds?"

"Not that I remember."

"Did you recognize them?"

"Well, sure, it was the professor."

"By the professor, you mean Tremaine?"

"Well, sure."

"Who else?"

"Just the professor."

"You said ‘voices,” John said.

Pratt took the pipe out of his mouth and blew smoke to one side. “Figure of speech. All I heard was the professor say hello. Must have said it to someone."

Minor frowned. “You heard him say hello? The word ‘hello'?"

"You got it. I was just going to the toilet, you know, before I went to bed, and I heard his voice through the wall. Made me jump because I thought someone was talking to me."

"And nothing after the hello? No further sounds?” Pratt shrugged. “That's when I flushed the toilet."

"What kind of hello?” John asked. “Loud, quiet, scared, friendly…"

"Just plain hello.” Pratt sucked twice at the pipe while he sought further detail. “Pretty quiet, with kind of like a question mark at the end. You know, like, ‘Hello, is somebody there?’ Only all I heard him say was hello, because that's when I-"

"Flushed the toilet,” John supplied.

"You got it."

"Did you hear anything before the hello?” John asked. “Any other sounds?"

"No…well, yes, I heard his shower. Is that what you mean by sounds?"

John thought this over. “You were able to hear a quiet hello over the sound of the shower? Maybe it wasn't so quiet."

Pratt shook his head with relative vigor. “No, I'm telling this wrong. I was lying on the bed and I heard the professor's shower go off. The pipes make this noise-clunk-clunk-and that sort of woke me up out of a doze, and I figured it was time to call it a day. So “I went into the bathroom to take a pee and that's when I heard it: ‘Hello?"

"How long after the shower went off?"

"Maybe four, five minutes. Long enough to brush my teeth, wash my face, and take a pee."

"About what time was this?"

"Oh, maybe ten o'clock."

Ten o'clock, the probable time of death. “Is there anything else you remember?” John asked. “Sounds of a scuffle? Maybe a door closing?"

Pratt smiled. “Nope. Tell you the truth, I didn't know I remembered this much till you fellas started asking."

And that, despite further prodding by Minor, was all he had to say on the subject.

"So tell me, Mr. Pratt,” John asked, “why are you here?"

"Mm?” Pratt looked at him with renewed interest, his arms crossed, one hand holding the pipe to his mouth. “'Fraid I don't follow what you're after."

John didn't know what he was after; only that Pratt was there in place of his sister, who had originally been invited by Javelin Press. And he just didn't seem the type to willingly spend a week sitting around indoors talking about a manuscript. Especially while the salmon were still running strong (which they were, according to Minor's thoroughgoing research). Javelin was picking up expenses, but that didn't make up for a week's lost income. And private fishermen didn't get paid-vacation time.

"As I understand it,” John said, “the publishing company asked your sister, but you offered to come in her place. Why?"

"Didn't offer. Eunice asked me to."

"And why was that?"

"Well,” Pratt said with a sigh, “Eunice isn't what she was. Just didn't think she was up to talking about Jimmy getting killed and all, so she asked me to come instead. So I did."

"You gave up a week's fishing to be here?"

"Yup."

"Why? What did you hope to accomplish?"

With the bit of his pipe Pratt slowly scratched his temple. “Danged if I know."

That seemed to end that, at least for the time being. “And what about your brother? What was he doing here?"

"My brother? I don't follow-"

"In 1960. Why was he on the expedition?"

"Oh. Something to do with his schoolwork, wasn't it?"

"Yes, certainly,” Minor cut in impatiently, “but didn't it ever occur to you to wonder why he'd drop everything and agree to come way up here for the summer, when he was right in the middle of some major problems with his business?"

Pratt looked at him thoughtfully. “Nope."

"Well, why do you think he would?"

"Hard to say. Jimmy was sort of deep, you know? Even as a kid, he always liked to get away from things and think ‘em through. I remember, where we grew up, in Sitka, there was this old tree house-old packing crate in a tree is what it was, must have been a million years old…well, what the hell.” He reinserted the pipe.

"Did you know about his relationship with Jocelyn Yount?"

"Since I came up here, I heard about it. Don't know as I believe everything I hear."

"Would you say he had a bad temper?"

"I wouldn't say diddley-squat,” Pratt said, not so much angrily as doggedly. “Now, look, mister, if you're trying to get me to say maybe my brother killed somebody way back then, you're gonna have a heck of a wait. Besides, he's the one who got killed, far as I can see."

"What makes you say that?” Minor asked.

"Those are his sunglasses they found, aren't they, all busted up? That ought to prove something.” What it proved he didn't say. “Hell, sure, he could get mad like anybody else, but he was a good-natured kid; bighearted. Blow steam off at you, and then five minutes later buy you a beer. Jimmy didn't kill anyone. No such thing."

He jammed his chin down on his chest, and his hands into the pockets of his brown jumpsuit. “Didn't sell anybody any bum stocks either,” he finished in a mutter, but without rancor.

"You loved him a lot, didn't you?” John asked.

"Well, sure I loved him.” He began to say more but stopped. He pinched his long, lumpy nose between thumb and forefinger.

Minor asked another question. “Do you think Dr. Henckel has a point when she says Professor Tremaine's to blame for taking your brother and the others out on the ice when there was danger of an avalanche?"

"Didn't know she said it."

"She had a Park Service report on it,” John said. “She was showing it to you and Dr. Judd a few nights ago. “I understand she gave it to you to read."

"She did?” Pratt's eyebrows drew together. “In the bar? Is that what that was?"

"You didn't read it?"

"I looked at it. Didn't see much point in reading it. That was all over and done with a long time ago."

"Do you still have it?” Minor asked.

"No, I probably threw it away. Maybe it's in my room. Be glad to look for it, if you want."

"Please do,” Minor said. “So you don't hold Tremaine responsible for the death of your brother?"

The pipe had gone out. Pratt leaned over, using a small folding knife to scrape the sour-smelling Bottle into an ashtray, taking his time. “Now look,” he said reasonably, deliberately, keeping his eyes on his work. “I didn't kill Tremaine, and my brother didn't kill this Fisk or anybody else. I don't hold with grudges, and neither did Jimmy. There's more important things in life."

"I'm glad to hear you say it,” Minor said pleasantly.

Pratt nodded and gathered his long legs under him. “That it, then?"

"One more thing,” John said. “Any objection to letting us into your room?"

"Guess not,” Pratt said. Then a moment later: “What for?"

"I just want to test for myself the kind of sounds that come through from Tremaine's room."

"Sure.” He dug in a zippered leg pouch for his key and handed it to John. “There you go. You can leave it at the desk."

"You can come with us. It'd probably be better if you did."

"No, thanks. You boys go ahead and do your job. I'll go and be first in the chow line."

John stood by Pratt's bed while Minor followed his instructions, working the shower next door in Tremaine's bathroom. As Pratt had told them, turning off the water produced a hollow double clank in the pipes, sufficient to awaken someone drowsing in Pratt's room. Neither the tap at the sink nor the toilet produced similar noises.

He got up, went into Pratt's bathroom, and knocked on the wall.

"Hello?” Minor said on the other side, his measured voice distinct.

"Fine!” John yelled. “Now try it from the bedroom.” He heard the floor creak as Minor left the bathroom, but nothing more.

A few seconds later the floor creaked again and Minor returned to Tremaine's bathroom. “Could you hear me?” he called through the wall.

"Not a thing,” John called back.

"Which seems to mean,” he told Minor a few moments later, as they clumped along the wooden walkway back to the main building, “that Tremaine'd just taken a shower when he heard a noise in his room-"

"Or maybe heard it while he was still in the shower, and turned the water off."

"No, because Pratt said four or five minutes went by after the shower got turned off."

"Assuming Pratt's telling the truth."

"True. Anyway, Tremaine calls out a hello and then-what?"

"Presumably he doesn't get an answer, he comes out of the bathroom, and he's killed by the intruder he's discovered."

"Doing what?"

"Looking for the manuscript, I suppose."

"Maybe,” John said.

"What else?"

"I'm not sure, Julian. I need to think about this some more.” They reached the lodge building and trotted up the short flight of steps. “Lunchtime."

"Shall we stop by the Icebreaker Lounge first?"

"Little early in the day, isn't it? Anyway, the bar doesn't open till five. I've got some vodka in my room if you can't make it till then."

"Very amusing, John. As a matter of fact I had something else in mind."