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Brown from the Sun
1:00 AM
The Buried Clock
"It's dark, Tanner. I can't see where I'm going."
"It's alright. You can see the lights to the Main Tower over there and the
Airport landing lights over there and the beacon for the water tower over
there. If that isn't enough, we can go back."
"As long as I'm with you, it's fine." Rhiana pushed him and ran away. "If
you catch me, you can kiss me."
"I'll just follow the giggles." C. Tanner Brown, co-owner of the Sun
Detective Agency, chased his wife, the other owner of the Sun Detective
Agency, for a few feet and caught her around the waist from behind. He
nuzzled her for a few seconds while she made pleasant sounds and laughed
deep in her throat. For a nice church-going mother of one, Rhiana could
laugh in a way that made you think of red satin and late nights.
Tanner stopped doing what he was doing and raised his head. "I hear
something."
"I don't."
Tanner turned his head, listening.
"Tanner, we don't get much time together with the baby and all. We're alone.
Let's do something." He wouldn't, so she threw him to the ground with a hip
toss and jumped on top of him. She kissed him full on the mouth.
He kissed back for 10 seconds and stopped again. "Listen. I hear ticking."
"It's your wristwatch."
"I'm not wearing one."
"Good grief." She grabbed his head in both hands and held him to her mouth
firmly. After a few seconds, she stopped and raised her head. "Wait. I hear
something." Rhiana ignored the look her husband gave her.
The ticking of a clock in the middle of a 40 acre piece of lawn was
unnerving. Rhiana put her ear to the ground. "It's right here. Under the
grass."
This started the day before when a woman in pants and a wrinkled shirt came
into the offices of the Sun Detective Agency.
Tanner and Rhiana bought the offices of the Sun Detective Agency when they
left the police department and started their own agency. It wasn't until the
first phone call that Rhiana got the joke. She answered, "Good morning,
Brown from the Sun" and the laughter on the other end of the line presented
her situation full force. Tanner liked the joke, and it didn't seem to cost
them any business so the name stayed.
The woman in the wrinkled shirt was absolute gold at the box office. Her
last three pictures grossed over 200 million dollars in the domestic market
alone. She traveled without a bodyguard. "My son is about to be expelled. I
want him saved."
Tanner and Rhiana talked with Alfred Whipple, head of security at the
university, and found that the boy was, indeed, being investigated. Whipple
looked like a lounge singer who stood beneath a falling safe. His hair was
thick and wavy, his manner smooth and his face handsome, but he was only
5'6" and spread out to the sides. He appeared to have no neck and his legs
were bowed.
He agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Tanner had belonged to the
boy's fraternity. He was going to act as a visiting alum.
"It's the hiding place we can't find," Whipple said,
"You're sure it's him?"
"More or less. We really can't do anything until we catch him with
incriminating evidence. We've searched his room. We found this. Whipple gave
them a piece of paper. It said simply, "middle. one hand" and the
combination of the safe where the item was kept. On the back of the paper
was the name and address of the actress who had hired Tanner and Rhiana.
That night, Tanner and Rhiana went to a dance in the Student Union building.
Directly to the north was the practice field for the football team and an
adjoining soccer field. There were no lights on either since they weren't
used at night. The fraternity was only a short walk in the dark away.
The next day Tanner met with Whipple. "I wish I could tell you that I solved
this with brilliant detective work, but the truth is we literally fell on
the answer last night. We can set a trap, tonight and catch the criminal."
After dark Tanner and Rhiana walked across the same huge empty space in the
middle of the campus. It was again, pitch black but they found the spot
immediately. The clock still ticked. They sat on the grass fifty yards away.
An hour later, they heard footsteps then the sound of a shovel, digging
softly. Tanner shouted, "Now!" and the lights came on. One young man stood
alone with the spade in his hand and no place to run. Rhiana was relieved.
The boy reminded Tanner of a bug skewered by a pin on a card. Tanner said,
gently, "You can try to escape if you want to. But I don't see anywhere to
go." Whipple brought the hand cuffs and led the boy away.
What week was it? Hint: The calendar won't help you. What was buried with
the clock? Hint: It's extremely valuable on a college campus, but only to
some people. It can't be kept in the dorm but has to be close at hand, and
you can't sell it anywhere else. What was the purpose of the clock? How did
Tanner find his way to the same spot?
Can you solve the mystery? Think about it for a moment then page down for
the answer. If you enjoy 'Brown from the Sun', look at my book, "Dead Box"
with the same characters at www.lockedroom.com
Answer: It was test week and the answers to final tests were the valuable
commodity. The answers had enormous value during test week, but only to
people taking that particular class. They were worthless after the test. If
the thief had kept the answers in his room, he would have been expelled or
arrested immediately because simple possession of test answers outside of
the testing room is incriminating. He had to hide them somewhere away from
his own room yet close at hand to study.
He chose the middle of the field under the grass. The clock helped him find
his hiding place. He would look at the lights from the Main Tower and
Airport and measure the distance between them by holding his hand in front
of him with his middle finger on the middle light. When he saw the two other
lights touch each side of his outstreached hand he knew he was in the right
general area. The clock led him to the exact spot. The clock wouldn't be
noticed during the day when the quad was crowded and noisy.
The roommate was guilty, not the son. He'd grabbed what he thought was a
piece of blank paper to write the combination and got a letter from the
actress instead.
If you have praise or curses, questions or comments, send them to me at
dlmarsh1044@yahoo.com
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