Blood Will Tell by Jean Lorrah Page B

mountie had heard a distant, broken radio report of a tractor-trailer accident on the Purchase Parkway, with a toxic spill. In each case the officer, not having heard it clearly, had called for confirmation and been told by his dispatcher that it must not be in their territory. Now it turned out there had been no such accident anywhere on the Purchase Parkway.
    A trick to get Rand and Paschall to take a different road? Why that back road? When she got back to the office, she showed Church what she had discovered. “They should've taken 641 on to Draffenville, and I-24 to Paducah."
    “Unless they received other orders,” said Church, studying the map. “They'd have started up 641. The false report others heard faintly must have been clear to them. It was on the police frequency, but it wasn't picked up in Murphy. What about a weak signal, very close to them?"
    “The state and county cars were north and west of Murphy. The fake report must have come from a transmitter somewhere north of town. There are people with police scanners out there. Let's find out what they heard."
    By the simple expedient of broadcasting a message asking who had heard the fake accident report, they had five responses in ten minutes, including one from Judge L. J. Callahan, whose home was in that area. Everyone had pretty much the same thing to say: the report had warned of toxic fumes, telling everyone to stay off both the Purchase Parkway and 641 near the Parkway entrance.
    “So that's it,” said Brandy as they took the last identical report. “Rand and Paschall must have been traveling north on 641, heard that report, and decided to go around the obstruction via Mayfield."
    “And 1899 over to the Kirtney Road to intersect with 121 would be a shortcut,” said Church. “A complicated ambush. Whoever set it up had to know where Car 108 was, and where the other city cars were, to make sure only Rand and Paschall would receive the message."
    “The scanners that picked up the fake message were near north 641. If we can find the transmitter—"
    But that they found no sign of. A search for witnesses, for tire tracks, for any clue to the perpetrators’ identity, proved fruitless.
    The forensic report on Car 108 showed why Rand and Paschall hadn't reported their change in route. The radio had been sabotaged: it received just fine, but transmission was squelched down to the lowest range. The officers probably did report, but were not heard.
    Thus Brandy, given what had appeared to be the least productive assignment in the case, had the most productive day. Possibly the killer or killers simply followed Car 108 out of Murphy, broadcast the fake message at the point where it was logical for Rand and Paschall to take the shortcut to the Mayfield road, then ambushed them.
    But “how” the car was diverted to the deserted road did not explain “why” its occupants stopped and made no effort to escape, or to fight off their assailants.
    Dr. Sanford found no indication of carbon monoxide or other poison. The police car yielded evidence only of tampering with the radio, and, it turned out, the air-conditioner. Most of the refrigerant had been bled out. The air would have appeared to work, but after a few miles it would have stopped cooling. The victims must have opened the windows, allowing the killers access.
    Without the shotgun shells there was no identifying the murder weapon. The murderer could have picked them up, or the weapon could have been equipped with the “brass-catchers” used by hunters who saved their cartridges for reloading.
    When there was no further progress, Judge Callahan showed up at the station. Chief Benton gathered everyone on duty to hear what he had to say.
    “I'm a witness in this case, so I can't preside when it comes to trial. If it comes to trial. That can't happen until we find the killers. Let me offer any help I can."
    “Why?” Brandy asked suspiciously, then immediately wondered if it was wise to call attention