'i've been playing hockey in quebec for two weeks,and when i got back last night there was a letter from him! he mailed it the day before he died.' he pulled a letter from the pocket of his jacket and passed it to me.
pierre, i thought i saw howard the other day in a very odd place. i tried calling him,but wife said he was quebec with you. give me a ring when you get back and let me know. boom boom
'who's howard? howard mattingly?
pierre nodded.mattingly was another ice hocker plater with the black hawks,though not on the first team. boom boom never liked him-he couldn't even play hockey.
the letter seemed unconnected with the problems i was trying to solve. but it had been important to boom boom. he had written the letter on the twenty-sixth. when had he seen mattingly? the lucella's holds had been filled with water on the twenty-third. could mattingly have been involved in that?