Deliver Me From Eva by Paul Bailey

Author:Paul Bailey [Bailey, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Horror
Publisher: MURRAY & GEE, Inc.
Published: 1946-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

XII

IT WAS a tense moment before either of us could speak. “What time did you return from your father’s house?” I finally managed to ask.

“About five-thirty.”

“You told me this afternoon that Osman would return with you.”

“He did.”

“Then he died at Thalamus?”

“Yes. In my study. On my treatment table.”

“What time, Eva?”

“Exactly at six o’clock.”

I stepped from her, walked to the study door, and peered in. The padded table was bare. I recalled, too, that but a few minutes before, I had walked through that room, and certainly no corpse had I seen.

“Where is—he?”

“Castleman has taken the body. It is of no consequence now that Osman has been released. Castleman will properly dispose of it.”

125

“You mean you’ll not call an undertaker?”

“Certainly not. Castleman will dispose of it.”

My legal mind could scarcely believe what my wife was saying. “Don’t you know there’s a law about such things?” I protested. “Don’t you know the authorities must be notified? A murder’s been committed!”

Margot was beside Eva now. I could see she was on the defensive.

“No murder’s been committed,” she declared.

“And the only law that operates here is cosmic law,” Eva quickly added.

Openly disgusted, I stepped to Eva’s boudoir telephone. I lifted it from its cradle; reached for the dial. A click sounded in my ear, and the line went dead. I tried for the call, but apparently the doctor controlled the telephone as he controlled every other thing in his court. Savagely I bounced the phone back to its hook.

“If it wasn’t a murder—please explain it.”

With a sigh, Eva dropped to one of the room’s gay chairs. Abruptly Margot turned and walked out the door.

“Osman was evidencing a decided reaction from his session, when I arrived for my own. The physical weakness he displayed, you understand, is really of no consequence. He was properly exhilarated

126

mentally—and that is the important thing.”

“Of course,” I replied, and sniffed disgustedly.

“An humble attitude would be a good deal more becoming to you, Mark. An understanding mind seldom scoffs. You seem to forget that I have passed through the phase Osman was experiencing—and without dire results.”

“Go ahead.”

“When we returned, I suggested he lie down on the table for a little restful manipulation. It was while I was calling Margot he expired.”

“And how does Margot feel about this affair?”

I watched Eva’s face for the tell-tale flush, but there was none.

“Naturally Margot was deeply shaken by the suddenness of Osman’s release,” Eva replied. “And don’t expect me to show surprise, or suffer any betraying emotions. You know she is my mother—of that I’m fully aware. I knew the moment Margot confessed it to you, and I am content this should be so. Our sorrow in Osman’s release is not so greatly occasioned by his sudden absence from us as from the complete cessation of the tangent he had set his heart to explore. The psychic plane in which Osman now finds himself, you must understand, is very close to us. Soon I shall walk and talk with him again. Margot

127

likewise, when the ban is lifted.

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