Repeat Performance by William O'Farrell

Author:William O'Farrell [O'Farrell, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Thriller & Suspense, Hard-Boiled
ISBN: 9781951473426
Publisher: Stark House Press
Published: 2021-08-18T12:00:00+00:00

The dawn woke me up. I was shivering with the cold, but I must have slept for several hours in spite of it. I got up and stretched the cramp from my legs and started to walk uptown.

On Twenty-Third Street I went into a little restaurant and had some coffee. There was a morning paper on the counter and I stared at the headlines, but I didn’t turn to the theatrical page; the play and the notices it might have received seemed very far away.

Around eight o’clock I decided I might as well get it over with. There was a performance to give that night and I’d have to sleep some time. So I paid my check and started out, the newspaper under my arm.

The subway got me downtown with a rush, and when I turned into Tenth Street the sun was shining brightly. It was a lovely day. At the apartment house, I didn’t hesitate; I just went in and climbed the stairs and opened the front door of the apartment and went on in.

Sheila was there, but it didn’t surprise me. I was too tired to feel much of anything. She had set the breakfast table in the living room and was in the kitchen dishing out bacon and eggs.

“Breakfast is ready,” she called. “I saw you coming from the window.”

Her voice was sweet; too sweet. She was covering something up. But I didn’t care. I sat down at the table and poured myself a cup of coffee from the percolator and opened my purloined newspaper to the theatrical page.

Sheila came in with a plate of toast and put it in front of me. I said, “Thanks,” but I didn’t look up. All this attention must have a meaning behind it. I waited for her next move and wished it would come quickly so I could get it over with and go to bed.

She stood behind me without saying anything for a minute or two, and then she suddenly put her arms around my head and pressed herself against my face. “I’m sorry, darling,” she said. “Let’s forget about it, shall we?”

“Sure,” I told her. “We’ll forget about it.”

I managed to eat some breakfast, but I couldn’t read the review. My eyes were blurred. Sheila picked it up and read it, though, and carried it into the bedroom when she followed me there. After I had undressed and got into bed, she handed it to me. She sat down then on the other bed.

After a moment, “I’ve told you I’m sorry, Barney,” she said.

“I heard you.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me anything?”

I was pretty sick of all this. “What do you want me to tell you? That I’m sorry, too? Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Is that all?”

“I thought we were going to forget about it,” I said. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

She stood up quickly. “You can’t just forget about things like that. Things aren’t as easy as all that.”

“No,” I agreed. “And, if they were, you’d find some way to make them harder.

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