The Dead Can Tell by Helen Reilly

Author:Helen Reilly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phocion Publishing
Published: 2019-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

Cristie was right in her reconstruction of the earlier part of Steven Hazard’s day. He had returned to the club after luncheon, the twin of Cristie’s football ticket in his pocket. No use getting up to the stadium until after half past three.

From a comfortable chair in the reading room he watched Detectives Carr and Allen collide accidentally on the pavement outside, murmur a few words, separate and continue their vigil. They didn’t worry him any. He had no doubt of his ability to shake them off at the proper time.

He looked at the clock above the doorway after he had gazed unseeingly at the early editions of the afternoon papers for a considerable stretch. One more cigarette and off to the races. He was lighting a match when the attendant’s singsong voice said: “Mr. Hazard, Mr. Hazard.”

Steven rose. The attendant said he was wanted on the telephone. The man pointed. “Right over there, booth five.” Steven entered the booth, closed the door, lifted the receiver and said “Hello.”

At the other end of the wire a voice said, “Hello Steven, having a good time, darling?”

Steven Hazard hadn’t seated himself on the little stool. He was standing. He staggered. The back of his head hit the rear wall of the booth. Shock, mountainous seas of it, was sweeping down on him. He gasped for breath. Had he lost his mind? Was he going mad? He dragged himself erect, lifted the instrument in a clenched hand and said into the mouthpiece in harsh unrecognizable tones, “Who is this, who is this speaking?”

A silvery laugh, high, fluting, mannered, a laugh that it was impossible to mistake, came over the wire. It was the laugh of a woman whose lips were closed in death, a woman who was or should be lying in a satin-lined casket inside a bronze metal box under six feet of earth in a country cemetery. At the other end of the line the voice of Sara Hazard paused. There was a faint sound as though someone had opened a door. She said sharply in a whisper, “Steven. I can’t talk freely from here. Listen and listen carefully .. She began to give him detailed instructions.

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