And So To Death (Story) by Cornell Woolrich

Author:Cornell Woolrich [Woolrich, Cornell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CLIFF took out his cigarettes again and prodded into the warped pack. He threw it at me, and looked at me and smiled. “Have another smoke, kid,” he said. “I’ve only got one left, but you can have it.”

And I lit it and smiled too, through all the wet junk in my eyes.

“He rode the car a spell further down the main road away from there, and then he thought better of it, realized there must be traces all over it that would give him away even quicker than he could drive it, so he ran it off a second time, ditched it there out of sight where we found it, and lit out some less conspicuous way.

“I don’t want to spend too much time on it. This is the case we thought we had, all Wednesday morning and up until about five that afternoon.

“We sent out a general alarm for Dan Ayers, broadcast his description, had the trains and roads and hauling-trucks out of here watched at the city end.

“And then at five that afternoon Mrs. Fleming regained consciousness for a short time—Waggoner had been waiting outside there the whole time to question her—and the first thing she whispered was, ‘Is Dan all right? He didn’t kill Dan, did he?’ And then she talked.

“What she told us was enough to send us hotfooting back to the house. We pried open the various mirror panels we’d overlooked the first time and found Ayers’ dead body behind one of them. He’d been stabbed in the back with some kind of an awl or bit.

“He’d been dead since the night before. She died about eight that next evening. There went our case.”

Cliff didn’t ask it for quite a while; maybe he hated to himself. Finally he did. “Did you get anything on the real killer?”

“Practically everything but the guy himself. She was right in the alcove with the two of them when it happened. She got a pretty good look by torchlight, and she lasted long enough to give it to us. All the dope is over at my chief’s office.”

Cliff smacked his own knees, as if in reluctant decision. He got up. “Let’s go over there,” he said slowly. “Let’s go over and give it the once over.” He stopped and looked back at me from the doorway. “C’mon, Vince, you too. I’ll leave a note for Lil.”

He stood out there waiting, until I had to get up. My legs felt stiff.

“C’mon, Vince,” he repeated. “I know this is out of your line, but you better come anyway.”

“Haven’t you got any mercy at all?” I breathed, as I brushed past him with lowered head.

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