Master's Choice Volume II: Mystery Stories by Today's Top Writers and the Masters Who Inspired Them by Lawrence Block

Author:Lawrence Block [Block, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0425176762
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Published: 2000-10-31T21:00:00+00:00

Dear Albert:

You have no idea how much I miss you. I shall return home soon, Albert. Soon.

Emily

I put the note back into the envelope and slipped both into my pocket.

“Well?” Millicent asked.

“Well, what?”

“I thought I recognized Emily’s handwriting on the envelope. Did she say when she’d be back?”

“That is not Emily’s handwriting. It is a note from my aunt in Chicago.”

“I didn’t know you had an aunt in Chicago.”

“Millicent, rest assured. I do have an aunt in Chicago.”

That night I was in bed, but awake, when the phone on my night table rang. I picked up the receiver.

“Hello, darling. This is Emily.”

I let five seconds pass. “You are not Emily. You are an imposter.”

“Now, Albert, why are you being so stubborn? Of course this is me, Emily.”

“You couldn’t be.”

“Why couldn’t I be?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Where are you calling from?”

She laughed. “I think you’d be surprised.”

“You couldn’t be Emily. I know where she is and she couldn’t—wouldn’t—make a phone call at this hour of the night just to say hello. It’s well past midnight.”

“You think you know where I am, Albert? No, I’m not there anymore. It was so uncomfortable, so dreadfully uncomfortable. And so I left, Albert. I left.”

I raised my voice. “Damn you, I can prove you’re still there.”

She laughed. “Prove? How can you prove anything like that, Albert? Good night.” She hung up.

I got out of bed and dressed. I made my way downstairs and detoured into the study. I made myself a drink, consumed it slowly, and then made another.

When I consulted my watch for the last time it was nearly one A.M. I put on a light jacket against the chill of the night and made my way to the garden shed. I opened the doors, turned on the lights, and pulled the long-handled shovel from the rack.

This time I went all the way to the dell. I paused beside a huge oak and stared at the moonlit clearing.

I counted as I began pacing. “One, two, three, four—” I stopped at sixteen, turned ninety degrees, and then paced off eighteen more steps.

I began digging.

• • •

I had been at it for nearly five minutes when suddenly I heard the piercing blast of a whistle and immediately I became the focus of perhaps a dozen flashlight beams and approaching voices.

I shielded my eyes against the glare and recognized Millicent. “What the devil is this?”

She showed cruel teeth. “You had to make sure she was really dead, didn’t you, Albert? And the only way you could do that was to return to her grave.”

I drew myself up. “I am looking for Indian arrowheads. There’s an ancient superstition that if one is found under the light of the moon it will bring luck for the finder for several weeks.”

Millicent introduced the people gathered about me. “Ever since I began suspecting what really has happened to Emily you’ve been under twenty-four-hour surveillance by private detectives.”

She indicated the others. “Miss Peters. She is quite a clever mimic and was the voice of Emily you heard over the phone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.