The Other Half (A Mulholland / Strand Magazine Short) by Dexter Colin

Author:Dexter, Colin [Dexter, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2016-06-07T04:00:00+00:00

il an weekend meeting

citing things that’s ever

fe, and the thought of

ours being spents with

ed makes me the most

ver

die

rling)

Certainly there were plenty of suggestive possibilities down the torn edge of the note: ‘exciting,’ ‘life,’ ‘hours,’ ‘bed,’ ‘lover,’ ‘Sadie,’ ‘darling.’ But the more I studied things, the more I convinced myself that this could just as easily be interpreted as a wholly innocent missive. In the end, I typed out both versions, the innocent and the not-so-innocent, aligning the joins as neatly as my primitive keyboard skills would permit.

I was determined to be fairly honest with Isobel the following morning, but there were three matters on which I determined to remain silent. First, I would not mention the fact that on Wednesday night I had experienced a mildly erotic dream about her. Second, I wouldn’t tell her that I had composed another possible—no, quite probable—left-hand half of the letter, written this time by Sadie. Third, I would not confess that fairly early on I’d had strong suspicions that the handwriting on the letter was extremely similar to that on the cheque Isobel had given me, especially those ‘d’s and ‘r’s, and that I now felt certain that Isobel, for some strange reason, had written the letter herself.

She smiled at me winsomely that Friday morning when I asked if a drink was still on offer, and if she’d mind if I smoked whilst I recounted my findings.

She said nothing when I told her of my unproductive trip to the British Telecom offices. And when I gave her a truncated account of my encounter with the two blondes, she ventured just a single comment: “So you’re saying the hair wasn’t Jade’s?” When I nodded (hallelujah!) she did betray some surprise for once.

My proffered explanation of the shirt re-buttoning incident occasioned little reaction, and in reply to my question she admitted that Denis had been for a haircut about that time, yes.

There remained the final hurdle, though. The letter. I could, of course, have shown her my alternate version, in which ‘Sadie darling’ figured as the happy valediction. But I instead handed Isobel my original reconstruction, then watched her closely as she read it.

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