Show Death Whispers r By Philip Wylie Read Dead a o new mystery serial complete every week in in The Telegram I J CHAPTER VI VIE VIf f E colored couple was in YS Y'S kitchen itchen Miss Straton had hade the one e to the drugstore to get gett t g refilled 11 dafter after she hc had gone I was wasby frightened frightened by m my my solitude I It IJO t accustomed to it rather J reaching for m my tenth tI I R t as that morning when morning when I Ie e abruptly that there wast was t in the room I had heard bed f l the hall had hadI ne y door into g and one had hadn bleu I n shut and no n H ned ed it The French windows 2 opened on the terrace were hadIe had 55 The person side t however owe er through there Ie I f st stiffened d dieg I was sure I was watched thick I s 's rugs rug were Tommys Tommy's I Ird sound Bound for several rd n no 5 rift Only one human being would stand ller my room silently and puy He Hc would come only upon d errand To get the stone To ToJ do J to Way elway away with ith me because me-because because I knew IC much I Who is its it 7 I said finally in finally-in ln in a ai i rUing rUing-I gl shrill voice oice There wasn't a any answer What is it 1 I repeated i I 1 heard then a faint clink of ofa elaL tal JL That confirmed the horror a j knew or or guessed what guessed what it JanU ant One of the many r hideous titans was being taken from t te it wall I thought of yelling yelling- at qt I was utterly incapable of ofa g gear a loud sound I did not ear but but felt footsteps felt footsteps coming me roe Then convulsively I convulsively I I jumped Jt of my bed I stood up wet up-wet wet and shaking ith pith a palsy Give Gi me thirty seconds I l ered There wasn't an answer Just silence I wont vont yell I said The feet moved I ran ran ran-in in real realm m ind d mans man's buff buff and and for my life tripped on a chair and took a ader der Then I thought thought- fool- fool that that I had to see ee bandages r not I tried to yank the dress- dress g g from my eyes But he be adhesive was too strong for fory iy If y queasy fingers I was sitting i 1 1 the floor I expected the blow t 1 any moment I gasped Wait Wait and and thought fa ra way to make him wait It Ont do you ou any good to kill me said n R 1 COULD feel again that a sired weapon was being lowered o held back It had been very lose lost It was not over No good repeated t ltd No use at all Miss 5 ss Straton knows I con- con She stole the stole the stone Then Tien s 80 o m e b bod o d y whispered What a wit nit the voice said t was hoarse contorted but rec- rec ble Duval Du Juniors Junior's No good Duval I repeated It'll U just lust add to the thing already i l' your jOur conscience I waited Thy ny did you ou do it He lie e talked almost to himself himsel at atrat rat I wont won't take it I wont won't and audit it Theres There's a way Must be lien hen she comes back back back- Then Theny y question filtered into his hissin tin sin Why Because I dels de- de ls d him Because he found out w iW I ran my business and made madet madee pay t e pay back to people every cent cente centre re e earned for two years Be- Be lUte Luse he persecuted me even en when was ns a kid kid about about stealing stealing and and ding lies He spied on every- every mg ing I did He did He broke off again heard ea his breath coming and ring ing Then he spoke You think are re smart mart eh It'll still sUlI work then v-then then her And over the wall suicide Dont Don't move rd Pd tried to stand with stand with the idea of lunging for the tor Or r. r Double suicide he repeated e C began to chuckle I could sense Bense ss 8 approach You You and and she rub in ash in the street You Sou poor fool I said I wrote sleeps e COps Every detail Last ht I n dont don't believe it You ou will will when when they walk into Jf apartment apartment and and take you ou ft Jt 1110 to electrocute you ou Go ahead said d id rabidly Hit me Throw 1 e SOyer over O. the wall Kill her But Butof 1 he th name lame of mercy get it over there here was silence I Get it over with I repeated Dont let me wait here here thousand times I began to weep Then I cursed and raged But he made no sound I T i iHEN HEN I heard a police whistle sharp sharp and shrill and not far away I sat up a little stupefied little stupefied and w without thought A siren squalled in the dist distance low low nce-low low and feline presently i it drew near Next came a further sound the remote but crescendo clang of an ambulance bel bell And I understood under under- stood I was alone Duval BayUn Baylin Baylin Bay- Bay lin Un Junior had jumped over the terrace wall and killed himself No postscript is really necessary to this document I need not say Bay that I promised silence to the Bay- Bay lins The fact that I am now married to Lynn is in itself an explanation for that I think Duval was mad As a child he ha had never been persecuted b by his grandparent any more than his brother Clar Clar- ence Both boys of course had been subject to frequent harsh correction He evidently had magnified magnified magnified mag mag- that treatment His father told me that later later that he had been afraid of Duval's mental health on more than one occasion Mr Baylin was the one who had re replaced replaced re- re placed the urn on the terrace wall too Loo His explanation was that he had noticed the coincidence of the unbalanced urn and the site of his fathers father's chair below and that afraid the coincidence might lead somebody to suspect that the mushroom poisoning had been deliberate as I had he had been at some pains to replace the urn Mr Laidlaw I have had the pleasure of meeting He is a delightful old gentleman and still totally unaware of the sinister nature of the tragedies which were visited on his friends the Lynns Lynn's nervousness on the night we analyzed t the h e alibis of her the family family the nervousness which led Miss Straton to suspect her her her- was d due u e to a quite cause She had been afraid that by telling me she had planned a late dinner with a a. sculptor she would make me angry or arouse my disapproval For Lynn had fallen in love with me who me-who who was without eyes just eyes just as I had fallen in m love with her who was only a voice By examining Duval Juniors Junior's books we easily found traces of the swindle which his grandfather had compelled him to redeem It was a financial speculation by no means as imaginative or as in ingenious ingenious ingenious in- in genious as the death traps with which he had surrounded the old man A NENT KENT my wife's respect for formy formy formy my mental ability I have a confession confession confes confes- sion slon to make malte The one element of Grandfather Purvis' Purvis death to which I had not given great attention was the method by which the poisonous mushroom had been added to the edible ones on the old mans man's plate I had thought that such an addition addition addition addi addi- tion would have been simple A Adish Adish dish cUsh hidden under the table Concealment Concealment Concealment Con Con- of the fatal slices in a napkin I had not cogitated any more about it If the stuff had been in a dish the murderer would have washed it at some convenient convenient convenient conven conven- time If it had been in a napkin he would have washed it also or otherwise disposed of it Burned it perhaps That idea came to me long after the event event- and when I thought of a burning napkin I also thought of a burning burning burning burn burn- ing handkerchief A handkerchief could have been whisked across the old mans man's plate plate and and the deed thus done And then I remembered remembered remembered the night of the poisoning poisoning- when Id I'd smelled smoke and sent for Miss Straton thinking my rug was It hadn't been my rug In all probability it had been Duval Juniors Junior's handkerchief burning burning burning burn burn- ing to ashes as he sat alone on the terrace playing his mandolin If Id I'd had the apperception to guess that that that- But hindsight is always more accurate than fore fore- sight The End Copyright Philip Wylie |