him. When I started running, he couldn’t have been much farther than
one hundred and fifty feet away. Only an Olympic-class athlete could have run
right down to the road and out of sight before I got there; and from what I’d
seen of this fellow, he was heavy and gimpy and slow.
We listened. The wind blew soft and
cold through the hedge, and the dead leaves curled among the thorns crackled
with a sound that was too much like cracking lobster claws for comfort.
‘I don’t know what we’re being so
damned nervous about,’ said Dan, cross with himself ,
and equally irritated with me. ‘We don’t have any evidence of anything, and yet
we’re jumping around like a couple of college students in a haunted house.’
I started to walk back towards the
station wagon, and Dan followed me. I didn’t know whether I was over-reacting
or not. I knew that a certain amount of the adrenalin that was rushing around
my bloodstream had been evoked by imagination. Under the circumstances, it was
pretty difficult not to have horrible images of Jimmy and Alison Bodine being
slowly overtaken by some kind of scaley growth. But I knew I had seen
something, or somebody, and considering young Oliver had been drowned only a
few hours earlier, I think I could be forgiven for feeling edgy. I’m not a
coward. I’ll bend a pipe-wrench over anybody’s head without a qualm, if it’s
necessary. But I’m not so sure about things that whisper in the dark, or creep
about gardens at midnight, and I’m certainly not sure about bedrooms that can
be unnaturally flooded in deserted houses.
We had almost reached the station
wagon when there was a single whoop of a siren, and Sheriff Wilkes’ car came
around the curve in the road with its red light flashing. It pulled up right
behind my Country Squire and Sheriff Wilkes got out, accompanied by three of
his deputies.
‘The coroner’s on his way, too,’
called Carter. ‘Can you tell me where the body is?’
‘Upstairs, second
bedroom on the right.’
Carter Wilkes was a big man, almost
six-four, with a belly to match. His face was coarse and broad, with intent,
crow’s-footed eyes, and shaggy eyebrows. His uniforms were always immaculately
laundered, and his shoes always sparkled, and he was a lifelong devotee of
dental floss. He had a pretty Chinese wife and a son who played basketball for
Hartford.
‘You guys want to come up with me,
show me what you found?’ asked Carter.
‘If you think it’s absolutely
necessary,’ I said. ‘It isn’t very pleasant in there.’
‘Sudden death doesn’t often improve
a home too much,’ countered Carter.
‘I guess not,’ I told him.
We showed Carter and his deputies
the way through the kitchen to the sodden-carpeted hallway.
He wanted to know when we’d arrived,
and what we were doing there, and what had first made us suspicious. Had we
seen any footprints on the wet staircarpet? Had we heard any suspicious noises?
Where did I think the water had come from? Why hadn’t I turned it off at the
main stopcock straight away?
All six of us squelched upstairs,
and I pointed to young Oliver’s bedroom. Two of the deputies carried heavy-duty
flashlights, and they lit the place up in all its damp, clammy sadness. Oliver
was still lying where we had left him, his face blue and his eyes wide open.
Sheriff Wilkes squatted down beside him and stared at him for a long time. He
didn’t touch him. Then he looked up and all around the room, taking in the
peeling wallpaper, the dripping furniture, the tidemark around the
picture-rail. ‘You’re the plumber,’ he said, turning to me. ‘What do you think
could have caused all this?’
‘I don’t know,” I admitted. ‘The room
wasn’t even sealed up, so it must have been some kind of freak flash flood. But
I don’t know where the water came from, or how it could have filled up the
place so fast. A room this size would take anything up to five thousand
gallons.’
‘As much as that, huh?’
one hundred and fifty feet away. Only an Olympic-class athlete could have run
right down to the road and out of sight before I got there; and from what I’d
seen of this fellow, he was heavy and gimpy and slow.
We listened. The wind blew soft and
cold through the hedge, and the dead leaves curled among the thorns crackled
with a sound that was too much like cracking lobster claws for comfort.
‘I don’t know what we’re being so
damned nervous about,’ said Dan, cross with himself ,
and equally irritated with me. ‘We don’t have any evidence of anything, and yet
we’re jumping around like a couple of college students in a haunted house.’
I started to walk back towards the
station wagon, and Dan followed me. I didn’t know whether I was over-reacting
or not. I knew that a certain amount of the adrenalin that was rushing around
my bloodstream had been evoked by imagination. Under the circumstances, it was
pretty difficult not to have horrible images of Jimmy and Alison Bodine being
slowly overtaken by some kind of scaley growth. But I knew I had seen
something, or somebody, and considering young Oliver had been drowned only a
few hours earlier, I think I could be forgiven for feeling edgy. I’m not a
coward. I’ll bend a pipe-wrench over anybody’s head without a qualm, if it’s
necessary. But I’m not so sure about things that whisper in the dark, or creep
about gardens at midnight, and I’m certainly not sure about bedrooms that can
be unnaturally flooded in deserted houses.
We had almost reached the station
wagon when there was a single whoop of a siren, and Sheriff Wilkes’ car came
around the curve in the road with its red light flashing. It pulled up right
behind my Country Squire and Sheriff Wilkes got out, accompanied by three of
his deputies.
‘The coroner’s on his way, too,’
called Carter. ‘Can you tell me where the body is?’
‘Upstairs, second
bedroom on the right.’
Carter Wilkes was a big man, almost
six-four, with a belly to match. His face was coarse and broad, with intent,
crow’s-footed eyes, and shaggy eyebrows. His uniforms were always immaculately
laundered, and his shoes always sparkled, and he was a lifelong devotee of
dental floss. He had a pretty Chinese wife and a son who played basketball for
Hartford.
‘You guys want to come up with me,
show me what you found?’ asked Carter.
‘If you think it’s absolutely
necessary,’ I said. ‘It isn’t very pleasant in there.’
‘Sudden death doesn’t often improve
a home too much,’ countered Carter.
‘I guess not,’ I told him.
We showed Carter and his deputies
the way through the kitchen to the sodden-carpeted hallway.
He wanted to know when we’d arrived,
and what we were doing there, and what had first made us suspicious. Had we
seen any footprints on the wet staircarpet? Had we heard any suspicious noises?
Where did I think the water had come from? Why hadn’t I turned it off at the
main stopcock straight away?
All six of us squelched upstairs,
and I pointed to young Oliver’s bedroom. Two of the deputies carried heavy-duty
flashlights, and they lit the place up in all its damp, clammy sadness. Oliver
was still lying where we had left him, his face blue and his eyes wide open.
Sheriff Wilkes squatted down beside him and stared at him for a long time. He
didn’t touch him. Then he looked up and all around the room, taking in the
peeling wallpaper, the dripping furniture, the tidemark around the
picture-rail. ‘You’re the plumber,’ he said, turning to me. ‘What do you think
could have caused all this?’
‘I don’t know,” I admitted. ‘The room
wasn’t even sealed up, so it must have been some kind of freak flash flood. But
I don’t know where the water came from, or how it could have filled up the
place so fast. A room this size would take anything up to five thousand
gallons.’
‘As much as that, huh?’
Similar Books
