Until You Are Dead by John Lutz Page B

thoughtfully and was painstakingly careful.
    The room wasn't very large, about ten by ten, occupying one corner of the basement. Eldon purchased the material and worked on it most of his vacation then in the evenings after work. During the various stages of construction, Bernice would come down the basement stairs, look about and try to draw him into conversation so she could find out exactly why he was building the room. Did he plan to use it for storage, an office, a den? But Eldon studiously ignored all questions concerning the room, casually drowning out some of them with buzz of saw or crash of hammer.
    Once he had the studwork up the rest went quickly. Eldon certainly hadn't skimped on the materials. The studs were broad and close together, the paneling fairly expensive, thick and deeply grained birch. The floor was made up of squares of gray asbestos tile with swirling designs in them. There was a solid wooden door, thick and soundproof. For ventilation Eldon had cut into the ductwork and installed a small register near the double-layered wallboard ceiling.
    When he was finished he closed the door to his room and told Bernice to stay out of it.
    Eldon didn't leave town for over a week after the room was finished, then he was called on to make a four day jaunt through the Midwest. He left as usual with his beat up luggage and his black leather attaché case, and he surprised Bernice slightly by telling her the hotels he'd be staying at so she could call him.
    The first day of Eldon's absence Bernice merely walked down the basement stairs and stood for a long time scrutinizing the closed large wooden door to the room. The second day she tried the knob, found that it turned. She pressed her ear hard against the cool wood of the door, heard nothing, then went back upstairs. On the third day she had a late breakfast, walked down the basement stairs, stood before the room's door for a moment, turned the knob, drew several deep breaths, and shoved the door open.
    The room was empty.
    Absolutely empty, spotlessly clean and empty. Bernice backed out, shut the door and walked slowly up the stairs.
    Eldon was back as scheduled, but was due to leave again in three days and would be gone almost two weeks. He acted perfectly normal, didn't mention the room or even seem to go near it. The night before he was to leave Bernice cooked his favorite veal and potato dinner and tried to draw him out.
    "Incidentally," she said absently as she passed him the butter, "what are you planning to use it for?"
    "It. What do you mean?"
    "The room you built," Bernice said casually. "You know, in the basement."
    Eldon said something unintelligible around a mouthful of veal.
    "Did you say den, dear?"
    "Tender," Eldon corrected as he took a sip of tea. "I said the veal is exceedingly tender."
    "Thank you."
    "What I meant," Eldon said, "was that it probably is an unnecessarily expensive cut."
    "But the room--"
    "There is no need to change the subject," Eldon said, clashing serving spoon on plate as he took another huge helping of mashed potatoes.
    Eldon left early the next morning for the airport, holding to his silence.
    It was two mornings later before Bernice again made her way down the basement stairs to stand before the room. This time she found the door partway open. Decisively, she pushed it open wider and stepped inside.
    Still empty. Bernice left the room and went slowly back upstairs.
    She poured herself a second glass of tomato juice and sat thoughtfully at the kitchen table. Something! He had to have built the room for something! She sipped the juice slowly, staring out the window at high unmoving clouds.
    When Bernice was finished with her tomato juice she went back downstairs, entered the room and began to examine the sturdy paneling carefully for some kind of concealed compartment or trick door. She was lightly tapping the north wall with her knuckles when the telephone rang faintly from above.
    The caller was a man who understood that