by Otto Penzler
“That’s all right, thanks,” Claire said faintly. “I’ve changed my mind.”
Well, well, well. She made herself a coffee after her evening meal and congratulated herself once again on solving the conundrum. Perhaps she had missed her way in life. She should have been a private detective. It was all so simple. Karl had never intended to visit Jennifer Bailey. She was a blind; he’d mentioned all that stuff about the one-legger simply to throw Claire off the track, lend a touch of verisimilitude to his tall story. He’d arranged to see Lynette and hired the Alibi Agency to impersonate his customer, so that Claire was none the wiser. He knew that their marriage, already on the rocks, could not survive if Claire found out that Lynette was still around. But he’d fallen out with Lynette—perhaps she had wanted him to get a divorce and move in with her and he’d fought shy of making the commitment. Something like that would be typical. Whatever. He’d lost his temper and she’d lost her balance and hit her head on something hard. End of Lynette. Claire smirked to herself. She’d always loathed Lynette.
It occurred to her that she might yet be able to kill two birds with one stone. Suppose she told the police that Karl had threatened her with violence so that she would back up his story? She might say that her conscience would not allow her to live a lie, that she’d decided Karl must pay for his crime. True, she was going to miss out on the life insurance, but she would at least be rid of her husband. And it would serve him right.
She rang the number that the nice sergeant had left with her and was quickly put through.
“This is Claire again. You remember our conversation?” she asked. Just the faintest seductive hint at this stage. Then see how he responded.
“I certainly do,” he said. Was it her imagination or was there a faint leer in his voice? She hoped so.
“I won’t beat about the bush. I lied to you about my husband. He was out last night, but he threatened what he would do to me if I didn’t back him up.”
“Ah.”
“I hope you won’t think too badly of me,” she said in her meekest voice. “I felt as though I was under duress.”
She told him the story, making no mention of the Alibi Agency. She didn’t want to draw attention to the existence of the recently bereaved Mrs. Bailey. The policeman listened intently, murmuring his agreement every now and then when she insisted that life with Karl was hellish and that her only wish now was to do the right thing. He was sympathetic, a very good listener.
“I thought,” she said tentatively, “that you might like to come back here and take a statement from me. A detailed statement.”
“Yes, I’d love to do that.”
“You would?”
“Oh yes,” he said softly. “And perhaps when we’ve finished talking about your husband …”
“Yes?” she breathed.
“… I can introduce you to a couple of colleagues of mine from Bradford CID. They’ve just finished interviewing a young man called Zack Kennedy.”
She swallowed. “Oh yes?”
“It’s in connection with a death in their patch. A Mr. Eric Bailey was killed in a hit and run incident last night. The vehicle was a Fiesta that was later dumped. What’s interesting is that they found a photograph in the car. It had slipped between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. A picture of a man standing proudly next to a Slickloft van, apparently parked outside his own house. Right next to the street name, the name of the street where you live, actually. On the back of the photograph was your husband’s name and a brief description. The handwriting is distinctive. As soon as it was shown to me, I recognized it from the note you gave me of your phone number.” He paused. “All rather puzzling. Mind you, once it turned out that Mr. Kennedy’s fingerprints were on the photograph, things started to become clearer. He has a criminal record. Nothing big league, just a few burglaries and car thefts. Possibly you didn’t know that?”
Claire made a noise that was half-way between a sigh and a sob.
“No? Ah, well. By the way, the Baileys’ neighbour, Mrs. Prince, saw the Fiesta yesterday afternoon. The driver was behaving suspiciously, and she gave a description which bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Kennedy. He’s been arrested. The charge will be murder, I guess, but his lack of competence is equally criminal, wouldn’t you say? We can chat about it later. I’ll be with you in a quarter of an hour.”
Slowly, as if in a trance, Claire put the receiver back on the cradle. She couldn’t help glancing at the clock. She’d always been impatient, always hated having to hang around. The next fifteen minutes would, she knew, be the longest of her life as she sat helplessly on the sofa and waited for Godstow.
“The Border-line Case” by Margery Allingham. Published in Mr. Campion: Criminologist by Margery Allingham, published by Doubleday. Copyright 1937 by Margery Allingham. Reprinted by permission of Rights Limited, a Chorion Group Company. All rights reserved.
“The Burglar Who Smelled Smoke” by Lynne Wood Block and Lawrence Block. Originally published in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine, Summer/Fall 1997. Copyright by Lynne Wood Block and Lawrence Block. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
“The Laughing Butcher” by Fredric Brown. Originally published in Mystery Book, Fall 1948. Copyright 1948 by Fredric Brown. Reprinted by permission of Barry Malzberg.
“The Wrong Problem” by John Dickson Carr. Originally published in The London Evening Standard, August 14, 1936. Copyright 1936 by John Dickson Carr. Reprinted by permission of David Higham.
“The Man Who Liked Toys” by Leslie Charteris. Originally published in Boodle (London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1934). Copyright 1934 by Leslie Charteris. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Leslie Charteris and Gelfman-Schneider Associates.
“The Dream” by Agatha Christie. Originally published in The Regatta Mystery (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1939). Copyright 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1939 by Agatha Christie Mallowan; renewed 1967. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
“In a Telephone Cabinet” by G. D. H. and M. I. Cole. Originally published in Superintendent Wilson’s Holiday (London, Collins, 1928). Copyright 1928 by G. D. H. and M. I. Cole. Reprinted by permission of David Higham.
“The Glass Gravestone” by Joseph Commings. Originally published in The Saint Magazine, October 1966. Copyright 1966 by Joseph Commings. Reprinted by permission of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, on behalf of the author’s estate.
“The Flying Hat” by Vincent Cornier. Originally published in The Storyteller, May 1929. Copyright 1929 by Vincent Cornier. Reprinted by permission of Liz Joseph.
“Beware of the Trains” by Edmund Crispin. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March 1951. Copyright 1951 by Edmund Crispin. Reprinted by permission of Rights Limited, a Chorion Group Company. All rights reserved.
“Blind Man’s Hood” by Carter Dickson. Originally published in The Strand Magazine, April 1938. Copyright 1938 by John Dickson Carr. Reprinted by permission of David Higham.
“The Two Bottles of Relish” by Lord Dunsany. Originally published in Time & Tide magazine, November 12, 1932. Copyright 1932 by Lord Dunsany; renewed by the Estate of Lord Dunsany. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown Group Ltd., London, on behalf of the Estate of Lord Dunsany.
“Waiting for Godstow” by Martin Edwards. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries (London, Robinson, 2000). Copyright 2000 by Martin Edwards. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Twelfth Statue” by Stanley Ellin. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, February 1967. Copyright 1967 by Stanley Ellin; renewed 1995. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
“The Odour of Sanctity” by Kate Ellis. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries (London, Robinson, 2000). Copyright 2000 by Kate Ellis. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, A. M. Heath.
“A Traveller’s Tale” by Margaret Frazer. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Locked-R
oom Mysteries (London, Robinson, 2000). Copyright 2000 by Gail Frazer. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Bird in the Hand” by Erle Stanley Gardner. Originally published in Detective Fiction Weekly, April 9, 1932. Copyright 1932 by Erle Stanley Gardner; renewed. Reprinted by permission of Queen Literary Agency.
“The Flung-Back Lid” by Peter Godfrey. Originally published in John Creasey’s Crime Selection 1979 (London, Gollancz, 1979). Copyright 1979 by Peter Godfrey. Reprinted by permission of Ronald Godfrey.
“Mike, Alex, or Rufus” by Dashiell Hammett. Originally published in Black Mask magazine, January 1925. Copyright 1925 by Dashiell Hammett; renewed. Reprinted by permission of the Dashiell Hammett Literary Property Trust.
“The Man from Nowhere” by Edward D. Hoch. Originally published in Famous Detective Stories, June 1956. Copyright 1956 by Edward D. Hoch.“The Theft of the Bermuda Penny” by Edward D. Hoch. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 1975. Copyright 1975 by Edward D. Hoch.“The Problem of the Old Oak Tree” by Edward D. Hoch. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1978. Copyright 1978 by Edward D. Hoch. Reprinted by permission of Patricia M. Hoch.
“The Sands of Thyme” by Michael Innes. Originally published in Appleby Talking (London, Gollancz, 1954). Copyright 1954 by J. I. M. Stewart. Reprinted by permission of Coolabi PLC.
“All at Once, No Alice” by William Irish. Originally published in Argosy magazine, March 2, 1940. Copyright 1940 by Cornell Woolrich; renewed 1967. Reprinted by permission of JP Morgan Chase as Trustee for the Claire Woolrich Memorial Scholarship Fund.
“The Strange Case of Steinkelwintz” by MacKinlay Kantor. Originally published in Chicago Daily News Midweek, 1929. Copyright 1929 by MacKinlay Kantor. Reprinted by permission of the Donald Maass Literary Agency on behalf of the Estate of MacKinlay Kantor.
“The Locked Bathroom” by H. R. F. Keating. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 2, 1980. Copyright 1980 by H. R. F. Keating. Reprinted by permission of Sheila Mitchell Keating.
“The Crewel Needle” by Gerald Kersh. Originally published in Lilliput magazine, May/June 1953. Copyright 1953 by Gerald Kersh. Reprinted by permission of New World Authors on behalf of the Estate of Gerald Kersh.“The Episode of the Codex’ Curse” by C. Daly King. Originally published in The Curious Mr. Tarrant (London, Collins, 1935). Copyright 1935 by C. Daly King. “The Episode of the Torment IV” by C. Daly King. Originally published in The Curious Mr. Tarrant (London, Collins, 1935). Copyright 1935 by C. Daly King. Reprinted by permission of Valerie King Beatts.
“The Doctor’s Case” by Stephen King. Originally published in The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (New York, Carroll & Graf, 1987) and subsequently in Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King. Copyright 1993 by Stephen King. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
“The Crooked Picture” by John Lutz. Originally published in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. magazine, November 1967. Copyright 1967 by Renown Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“No Way Out” by Dennis Lynds. Originally published in Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, February 1964. Copyright 1964 by Dennis Lynds. Reprinted by permission of Gayle H. Lynds 2007 Revocable Trust.
“The Day the Children Vanished” by Judson Philips. Originally published in This Week Magazine, 1958. Copyright 1958, 1986 by Hugh Pentecost. “Room Number Twenty-Three” by Judson Philips. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Copyright 1949 by Hugh Pentecost. Reprinted by permission of Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents., Inc.
“Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade?” by Bill Pronzini. Originally published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January 30, 1980. Copyright 1980 by Davis Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The House of Haunts” by Ellery Queen. Originally published in Detective Story magazine, November 1935. Copyright 1935 by Ellery Queen; renewed. Reprinted by permission of Richard Dannay on behalf of The Frederic Dannay Literary Property Trust (as co-trustee), and The Manfred B. Lee Family Literary Property Trust (as attorney-in-fact), joint owners of the copyright in the contribution.
“Nothing Is Impossible” by Clayton Rawson. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1958. Copyright 1958 by Clayton Rawson; renewed 1986. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
“The Poisoned Dow ’08” by Dorothy L. Sayers. Originally published in The Passing Show, February 25, 1933, and subsequently in Hangman’s Holiday. Copyright 1933 by Dorothy L. Sayers Fleming; renewed 1961 by Lloyds Bank Ltd., Executor of the Estates of Dorothy L. Sayers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
“The Little House at Croix-Rousse” by Georges Simenon. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November 1947. Copyright 1947 by Georges Simenon. Reprinted by permission of Georges Simenon Ltd., a Chorion Group Company. All rights reserved.
“Death Out of Thin Air” by Stuart Towne. Originally published in Red Star Mystery Magazine, August 1940. Copyright 1940 by Clayton Rawson; renewed 1968. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
“A Knife Between Brothers” by Manly Wade Wellman. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, February 1947. Copyright 1947 by Manly Wade Wellman. Reprinted by permission of David A. Drake.
“Department of Impossible Crimes” by James Yaffe. Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1943. Copyright 1943 by James Yaffe; renewed 1982 by James Yaffe. Reprinted by permission of the author. All rights reserved.