Until You Are Dead (35 page)

Though he still took slow, measured steps, there was something predatory now in Semloh's pacing. "In the back of Mr. Rank's head is a bullet hole, a fired revolver lies on the floor. We will assume he was not shot."

"I still don't understand," Phillip Rank said perplexedly. "Why will we assume that?"

"Because it might well be exactly what the murderer doesn't want us to assume. You see, if your brother wasn't killed in his office, he was killed somewhere else in the house."

"That's logical," Elda Rank said.

"Nothing is perfect," Semloh replied. "If we went right down the line — taking only the illogical alternatives in sequence, there would be a certain consistency and perverted logic of sorts in that."

"True," Simon Crane said, nodding, "I suppose."

"Now why would Mr. Rank have been shot if not to kill him?" Semloh asked himself and the room in general, pacing almost imperceptibly faster. "To make it appear that he was killed from behind, perhaps. Seems reasonable, so we will reject it. Another possibility is that the killer was trying to disguise the nature of the first wound."

"That doesn't seem too likely," Sheriff Ladester drawled. "A bullet wound from that caliber gun is too small to disguise much of anything."

"It isn't likely the death wound would be smaller than a bullet hole," Semloh agreed, "so for the moment at least we will consider that it was. Perhaps an even smaller caliber bullet caused death, though an autopsy would be able to determine that."

"Possibly my brother wasn't killed," Ward Rank said acidly.

Semloh appeared thoughtful. "Possibly not."

Ward Rank waved a hand disgustedly. "This charade isn't getting us anywhere!"

"I've found," Semloh said, "that with my method of counter-deduction, one sometimes arrives at one's destination quite suddenly and unexpectedly."

"Murdered in another room," Ladester drawled reflectively, "then carried to his office, placed in his desk chair, posed in a writing position then shot. It would take a strong man with a lot of nerve to do that."

"Excellent!" Semloh said enthusiastically. "So in all unlikelihood it was a woman. A woman like -"

There was a strangled sob. Mrs. Drael suddenly leapt from the sofa and flung herself at Semloh, clawing and screaming. "How could you!" she shrieked, as Simon Crane caught her waist and pulled her back.

"A moment, Mrs. Drael," Semloh said calmly.

Sheriff Ladester moved quickly to stand in the doorway.

Mrs. Drael stopped, stared at the sheriff, then turned to face Semloh, clenching and unclenching her fists. Then something inside her seemed to buckle, and her soft, poised body settled in resignation. "You were right," she said in a drained voice. "I came secretly up the back way to Brighton's office. He was working, and we went to the library to talk while he did some research. I killed him, struck him with my high heeled shoe as he bent to pick up something I'd dropped."

"Of course," Semloh said. "You're the only one here without apparent motive or opportunity. An ill-conceived love affair?"

"A hate affair. He was going to write about me in his column." Mrs. Drael's pale complexion blanched even paler. "He discovered that I'd been an accessory long ago in a well publicized murder case; he was going to expose me for publicity!"

"So you decided to kill him first?"

Mrs. Drael shook her head. "I was going to try to exchange some other information I had concerning the case for his silence. Only he wouldn't listen so I had no choice."

"Then you carried him down the hall to his office?" Ladester asked unbelievingly.

"I had to leave that way anyway, so I dragged his body down the parquet hall on a throw rug — it's a trick I learned a long time ago. Then I arranged things to make it look like an intruder had shot him at his desk and left, running around the house and ringing the doorbell to place myself outside at the approximate time of the murder. I even pretended I'd seen someone outside just in order to give the police a suspect."

Mrs. Drael's heart-shaped middle-aged face turned suddenly to a mask of fury and her lips drew away from her teeth as she spat the words at Semloh and everyone in the room. "Brighton Rank got exactly what he deserved!"

No one argued with her as the sheriff led her away.

"I don't believe it!" Ward Rank was saying incredulously around his cigarette holder. "How did you do it? It simply defies all reason!"

"Perhaps," Semloh sighed, staring unblinkingly and with vague sadness in the direction the sheriff and his captive had gone. "But then it's an unreasonable world, isn't it?"

UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, January, 1980, © 1979 by Davis Publications, Inc.

THE CHESS PLAYERS,
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
, May, 1994, © 1994 by John Lutz.

EXPLOSIVE CARGO,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, October, 1977, ©1977 by Davis Publications, Inc.

GAMES FOR ADULTS, Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, December, 1971, ©1971 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

THE BASEMENT ROOM,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, October, 1973, ©1973 by Renown Publications, Inc.

DOUBLE MURDER, Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, January, 1981, ©1981 by Davis Publications, Inc.

FAIR SHAKE,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, April, 1968, ©1968 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

HEAT,
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
, September, 1985, ©1985 by John Lutz

LIFE SENTENCE,
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Magazine
, August, 1975, ©1975 by Leonard J. Ackerman Productions, Inc.

ON JUDGMENT DAY,
Espionage
, August, 1985, © 1985 by Leo 11 Publications, Ltd.

DEATH BY THE NUMBERS,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, November, 1977, ©1976 by Renown Publications, Inc.

A HANDGUN FOR PROTECTION,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, September, 1974, ©1974 by Renown Publications, Inc.

PROSPECTUS ON DEATH,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, July, 1971, ©1971 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

UNDERSTANDING ELECTRICITY,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, August, 1975, ©1975 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

THE MAN IN THE MORGUE,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, February, 1978, © 1977 by Davis Publications, Inc.

THE EXPLOSIVES EXPERT,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, September, 1967, ©1967 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

MEN WITH MOTIVES,
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Mystery Magazine
, August, 1975, ©1975 by Leonard J. Ackerman Productions, Inc.

TWICE REMOVED,
Espionage
, February, 1985, ©1984 by Leo 11 Publications, Ltd.

WINDS OF CHANGE,
Espionage
, December, 1984, ©1984 by Leo 11 Publications, Ltd.

THE LEMON DRINK QUEEN,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, February, 1974, ©1974 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

NOT JUST A NUMBER,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, July, 1976, ©1976 by Renown Publications, Inc.

KING OF THE KENNEL,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, November, 1968, ©1968 by Renown Publications, Inc.

ABRIDGED,
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
, October, 1968, ©1968 by Renown Publications, Inc.

MAIL ORDER,
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
, April, 1975, ©1975 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

GOING, GOING . . . ,
The Executioner Mystery Magazine
, April, 1975, ©1974 by Leonard J. Ackerman Productions, Inc.

MOON CHILDREN,
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Mystery Magazine
, May, 1975, ©1974 by Leonard J. Ackerman Productions, Inc.

THE OTHER SIDE OF REASON,
Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine
, December, 1974, © 1974 by Renown Publications, Inc.