The police sergeant unlocked the cell and Bruce K. Wildman came in at a pace that was far too fast for the size of the room. He pulled up abruptly, and looked at Harold, and gave his head a little shake, and said, "Harold?" as if he were shocked that it was actually Harold Winstanley.356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hbemr5yMg
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"Thanks for coming, Bruce," he told him. "I appreciate it."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡfykGCJtxne 維尼
"They say you killed this woman?" asked Bruce. He didn't put down his briefcase.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYUVvR05Zh 維尼
"She was killed, yes. But not by me."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9iG1iq8hU 維尼
Bruce turned around to the sergeant who had let him in. "Do you have someplace more comfortable where we can talk?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXKIco11Pv 維尼
The sergeant looked doubtful for a moment, and then he said, "There's an interviewing room across the corridor. But you understand that I'll have to leave the door open."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XJjvEEmNt 維尼
"That's all right," said Mr. Wildman. "Just lead the way."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYvoXqLQnK 維尼
They were ushered into a pale-green painted room with a scratched table and two steel-and-canvas chairs. There was an overcrowded ashtray on the table and the whole room smelled like stale cigarette smoke.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡdP8TVoMTGF 維尼
"You can open the window if you want," Mr. Wildman told the sergeant, but the sergeant only smiled and shook his head. 8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oKtmpZl5A 維尼
They sat facing each other. Mr. Wildman opened up his briefcase and took out a yellow legal pad; then unscrewed an expensive lacquered fountain pen. At the top he wrote the date, underlined it, then H. Winstanley, Homicide. Outside the door, the police sergeant loudly blew his nose. 8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lecLKmpPj 維尼
"Now, what exactly were you doing in this woman's house?" Mr. Wildman asked him.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡohlE5F06pN 維尼
"I was trying to pay her a visit. I wanted to talk to her."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfNkYxbj0X 維尼
"But the police say you entered the house through the cellar window. Do you usually visit people like that?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbGykOGqRw 維尼
"I went to the door but I couldn't get any answer."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28bDJMQcpH 維尼
"If you don't get an answer at the door, isn't it only logical to assume that there's nobody in, and go away?"356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHsKVtadeI
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"That's what I was going to do, but then I saw somebody's face at an upstairs window. A man's face."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSSgvl4xNm 維尼
Bruce K. Wildman jotted this down and then asked, "Was it a man you knew?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVGY0HEf3y 維尼
"It was a man I knew of."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Iz0sgC9fO 維尼
"That's not very helpful, I'm afraid." 8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPZ4TRVYbo 維尼
"All right," Harold said, "earlier in the evening, Mrs. Donald Baylor had given me a ride back from Ol' Spithead Market, and she had mentioned him to me."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWqw3kNVfj 維尼
"Had she described him?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡkt9XzbVWzP 維尼
"No."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5v0qVcH3O 維尼
"Then how did you know that the man you saw at the window was the same man?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeP21lBwf4 維尼
"Because it had to be. Because he wasn't the normal kind of man."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTEATr4RLQ 維尼
"What do you mean not 'the normal kind of man'?" 8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGBIn5qtCR 維尼
Harold raised his hands. "Bruce," he said, "the way you're questioning me now, I'm finding it very hard to explain to you exactly what happened."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8HzvjtaUh 維尼
"Harold," said Mr. Wildman, "I'm questioning you now the way you're going to be questioned by the D.A. If you can't find a way of explaining what happened when I ask you direct questions like these; then I warn you here and now that you're going to find yourself in serious trouble when it comes to court."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZC9hmIwOa 維尼
"Bruce," Harold told him, "I understand that. But right now I need your help, and the only way that I can give you the means to help me is if I tell you in a different way. You're getting the facts out of me, but you're not getting the story."356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzWebwTBJx
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Mr. Wildman made a face, but then shrugged and put down his pen, and folded his arms. "All right, then," he said. "Tell me the story. Just remember that it will have to be adapted to fit the conventional methods of court questioning; otherwise, whether you're guilty or not, you'll lose. It's just that simple."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55HxxlWRDh 維尼
"You think I'm guilty?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQldBrEOQ2 維尼
There was a slight but visible twitch at the corner of Mr. Wildman's mouth. "You were found alone in a darkened house with a murdered woman. Several people saw you riding in her car earlier in the evening, and the police have witnesses who say you were in a disturbed state of mind just before you went to her house. One of them says you were rambling and deranged, as if you had something on your mind."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHIMWG6jF5 維尼
"Good old Andy Curtis," Harold said bitterly.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKLXxDwZFK 維尼
"Those are the facts, Harold. And let's face it, they're pretty cast-iron. Of course, if you tell me you're not guilty, then I believe you, but for the sake of saving yourself quite a few years in the penitentiary, you might find it worthwhile pleading guilty. I can always do a little plea-bargaining with Elliot Lavaca, he's a reasonable man. Or, you could plead insanity."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTT3lwdxz4 維尼
"Bruce, I am not guilty and I am not insane. I didn't kill Mrs. Donald Baylor and that' all there is to it!"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QrG47I6MH 維尼
"You're suggesting this other man did? This other man who wasn't quite the normal kind of man?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡExaUvDrb6Q 維尼
Harold pushed back his chair and stood up. "Listen, Bruce, you have to hear me out. This isn't easy for me to tell; and it won't be any easier for you to believe. But its one saving grace is that it's the truth."356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKmsSoYg4g
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Mr. Wildman sighed. "I'm listening," he said.356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q6VkiT1zU
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Harold walked back to the green-painted wall and stood with his back to him. It seemed easier to explain what had happened to a blank wall. The police sergeant poked his head around the door to make sure he hadn't taken a dive out of the window, and then went back to reading the Salem Evening Post.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡbl8LDHHPQj 維尼
"Something's happening in Ol' Spithead this spring, although I don't know why. People are starting to see things. Ghosts, if you like, if that's the easiest way to understand what they are. But in any case, they're images, flickering brightly-lit images, of people who used to live in Ol' Spithead and have recently died."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡARerJ4XWcR 維尼
Mr. Wildman said nothing. Harold could imagine what he was thinking, though. An open-and-shut case of homicide while temporarily insane.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmj5xlKpsL 維尼
Harold went on: "Mrs. Donald Boyd told me earlier in the evening that she had heard and seen her dead husband, Donald. She had heard him walking about the house, seen him in the garden. She told me that Wilbur Price at the Ol' Spithead Market had experienced similar visitations from his dead son, Jerry."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EHMWOagmh 維尼
"Go on," said Mr. Wildman, in a deathly dry voice.356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD54fxygqlw
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"Very early yesterday morning, I experienced a visitation, too. I heard someone swinging on the old swing in the garden. Then, when I went home in the evening, I heard it again, and I went outside to take a look."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdSNVsyDSv 維尼
"Naturally enough," said Mr. Wildman. "And what was it?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡEk2tQHjXrQ 維尼
"Not what was it, Bruce. Who was it."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfnG93Gge3 維尼
"All right, have it your way. Who was it."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡED6qWowo43 維尼
Harold turned around. He had to face him to say this. "It was your daughter, Bruce. It was Nancy. She was sitting on the swing right in front of me, about as far away as I'm standing away from you now, and she was looking at me."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qsBYmaQMX 維尼
Harold didn't know what he had expected Mr. Wildman to do or say. It would be logical to expect him to lose his temper, call him a bastard and a blasphemer, and refuse to take Harold's case. The notion of ghosts was too much for anyone to swallow, even in the most conducive of circumstances. The idea that a ghost might have murdered an old lady in a house on the Ol' Spithead highway----well, that was beyond even the grimmest of jokes.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfv8fj03BY 維尼
Harold sat down, with his hands in his lap, and looked at Mr. Wildman expectantly. The muscles in his cheek were working, and there was no doubt that his forehead had turned extremely red. But he couldn't read what he was thinking by the expression in his eyes. His eyes were turned inwards, into himself, and they were giving nothing away at all.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7sKvWQCgh 維尼
"If you want me to lay it on the line," Harold told him, "it wasn't me who killed Mrs. Donald Baylor. It was the ghost of her dead husband. Now, I know you can't go into court and...."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡKE8Z6maHwR 維尼
"You saw Nancy?" Mr. Wildman suddenly interrupted him, with considerable harshness in his tone.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81fDeRcUzm 維尼
Harold nodded, surprised. "I think so. In fact, I'm positive I did. Old Andy Curtis tried to tell me it was St. Elmo's Fire or something, but I saw her face, Bruce, just as clear as if she were..."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHWcInNuS7 維尼
"You're not making this up? You're not trying to taunt me? This isn't some kind of vicious retaliatory joke?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhQGY6LdIe 維尼
Very slowly, Harold shook his head. "What could I possibly have to retaliate for, Bruce? You may blame me for what happened to Nancy, but you haven't been unkind to me."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6S2vtitTkO 維尼
"When you saw her...." said Mr. Wildman, speaking with difficulty, "---when you saw her---did she---how did she look?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RGdidptKo 維尼
"A little strange. Thinner somehow. But it was the same Nancy."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFZiMzHIGt 維尼
Mr. Wildman put his hand up to his mouth and Harold had realized to his astonishment that there were tears welling up in his eyes. 8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡIslBqwEScj 維尼
"Did she---speak at all?" he asked, swallowing. "Did she say anything? Anything at all?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxPPi4VU1B 維尼
"No. But I think I've heard her singing. And several times, I think I've heard her whispering my name. You remember in the office, yesterday morning?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9EGHDHOz3 維尼
Mr. Wildman nodded. He seemed to be so overwhelmed by emotion that he could barely speak. "I've heard about it, of course. Well, nobody admits to it. But you can't look after their births and their marriages and their wills without getting an inkling that something's going on, can you?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ044TOCYjE1 維尼
"What's going on? Harold asked him. "I don't understand."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡIc5xMnjeQN 維尼
He sniffed and cleared his throat, and then burrowed into his pocket for his handkerchief. "I don't know very much about it. Only what some of my clients have told me. But many people say that Ol' Spithead is no ordinary community, and never has been. Many people say that if you live in Ol' Spithead, the chances of seeing your loved ones again after they die are remarkably high. Yo may know that the town once used to be called Resurrection, before it was changed by order of the governor of Massachusetts to Ol' Spithead. Well, the reason it was called Resurrection was because the dead were said to visit the living, until the living, too, reached the end of their lives."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27HedDaOSY 維尼
"You believe me," Harold said in shock.8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlVSReYYuw 維尼
"Did you think I wouldn't?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8jejR96RW 維尼
"Of course I thought you wouldn't. I've murdered an elderly woman, and my alibi is that a ghost did it?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVJa0sZeP6 維尼
Mr. Wildman tucked away his handkerchief. "You really saw Nancy," he whispered. "My God, I wish I could have been there. I would have given a year of my life, just to see her again."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWuQJAeUiy 維尼
"I shouldn't make promises like that," Harold told him. "If Donald Baylor's ghost is anything to go by, these whatever-they-are, manifestations, might be extremely dangerous."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbI2IimdvO 維尼
Mr. Wildman smiled and shook his head. "Can you really imagine Nancy doing anything hurtful or cruel?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡg11o877Vu0 維尼
"Not the Nancy I knew when she was alive, but..."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrVglHrhI8 維尼
"Nancy would never hurt anybody, dead or alive. She was an angel, you know, Harold. An angel when she was living; and now she's gone, an angel still. I'm going to have to tell her mother, you know."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwmcEaQ5Hp 維尼
"Bruce, I hate to come back to brass tacks," Harold told him. "But I still don't see how you're going to get me off this homicide charge. Not if ghosts are my only alibi."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBCA7UHNBZ 維尼
Mr. Wildman paused in silence for a long time. Then he looked up at Harold with reddened eyes, and said, "Mrs. Baylor was killed in a most remarkable way, wasn't she?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLkMqF6n8w 維尼
"Not just remarkable. Impossible. At least for me to have done it. Or anybody human."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡQA0hhxMseb 維尼
"Well," said Mr. Wildman, "I think I'll go talk to the D.A. I'm sure it's going to be possible to come to some arrangement. He's an old friend of mine, you know. We both belong to the same golf club."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgjj8GjoVD 維尼
"You really think you can swing something?"8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUZCTyz7ru 維尼
"I can only try."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwXpYsX15C 維尼
He stood up, and put away his pad. He couldn't stop himself from smiling. "I can't wait to tell Claudia," he said. "She'll be delighted."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9gOUfFvjP 維尼
"I don't really see what you've got to be delighted about."8964 copyright protection352ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKZSXl54Dx 維尼
"Harold, my dear boy, we've got everything to be delighted about. Well, almost everything. Once you're released, and back at the cottage, we can visit you, can't we, and see Nancy again for ourselves?"356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Kab8mNNr8
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Harold couldn't think of anything to say. He shook his head, uncertainly, and then sat down on his chair as abruptly as if somebody had hit him with a sockful of wet sand. Mr. Wildman left and he heard his rubber-soled shoes squeaking up the polished police station corridor.356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkkjWHFlKb
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The police sergeant poked his head around the door again. 356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwgYReYjbN
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"What are you sitting there for?" he wanted to know. "It's back to the slammer for you."356Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPFPgz5QdO
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