The Origin of Evil Read Free Page A

the dead dog’s collar say, Laurel?’
    â€˜That’s what I don’t know.’
    â€˜Oh, come.’
    â€˜When he fell unconscious the paper was still in his hand, crumpled into a ball. I was too busy to try to open his fist, and by the time Dr. Voluta came, I’d forgotten it. But I remembered it that night, and the first chance I got — the next morning — I asked Dad about it. The minute I mentioned it he got pale, mumbled, “It was nothing, nothing,” and I changed the subject fast. But when Dr. Voluta dropped in, I took him aside and asked him if he’d seen the note. He said he had opened Daddy’s hand and put the wad of paper on the night table beside the bed without reading it. I asked Simeon, Ichiro, and the housekeeper if they had taken the paper, but none of them had seen it. Daddy must have spotted it when he came to, and when he was alone he took it back.’
    â€˜Have you looked for it since?’
    â€˜Yes, but I haven’t found it. I assume he destroyed it.’
    Ellery did not comment on such assumptions. ‘Well, then, the dog, the collar, the little box. Have you done anything about them?’
    â€˜I was too excited over whether Daddy was going to live or die to think about the dog. I recall telling Itchie or Sim to get it out of the way. I only meant for them to get it off the doorstep, but the next day when I went looking for it, Mrs. Monk told me she had called the Pound Department or some place and it had been picked up and carted away.’
    â€˜Up the flue,’ said Ellery, tapping his teeth with a fingernail. ‘Although the collar and box … You’re sure your father didn’t react to the mere sight of the dead dog? He wasn’t afraid of dogs? Or,’ he added suddenly, ‘of dying?’
    â€˜He adored dogs. So much so that when Sarah, our Chesapeake bitch, died of old age last year he refused to get another dog. He said it was too hard losing them. As far as dying is concerned, I don’t think the prospect of death as such bothered Daddy very much. Certainly not so much as the suffering. He hated the idea of a lingering illness with a lot of pain, and he always hoped that when his time came he’d pass away in his sleep. But that’s all. Does that answer your question?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Ellery, ‘and no. Was he superstitious?’
    â€˜Not especially. Why?’
    â€˜You said he was frightened to death. I’m groping.’
    Laurel was silent. Then she said, ‘But he was. I mean frightened to death. It wasn’t the dog — at first.’ She gripped her ankles, staring ahead. ‘I got the feeling that the dog didn’t mean anything till he read the note. Maybe it didn’t mean anything to him even then. But whatever was in that note terrified him. It came as a tremendous shock to him. I’d never seen him look afraid before. I mean the real thing. And I could have sworn he died on the way down. He looked really dead lying there … That note did something devastating.’ She turned to Ellery. Her eyes were greenish, with brown flecks in them; they were a little bulgy. ‘Something he’d forgotten, maybe. Something so important it made Roger come out of his shell for the first time in fifteen years.’
    â€˜What?’ said Ellery. ‘What was that again?’
    â€˜I told you — Roger Priam, Dad’s business partner. His oldest friend. Roger left his house.’
    â€˜For the first time in fifteen years?’ exclaimed Ellery.
    â€˜Fifteen years ago Roger became partly paralyzed. He’s lived in a wheel-chair ever since, and ever since he’s refused to leave the Priam premises. All vanity; he was a large hunk of man in his day, I understand, proud of his build, his physical strength; he can’t stand the thought of having people see him helpless, and it’s turned him into something pretty