The Origin of Evil Read Free Page B

unpleasant.
    â€˜Through it all Roger pretends he’s as good as ever and he brags that running the biggest jewellery business on the West coast from a wheel-chair in the hills proves it. Of course, he doesn’t do any such thing. Daddy ran it all, though to keep peace he played along with Roger and pretended with him — gave Roger special jobs to do that he could handle over the phone, never took an important step without consulting him, and so on. Why, some of the people at the office and showrooms downtown have been with the firm for years and have never even laid eyes on Roger. The employees hate him. They call him “the invisible God,”’ Laurel said with a smile. Ellery did not care for the smile. ‘Of course — being employees — they’re scared to death of him.’
    â€˜A fear which you don’t share?’
    â€˜I can’t stand him.’ It came out calmly enough, but when Ellery kept looking at her she glanced elsewhere.
    â€˜You’re afraid of him, too.’
    â€˜I just dislike him.’
    â€˜Go on.’
    â€˜I’d notified the Priams of Dad’s heart attack the first chance I got, which was the evening of the day it happened. I spoke to Roger myself on the phone. He seemed very curious about the circumstances and kept insisting he had to talk to Daddy. I refused — Dr. Voluta had forbidden excitement of any kind. The next morning Roger phoned twice, and Dad seemed just as anxious to talk to him . In fact, he was getting so upset I let him phone. There’s a private line between his bedroom and the Priam house. But after I got Roger on the phone Dad asked me to leave the room.’
    Laurel jumped up, but immediately she sat down again, fumbling for another Dunhill. Ellery let her strike her own match; she failed to notice.
    She puffed rapidly. ‘Nobody knows what he said to Roger. Whatever it was, it took only a few minutes, and it brought Roger right over. He’d been lifted, wheel-chair and all, into the back of the Priams’ station wagon, and Delia — Roger’s wife — drove him over herself.’ And Laurel’s voice stabbed at the name of Mrs. Priam. So another Hatfield went with this McCoy. ‘When he was carried up to Dad’s bedroom in his chair, Roger locked the door. They talked for three hours.’
    â€˜Discussing the dead dog and the note?’
    â€˜There’s no other possibility. It couldn’t have been business — Roger had never felt the necessity of coming over before on business, and Daddy had had two previous heart attacks. It was about the dog and note, all right. And if I had any doubts, the look on Roger Priam’s face when he wheeled himself out of the bedroom killed them. He was as frightened as Daddy had been the day before, and for the same reason.
    â€˜And that was something to see,’ said Laurel softly. ‘If you were to meet Roger Priam, you’d know what I mean. Frightened looks don’t go with his face. If there’s any fright around, he’s usually dishing it out … He even talked to me, something he rarely bothers to do. “You take good care of your father,” he said to me. I pleaded with him to tell me what was wrong, and he pretended not to have heard me. Simeon and Itchie lifted him into the station wagon, and Delia drove off with him.
    â€˜A week ago — during the night of June tenth — Daddy got his wish. He died in his sleep. Dr. Voluta says that last shock to his heart did it. He was cremated, and his ashes are in a bronze drawer fifteen feet from the floor at Forest Lawn. But that’s what he wanted, and that’s where he is. The sixty-four-dollar question, Ellery, is: Who murdered him? And I want it answered.’
    Ellery rang for Mrs. Williams. When she did not appear, he excused himself and went downstairs to the miniature lower level to find a note from his housekeeper describing minutely her