Dead to the World Read Online Free PDF Page A

bump in the night? Not a damn thing. But I couldn’t help feeling there was a live human hand at work here.
    Before I could ask any more questions, the front door opened with a quick knock and two people stood in the foyer.
    ‘Oh, goodness!’ Miss Hutchins said, standing up. ‘I wonder who that could be?’ She moved into the foyer, with Willis and me not far behind.
    ‘Hello!’ Miss Hutchins chirped. ‘May I help you?’
    I realized I was staring and quickly looked down at my shoes. I always wondered about people who go out of their way to make themselves look as different as possible then get insulted when other people look too long. The man was short, maybe five foot five at the most. His hair was orange and styled in a faux-hawk, his nose, lip and ears were pierced, and there were tats covering all his exposed flesh. The woman was much taller than him, maybe my height (that’s five feet and all eleven inches) or even taller, and weighed considerably more than was necessary. Her hair was jet black, shaved on one side and hanging long and loose on the other. She wore a shear chiffon dress, floating and billowing about her, over what appeared to be long johns, with a knitted poncho covering the top and more scarves than I’ve ever seen on one person. She had similar tats and piercings.
    Ignoring Miss Hutchins’ greeting, the female of the couple said, in a Minnie Mouse-ish voice, ‘I feel it, Humphrey. I can feel it! It’s so strong!’
    Humphrey, whom I assumed was the man with her, said, ‘I knew it! This is great!’
    ‘Excuse me,’ Miss Hutchins said. ‘May I help you?’
    ‘Miss Hutchins, right?’ Humphrey said, grabbing her hand and shaking it like one would shake a pitcher of martinis. ‘Humphrey Hammerschultz, I made the reservations.’
    ‘You did?’ Miss Hutchins asked.
    ‘Last week. Do you have a problem with your memory? A lot of people as old as you do, you know, but it’s not an issue. We made a reservation. This is my partner, Diamond Lovesy.’
    ‘Reservation?’ Miss Hutchins said, stiffening at the implied insult.
    ‘Yes,’ Humphrey said, leaning closer to her, speaking loudly and slowly. ‘We made a reservation for two rooms – one for Diamond and one for myself.’
    ‘We’re not a couple,’ Diamond said, looking at Willis and me and smiling.
    I nodded my head, but my husband opted not to acknowledge the new people at all.
    ‘We’re psychic investigators,’ Humphrey said to Willis and me. ‘Or if you prefer, paranormal detectives!’ He smiled widely. ‘Diamond is a medium.’
    Miss Hutchins turned to me. ‘What are they saying?’ she asked, quite anxious.
    ‘I called last week!
’ Humphrey screamed at her.
‘We were told we could come investigate the things that have been happening here!
’
    Again Miss Hutchins turned to me. ‘Why is he screaming at me?’ she asked in a weak voice.
    ‘You don’t have to yell,’ I said to Humphrey. ‘She has all her faculties. Are you sure you talked to Miss Hutchins when you called?’
    ‘No, it was her assistant. Some guy,’ he said.
    ‘A guy? A man, you mean?’ Miss Hutchins asked. ‘There are no men here.’
    ‘Could it have been your helper?’ I asked her.
    She shook her head. ‘No, she’s a woman. And she doesn’t have a deep voice or anything. Besides,’ Miss Hutchins said, ‘she hasn’t been here in several weeks. She certainly wasn’t here last week.’
    ‘Well, I don’t know who I talked to,’ Humphrey said, ‘but he took the reservation.’
    Miss Hutchins walked to a small counter in the foyer, upon which sat a large, hardbound book. I moved to stand beside her. She flipped it to today’s date. And there, on the right side, was Saturday, with the notation, ‘Humphrey Hammerschultz and Diamond Lovesy, two rooms.’ Across from it, on the left, was Friday, with information on Willis and me. It didn’t take a graphologist to realize that the two entries were written by two different people.
    ‘How