Ed McBain_87th Precinct 47 Read Online Free PDF Page B

NAME slot, typed in C-A-S-S, stopped and
     looked up. “Is that A-D-Y or I-D-Y?” he asked.
    “I,” she said.
    “Cassidy,” he said, typing. “Michelle like in the Beatles?”
    “Yes. A double L.”
    “May I have your address, please?”
    She gave him her address and the apartment number and her phone number there, and also a work number where she could be reached.
    “Are you married?” he asked. “Single? Divorced?”
    “Single.”
    “Are you employed, Miss Cassidy?”
    “I’m an actress.”
    “Have I seen you in anything?” he asked.
    “Well … I played the lead in
Annie,
“ she said. “And I’ve been doing a lot of dinner theater work in recent years.”
    “I
saw the movie,” he said.
“
Annie.
”
    “I
wasn’t in the movie,”
she said.
    “Good movie, though,” he said. “Are you in anything right now?”
    “I’m rehearsing a play.”
    “Would it be a play I know?”
    “I don’t think so. It’s a new play, it’s called
Romance.
We’re opening it uptown here, but we hope to move down-town later. If it’s a hit.”
    “What’s it about?”
    “Well, that’s the funny part of it.”
    “What is?”
    “It’s about an actress getting phone calls from somebody who says he’s going to kill her.”
    “What’s funny about that?”
    “Well … that’s why I’m here, you see.”
    “I’m sorry, Miss Cassidy, I’m not foll … ”
    “I’ve been getting the same kind of calls.”
    “Threatening calls, do you mean?”
    “Yes. A man who says he’s going to kill me. Just like in the play. Well, not the same language.”
    “What
does
he say? Exactly?”
    “That he’s going to kill me with a knife.”
    “With a knife.”
    “Yes.”
    “He specifies the weapon.”
    “Yes. A knife.”
    “These are the
real
calls we’re talking about, is that right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Not the ones in the play.”
    “No. These are the calls I’ve been getting for the past week now.”
    “A man saying he’s going to kill you with a knife.”
    “Yes.”
    “Which of these numbers does he call?”
    “My home number. The other one is the backstage phone. At the theater.”
    “He hasn’t called you there?”
    “No. Not yet, anyway. I’m very frightened, Detective Kling.”
    “I can imagine. When did these calls start?”
    “Last Sunday night.”
    “That would’ve been… “He looked at his desk calendar. “March twenty-ninth,” he said.
    “Whenever.”
    “Does he seem to know you?”
    “He calls me Miss Cassidy.”
    “What does he … ?”
    “Sort of sarcastically. Miss
Cassidy.
Like that. With a sort of
sneer
in his voice.”
    “Tell me again exactly what he… ”
    “He says, `I’m going to kill you, Miss Cassidy. With a knife.’ ”
    “Have there been any threatening letters?”
    “No.”
    “Have you seen any strangers lurking about your building...’’
    “No.”
    ‘’… or
the
theater?’’
    “No.”
    “Which theater is it, by the way?”
    “The Susan Granger. On North Eleventh.”
    “No one hanging around the stage door… ”
    “No.’’
    “… or following you … ?”
    “No.”
    “… or watching you? For example, has anyone in a restaurant or any other public place … ?”
    “No, nothing like that.”
    “Just the phone calls.”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you owe money to anyone?”
    “No.”
    “Have you had any recent arguments or altercations with… ”
    “No.”
    “I don’t suppose you
fired
anyone in recent …”
    “No.”
    “Any boyfriends in your past who might… ”
    “No. I’ve been living with the same man for seven years now.”
    “Get along okay with him?”
    “Oh, yes.”
    “I have to ask.”
    “That’s okay. I know you’re doing your job. We have the same thing in the play.”
    “Sorry?” Kling said.
    “There’s a scene where she goes to the police, and they ask her all these questions.”
    “I see. What’s his name, by the way? The man you’ve been living with.”
    “John Milton.”
    “Like the poet.”
    “Yes.