Hotline to Murder Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t
afford to take time off from work, but in a rare self-analytic
moment, he had admitted to himself that he had a fear of funerals.
Now he had to contend with a certain level of guilt.
    Nancy looked around the auditorium and
continued, “But all of you are very special people. As listeners on
the Hotline, you have made a commitment that few people can make.
You have committed yourselves to help others—not just go through
the motions of helping others, with surface gestures such as
donating money or old toys. You have agreed to enter their worlds,
to listen to their problems, to walk a mile in their shoes, to feel
what it’s like to be disabled or abused or bi-polar or even
suicidal. You have invested not just your time, but your emotions,
as well. And that is what is difficult to do. That’s what sets you
apart and makes you special. That’s what puts you in a class by
yourselves and gives you a bond with other Hotline listeners that
nobody who hasn’t been a listener can share. And all of you have a
permanent bond with Joy.”
    The woman was an orator. As Tony listened to
her, he felt his usual cynicism slipping away. He looked at the
listeners around him with new eyes. He even looked at himself with
new eyes. He had been planning to quit the Hotline, using Joy’s
murder somehow as an excuse, but how could he do that now? He felt
tears rolling down his cheeks, which he tried to hide by brushing
them away with his sleeve, but when he dared to look around the
room again he noticed that there were not many dry eyes in the
place.
    Nancy was saying, “We are going to reopen
the Hotline, starting tomorrow. Joy would want us to keep it open.
Our callers need us and want us to keep it open. We will be making
changes to increase our security. However, to those of you who feel
they can’t continue as listeners, we understand. But we would like
as many of you as possible to stay. In a few minutes we’ll tell you
about some of the changes we are implementing. But first, I want to
introduce Detective Croyden to you. Detective Croyden is with the
Bonita Beach Police Department. He will bring you up to date on the
investigation and answer any questions you may have.”
    Nancy sat down, and Detective Croyden walked
to the lectern. He was an athletic man, wearing a dark business
suit with pinstripes, but primarily some shade of brown. His hair
was trimmed so short that it was barely there. He looked
overdressed for the modern casual world, but Tony realized that he
had at least one gun hidden beneath his jacket. He would have been
handsome if his nose hadn’t tilted to one side. It probably hadn’t
always been like that.
    Detective Croyden took a few seconds to
survey the room. He had a penetrating gaze that prevented his
audience from fidgeting or talking. When he started speaking, he
had everybody’s attention.
    “I want to add my thanks to you for coming
tonight. This is a difficult time for you. I am going to level with
you as far as what we know. I won’t hold back just because many of
you are young. Nancy and Gail told me that as listeners, you are
used to hearing strong language.”
    He paused again for a moment which, Tony
realized, had the effect, planned or not, of riveting the attention
of the audience on him even more. “First, let me tell you what we
know and what we don’t know about the murder, itself. Joy walked
out to her car after her shift ended at ten o’clock, escorted by
the building guard. The guard remembers it as being approximately
five minutes past ten. She got into her car. The guard walked back
into the building. As of the time he entered the building, Joy had
not started her car, but he didn’t see anybody in the parking lot.
The only other vehicle belonged to him. So he figured she would be
okay.
    “What happened after that is speculation
because we don’t have any witnesses. The murderer—I will use the
word ‘suspect’ and the masculine pronoun, although we are not
ruling out