The Sorcerer's House Read Online Free PDF Page A

menu, I suppose to hide her tears.
    Overhearing us, the waitress said, "Did you see the special, sir? On the chalkboard as you came in?"
    I shook my head.
    "We call it the Lakeshore Hat Trick. Three kinds of fish, all cooked different. There's pike blackened with Cajun spices, a blackfish cake--that's a Chinese delicacy, sir--with a sweet Oriental glaze, and white-fish in black butter. Three small portions, sir, but taken together they make a big meal, and it's only nine ninety-five. I've been serving a lot of them today, and everybody likes it."
    "Fine," I said. "I'll have that."
    From behind her menu, Doris murmured, "So many shades of black."
    In the interests of veracity, George, I must interrupt to tell you that while the pike was indeed black, thanks to black pepper, the blackfish cake was not. I would assume that the living fish are black. The blackbutter was in sober fact brown. It had been mixed with what I took to be vinegar and poured over capers.
    I asked Doris to tell me something about Mr. Black. Can you understand how utterly at sea I feel? A man I never heard of signed his house over to me and left the deed with a real-estate agency. I have sifted and resifted my memories in search of a man named Black. I have looked long and hard for someone who felt sufficiently indebted to me to give me a house.
    Doris shook her head. "I don't know a thing about him, Mr. Dunn. Nothing. A&I managed the property. When they went out of business, Martha Murrey seems to have taken it over. I asked Jake about her after you left, and he said she used to work for A&I and took everything it had left when Mr. Isaacs retired."
    "What was his first name?"
    "Mr. Isaacs? I have no idea."
    "Mr. Black."
    "Oh, him. You have the deed, don't you? It should be on there."
    "It isn't. The previous owner was a corporation, GEAS Inc. Since everybody talks about Mr. Black, I assume that he owned the company or controlled it."
    Doris looked thoughtful. "You know I believe Jake mentioned Mr. Black's first name, and it was something perfectly horrible." Her fingers tapped the table. "Not Zeke. Zeke's funny, and this was just dreadful. I'll ask Jake when I get back to the office. You haven't seen him?"
    "Seen Jake? I suppose I did when I went to your office, but I don't know which one he was."
    "Seen Mr. Black. You could introduce yourself. You know, 'Hi there! I'm Baxter Dunn.' Then he couldn't very well say 'I'm Mr. Black.' He'd have to give his first name, wouldn't he?"
    I said, "Don't you think he'd mumble? He's dead, after all."
    That brought the sly smile again. "Some people say he's still in there, living in your house."
    (Winkle is peeking at me through the window, George, which means she is still outside. I shall tell you about Winkle in a moment.)
    Doris clearly retained a schoolgirl's delight in gruesome urban legends; I had to smile. "Perhaps he'll help with the dishes."
    "You don't scare easily, do you?"
    "On the contrary. I'm a rather timid man, and I know it, Mrs. Griffin. Much too careful, if anything."
    She surprised me, reaching across the table to touch my hand. "You're wearing Ted's ring, Mr. Dunn. It doesn't seem right that we're still Mr. Dunn and Mrs. Griffin. I'd like you to call me Doris. Will you do that?"
    I said, "Certainly, if you wish it, Doris. It will be a privilege."
    "And I'll call you . . . Do you know, I think I've lost your first name?"
    "It's Baxter, but nobody says that. Please call me Bax."
    Our lunches arrived--the Lakeshore Hat Trick for me and coconut shrimp for Doris. Hunger is the best sauce, or so they say, and I had a large bottle of it. Doubtless anything would have tasted wonderful; but with that said, I really think my lunch was far above average.
    Doris laid aside a shrimp tail. "It's good, isn't it, Bax? I didn't steer you wrong?"
    "It's superb. I've been eating like a starved dog, I know. But this is even better than the fish I cooked at home last night, and I was very hungry."
    She smiled. (I was