The Way You Die Tonight Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hughes?’
    â€˜I did, this morning,’ I said.
    â€˜What did he want?’
    â€˜â€œWhat did he want?” That’s what you ask? Not what he’s like, is he crazy, are the stories true?’
    Entratter waved his hand and said, ‘I know the answers to all those questions. Tell me what he wanted. Why is he in Vegas?’
    â€˜Well, this is really strange—’ I started, but I was interrupted by somebody who ran into the room.
    â€˜Mr Entratter, y-you better come quick!’ she said, her eyes wide. I stood up and looked at her. It was Marcia Clarkson, a pretty brunette who worked down the hall. We had gone out once, and had stayed friends. To me she was Marcy.
    â€˜Eddie! Jesus,’ she said, when she saw me, ‘y-you gotta come.’
    â€˜Where?’
    She waved at us and said, ‘Come on, come on …’
    I looked at Entratter, who got up from his desk, and we followed her out of the room and down the hall.
    â€˜There,’ she said, pointing to the ladies’ room. ‘I-in there.’
    I looked at Jack, who looked at me, and then I pushed the door open and went in.
    She was hanging from a pipe in the ceiling, by a belt that had been looped around her neck.
    â€˜Oh my God!’ Marcy said, covering her face and turning away.
    Jack Entratter said, ‘Shit.’
    It was his girl.
    â€˜Helen,’ he said.
    I think that might have been the first time I ever heard her name.

TEN
    W e had no choice but to call the police.
    â€˜This ain’t somethin’ we can handle ourselves,’ Jack said.
    Jack went to his office to make the call. I took Marcy back to her office and sat her down at her desk. She was shaking, and I got her a glass of water. Whiskey probably would have been better.
    â€˜What happened?’ I asked.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I had to go to the bathroom. When I unlocked the door and went in, she was there. Hanging like that.’
    â€˜You unlocked the door?’
    â€˜Yes, we keep it locked. I have a key in my drawer, and she has one in hers. If anyone else wants to use the bathroom they come to one of us for the key.’
    â€˜So her key must be on her,’ I said.
    â€˜I guess.’
    â€˜Give me your key, Marcy.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜I better lock that door. We don’t want anyone else going in til the cops get here.’
    â€˜Oh,’ she said. ‘All right.’ She put her hand in the pocket of her jacket and came out with a key.
    â€˜Stay here,’ I said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
    I went down the hall to the ladies’ room, started to lock the door, then stopped. I looked around, saw that I was alone in the hallway. Instead of locking the door, I went inside.
    Helen was hanging from the pipe, swaying only slightly. The pipe was only exposed because the ceiling was being worked on by workmen. Any other time it couldn’t have been done without breaking through the ceiling tiles. Like Marcy, she was wearing a jacket. I steeled myself, and went through the pockets.
    No key.
    I looked around to see if she had set it down on a sink, or if it had fallen to the floor. There was no key, anywhere.
    How had she gotten in?
    I went back into the hall, locked the door and returned to Marcy’s office. She was sitting with her head down on her desk. When I walked in she looked up at me with tear-stained eyes, magnified by her glasses.
    â€˜What happened, Eddie?’ she asked. ‘Why would she do that?’
    â€˜You think she hung herself?’
    â€˜Well … what else could have happened?’
    â€˜Did you and she talk much, Marcy?’ I asked.
    â€˜N-no, not really,’ Marcy said.
    â€˜Jack said she hadn’t been herself lately,’ I said. ‘Did you notice anything wrong?’
    â€˜No,’ she said. ‘Even when we were in the bathroom at the same time we just sort of said hello. E-Eddie, do you think …