Free Transmigration by J. T. McIntosh Page A

tranquilly.
     
     
     
     
"Dead?" said Anita blankly. "Already?"
     
     
"She's a clever girl," said Ross dispassionately. "She knew he was going

to die. So did we all. He carried it around with him."
     
     
"Be quiet," said Anita impatiently. "How did it happen?"
     
     
Baudaker had a copy of the first edition of the evening paper. A paragraph

low on the front page, headed DEATH FALL, was marked:
     
     
John Fletcher (43), 24 Beechview Gardens, has

been found dead in a disused basement well at his

lodgings. According to the police statement, an iron

gate leading to the basement well had given way as

Fletcher leaned on it, and he pitched over the edge,

missing the steps, landing on his head. There are no

suspicious circumstances.
     
     
"I'm going there to find out about it," said Anita.
     
     
"Find out what, Miss Somerset?" Baudaker asked.
     
     
"I'm going to that house. What's the address? -- 24 Beechview

Gardens. That's not far from here."
     
     
"Such a tragedy," Baudaker sighed. "His ESP rating, under controlled

conditions, was phenomenal. If only he had cooperated in a really

exhaustive series of tests . . . "
     
     
"I know," said Anita. "Now please excuse me."
     
     
"If you're really going there," said Ross, "I'll come with you."
     
     
"Please don't bother."
     
     
"It's no bother, Maiden."
     
     
As they walked, he spoke less provocatively than usual. His interest

had been caught and he did not want the episode to close, as so many

episodes in his life had closed, because of something said by someone

else or himself that made it impossible to go on.
     
     
"Except for about five minutes with you, Maiden, he had a totally negative

score. That must mean something."
     
     
"Of course it means something. It means he had to be wrong. Consciously

or unconsciously, he made all his answers wrong. And he could do that

only by knowing the right answers."
     
     
"I don't know about that . . . "
     
     
"It's the only way. You understand mathematics, don't you?"
     
     
"Through a glass, darkly."
     
     
"Well, don't argue about this. Obviously, if a man can manage to be

always wrong, it can't be due to chance."
     
     
"Obviously."
     
     
"All right, then . . . just don't argue about obvious things. And then,

suddenly, Fletcher was able to score fantastic positive results with

me alone."
     
     
"Of course," said Ross, "we only have your word for that."
     
     
"What?"
     
     
"By arrangement, there was no tape recorder, no spyhole, no outside check.

You took down the figures . . . "
     
     
She said coldly: "If you think I'd falsify results . . . "
     
     
"I don't. Did anyone suggest anything of the sort? But remember,

if anything has to be proved, seven people spent umpteen hours with

Fletcher and demonstrated beyond doubt that he could score zero per cent

with unfailing regularity. Only in a private test with you, carried out

and scored by you, were there positive results."
     
     
"I see what you mean," Anita said.
     
     
They found the house and looked at the iron gate. A new padlock had been

fitted on it. Anita peered over reluctantly, aware that Fletcher's body

would no longer be there, yet a little scared it might be.
     
     
As she rang the bell, Anita said: "Let me do the talking."
     
     
"Certainly, Maiden. Next to your pale white body, the thing I love best

about you is your seductive voice."
     
     
"Oh, shut up."
     
     
The door was opened by a pretty girl who might have been sixteen, but

was not.
     
     
"We're friends of John Fletcher," said Anlta.
     
     
"Oh? I didn't think he had any friends, but I'm glad to know I was

wrong. Do come in."
     
     
Fletcher took immense pleasure in sight and sound of Judy. First, she

had not fallen from the balcony to her death. Second, her composure,

her intelligent elegance in a plain print dress, no makeup and no

nylons showed that she had acquired discrimination quite beyond the

Judy of old. Third, what she said