Free Murder Most Strange by Dell Shannon Page A

heard Alison come in with the twins and
chase them upstairs to Mairi for their baths. They departed noisily
comparing the virtues of the ponies, and Alison came wandering in
with Cedric and sat down opposite him. Cedric flopped down at her
feet, panting loudly. Her hair was a little disheveled and she was
looking meditative.
    "They're getting to be quite good little
riders," she said.
    "Fine," said Mendoza.
    "But," said Alison uneasily, "Ken says
eventually we'll have to get a horse."
    " ¡No me diga! ¿Para qué
es esta? Why a horse? They won't be six until
August."
    "Well, it's fine right now, but they're not
going to be satisfied forever just riding around the ring, Luis. As
they get more experienced they're going to want to take the ponies up
in the hills, and of course Ken will have to go with them. He says
just a quiet old nag of some sort, it needn't cost much. And he can
add on room in the stable if he can get the lumber.
    " ¡Por Dios! "
said Mendoza.
    "He still hasn't located anybody to shear the
sheep, he's been asking all the vets around. After all, nobody keeps
sheep in L.A."
    "Nobody but us, fools that we are."
    "And, Luis, do you know that those ponies have
finished another ten bales of hay? And the price it's gone to—"
    Mendoza regarded her with cynical amusement. "Don't
say it, one thing leading to—"
    "Well, it seems to."
    " Hay ,"
said Mendoza. "Sheep. A horse. My God, what next?"
    * * *
    The night watch didn't get a call until nine o'clock,
and then the desk called up an attempted homicide. Conway and Piggott
went out on it.
    It was a small apartment building on Marview Street,
and Patrolman Bill Moss was waiting for them. "Where the hell
are the paramedics? I called fifteen minutes ago—the girl's lost
some blood."
    "What's it look like?" asked Conway.
    "Rape and stabbing. The roommate just came home
and found her. Marcia Currier—the victim, I mean. The roommate's
Evelyn Frost. She was at the beach with her boy friend all day. She
says somebody must have broken in, but there's no sign of it—"
    "Oh, wait for it," said Conway. "Where?"
    "Apartment D upstairs.”
    They took the stairs fast. Apartment D was at the end
of the upper hall; the door was open. In the middle of a small,
brightly furnished living room there was a girl crumpled on the floor
with a lot of blood around her, and another girl bending over her
crying. She was a pretty, dark girl; the one on the floor was blond.
She looked up wildly. "Where's the ambulance? Are you-"
    "Police. It'll be along. What do you know about
this, is it Miss Frost?"
    "Yes, yes—nothing—I just found her—oh,
Marcia darling—I can't imagine—we're both careful about keeping
doors locked, and she'd never let a stranger in—he must have broken
in—"
    "Has she said anything at all, has she been
conscious since you found her?"
    "Yes, but it didn't mean anyth— She was
t-trying to get up when I came in, she said my name— Where's the
ambulance?"
    "Anything else?"
    She brushed back her hair, straightening up. "I
don't think she was all the way conscious, didn't know what she
was—Queer, she said something like Jekyll and Hyde—"
    "Oh, my sweet Christ!" said Conway
disgustedly. "Dapper Dan. That's right, it's Sunday." And
then the paramedics arrived, and took the girl out in a hurry, and
the Frost girl went with them.
    Piggott looked at the bloodstains lugubriously. "Like
the children of Israel," he said.
    "What the hell?"
    "Bricks without straw. He's hit, let's see, this
is the ninth time, and the lab's never picked up a trace of him on
any of them."
    "There's always a first time. I'll get a unit
out." Conway started back downstairs to the squad.
    Piggott looked around
sadly. The devil, these days, was getting out and around and
accomplishing too much.
    * * *
    Monday was Palliser's day off. This would be a big
day for Nick Galeano, who hadn't shown up yesterday at all; and it
remained to be seen how many of the men at Robbery-Homicide, who'd
worked with