Free The Doorkeepers by Graham Masterton Page A

that?”
    â€œLook them up for yourself. It’s possible that Mrs Marguerite Marmion hasn’t got a phone, or else she’s ex-directory. But if the street doesn’t exist …”
    Nancy took the letter and examined it minutely. “This is really strange, isn’t it? I mean, it’s quite fashionable for companies to use a traditional old picture on their letterhead, but they’d put their up-to-date telephone number and fax and e-mail numbers on it, wouldn’t they?”
    Ella shrugged. “What difference does it make, if there’s no such company?”
    â€œWell, none. But if Julia didn’t go to the Wheatstone Electrics Company, where
did
she go?”
    â€œMy friend Wally thinks she was playing a practical joke. She must have found some old paper and made a copy of it.”
    â€œYou think so?” said Josh. “You feel this letterhead. It’s all embossed, and embossing doesn’t come cheap. Why would Julia go to the expense of producing a single sheet of embossed paper, just for a practical joke? And if it
was
a practical joke, what was the point of it?”
    â€œMaybe she found an original sheet of paper from the 1930s,” Ella suggested.
    Nancy rubbed it between her fingers and sniffed it. “I don’t know. It looks new. It feels new. It even
smells
new.”
    They sipped tea for a while, in silence. Josh thought that it tasted like boiled hedges, but it was strangely soothing, and cleared his sinuses. He passed the letter back to Ella and said, “Did you try going out to the Great West Road, to see if this factory’s actually there?”
    â€œNo, we didn’t. We talked about it, but you know. It looked like Julia wanted to disappear and that she didn’t want anybody to find her. We decided that leaving us a letter like this was her way of saying that she was going to start a new life, and that she didn’t want any of us to be a part of it.
    â€œBut somebody murdered her. We have to find out where she went.”
    â€œI don’t know. I wish I could help.”
    Abraxas came up to Josh and nuzzled against his knee. “That dog
likes
you,” Ella smiled. “That’s
very
unusual. I’ve always taught him to bite first and ask questions afterwards.”
    Nancy smiled. “Josh has a certain way with animals, don’t you Josh? I think he understands them much better than he understands people. He has a degree in animal behavior.”
    â€œSeven-tenths of a degree in animal behavior,” Josh corrected her. “I was asked to reconsider my future after I prescribed Prozac for a chronically depressive ragdoll. I happen to believe that there isn’t very much difference between animals and people. They’re both stupid. But it’s amazing what they can do if you encourage them.”
    â€œHey, I don’t think dogs are stupid,” said Ella. “I think they’ve got incredible abilities.”
    â€œThey do, you’re absolutely right. But they’re far too lazy to use them. Evolution, who needs it, when you’ve got a nice warm basket and all the food you can eat.”
    â€œI don’t know. You should see Abraxas whenever I hold a séance. He goes crazy, chasing around the room and barking. It’s the spirits, you know. I’m sure that Abraxas can actually
see
them.”
    â€œYou’re a
medium?”
asked Nancy.
    â€œSort of. I do a bit of fortune-telling and a bit of your spiritual conversation. I learned it from my aunt. She came from Martinique and she was heavily into voodoo and black magic and all that stuff. She taught me how to tell fortunes and how to raise up spirits so that they can talk to their loved ones that they left behind. Well, I make a little pin money doing it. It helps to pay the rent.”
    Josh lifted both hands. “Whoa, don’t look at me. I’m the skeptic around here. I believe that dogs can hear things