Page 23
Story: Corpse at Captain's Seat
Everyone expressed joy at this turn of events, though Ellery was pretty sure hot drinks by the fireplace and a photographic walk down Memory Lane would have been the preferred choice of everyone but Chelsea. The house got a little chilly this time of the evening. But okay.
He led the way back to the main hall, Watson scampering ahead. Watson was hugely disappointed when he realized they were not going outside, and plopped down in front of the large wooden door with a woebegone expression on his face.
“Later, pal,” Ellery promised. “We’ll go later.”
“Maybe we should go now,” Flip objected. “While we’re all together.”
“Right,” Tosh said. “There’s safety in numbers.”
“Ireallydon’t think there’s any—”
But he was loudly overruled.
Lenny said, “Ellery, you weren’t there. You didn’t see. Those cops at Point Judith weren’t fooling around. They were dead serious about trying to find that guy.”
“Which is why I don’t want those guys going out there.”
“You think youaloneout there is a better idea?”
“Watson will protect me.” He was kidding, of course, but his friends weren’t having it.
“Len’s right,” Flip said. “This guy is anaxe murderer.”
“Well, true, but even if Dolph somehow made it onto the island, he wouldn’t have his axe with—” Even as the words left Ellery’s mouth, he remembered he’d left the hatchet he’d used to chop kindling in the stump by the woodpile. He swallowed the rest of it with a little gulp.
“There’s safety in numbers,” Tosh said firmly. “Anyway, you can’t expect poor little Watson to hold it forever.”
As if following every word of this conversation, poor little Watson wagged his tail hopefully and glanced meaningfully at the door, just in case Ellerystillwasn’t getting the message.
Jack couldn’t have been thinking about Watson when he’d ordered Ellery to batten down the hatches, and Flip had a point. A group of people was less likely to be accosted than one lone person with a small dog.
Ellery sighed. “I guess. Okay, you guys will want your jackets. It’s cold. I’ll grab a flashlight and Watson’s leash—Wait!”
It was no use. Reverting to type, his former housemates threw open the door bolt and spilled out into the night with cheery assurances that the triangle of porchlight would be all the illumination necessary and anyway how cold could it be for hardened New Yorkers?
Watson led the way, bounding off into the darkness, blithely ignoring the chorus of calls for him to stay close, stop, and come back.
“Are you flipping kidding me?” Ellery demanded of the generations of Pages who had come before, and no, for once he most certainly didnotsayflipping.He sprinted back to the kitchen, grabbed a high-powered LED flashlight, Watson’s leash, and raced after his errant houseguests—who he could hear wandering down the drive loudly whistling and calling for his less-than-faithful canine companion.
“Watson! Watson! Come on, boy! Come on, good doggie! Here, boy!” cried the ever more distant voices of Ellery’s houseguests.
And, more faintly, in the distance, “Arf! Arf! Arf!”
Ellery pounded down the road in hot pursuit, the beam of his flashlight bouncing along ahead of him. Fortunately, the half-moon slid out from behind the cloud cover, and the road and surrounding meadow were all bathed in bright silvery light.It didn’t take him long to spot the long unsteady shadows of his guests just ahead.
“You guys! Tosh! Flip!Hey!Stop. Lenny! Chelsea...”
It was doubtful they could hear him over their own cries to Watson who, predictably, was exercising selective hearing.
Ellery jogged to a halt and put his fingers to his lips, whistling sharply. The sound pierced the night, cutting through the babble up ahead and the faraway barks.
“Here we are!” Tosh yelled.
Flip yelled, “Over here!”
“This way!” Lenny shouted. “Follow the sound of our voices!”
Did they thinkEllerywas lost?
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91