Read Online Hotline to Murder by Alan Cook - Free Book Online Page B

should do?”
    The Hotline rule was to not give advice
because the listeners were not trained counselors. Tony asked,
“What would you like to do?”
    “Should I stop having sex?”
    “Do you want to stop?”
    “No. I like sex. I’m always horny. But other
kids are saying bad things about me.”
    “So you’re getting a bad reputation? How do
you feel about that?”
    “How do you think I feel? I feel awful. So
what do you think I should do? Should I go on fucking every boy I
go out with or should I stop?”
    This was turning into an obscene phone call,
but it was also somewhat titillating. Tony had never heard of a
call like this coming from a girl. He looked at Shahla. She had a
look of surprise on her face. Then she walked out of the listening
room. Tony took the call off the speaker, figuring that Shahla
didn’t want to listen.
    “I can give you the number of a sex
hotline,” Tony said to the caller.
    “Don’t brush me off,” the girl said. “Tell
me what to do.”
    “Have you talked to your parents about
this?”
    “Are you crazy? Of course not. I’m talking
to you. So what should I do?”
    “What would you like to do?” Tony repeated.
He felt trapped. He wondered whether he should tell her this was an
inappropriate call and hang up.
    “You’re no help. You’re just like all the
others.”
    There was a click. She had hung up before he
could. Tony stared at the receiver and said, “Whew.”
    “Welcome to the club,” Shahla said. She had
returned to the listening room with more chips. “You’re not a
virgin anymore.”
    “I guess not.” He wondered whether she was a
female masturbator. Or perhaps it was a crank call. He finished
filling out the call report and said, “Where were we?”
    “We were talking about motives the other
day. I was trying to think of someone who might have a motive to
kill Joy.”
    “And did you come up with anyone?”
    “I’ve got a possibility. Her name is Martha,
and she’s a listener on the Hotline.”
    “You think the killer might be a
female?”
    “Detective Croyden said that was a
possibility. And Martha is big enough and strong enough to do
it.”
    “Tell me about Martha.”
    “She’s a senior at Bonita Beach, and she’s
on the volleyball team.”
    “Joy was on the volleyball team.”
    “Joy was the star of the volleyball team.
Because of her and several others, the team was expected to win the
league championship.”
    “How has the team been doing without
her?”
    “They’ve only played two games so far.
They’ve split.”
    “Sounds like they miss Joy.”
    “Definitely.”
    The phone rang, and Shahla answered it. Tony
could tell from what she said that the caller was a harmless repeat
who called almost every day. She would be tied up with him for
fifteen minutes. Tony wondered why she thought that this girl
Martha might have killed Joy. Maybe Shahla didn’t like Martha. Was
she so anxious to find a killer that she was guilty of wishful
thinking? Tony had to admit that she was right about the Chameleon
being a potential suspect. But Croyden was handling him now. It
wouldn’t do any harm to listen to Shahla. But if Martha really was
a suspect, they would contact Detective Croyden, regardless of how
Shahla felt about it.
    Tony wandered into the snack room and made
himself some popcorn in the microwave. It didn’t have butter on it,
so it couldn’t be fattening—could it? He carried the bag back into
the outer room. He noticed that an envelope was lying on the
carpet, partially underneath the outside door. It hadn’t been there
when he came in. Somebody must have slid it under the door. Tony
had locked the door after Kevin and Nathan left. He was going to
observe the locked-door rule, especially when Shahla was with him.
Now he was glad he had.

    CHAPTER 9
    The envelope was white, business-size; there was
nothing odd about it. Tony picked it up and immediately wondered
whether he should have done that. What about fingerprints? He held
it