Read Online Kill as Directed by Ellery Queen - Free Book Online

legitimate business surely called for an ordinary attorney. But the illegitimate matters …
    Dr. Harry Brown slumped wretchedly.
    Yes, it had developed into a gay party: Gresham, cordial; Tony, jaunty; Karen, charming. They could turn it off and on: only Dr. Harrison Brown had been the morose outsider. And there had been something else—Tony flirting openly with Karen under the round and colorless eyes of the permissive old husband. Harry Brown had felt the prick of jealousy. Was there something between Karen and Tony? Had there ever been? Certainly they made a plausible pair—handsome Tony, beautiful Karen, both clever, sophisticated, debonair, enchanting. Where in hell did Dr. Harry Brown fit in?—Dr. Brown the plodder, the close-mouthed, the deep-think character … the ambitious stooge?
    Dr. Brown got up and went to his medicine cabinet. He swallowed a sleeping pill and crawled into bed.
    He slept fitfully, with more nightmares.
    In a nightmare, he heard her.
    â€œYou’re in terrible trouble, Harry. I know that, too. I love you.”

SIX
    He called her from his apartment at eleven o’clock; from his office at twelve o’clock; and at two; and at four. Each time he was told that she was not at home, and each time he left a message for her to call back.
    It had been, for him, a busy day. Six patients, all routine office calls, no house calls. He had not left his office; he had even sent out for his lunch.
    Now at a quarter past four the phone shrilled and he seized it. But it was not Karen Gresham. It was, incredibly, a familiar booming baritone.
    â€œHarry? Peter Gross.”
    â€œDr. Gross!”
    â€œHow are you, Harry?”
    â€œNever mind how I am.” Suddenly he felt ashamed. “How are you ?”
    â€œBusy, busy. Working hard?”
    â€œNot too.”
    â€œDoing what?”
    â€œPracticing medicine.”
    â€œG.P.?”
    â€œG.P.”
    â€œThat’s a goddam shame. I’ve got nothing against the G.P., only you fiddling around with general practice is like Isaac Stern getting a job playing in a Hungarian cabaret. Are you getting rich, Harry?”
    â€œNo, Doctor.”
    â€œSo you don’t even have that excuse. Has Alf Stone talked with you yet?”
    â€œHe’s dropping in tomorrow.”
    â€œWell, you listen to him, Harry. I believe it’s important for you. Do you hear me?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œDo you remember Lewis Blanchette?”
    â€œOf course.” Dr. Lewis Blanchette, before his retirement, had been one of the most famous surgeons in the United States, a giant of surgical techniques.
    â€œDo you know what’s happened to Lewis?”
    â€œLast I heard, he’d retired.”
    â€œFrom private practice only. He’s a mere sixty. In his prime. You know what he’s doing now, Harry?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œHe’s chief of surgery at Taugus Institute.” There was a pause and then Dr. Peter Gross said, “I want you to listen carefully to Alfred Stone, Harry. As a favor to yourself.” Dr. Gross characteristically hung up without a goodbye.
    Dr. Harrison Brown leaned back in his new-smelling leather swivel-chair. The office was dim and cool with shadows, the sunlight diffused and diminished against the drawn blinds. Dr. Peter Gross knew him well and fondly. He remembered their long evenings at Gross’s home on campus, talking about his ambitions, his needs. Gross had urged upon him a career in surgery. “You have the nerves, Harry, the hands …” But to become a surgeon took long years of apprenticeship. He did not have the time; he wanted to get rich quick; it was a need, a sickness. Harry had been honest with the old man and Gross had been wrathfully patient and understanding; they had parted with affection.
    The phone rang again.
    â€œHarry?” Karen. At last.
    â€œI’ve been calling you—”
    â€œI know. But I’ve been