Robert Liston - The Tower of Evil

“Positively forbidding,” he muttered. “Enough to make Daphne du Maurier forget Manderley.”

“I shudder every time I look at it.”

The ground fell away and the woods diminished as he drove on, revealing the entire front. Beneath the mansard roof, the house was mock Tudor style with Elizabethan windows of leaded glass. A perfect hideaway for Henry and Anne Boleyn.

There was a second gate. Talk about major league security. Only it was also open. “We must be expected,” he said. Gravel rattled under his tires. No sneaking up on the Kinkaids unheard. To the right were stables and beyond them a pool and tennis courts. Not too shabby. Now he was in a circular drive approaching the house.

”Stop! Oh God, somebody’s home.”

There was a black limousine in the drive. A man in a black suit got out and raised a hand for him to stop.

“Please turn around, let’s get out of here.”

He rolled down his window as the man approached. “It’s too late now, Addie, it’ll be all right.” He remembered the Care Wheels logo on his van. “Is this the Munsters estate?”

“You got the wrong place. You’d better leave.”

The fellow looked dour with absolutely no sense of humor. He kept looking past him at Addie. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Leave.”

“Do you know where the Munsters live?”

“No, goodbye.”

“Who’s place is this?”

“None of your damn business. Now, are you leaving or do I make you?”

“Sorry, my mistake.”

He turned the wheel and accelerated out of there. In his rearview mirror he saw the chauffeur looking after him, hands on hips.

“Do you think he recognized me?”

“Do you know him?”

“No.”

“Does that limousine mean the Kinkaids are in residence?”

“I’m sure of it.”

The opaque glass door to the outer office bore the words LAW OFFICES. Strange. Lorna said Harry Gould was so proud to have his own practice, yet he hadn’t printed his name on the door.

DeeDee opened the generic door on a small waiting room, empty except for a remarkably attractive girl working at a console. Her nameplate read Hyacinth Owens. If it had read Delilah, temples might have fallen.

“Hi, I’m DeeDee Byerly. Are you Mr. Gould’s secretary?”

The young woman seemed flustered. “Well, yes, I guess I am.”

DeeDee smiled her best and handed her a dozen red roses wrapped in green tissue. “These are for you, then, with my condolences. Harry’s death was such a tragic loss.”

Hyacinth Owens might have been Herod receiving the head from Salome, another redhead. “I–I don’t…know what…to say.”

For a moment DeeDee thought the girl wasn’t going to accept. That would be a first. She’d used flowers to gain entry into seemingly impossible places.

“Who are they from?”

“From me. I’m a friend of Harry’s mother, Lorna Gould. I thought how upsetting his death must be for you, so I brought flowers to make you feel better.”

Now the girl reached out with both hands for the flowers. “Thank you so much, it’s very thoughtful of you.”

Hyacinth had a breathy, whispery voice, forcing a person to pay close attention to hear her-a most feminine quality. Men must die for her. “You’re so lovely, my dear.” And she was, with glossy black hair, cafe au lait complexion and truly luscious lips. What she did for a sweater was truly awesome, doubly so. Maybe Harry did more than dictate to his secretary.

“I like your make-up. It looks positively-well, professional.” Doreen gave her top-of-the-line smile again. “I love your name, Hyacinth. It’s my favorite flower-and a perfect name for you.”

“Well, thank you.”

Hyacinth Owens was being won over. No surprise in that. “Have you been Harry’s secretary very long?”

She looked flustered again. “That’s just it, Mrs.-”

“Call me DeeDee, everyone does.”

"Okay, DeeDee. I’m Harry’s secretary…and I’m not, just as this is Mr. Gould's office…and it’s not. This is a cooperative law office. Five lawyers, each with his and, in one case, her own clients, share space here. They also share expenses, telephone, computers, office equipment-and clerical help. It saves them money, quite a bit I understand.”

“How very interesting. You’re a sort of time-share secretary, like hotel rooms at a resort.”

Hyacinth laughed, brightening an already pyrotechnic face. “Another girl and I, yes.”

“You did some work for Harry?”

“Oh yes, quite a bit.”

“You knew his clients?”

“Some of them. Lola also works here, but she’s off today.”

DeeDee glanced around the office. “Have you a vase for the flowers? We really should put them in water.”

“Oh, of course.”

She hoped Hyacinth would leave the room, giving her a moment to look at papers on her desk. But the time-share girl only went to a filing cabinet on the adjoining wall and extracted a vase from a bottom drawer.

“Did Harry have a lot of clients?”

Hyacinth began arranging the roses in the vase. “To be honest, Mrs.-ah, DeeDee, not really. He was just getting started, but he was a fine lawyer and he would-”

“I have no doubt. May I see his office?”

“The police have sealed it off pending, you know-”

She sighed. “Oh dear, Lorna will be so disappointed. I promised her I’d pick up Harry’s appointment book for her. She wants it as a keepsake. You do understand.”

“I do, I do, but there’s a problem.” Hyacinth looked distressed. “His calendar and appointment book are missing. I assume the police took them as evidence.”

“That explains it, I’m sure.”

“But there’s a backup on the computer. I could make a printout for you.”

“You are a love.”

The secretary sat at the console and pushed some buttons. Nothing came on the screen. She pushed more buttons. Still no display.

“How strange. Mr. Gould’s files aren’t here. Maybe he moved them. I’ll check FIND.”

DeeDee watched her call up a display, then type in GOULD. A few seconds later the computer reported, UNABLE TO FIND GOULD. Hyacinth tried other key words.

‘I don’t understand it. Mr. Gould’s files are missing! Everything about him has been erased!”

“Are you sure? When did you last use them?”

“Let me see. Not yesterday, that’s when we found…him. The day before, yes, I’m sure I typed a letter for him.”

“Is the computer working? Maybe it crashed.”

Hyacinth punched some keys. The console lit up. “The files of the other lawyers are here. Harry’s is the only one missing.” Then she smiled. “Not to worry. Everything is kept on a backup disk.” She opened a metal box on her desk. “Each lawyer has his own disk. It protects each one’s privacy.”

“I’m sure.”

Her slender fingers stopped, then flipped through the discs again. “Why it’s gone! What could have happened to it? I always keep it here in this file.”

“It’s not your fault, my dear, the police surely have it.”

Now Hyacinth smiled. “Of course, that must be it.”

DeeDee could barely contain her excitement. Harry Gould had been murdered by whoever erased his files. “Is Harry’s suicide note on the computer?”

“No, he apparently wrote it, then erased it.”

“How did the police-”

“It was left on the printer.”

She nodded. There was much to think about-and tell Walter. “Thank you, Hyacinth, you’re so sweet and you’ve been so much help.

“DeeDee, if you’re going to see Mrs. Gould, will you ask her what I am to do with Mr. Gould’s messages?”

“He’s still getting messages?”