Calamity Town by Ellery Queen Page B

knew it wouldn’t work out. Wherever she got it, though, it was in her food or drink. Arsenic. All the symptoms. Lucky she remembered to swallow milk of magnesia—it’s an emergency antidote for arsenic poisoning.’
    â€˜And today is…Thanksgiving Day,’ said Pat stiffly. ‘Jim’s letter to Rosemary—dated November twenty-eighth…today. “My wife is sick.” My wife is sick , Ellery!’
    â€˜Whoa, Patty. You’ve been doing fine…It could be a coincidence.’
    â€˜You think so?’
    â€˜It may have been a sudden attack of indigestion. Nora’s in a dither. She’s read the letters, she’s seen that passage about arsenic in the toxicology book—it may all be psychological.’
    â€˜Yes…’
    â€˜Our imaginations may be running away with us. At any rate, there’s time. If a pattern exists, this is just the beginning.’
    â€˜Yes…’
    â€˜Pat, I promise you: Nora won’t die .’
    â€˜Oh, Ellery’ She came to him in the darkness and buried her face in his coat. ‘I’m so glad you’re here…’
    â€˜Get out of my bedroom,’ said Mr Queen tenderly, ‘before your pa comes at me with a shotgun.’

12
    Christmas: The Second Warning
    The first snows fell. Breaths steamed in the valleys. Hermy was busy planning her Christmas baskets for the Poor Farm. Up in the hills skis were flashing and boys watched restlessly for the ponds to freeze. But Nora…Nora and Jim were enigmas. Nora recovered from her Thanksgiving Day ‘indisposition,’ a little paler, a little thinner, a little more nervous, but self-possessed. But occasionally she seemed frightened, and she would not talk. To anyone. Her mother tried. ‘Nora, what’s wrong? You can tell me—’
    â€˜Nothing. What’s the matter with everybody?’
    â€˜But Jim’s drinking, dear. It’s all over town,’ groaned Hermy. ‘It’s getting to be a—a national disgrace! And you and Jim are quarreling—that is a fact…’
    Nora set her small mouth. ‘Mother, you’ll simply have to let me run my own life.’
    â€˜Your father’s worried—’
    â€˜I’m sorry, Mother. It’s my life.’
    â€˜Is it Rosemary who’s causing all these arguments? She’s always taking Jim off and whispering to him. How long is she going to stay with you? Nora darling, I’m your mother. You can confide in your mother—’ But Nora ran away, crying.
    Pat was ageing visibly. ‘Ellery, the three letters…they’re still in Nora’s hatbox in her closet. I looked last night. I couldn’t help it.’
    â€˜I know,’ sighed Ellery.
    â€˜You’ve been keeping tabs, too?’
    â€˜Yes. Patty, she’s been rereading them. They show signs of being handled—’
    â€˜But why won’t Nor face the truth?’ cried Pat. ‘She knows that November twenty-eighth marked the first attack—that first letter told her so! Yet she won’t have the doctor, she won’t take any steps to defend herself, she refuses help…I can’t understand her!’
    â€˜Maybe,’ said Ellery carefully, ‘Nora’s afraid to face the scandal.’ Pat’s eyes opened wide. ‘You told me how she retreated from the world when Jim left her on their scheduled wedding day several years ago. There’s a deep streak of small-town pride in your sister Nora, Pat. She can’t abide being talked about. If this ever came out—’
    â€˜That’s it,’ said Pat in a wondering voice. ‘I was stupid not to have seen it before. She’s ignoring it, like a child. Close your eyes and you won’t see the bogeyman. You’re right, Ellery. It’s the town she’s afraid of! ’
    The Monday evening before Christmas Mr Queen was sitting on a stump just beyond the edge of the