As if by Magic Read Online Free Page A

the settle. ‘Haven’t you had any other cases, Bill? Your bodies in the river aren’t much fun.’
    â€˜Ghoul,’ said Rackham with a grin. He stood up. ‘Let me get some more beer and I’ll think about it.’
    When Rackham came back from the bar he looked more cheerful. ‘I’ve thought of something,’ he announced, sitting down. ‘It happened about three weeks or a month ago now and it isn’t really a case at all, more of an incident, but it made me think of you. It sounded like one of your stories. I only got to hear of it because one of my sergeants was grumbling that no charges had been pressed.’
    â€˜What happened?’
    â€˜A man broke into the kitchen of a house in Mayfair. He didn’t steal anything, apart from a plate of ham and cheese sandwiches, which is why the lady of the house didn’t press charges. He was ill, poor beggar, and we ended up carting him off to the Royal Free. The odd thing about him was that he was wearing full evening dress.’
    â€˜He sounds a very elegant tramp,’ said Jack. ‘So far, so good. That could be quite a nice point in a story. I suppose the poor devil was actually an out-of-work waiter or musician or something. I don’t suppose he was remotely elegant in real life.’
    â€˜As a matter of fact, he was – or had been, at least. According to Constable Newland, who nabbed him, the man’s clothes were extremely good quality, if a bit the worse for wear. Newland worked in a gents’ outfitters before he joined the force and knows what he’s talking about. They were tailor-made in . . .’ He frowned. ‘Now where was it?’
    â€˜Savile Row?’ suggested Jack.
    â€˜No. It wasn’t in England at all. Cape Town, that was it. His name and the tailor’s name were on the label of his tail coat. Anyway, he came up the kitchen steps like a bat out of hell, more or less straight into the arms of Constable Newland. He tried to get away, Newland chased after him, blew his whistle, Constable Thirsk showed up and between them they got him. Anyway, he started gibbering away about a murder he’d seen.’ Rackham took a drink and laughed. ‘He said there was a dead body in the kitchen.’
    â€˜And was there?’ asked Jack, hopefully. ‘This is getting really good.’
    â€˜Of course there wasn’t. Sorry, Jack. He was making it up. The constables knew he was, but the lady of the house insisted that one of the policemen go and look, all the same. There was nothing there, as you’d expect. However, I thought that if there had been, it would make a cracking story.’
    â€˜It might,’ said Jack. ‘I like the bit about him being in evening dress, I must say. The lady who owned the house couldn’t know anything about it, otherwise she wouldn’t have insisted on the police inspecting the kitchen.’ He ran his finger round the top of his glass. ‘Kitchens. Who’d leave a body in a kitchen? It’s a rotten place. The servants would trip over it.’ He leaned back. ‘In fact, it’s odd that the servants weren’t there. What sort of body was it? A man or a woman?’
    â€˜There wasn’t a body,’ said Rackham patiently. ‘That’s the point.’
    â€˜Yes, but he thought there was a body and by your account something must have scared him otherwise he wouldn’t have done his bat out of hell impression. Hang on. Did you say he’d seen a murder? That’d scare him.’
    â€˜He didn’t see anything, I tell you.’
    â€˜I wonder what he did see?’
    â€˜Crikey, Jack, I don’t know,’ said Rackham with a short laugh. ‘Nothing but his own imagination, I should think. He wouldn’t go back in the place to show them where his imaginary body was. He was frightened stiff.’
    â€˜It must have been some vision. Was he drunk?’
    â€˜Apparently