LITMIR.BIZ

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see . . anything else?”

      “Well yes . . about two years ago a chap named Harrison John Harrison hanged himself in the barn of his country place near Sandhill . . Harrison was living with young Weld at the time . . Weld was picked up in Harrison’s car . . That’s how it came to our attention . . needless to say no charges . .”

      “Needless to say . . Was Weld staying with Harrison in his country place at the time of Harrison’s death?”

      “No he was in London.”

      “Nothing to connect him with Harrison’s death?”

      “Nothing whatever.”

      “Anything unusual about Harrison’s suicide?”

      “Well yes . . He’d rigged up a gallows with a drop . . must have taken half an hour to build.”

      “Anything else?”

      pause . . cough . . “The body was completely naked.”

      “You’re sure he was alone at the time?”

      “Quite sure . . It’s a small town . . easy to check.”

      “And his clothes . . all in a heap?”

      “Neatly folded.”

      “And the tools he used?”

      “Each tool returned to its place . . the barn was used as a workshop . . Carpentry was one of Harrison’s hobbies.”

      “Did Harrison own a tape recorder?”

      “How should I know? If you’re all that interested I can give you a number to call in the S.B.”

      “Seems odd they should be interested in a routine suicide.”

      “A lot of the things they do seem odd to the rest of us. I do know they spent some time on the case . . Ask for Extension 12 . . Mr Taylor.”

      I could tell by the way he repeated the name Mr Taylor knew who I was.

      “Yes Mr Lee?”

      “I’d like some information about a man named Harrison who killed himself two years ago . . country place near Sandhill . .”

      “I remember the case . . rather not talk over the phone . . Can you meet me this evening in the Chandos Bar? around six?”

      Mr Taylor was dressed in a light-blue suit the shoulders so broad as to give an impression of deformity . . ­little scar where a harelip had been corrected . . red face . . light-blue eyes. We found a quiet corner. Mr Taylor ordered a Scotch Old Fashioned.

      “John Harrison was 28 at the time of his death . . He was fairly well off . . flat in Paddington . . country place . . interested in the occult . . wrote bad poetry . . painted bad pictures . . good at carpentry though . . made his own furniture.”

      “Did he own a tape recorder?”

      “Yes he owned three tape recorders arranged with extension leads so he could play or record from one to the other. They were in the Paddington flat.”

      “You heard his tapes?”

      He drank half his drink. “Yes I heard his tapes and read his diary. He seems to have been obsessed with hanging . . the sexual aspects you understand.”

      “That is not so unusual . . when you consider the extensions . .”

      He finished his drink. “No it’s not so unusual and that is precisely what concerns this department.”

      “Did you interview a young man named Terrence Weld in this connection?”

      “Young ‘Genial’? Yes I interviewed that specimen.”

      “He was genial?”

      “Impeccably so. I considered him directly responsible for Harrison’s death. When I told him so he said

      “‘What and me so young?’

      “Exactly. And then he laughed.”

      “Interesting sound.”

      “Very.”

      “You recorded it?”

      “Of course.”

      “Rather stupid on his part wouldn’t you say so?”

      “Not stupid exactly. He simply doesn’t think the way we do. Perhaps he can’t help laughing like that even when it would seem to be very much to his disadvantage to do so.”

      “I would suggest that ‘Genial’ is that laugh . . only existence ‘Genial’ has.”

      “Infectious laughter what? Yes he’s a disease . . a virus. There have been other cases. We try to keep it out of the papers.”

      “And cases that no one hears about? Perhaps the operation has been brought to the point where actual hanging is no longer necessary . . death attributed to natural causes . . or the victim is taken over by the virus . . ‘Genial’ himself may well have been ‘hanged.’”

      “I’d thought of that of course. What we are dealing with here is a biologic weapon used by what powers and for what precise purpose we don’t know yet.”

      “Also an ideal weapon for individual assassinations. Any reason why anyone might have wanted Harrison out of the way?”

      “None whatever. He simply was not important. I concluded that his death was purely experimental.”

      “Was ‘Genial’ paid off?”

      “It would seem so. He went to America shortly after I talked with him.”

      “Still there?”

      “No he’s back in London.”

      “You’ve seen him?”

      “Yes. He didn’t recognize me . . on junk and barbiturates . . looks ten years older . . down for the count I’d say . . But any one ‘Genial’ isn’t important plenty more where he came from: out of a tape recorder.”

      “You made copies of Harrison’s tapes?”

      “Yes. Play them for you if you like.”

      Taylor’s flat was compact carpeted . . a desk a typewriter two filing cabinets a long table by the window with four tape recorders connected by extension leads. He pointed to the recorders . . “I got the idea from Harrison’s setup.”

      “Did Harrison install the recorders himself?”

      “No he was good at carpentry but had a blind spot so far as machinery goes especially electrical equipment. ‘Genial’ wired the machines for him.”

      He put on a tape. “The voices of Harrison and ‘Genial’ alternated. They both recorded a short text then the two tapes were cut into short sections and spliced in together. This produces a strong erotic reaction. Curiously enough the content of the tape doesn’t seem to affect the result. In fact the same sexual effect can be produced by splicing in street recordings recorded by two subjects separately.”

      two voices reading one cruel mocking the other muffled and broken by comparison alternated at short intervals conveyed a sensation of charged electric intimacy easy vulgar and therefore disgusting.

      “Now listen to this.” The words were smudged together. They snarled and whined and barked. It was as if the words themselves were called in question and forced to give up their hidden meanings. “Inched tape . . the same recording you just heard pulled back and forth across the head . . You can get the same effect by switching a recording on and off at very short intervals. Listen carefully and you will hear words that were not in the original text: ‘do it-do it-do it . . yes I will will will do it do it do it . . really really really do it do it do it . . neck neck neck . . oh yes oh yes oh yes . .’

      “You heard?”

      “Oh

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