Black Christmas by Lee Hays Page A

“How do your like your present? A dead fetus.”
    “Oh, Peter, for God’s sake!”
    Interrupting her, he said, “That certainly makes it all sound very tidy. But what I want to know is how you can justify getting your degree and working in the ghetto and all those marvelous liberal, altruistic things you talked about, at the expense of a human life? At the expense of killing, of killing my baby!”
    She stood up and crossed the room. “Peter, don’t be dramatic. I’ve never heard you speak out against abortion before, when it was something you wanted. Well, never mind. I told you this afternoon that I really didn’t want to discuss it. I listened to you and heard what you had to say, and I’ve told you my decision. Because the decision is mine, Peter. It’s my body and my future. I’ll do what I want with both of them. Oh, Christ, I knew I should never have told you about it.”
    Before she got to the doorway he grabbed her and spun her around. “I’m not going to let you do this, Jess! Do you hear me? I’m not going to let you do this!”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Chris was finally able to get through to Lieutenant Ken Fuller and the four of them, Fuller, Chris, Phyl and Mr. Harrison were in the lieutenant’s office. Sergeant Nash stood diffidently in the doorway, half in, half out, as Fuller held up the two papers that Nash had thrown into his complaint basket.
    For a while no one spoke until Nash finally said in a defeated voice, “I didn’t want to bother you with it.”
    Sarcastically Ken Fuller said, “Oh, you didn’t? Didn’t want to bother me.” He turned abruptly to Mr. Harrison. “Is this where your daughter lives, Mr. Harrison. Tell the nice sergeant.”
    “Yes, it is.” Mr. Harrison was angry but he also felt something akin to pity for the hapless man standing first on one foot and then the other as he was being chewed out by his superior in front of all of them.
    “Sergeant, a high school girl has been murdered in the park. Mr. Harrison’s daughter is missing and now the house where she lives with a dozen other girls is getting obscene phone calls. In fact, has been getting obscene phone calls for some time according to this rather incomplete report you filled out. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to tie these things together. Now, don’t you think we’d better check it out, Sergeant?”
    “Well, uh, Lieutenant, yeah, sure. I guess so. I mean, sure we should.”
    “Good.”
    Mr. Harrison said to Ken, “Thank you, Lieutenant. I know you’re busy so we’ll get out of here.”
    “Yeah, thanks, Ken,” Chris said as he led Phyl from the room followed by Mr. Harrison.
    As Sergeant Nash turned to go, Fuller called to him. “Oh, Sergeant, could I see you for minute? Come here, please.”
    “Yeah, sure, Lieutenant, what can I do?”
    Holding up a slip of paper, waving it at Nash, Fuller asked, “Sergeant, what is this?”
    “Uh, that’s the number of the sorority house.”
    “The number?”
    “The telephone number, Lieutenant.”
    “Fellatio?”
    “Yeah, it’s a new exchange. F—E—.”
    “New exchange, huh?”
    “Yeah, right.”
    “How did you happen across this piece of information?”
    “Uh, one of the girls, this afternoon, when they came to report that missing girl. I asked for the number, the telephone number of the sorority house and one of the girls, the other one, she gave it to me.”
    “She gave it to you, did she?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Fuller carefully ripped the paper into a number of pieces and let them float slowly to the floor of his office.
    “Nash, I’m going to have you put in a home.”
    Peter Smythe’s fist slammed into one of the ornaments on the Christmas tree, making it fall to the floor where it broke while the whole tree shook on its base. Jess watched his tantrum in wonder.
    “You’re a selfish bitch,” he said. “You’re talking about killing my baby like, like you were having a wart removed!”
    “Now can you see why I didn’t want to tell