Hotline to Murder

meeting this is?”
    He didn’t want to get into that. It would require too much explanation, which he didn’t owe her. Maybe if he said it fast. “I-I joined a Hotline. The meeting tonight is for all the listeners.”
    “Josh told me about your foray into the Hotline. He also said the Hotline closed down. Because the girl who was murdered worked there.”
    “I think it’s going to start up again.”
    “Josh said you listen to people talk about their problems. But if you can listen to other people’s problems, why couldn’t you listen to my problems?”
    Josh was talking too much. And Tony didn’t have an answer for Carol. He looked at his watch and said, “Carol, I’ve gotta run. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
    He broke the connection before Carol could say anything more.

    CHAPTER 5
    Tony filed into the Bonita Beach High School auditorium along with the other Central Hotline listeners. He recognized some of them because they had been in his training class. Patty, the Hotline administrative assistant, sat at a table just inside the door, checking listeners’ names on a list as they entered.
    Tony said hello to her, and she smiled at him. She knew his name because she had been at several of the training classes and, being one of the few adults, he stuck out. Patty was a young and pretty brunette with an oval face, large eyes, and a boyfriend. She was also taking college courses at night, so if she had a class scheduled for this evening, she was cutting it.
    He found a seat near the front of the auditorium, over on the side, so he wouldn’t block the view of any of the shorter listeners behind him. The room had a flat floor, not inclined, and the metal folding chairs weren’t fixed in place. In spite of these drawbacks, it was nice of the school district to allow the Hotline to use the auditorium of the high school for this meeting. All the listeners would not have fit into the Hotline office. Joy had been a student here, and Tony was sure the school district was cooperating in everything to do with the investigation of her murder.
    The mood of the listeners was subdued as everybody found a seat. There wasn’t the usual banter and laughter that one would expect from a young crowd. Tony estimated that close to a hundred people had showed up, a high percentage of the active listeners.
    The stage contained a lectern with a microphone. Three chairs sat beside the lectern. A few minutes after seven, two women and a man climbed several steps to the stage from the auditorium floor and sat in the chairs. The women were Nancy, the Executive Director of the Hotline, and Gail, the Volunteer Coordinator. Tony didn’t recognize the man.
    After a whispered discussion among the three, Nancy stood up and came to the lectern. A middle-aged woman, she had her hair cut short and curly. It was a brownish color that made Tony suspect it might be dyed. She wore a smart shirt and pair of slacks and had a look of authority. Even before she said a word, Tony admired her aura of composure in a difficult situation.
    The audience became quiet without being asked. Nancy tapped the microphone to see if it was turned on and then started speaking. “Thank you for coming tonight. This is a hard time for all of us. As those of you who attended Joy’s funeral and listened to her friends and family talk about her know, Joy was a very special person.”
    Tony hadn’t attended her funeral. His rationalization was that he had barely known her and couldn’t afford to take time off from work, but in a rare self-analytic moment, he had admitted to himself that he had a fear of funerals. Now he had to contend with a certain level of guilt.
    Nancy looked around the auditorium and continued, “But all of you are very special people. As listeners on the Hotline, you have made a commitment that few people can make. You have committed yourselves to help others—not just go through the motions of helping others, with surface gestures such as donating money or old toys. You have agreed to enter their worlds, to listen to their problems, to walk a mile in their shoes, to feel what it’s like to be disabled or abused or bi-polar or even suicidal. You have invested not just your time, but your emotions, as well. And that is what is difficult to do. That’s what sets you apart and makes you special. That’s what puts you in a class by yourselves and gives you a bond with other Hotline listeners that nobody who hasn’t been a listener can