“Where are the wires?” Fred Moore demanded with some annoyance as, escorted by Detective Unger, he swaggered into the room and looked around. “I’ve done lie detectors before. They put all kinds of wires on you and there’s a thing that makes charts, and also an operator. What gives?”
It was true. There was no lie detector in the room; only a simple wooden table, some folding chairs and an Ouija board on the table.
“Yeah,” replied Detective Unger. “We’ve heard that you brag about beating lie detectors. And we also know you’re scared of Ouija boards. That’s why your test will be a little different today. If you’ll look at the table, Fred, you’ll see we brought one here especially for you.”
“You can’t do that!” yelled Fred. “Ouija boards are evil! What you’re doing is illegal. I refuse to continue without consulting my lawyer.”
“These things aren’t evil except for evil people, Fred. You’re not scared of being found out, are you? We told your lawyer we were going to test your credibility. He agreed to that.”
“Yeah, but you can’t use the results in court, detective.”
“You’re right Fred, we can’t, but if you flunk the test, we’ll know you killed Joseph Armando, and that will help us a lot. If you refuse to take the test, it’s an automatic flunk.”
“All right, all right. What do I have to do?”
“Just put one hand on the board. I will ask you a few questions that can be answered yes or no. You don’t have to say a thing. The pointer on the board will move automatically. We won’t be here more than ten minutes. This board was made in 1892. It’s real old. The new ones are toys. This is one of the originals from the old days. It was sold by William Fuld whose company made them. When you touch it, this thing will know you better than you know yourself. Fred, it is one hundred percent accurate. I don’t want to scare you but keep this in mind. One hundred per cent! Now sit!”
Fred sat reluctantly in one of the metal chairs. Detective Unger sat to his left. Fred stared at the Ouija board. It was obviously old. The letters and numbers on it were partially rubbed away. The positions of Yes and No, however were unmistakable. The heart-shaped planchette looked worn from much usage but appeared well able to perform its function of pointing to answers. When ordered to touch the board, Fred put four fingers of his right hand lightly over the barely discernible words, Good Bye.
Detective Unger spoke. “First question, Fred: Is your name Frederick Moore?” Fred was preparing to respond when the planchette moved rapidly to the word, yes and parked there covering the word. Fred gasped audibly.
“Are you answering these questions willingly?” The planchette darted to no. Fred began shivering.
“Did you kill Joseph Armando?’ The planchette sped to yes. Fred’s shivers changed to severe shaking of his entire body.
‘Have you killed others besides Joseph?” Before the planchette had a chance to move, Fred sprang from his chair while, at the same time, giving the board a violent push sending it skittering across the table and off the edge. It fell to the floor with the sound of splintering wood. “Let me out of here,” he bellowed “Take that damned thing away! I’ll tell you what you want to know. Burn that monstrosity! Send it to hell!”
Alarmed by the outburst, detectives Hendricks and Wilkins stormed into the room. Fred, mumbling unintelligibly was escorted from the room by Detective Wilkins.
“Looks like that electronic fake you rigged up worked,” commented Detective Hendricks.
“Yes, it did,” replied Detective Unger. “But I did not have time to press even one button on the wireless box in my lap. The planchette on that mock-up did all the pointing on its own!”