Knock three-one-two

By FREDRIC BROWN
E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC. New York
Copyright, © 1959 by Fredric Brown All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
First Edition
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast.
A shortened version of this book appeared in the June issue of High Adventure , © 1959, under the title of Night of the Psycho .
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 59-10773
By Fredric Brown
THE DEAD RINGER COMPLIMENTS OF A FIEND HERE COMES A CANDLE MURDER CAN BE FUN THE BLOODY MOONLIGHT THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT THE SCREAMING MIMI NIGHT OF THE JABBERWOCK DEATH HAS MANY DOORS THE FAR CRY WE ALL KILLED GRANDMA THE DEEP END MOSTLY MURDER HIS NAME WAS DEATH WHAT MAD UNIVERSE THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS ANGELS AND SPACESHIPS THE WENCH IS DEAD MARTIANS, GO HOME THE LENIENT BEAST ROGUE IN SPACE THE OFFICE ONE FOR THE ROAD THE LATE LAMENTED KNOCK THREE-ONE-TWO
He had a name, but it doesn't matter; call him the psycho .
That's what the newspapers and everyone who read them called him now, since his second murder two months ago. At first he'd been called by various designations: insane rapist-killer, homicidal maniac, sexual psychopath, and others. For convenience, for shorthand, it had boiled down to the psycho. The police called him that too, although they had been moving heaven and earth to find a better name for him, a name like Peter Jones or Robert Smith, a name that would let them find and apprehend him before he killed again. And again.
And now tonight the Need was on him again. The need to rape and kill a woman.