Story: Dream Of A Murder
Author: C. B. Gilford
Source: Alfred Hitchcock's A Hearse of A Different Color
Story Number: 88
Harvey Fenster had committed murder, plain and simple. The crime hadn't been detected. The only trouble was, Harvey dreamed! And so begins this very intriguing tale of a man who has willfully murdered his wife and passed it off as an accident.
Each night he dreams - he dreams about the murder and the events leading up to it. The irritating voice of his nagging wife, her request for a new washing machine, the rigging up of the wiring to induce shock which eventually leads to her death - it is all very vivid and more horrific than the actual crime itself. Each time the shrilling noise of the alarm clock wakes him up out of his nightmare.
But every night, the dream goes a little further. During the initial stages it was restricted to the actual event. Further on, he starts dreaming about things which never happened in real life - the police investigation, the various clues which the police didn't notice at the time of the murder, the police restarting the enquiry, the getting rid of the washing machine and other clues in the river, the police arresting him for the murder, the court room where the jury brings in a verdict of guilty - the dreams continue to haunt him but every time the alarm clock saves him from his nightmare and brings him back to reality! Until, the dream where the judge sentences him to death.... in the electric chair....
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