L01 0010  1       There were thirty-eight patients on the bus the
L01 0010 10    morning I left for Hanover, most of them disturbed
L01 0020  7    and hallucinating. An interne, a nurse and two attendants
L01 0030  6    were in charge of us.
L01 0030 11       I felt lonely and depressed as I stared out the
L01 0040  8    bus window at Chicago's grim, dirty West Side. It seemed
L01 0050  6    incredible, as I listened to the monotonous drone of
L01 0060  3    voices and smelled the fetid odors coming from the
L01 0060 12    patients, that technically I was a ward of the state
L01 0070 10    of Illinois, going to a hospital for the mentally ill.
L01 0080  7       I suddenly thought of Mary Jane Brennan, the way
L01 0090  5    her pretty eyes could flash with anger, her quiet competence,
L01 0100  2    the gentleness and sweetness that lay just beneath
L01 0100 10    the surface of her defenses.
L01 0110  5       We had become good friends during my stay at Cook
L01 0120  4    County Hospital. I had told her enough about myself
L01 0130  1    to offset somewhat the damaging stories that had appeared
L01 0130 10    in local newspapers after my little adventure in Marshall
L01 0140  7    Field + Co&. She knew that I lived at a good address
L01 0150  9    on the Gold Coast, that I had once been a medical student
L01 0160  6    and was thinking of returning to the university to
L01 0170  2    finish my medical studies. She knew also that I was
L01 0170 12    unmarried and without a single known relative. She
L01 0180  8    wasn't quite sure that I felt enough remorse about
L01 0190  6    my drinking, or that I would not return to it once
L01 0200  4    I was out and on my own again. This had worried her.
L01 0210  1       "I read those newspaper stories about you", she
L01 0210  9    had said. "You must have loved that girl very much,
L01 0220  8    but you couldn't have meant it when you said that you
L01 0230  7    wanted to kill her".
L01 0230 11       "Why do you say that"? I asked. "I was full of booze
L01 0240 10    and, well, a drunk is apt to do anything he says he'll
L01 0250  9    do".
L01 0250 10       Nonsense! I grew up in an Irish neighborhood on
L01 0260  7    Chicago's West Side. Don't tell me about drunks. You're
L01 0270  6    not the kind to go violent. Were you in love with that
L01 0280  5    girl"?
L01 0280  6       "Would it make any difference to you if I were,
L01 0290  5    Mary Jane"?
L01 0290  7       She met my eyes, suddenly angry. "I wouldn't have
L01 0300  5    gone into nursing if I didn't care about people. I'm
L01 0310  3    interested in every patient I've helped take care of.
L01 0320  2    When I think of people like you, well, I"-
L01 0320 11       "You what, Mary Jane"?
L01 0330  4       "You are young, intelligent, have a whole lifetime
L01 0340  3    before you to make something worth while of yourself,
L01 0340 12    but you mess it up with whiskey, indifference, self-destructive
L01 0350 10    attitudes. I don't blame that girl for breaking her
L01 0360  9    engagement with you. Was she pretty"?
L01 0370  3       "Oh, yes", I said, feeling annoyed, "she was very
L01 0380  4    pretty. You don't believe that I'm going back to medical
L01 0390  2    school and finish, do you"?
L01 0390  7       "Why should I? I've worked this ward for three months
L01 0400  7    now. We keep getting the same ones back again and again.
L01 0410  6    They all mean well, have great promises to make when
L01 0420  3    they are about to go home, but drinking is their sickness.
L01 0430  1    You've not seemed like them, but maybe you are. You've
L01 0430 11    treated your stay here like a big joke. It's not a
L01 0440 11    joke to be sent to a place like this or to Hanover.
L01 0450  6    I wanted to go to college, to"-
L01 0460  1       "Why didn't you"? I asked. "Chicago has some of
L01 0460 10    the best"-
L01 0470  3       Her eyes flashed angrily. "That's what I mean about
L01 0480  1    you, Anderson", she said. "You don't seem to know much
L01 0480 11    about reality. I'll tell you why I didn't go to college;
L01 0490 11    I'm the oldest of six children. My father's a policeman
L01 0500 10    and makes less than seven thousand dollars a year.
L01 0510  7    There was no money for tuition, for clothes, for all
L01 0520  5    the things you apparently take for granted. Nurses'
L01 0530  1    training here doesn't cost anything. They even pay
L01 0530  9    me six dollars a month. I think it's a good deal. I'm
L01 0540 10    going to become a good nurse, and I've got two baby
L01 0550  7    brothers that are going to have college if I have to
L01 0560  5    work at my profession until I'm an old maid to give
L01 0570  1    it to them".
L01 0570  4       "Do you have a boy friend"? I asked.
L01 0580  1       "That's none of your business", she said, then changed
L01 0590  1    the subject. "What about your father and mother, don't
L01 0590 10    you think of them when you're in a place like this"?
L01 0600 10       "My father and mother died when I was two years
L01 0610  9    old", I said. "My aunt raised me. Aunt Mary died when
L01 0620  6    I was doing my military service. I have no one but
L01 0630  4    myself to worry about".
L01 0630  8       Something in my voice must have touched her deeply
L01 0640  5    because her anger passed quickly, and she turned away
L01 0650  3    to keep me from seeing her face.
L01 0650 10       "I'm sorry", she said. "I don't know what I'd do
L01 0660  9    without my family. We've always been so close".
L01 0670  5       "Tell me more about them".
L01 0671  1       Her eyes became bright as she talked about her father
L01 0680 10    and mother, aunts and uncles, cousins. Listening, I
L01 0690  6    felt cheated and lonely as only an orphan can. When
L01 0700  4    she had finished I said:
L01 0700  9       "Your dad sounds like a good father and a good policeman.
L01 0710  9    I'll bet he wouldn't be pleased if a rumdum like me
L01 0720  8    were to ask his daughter for a date- I mean, after
L01 0730  6    I'm out of the hospital, a month or so from now".
L01 0740  1       "My father is a sergeant of detectives and has been
L01 0740 11    attached to Homicide for five years. He's a pretty
L01 0750  9    good judge of character, Anderson. I don't think he'd
L01 0760  6    mind too much if he were sure you'd decided not to
L01 0770  4    be a rumdum in the future".
L01 0770 10       "What about you? How would you feel about it if
L01 0780  9    I were to ask you for a date when I get through at
L01 0790  6    Hanover"?
L01 0790  7       "If I thought you were serious about going back
L01 0800  6    to school, that you'd learned something from your experiences
L01 0810  4    here and at Hanover- well, I might consider such an
L01 0820  3    offer. What about your **h that girl you were going
L01 0820 13    to kill"?
L01 0830  1       It suddenly seemed very important to me that Mary
L01 0830 10    Jane Brennan should know the truth about me- that I
L01 0840 10    was not the confused, sick, irresponsible person she
L01 0850  5    believed me to be.
L01 0850  9       "There are things about me that I can't tell you
L01 0860 10    now, Mary Jane", I said, "but if you'll go out to dinner
L01 0880  9    with me when I get out of Hanover, I'd like to tell
L01 0890  5    you the whole story. I can say this: I'm dead serious
L01 0900  3    about going back to school. As for that other girl,
L01 0910  1    let's just say that I never want to see her again.
L01 0910 12    You will get to come home on long weekends from Hanover,
L01 0920  9    won't you"?
L01 0930  1       "Yes, I'll get one overnight a month".
L01 0930  8       "We'll go up to the Edgewater Beach Hotel for dinner",
L01 0940  8    I said. "Do you like to dance? They always have a good
L01 0950  8    orchestra".
L01 0950  9       "I like to dance", she said, then turned and walked
L01 0960  9    away.
L01 0960 10       There hadn't been anything really personal in her
L01 0970  7    interest in me. I knew that. It was just that she felt
L01 0980  7    deeply about every patient on the ward and wanted to
L01 0990  4    believe that they might benefit from their treatment
L01 0990 12    there.
L01 1000  1       Now, riding this hospital bus, feeling isolated
L01 1000  8    and utterly alone, I knew that she was genuine and
L01 1010  9    unique, quite unlike any girl I had known before. It
L01 1020  6    seemed the most important thing in my life at this
L01 1030  3    moment that she should know the real truth about me.
L01 1040  1       It was a fantastic story. Only two people in the
L01 1040 10    state of Illinois knew that I was entering Hanover
L01 1050  6    State Hospital under an assumed name, or why. It was
L01 1060  5    unlikely that any girl as sharp as Mary Jane Brennan
L01 1070  1    would believe it without proof. But I had the proof,
L01 1070 11    all documented in a legal agreement which I would show
L01 1080  9    her the moment I was free to do so.
L01 1090  4       As the bus turned into the main highway and headed
L01 1100  1    toward Hanover I settled back in my seat and closed
L01 1100 11    my eyes, thinking over the events of the past two weeks,
L01 1110  9    trying to put the pieces in order. I wondered suddenly
L01 1120  5    as I listened to the disconnected jabberings coming
L01 1130  2    from the patient behind me, if I had not perhaps imagined
L01 1140  1    it all. Perhaps this was reality and Dale Nelson, the
L01 1140 11    actor, was delusion; a figment of Carl Anderson's imagination.
L01 1150  8    #FOUR#
L01 1150  9    I had come to Chicago from New York early in September
L01 1160 11    with a dramatic production called Ask Tony. It was
L01 1170  7    a bad play, real grade-A turkey, which only a prevalence
L01 1180  6    of angels with grandiose dreams of capital gain and
L01 1190  4    tax money to burn could have put into rehearsal. No
L01 1200  1    one, not even the producer, had any real hope of getting
L01 1200 12    it back to Broadway. But because it was a suspense
L01 1210  7    gangster story of the Capone era, many of us felt that
L01 1220  7    it might catch on for a run in Chicago, continue as
L01 1230  2    a road company, and eventually become a movie.
L01 1230 10       Such optimism was completely unjustified. The critics
L01 1240  6    literally screamed their indignation. Ask Tony was
L01 1250  5    doomed from the moment Kupcinet leveled on it in his
L01 1260  5    Sun-Times column. We opened on Friday and closed the
L01 1270  3    following Monday. Out of the entire cast I alone received
L01 1280  1    good notices for my portrayal of a psychopathic killer.
L01 1280 10    This let me in for a lot of kidding from the rest of
L01 1290 11    the company, two members of which were native Chicagoans.
L01 1300  5       We were paid off Tuesday morning and given tickets
L01 1310  4    back to New York.
L01 1310  8       I felt lonely and depressed as I packed my bags
L01 1320  6    at the Croydon Hotel. It seemed to me that my life
L01 1330  3    was destined to be one brilliant failure after another.
L01 1330 12    I had been among the top third in my class at N&Y&U&,
L01 1340 12    had wanted desperately to go to medical school, but
L01 1350  8    I'd run out of money and energy at the same time. Then
L01 1360  7    later I had quit my safe, secure five-a-week spot on
L01 1370  3    a network soap opera to take a part in this play. It
L01 1380  1    seemed to me that I was not only unlucky but quite
L01 1380 12    stupid as well. I knew that I'd soon be back working
L01 1390  8    as an orderly at the hospital or as a counterman at
L01 1400  6    Union News or Schraffts while waiting for another acting
L01 1410  2    job to open. It suddenly occurred to me that I did
L01 1410 13    not particularly like acting, that I was at some sort
L01 1420  9    of crossroads and would have to decide soon what I
L01 1430  7    was going to do with my life.
L01 1440  1       I closed the last bag and stood all three at the
L01 1440 11    door for the bellboy to pick up, then went to the bathroom
L01 1450  9    for a drink of water. The telephone rang. When I answered
L01 1460  5    it a voice too dignified and British to be real said,
L01 1470  4    "Is this Mr& Dale Nelson, the actor"?
L01 1480  1       "All right", I said. "Why don't you bastards lay
L01 1480  9    off for a while"?
L01 1490  2       "I beg your pardon, sir"?
L01 1490  7       "All right. This is Dale Nelson **h the actor".
L01 1500  8       "Good. I'm calling you, Mr& Nelson, at the request
L01 1510  8    of Mr& Phillip Wycoff. Could you possibly have lunch
L01 1520  6    with him today? His car could pick you up at your hotel
L01 1530  6    at twelve".
L01 1530  8       I smiled. "You'll send the Rolls-Royce, of course"?
L01 1540  6       "Yes, of course, Mr& Nelson".
L01 1550  2       I started to say something else appropriate, but
L01 1560  1    the man had hung up.
L01 1560  6       I finally went downstairs to the bar off the main
L01 1570  3    lobby where most of the cast were drowning their sorrows
L01 1570 13    over the untimely passing of Ask Tony. They all bowed
L01 1580 10    low as I approached them.
L01 1590  2       "All right, you bastards", I said, "the great actor
L01 1600  2    is about to buy a drink".
L01 1600  8       I laid a tenspot on the bar and motioned to the
L01 1610  6    bartender to serve a round. He had just returned my
L01 1620  2    change when the doorman came in off the street to page
L01 1620 13    me. I walked over to him.
L01 1630  5       "You Mr& Nelson"? he asked.
L01 1640  1       "That's right".
L01 1640  3       "Mr& Wycoff's car is waiting for you at the east
L01 1650  6    entrance".
L01 1650  7       I followed him out through the lobby to the street.
L01 1660  5       An ancient Rolls-Royce, as shiningly impressive
L01 1670  2    as the day it came off the ship, was parked at the
L01 1670 14    curb. The elderly chauffeur, immaculate in a dark uniform,
L01 1680  8    stood stiffly at attention holding open the door of
L01 1690  6    the town car.
L02 0010  1       I was giving the parked cars the once-over. The
L02 0010 11    Oldsmobile with the license number ~JYJ 114 was in
L02 0020  8    stall number five.
L02 0030  1       "Okay", I said to the attendant, "I'll let you know
L02 0030 11    if I close the deal on the office in this building".
L02 0040  9       I walked with him back to the entrance. He gave
L02 0050  8    me a ticket on the agency car and parked it.
L02 0060  3       I was back in ten minutes. "Forgot to get something
L02 0070  1    out of the car", I told him, showing him my ticket.
L02 0070 12       He started to say something as I walked in and then
L02 0080 11    suddenly grinned and said, "Oh, yes. You're the one
L02 0090  7    I was talking to about a monthly rental.
L02 0100  2       "That's right", I told him.
L02 0100  7       He consulted the parking ticket, then looked at
L02 0110  7    a notation and said, "You're in the third row back
L02 0120  6    toward the rear. Can you find it all right"?
L02 0130  1       "Sure", I told him.
L02 0130  5       I went back to the agency car and got out an electric
L02 0140  7    bug, one of the newest devices for electronic shadowing.
L02 0150  2    I always keep a set in the car.
L02 0150 10       I put in new batteries so as to be certain I'd have
L02 0160  9    plenty of power and on my way out walked over to the
L02 0170  6    regular parking stalls and stood looking at them thoughtfully.
L02 0180  3       I waited until the parking attendant was busy with
L02 0190  2    a customer, then slipped around the back of the car
L02 0190 12    with license number ~JYM 114, attached the electronic
L02 0200  7    bug to the rear bumper and walked out.
L02 0210  4       The attendant waved me on.
L02 0210  9       One of the hardest chores a detective has is hanging
L02 0220  8    around on a city street, trying to make himself inconspicuous,
L02 0230  5    keeping an eye on the entrance of an office building
L02 0240  4    and waiting.
L02 0240  6       For the first fifteen or twenty minutes it's possible
L02 0250  4    to be more or less interested in window displays, then
L02 0260  2    in people passing by. After a while, however, a person's
L02 0270  1    mind gets fed up and that magnifies all of the disagreeable
L02 0270 12    physical symptoms which go with that sort of an assignment.
L02 0280 10    You want to sit down. Your leg muscles and back muscles
L02 0290  7    feel weary. You're conscious of the fact that your
L02 0300  6    feet hurt, that the city pavements are hard.
L02 0310  1       I waited a solid two hours before my man came out
L02 0310 12    of the office building. He came out alone.
L02 0320  6       I wasn't far behind him when he entered the parking
L02 0330  5    lot and hurried over to his car.
L02 0330 12       The attendant recognized me once more and said,
L02 0340  7    "What did you do about that office"?
L02 0350  2       "I haven't made up my mind yet", I said. "It's a
L02 0360  3    sublease. I have a couple of them I'm figuring on;
L02 0370  1    one here and one that's out quite a ways where there's
L02 0370 12    usually curb parking".
L02 0380  2       "That curb parking is undependable and annoying,
L02 0390  1    particularly when it rains", he said.
L02 0390  7       I kept trying to get him to take my money. "Okay",
L02 0400  8    I told him. "I'm in a rush right now. I know where
L02 0410  6    the car is. Want me to drive it out"?
L02 0420  1       "I'll have one of the boys get it", he said. "It's
L02 0430  1    one of the rules on transients. Regulars drive out
L02 0440  9    their own cars".
L02 0450  1       "Make it as snappy as you can, will you"? I asked.
L02 0460  1       "Oh, that's all right", he said. "You're going to
L02 0460  9    be a regular. You'll get in the office building here.
L02 0470  8    You don't want to lease a place way out in the sticks.
L02 0480  9    You get business where the business is, not where it
L02 0490  5    isn't".
L02 0490  6       I grinned at him, handed him a couple of dollars
L02 0500  5    and said, "By the time you get the parking charge figured
L02 0510  2    up, there should be a cigar in it for you".
L02 0510 12       I hurried over to the agency heap, jumped in, started
L02 0520  9    the motor and was just in time to see the car I wanted
L02 0530  9    to shadow turn to the left.
L02 0540  1       I was held up a bit trying to make a left turn.
L02 0540 12    By the time I'd made it he was gone. Traffic was pretty
L02 0550  9    heavy.
L02 0550 10       I turned on the electric bug, and the signal came
L02 0560  7    in loud and clear.
L02 0560 11       I made time and picked him up within ten blocks.
L02 0570  9    I stayed half a block behind him, letting lots of cars
L02 0580  6    keep in between us, listening to the steady beep **h
L02 0590  3    beep **h beep.
L02 0590  6       After fifteen minutes of traffic driving he turned
L02 0600  3    to the left. I couldn't see him, but the electric bugging
L02 0610  1    device gave steady beeps when it was straight ahead,
L02 0610 10    short half beeps when the car I was following was to
L02 0620 10    the left, and long drawn-out beeps when it turned to
L02 0630  6    the right. If it ever got behind me, the beep turned
L02 0640  2    to a buzz.
L02 0640  5       I turned left too soon and got a signal showing
L02 0650  1    that I was still behind him but he was to the right.
L02 0650 13    After a while the signal became a buzz and I knew he
L02 0660 11    was behind me. That meant he'd parked someplace. I
L02 0670  5    made a big circle until I located the car parked at
L02 0680  4    the curb in front of an apartment house.
L02 0680 12       I found a parking place half a block away, sat in
L02 0690 10    the car and waited.
L02 0700  1       My quarry was in the apartment house for two hours.
L02 0700 11    Then he came out and started driving toward the beach.
L02 0710  7       By this time it was dark. I could get up close to
L02 0720  7    him where there was traffic but had to drop far behind
L02 0730  3    when there wasn't traffic. My lights would have been
L02 0730 12    a giveaway if I'd tried to shadow him in the conventional
L02 0740 11    manner. Moreover, I'd have lost him if it hadn't been
L02 0750  9    for the electronic shadowing device **h. His signal
L02 0760  5    was coming loud and clear and then all of a sudden
L02 0770  4    it turned to a buzz. I circled the block and found
L02 0770 15    he was in the parking lot of a high-class restaurant.
L02 0780 10       I sat where I could watch the exit and realized
L02 0790  8    I was hungry. I sat there with the faint odor of charcoal-broiled
L02 0800  7    steaks tantalizing my nostrils and occasionally catching
L02 0810  3    the aroma of coffee.
L02 0810  7       My man came out an hour later, drove to the beach,
L02 0820  7    turned right and after half a mile went to the Swim
L02 0830  4    and Tan Motel.
L02 0830  7       It was a fairly modern motel with quite a bit of
L02 0840  5    electrical display in front. I remembered it was the
L02 0850  1    Peeping Tom place.
L02 0850  4       I waited until my man was coming out of the office
L02 0860  3    with the key to a cabin before I went in to register.
L02 0870  1       The card the man I was shadowing had filled out
L02 0870 11    was still on the counter. I noticed that he was in
L02 0880  8    Unit 12 and that he had registered under the name of
L02 0890  5    Oscar L& Palmer and wife, giving a San Francisco address.
L02 0900  2       He had written out the license number of his car
L02 0910  1    but had transposed the last two figures, an old dodge
L02 0910 11    which is still good. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred
L02 0920  9    the motel manager doesn't check the license number
L02 0930  5    on the plates against the license number the tenant
L02 0940  2    writes out. If he does, it's still better than an even
L02 0940 13    chance he won't notice the transposition of the numbers,
L02 0950  9    and if he should notice it, the thing can be passed
L02 0960  8    off as an honest mistake.
L02 0970  1       I used the alias of Robert C& Richards, gave the
L02 0970 11    first three letters and the first and last figure of
L02 0980  8    the license number on the agency heap, but a couple
L02 0990  5    of phony numbers in between.
L02 0990 10       I could have written anything. The manager of the
L02 1000  7    motel was a woman who apparently didn't care. She was
L02 1010  5    complying with the law in regard to registrations but
L02 1020  2    she certainly wasn't checking license numbers or bothering
L02 1030  1    the tenants.
L02 1030  3       "You mean you're all alone, Mr& Richards"?
L02 1040  1       "That's right".
L02 1040  3       "Your wife isn't going to join you- later"?
L02 1050  5       "I don't think so".
L02 1060  1       "If you expect her to show up", she said, "you'd
L02 1060 10    better put 'and wife' on there. It's a formality, you
L02 1070  8    know".
L02 1070  9       "Any difference in the rate"? I asked.
L02 1090  7       "Not to you", she said smiling. "It's ten dollars
L02 1100  5    either way. There are ice cubes in a container at the
L02 1110  5    far end and in another by the office. There are three
L02 1120  2    soft-drink vending machines, and if you should be joined
L02 1120 12    by- anybody- try to keep things quiet, if you will.
L02 1130 11    We like to run a nice quiet place".
L02 1140  3       "Thank you", I told her.
L02 1140  8       I took another sidelong glance at the other registration
L02 1150  8    card, then took the key to Unit 13 that she had given
L02 1160  9    me and went down long enough to park the car.
L02 1170  3       The construction was reasonably solid; not like
L02 1180  1    the cracker-box construction of so many of the motel
L02 1180 11    units that have stucco all over the outside but walls
L02 1190  7    that are thin enough so you can hear every movement
L02 1200  3    of the people in the adjoining apartment.
L02 1200 10       I put a small electric amplifier against the wall
L02 1210  9    on the side I wanted to case. With the aid of that
L02 1220  8    I could hear my man moving around, heard him cough
L02 1230  3    a couple of times, heard the toilet flush, heard the
L02 1230 13    sound of water running.
L02 1240  4       Whoever his companion was going to be, she was going
L02 1250  3    to join him later. She knew where to come. He didn't
L02 1250 14    have to telephone.
L02 1260  3       I was so hungry my stomach felt all lines of communication
L02 1270  2    had been severed. It's one thing to go without food
L02 1280  1    when you're occupied with some work or when you're
L02 1280 10    simply postponing a meal, but when you're dependent
L02 1290  7    on someone else and know that you can't eat until he's
L02 1300  5    bedded down for the night, hunger can be a gnawing
L02 1310  4    torture.
L02 1310  5       I had noticed a drive-in down the road a quarter
L02 1320  2    of a mile. The batteries on the bugging device I had
L02 1320 13    put on the car were still fresh enough to send out
L02 1330 10    good strong signals. The powerful microphone I could
L02 1340  5    press against the wall between my motel unit and that
L02 1350  4    occupied by the man would bring in the sound of any
L02 1350 15    conversation, and I was positively nauseated I was
L02 1360  8    so hungry.
L02 1360 10       I got in the car, drove down to the drive-in and
L02 1370 12    ordered a couple of hamburgers with everything included,
L02 1380  4    a cup of coffee and the fastest service possible.
L02 1390  2       The place wasn't particularly busy at that time
L02 1400  1    of night, and the girl who was waiting on me, who was
L02 1400 13    clothed in the tightest-fitting pair of slacks I had
L02 1410  8    ever seen on a woman and a sweater that showed everything
L02 1420  4    there was- and there was lots of it- wanted to be sociable.
L02 1430  4       "You really in a hurry, Handsome"? she asked.
L02 1440  3       "I'm in a hurry, Beautiful".
L02 1440  8       "It's early in the evening to be in a hurry. There's
L02 1450 11    lots of time left". "There may not be any women left",
L02 1460  8    I said.
L02 1460 10       She gave a little pout and said, "I don't get off
L02 1470 10    work until eleven o'clock. That's when my evening commences".
L02 1480  7       "I'll be here at ten-fifty-five", I said.
L02 1490  9       "Oh, you!" she announced. "That's what they all
L02 1500  6    say. What's that thing going buzz-buzz-buzz in your
L02 1510  6    car"?
L02 1510  7       I said "Darn it, that's the automatic signal that
L02 1520  5    shows when the ignition key is on. I didn't turn it
L02 1530  3    off". I reached over and switched off the electronic
L02 1530 12    bugging device.
L02 1540  2       She went in to get the hamburgers, and I switched
L02 1550  1    on the device again and kept the signal from Dowling's
L02 1550 11    car coming in steady and clear until I saw her starting
L02 1560 10    back with the hamburgers. Then I shut off the device
L02 1570  7    again.
L02 1570  8       She wanted to hang around while I was eating. "Don't
L02 1580  6    you think it's selfish to have dinner before you go
L02 1590  5    to pick her up"?
L02 1590  9       "No", I said. "It's a kindness to her. You see,
L02 1600  8    she's on a diet. She'll eat just a pineapple and cottage
L02 1610  7    cheese salad and I'm to have one with her so she won't
L02 1620  6    feel out of place".
L02 1620 10       "diets can be terrible", the girl said. "How much
L02 1630  7    overweight is she"?
L02 1640  1       "Not a bit", I said, "but she's keeping her figure
L02 1640 11    in hand".
L02 1650  1       She looked at me provocatively. "Good figures should
L02 1660  1    be kept in hand", she said, and walked away with an
L02 1660 12    exaggerated wiggle.
L02 1670  2       I turned on the device again, half fearful that
L02 1670 11    I might find silence, but the buzzes came in loud and
L02 1680 10    clear.
L02 1680 11       When I switched on the lights for her to come and
L02 1690 10    get the check, I had the exact change plus a dollar
L02 1700  6    tip.
L03 0010  1       The fat man said, "All we gotta do is go around
L03 0010 12    the corner".
L03 0020  1       The gun moved. The thin man said, "That-a-way".
L03 0030  1       "- second building on the right".
L03 0030  6       "- it says police right on the door".
L03 0040  5       "- so even if we was as dumb as you take us for,
L03 0050  4    we could still find it".
L03 0050  9       Roberta and Dave began to back toward the door.
L03 0060  6    The thin man waved the gun again. He said, "Right around
L03 0070  3    the corner".
L03 0070  5       "It says water works, but there is a policeman on
L03 0080  6    duty, too".
L03 0080  8       "A night policeman just like in the States. You
L03 0090  6    know"?
L03 0090  7       "Canada doesn't have much of this here juvenile
L03 0100  6    delinquency problem, but we keep a night policeman
L03 0110  2    all the same on account of the crazy tourists".
L03 0110 11       At the door, Dave paused to feel for the latch.
L03 0120 10    Roberta glanced up at her husband. He was going to
L03 0130  7    be sensible and not try to do anything rash with that
L03 0140  4    gun pointed at him. She measured the distance from
L03 0140 13    where they stood to the men and the gun, measured the
L03 0150 11    distance from the men to the back room. She decided
L03 0160  8    to risk it. There was something phony about all this
L03 0170  4    gun waving- something not quite what it seemed in the
L03 0180  2    detailed directions for finding the police.
L03 0180  8       Dave had the latch under his thumb now and he removed
L03 0190  9    his arm from his wife in order to pull the door open.
L03 0200  6    In a flash she was away to the back, paying no attention
L03 0210  3    to three angry shouts from the male throats. She tore
L03 0210 13    open the back door. It was dark inside the room but
L03 0220 11    enough light spilled from the restaurant behind her
L03 0230  6    to enable her to make out a round table with a green
L03 0240  4    cloth top. There was a small sideboard with some empty
L03 0250  1    beer bottles on it and perhaps fifteen wooden chairs.
L03 0250 10       Slowly she turned to face the men again. Rat-face
L03 0260 10    at the counter was on his feet. The distance between
L03 0270  5    where she stood and where Dave waited at the outside
L03 0280  3    door was a hundred miles. Keeping her frightened gaze
L03 0280 12    on the men at the counter, she began to feel her way
L03 0290 12    to the door. She sidled along the booths one step at
L03 0300  8    a time. The gun followed her.
L03 0310  1       As she reached Dave and felt his arm go around her,
L03 0310 12    felt him pull her to the safety of his person, she
L03 0320  9    knew with the certainty of despair that something bad
L03 0330  4    had happened to Lauren.
L03 0330  8       The two men watched as Dave closed the door behind
L03 0340  9    them, watched them cross the sidewalk to their car.
L03 0350  5    It was getting light. The fat man removed his apron,
L03 0360  3    put on a greasy and wrinkled jacket, and zipped it
L03 0360 13    over his paunch.
L03 0370  2       The thin man moved swiftly to the phone and dialed
L03 0370 12    a number. When he was answered, he said, "Albert? Vince.
L03 0380 10    I'm sending you a couple of customers- yeah- just get
L03 0390  9    them out of my hair and keep them out- I don't give
L03 0400  8    a damn what you tell them- only don't believe a word
L03 0410  5    they say- they're out to make trouble for me and it
L03 0420  4    is up to you to stop them- I don't care how- and one
L03 0430  1    more thing- Cate's Cafe closed at eleven like always
L03 0430 10    last night and Rose and Clarence Corsi left for Quebec
L03 0440  9    yesterday- some shrine or other- I think it was called
L03 0450  8    Saint Simon's- yeah, yesterday. Got it"?
L03 0460  3       He turned from the phone and strode to the front
L03 0470  3    of the restaurant. The white Buick hadn't moved away
L03 0470 12    yet. Good. A line of worry formed, a twitch pulled
L03 0480 10    his mouth over to one side.
L03 0490  2       He said, "Grosse? You ain't kidding me- the kid
L03 0500  2    don't know the name of this town"?
L03 0500  9       "I ain't kidding you, Vince. How could she? She
L03 0510  7    musta been walking in her sleep- you seen her yourself
L03 0520  7    in here".
L03 0520  9       "Howda I know"?
L03 0530  1       "Remember how she looked when Barney held the door
L03 0530 10    for her? Kinda like a zombie? She was just waking up
L03 0540 10    when we found her at the garage".
L03 0550  3       Vince swore. "Stupid fools- ain't got enough brains
L03 0560  3    between the two of you"-
L03 0560  8       Grosse muttered, his head down, one hand playing
L03 0570  6    with the zipper on his jacket. "- had enough brains
L03 0580  3    to call ya up so as ya could do sompin about it when
L03 0580 16    the parents- I coulda let her go go"- His eyes were
L03 0590 10    lowered, so he couldn't have seen the narrow, pointed
L03 0600  8    face of his companion suddenly writhe with fury; but
L03 0610  5    he was aware of it just the same. He knew Vince Steiner
L03 0620  3    was one of those men who had to work up a fury once
L03 0630  1    in a while just to prove how dangerous he could be.
L03 0630 12       With a curse, Vince seized the thing nearest, a
L03 0640  7    glass sugar container with a spouted metal top, and
L03 0650  4    threw it against the wall opposite. The heavy glass
L03 0660  1    didn't break, but the top flew off; sugar sprayed with
L03 0660 11    a hiss that was loud in the silence.
L03 0670  7       Not really startled, but careful to appear so, Grosse
L03 0680  5    sucked noisily on his pipe. Vince cursed steadily.
L03 0690  1    "Why does everything have to happen to me"?
L03 0690  9       Grosse quietly got a broom and started to sweep
L03 0700  9    up the sugar. Vince watched him. His mouth worked over
L03 0710  6    the profanity, the obscenities in his vocabulary. Once
L03 0720  2    he said, "Why'n hell didn't you look in the back seat
L03 0730  2    of the car before you drove off? Don't you and Barney
L03 0730 13    ever use your brains"?
L03 0740  4       The fat man didn't answer. He got one of the menus
L03 0750  4    and brushed the spilled sugar onto it and carried it
L03 0750 14    to a box on the floor behind the counter. He returned
L03 0760 11    the menu to its place between catchup bottle and paper
L03 0770  7    napkin dispenser.
L03 0770  9       He spoke soothingly. "She don't know nothing about
L03 0780  7    them cars. She thinks she's in a ordinary garage".
L03 0790  6       "How do you know, stupid? And put Cate's gun back".
L03 0800  6       "I know". Grosse tucked the gun under the counter.
L03 0810  6       "- one word of this gets to Guardino"-
L03 0820  1       "Who's telling Guardino"?
L03 0820  4       Vince swore again. "You get that kid over to Rose's
L03 0830 10    house".
L03 0840  1       The fat man winced. He ran a finger down his cheek,
L03 0840 12    tracing the scratch there. "Why can't I leave her locked
L03 0850  8    up in the tool crib"?
L03 0860  1       The thin man stopped his pacing long enough to glance
L03 0860 11    at the clock. "You and Barney get her over to Rose's
L03 0870 11    before it gets too light. After Guardino's left, we'll
L03 0880  7    dump the kid somewhere near the border where she kin
L03 0890  7    get home. God help you if she knows where she's been".
L03 0900  3       Grosse spread his hands. "What am I going to do
L03 0910  3    with her all day? In the tool crib she can't get away".
L03 0920  1       "What the hell do I care what you do with her all
L03 0920 13    day? Just get her where Guardino won't see her and
L03 0930 10    start asking questions".
L03 0940  1       Grosse swore now. "Dammit all, Vince. I ain't no
L03 0950  1    baby sitter".
L03 0950  3       Vince shouted finally, "Get her over to Rose's and
L03 0960  2    I'll come by and see that she stays put".
L03 0960 11       Grosse rubbed the bridge of his nose where it was
L03 0970 10    swollen. He spoke sullenly. "You don't hafta get nasty.
L03 0980  6    I wish you luck when you try scaring that kid". Suddenly
L03 0990  5    he grinned. His voice lost its sullen tones and he
L03 1000  4    chuckled. "I got one question".
L03 1000  9       "What is it"? Impatiently.
L03 1010  2       "Are you a poor dumb Canadian or a smart aleck from
L03 1020  3    the States"?
L03 1020  5       Vince lifted his hand as if to strike, but his thin
L03 1030  5    lips spread in a smile. Grosse ducked and sniggered.
L03 1040  1    "Where'd you say you was born"?
L03 1040  7       "In a Chicago slum just like you. And I ain't going
L03 1050  9    back there on account of one lousy kid".
L03 1060  4    ##
L03 1060  5    Lauren Landis rubbed her face against the blanket.
L03 1070  1    She had cried a little because she was frightened.
L03 1070 10    She could easily understand why the two men had been
L03 1080  9    startled to find a strange girl in the back seat of
L03 1090  7    their car (she had figured that out), but she couldn't
L03 1100  3    understand their subsequent actions. Was it because
L03 1110  1    she had shown panic? Who could blame her for that?
L03 1110 11    It was one thing to awaken outside a restaurant where
L03 1120  7    your parents were eating and quite another to awaken
L03 1130  5    in a strange garage and know your parents had gone
L03 1140  2    on home without you.
L03 1140  6       She was glad the fat man had left. Barney was not
L03 1150  3    really frightening. She jumped as the little man now
L03 1150 12    appeared at the window and, reaching through the opening,
L03 1160  9    offered her a bottle of coke. She smiled at him wetly.
L03 1170  9    Although she found she was thirsty, she was about to
L03 1180  6    refuse (never, never take candy from a strange man)
L03 1190  2    when she saw the bottle was unopened. He placed a bottle
L03 1190 13    opener on the counter. So, he understood her panic.
L03 1200  9    She blew her nose on a tissue and opened the coke bottle.
L03 1210  9    It was icy cold and tasted delicious. She felt a lift
L03 1220  6    in spirit. When she was finished she pushed it back.
L03 1230  3    The man was busy doing something to the inside of the
L03 1230 14    door-frame on the driver's side of a car.
L03 1240  8       She called softly, "Barney".
L03 1250  1       He looked in her direction but he didn't answer.
L03 1260  1       She said, "Barney, why is he keeping me here"?
L03 1270  1       Still no answer. He seemed to be looking at a point
L03 1270 12    above the little window.
L03 1280  2       Lauren said, "Why can't I call my home? Or borrow
L03 1290  2    some money from someone and go home by bus? I could
L03 1290 13    send the money right back".
L03 1300  4       Barney finished the cigarette he had been smoking.
L03 1310  2    He dropped it and carefully ground it to nothing with
L03 1310 12    the sole of his heavy shoe. Now he looked at her. He
L03 1320 12    said, "I only work here".
L03 1330  2       Lauren said, "Please"? But he was back at work on
L03 1340  3    a car.
L03 1340  5       She dropped her head on her arms on the counter.
L03 1350  1    How could he be kind one moment and cruel the next?
L03 1350 12    Did he know something that made him feel sad and sorry
L03 1360  9    for her? And was he afraid to do anything as definite
L03 1370  6    as releasing her? Her heart was thumping painfully;
L03 1380  2    the unknown was so much worse than- what dangers lay
L03 1390  1    ahead for her? What awful thing had she to face in
L03 1390 12    the next few hours? Something wet and hot was trickling
L03 1400  8    on her wrists. Tears?
L03 1410  1       With a sturdy act of will she turned her mind away
L03 1410 12    from herself; as long as she could do nothing constructive
L03 1420  9    about the situation she was in, she would think about
L03 1430  8    something else. Her mother and father, for instance.
L03 1440  3    Where were they now? In her mind she followed the white
L03 1450  3    Buick along the road somewhere between here and the
L03 1450 12    Niagara River. Her father's attention would be on the
L03 1460  9    road ahead and it wouldn't deviate an inch until he
L03 1470  7    crossed the bridge at the Falls and took the River
L03 1480  5    Road to LaSalle and, finally, turned in at their own
L03 1490  2    driveway at 387 Heather Heights. Then he would yawn
L03 1490 11    and stretch and shout, "All out. This is the end of
L03 1500 10    the line".
L03 1500 12       And what would her mother be doing right now? Her
L03 1510 10    mother would be fast asleep curled up against that
L03 1520  6    wonderful, big, safe, solid shoulder next to her on
L03 1530  4    the front seat.
L03 1530  7       Lauren Landis was in trouble and she was alone.
L03 1540  4    ##
L03 1540  5    Roberta Landis put her hand on her husband's arm as
L03 1550  3    he slid in the driver's seat beside her. Somewhere
L03 1550 12    birds were sweetly calling, were answered. Her teeth
L03 1560  8    chattered so that she made three attempts at speech
L03 1570  6    before she became intelligible.
L03 1580  1       "Dave. I saw that woman's apron behind the door.
L03 1580  9    There was a wet spot- she couldn't have been gone long".
L03 1590  7       Dave made some sound meant to convey agreement.
L03 1600  6    He inserted the car key in the lock. Roberta was violently
L03 1610  4    trembling.
L03 1610  5       She stammered, "You heard what he said about police?
L03 1620  6    Why don't we drive around the corner"?
L03 1630  1       The car door crashed shut. The engine throbbed into
L03 1630 10    life. Dave said, "I got the message. We're going".
L03 1650  1       Roberta said, "No. You go. Walk. Suppose Lauren
L03 1650  9    comes looking for us? I can sit here in the car while
L03 1660 12    you walk around the corner".
L03 1670  3       The big car sprang away from the curb like something
L03 1680  1    alive. He said, "I'm not going to leave my wife and
L03 1680 12    my car out here in sight of those"-
L03 1690  7       Roberta glanced at him and stopped trembling.
L04 0010  1    His jowls were spiked by barbs of graying beard. His
L04 0010 11    small, mean eyes regarded Marty steadily, unblinkingly.
L04 0020  5    His eyes were threaded by little filaments of red as
L04 0030  5    if tiny veins had burst and flooded blood into them.
L04 0040  2    As he chewed his gum and exuded wheezing breath, Marty
L04 0040 12    smelt the reek of bad whiskey.
L04 0050  6       Marty recognized the man. He had driven the car
L04 0060  3    that passed them on the road outside Admassy's place.
L04 0070  1    This was Acey Squire, proprietor of the juke joint.
L04 0070 10       Marty smiled at Squire pleasantly and said, "There
L04 0080  8    was a cab waiting for me here. Do you know where it
L04 0090  8    might have gone"?
L04 0090 11       Squire chewed his gum, his jaw moving in a steady
L04 0100  9    rhythm. He looked straight at Marty. He did not answer.
L04 0110  7    Marty scanned the faces of the others nearest him,
L04 0120  3    looked into their staring eyes.
L04 0120  8       "Did anyone see my cab"? he asked, keeping his voice
L04 0130  8    casual.
L04 0130  9       He avoided showing any surprise or annoyance when
L04 0140  7    no one answered him.
L04 0140 11       "I have to get back to Jarrodsville", he went on.
L04 0150 10    "I see there are some cars here. I wonder if one of
L04 0160  9    you gentlemen could drive me back to town? I'd be happy
L04 0170  6    to pay for the favor, of course".
L04 0180  1       The seventeen men stood and stared at him for a
L04 0180 11    moment longer. And then a startling thing occurred.
L04 0190  6    It was so utterly unexpected that Marty stood for several
L04 0200  5    moments with his mouth hanging open foolishly after
L04 0210  2    it had happened.
L04 0210  5       There was no word spoken, no apparent signal given.
L04 0220  3       Yet the men all moved at the same instant.
L04 0230  1       They piled into the waiting cars, motors roared,
L04 0230  9    the cars sped off.
L04 0240  1       The station wagon and the old Plymouth headed east
L04 0240 10    toward Jarrodsville. The Ford and the pickup truck
L04 0250  7    sped west toward Sanford's Run.
L04 0260  2       In seconds all four cars were out of sight.
L04 0270  1       Marty Land stood alone on a red-clay road as storm
L04 0270 12    clouds gathered ominously in the sky again. From a
L04 0280  7    great distance thunder growled and broke the silence.
L04 0290  4       Land looked back toward the dilapidated house. He
L04 0300  2    thought he saw a pale face at a window. Perhaps it
L04 0300 13    was Dora May. Perhaps she would be glad that they hadn't
L04 0310 10    hurt him.
L04 0320  1       There were other farmhouses nearby. Across the road
L04 0320  8    there was one no more than a hundred yards away. There
L04 0330  8    was another on this side, a little further down. There
L04 0340  4    were many more between here and Jarrodsville. Telephone
L04 0350  2    poles lined the road. They reared tall and mocking.
L04 0350 11    Their wires stretched out into infinity. Not a single
L04 0360  9    strand of wire reached into the silent houses beside
L04 0370  6    the red-clay road.
L04 0370 10       There was nothing he could do but walk. And Jarrodsville
L04 0380  9    was more than three miles away, down an old dirt road
L04 0390  8    that the rain had turned into a quagmire.
L04 0400  1       Marty faced east and started walking down the left
L04 0400 10    side of the road. After he had proceeded a few feet,
L04 0410 11    he paused and turned up the cuffs of his trousers,
L04 0420  7    which were already damp and mud-caked. The viscous
L04 0430  3    mud was ankle-deep, and in places great puddles spread
L04 0430 13    across the road and reflected the murky light.
L04 0440  8       As he approached the first farmhouse, thunder sounded
L04 0450  6    behind him again, closer now and louder, like a steadily
L04 0460  5    advancing drum corps. There were several people on
L04 0470  2    the porch of the farmhouse. There was a very old man
L04 0470 13    and a young woman and a brood of children ranging from
L04 0480  9    toddlers to teen-agers. For just an instant he thought
L04 0490  7    of appealing to them for help. Perhaps they had a car
L04 0500  5    or truck and would drive him into town. Then he realized
L04 0510  1    the utter futility of the idea. They were staring at
L04 0510 11    him in the same blank and menacing way that the men
L04 0520  8    outside the gate had stared. Even the eyes of the smallest
L04 0530  6    children seemed malicious.
L04 0530  9       On his side of the road there were two farm hands,
L04 0540 10    well back in a field, leaning against a plow. They,
L04 0550  5    too, stared at him.
L04 0550  9       The drums of thunder were right behind him now.
L04 0560  7       A foolish thought came into his head. He remembered
L04 0570  5    a story he had read as a youth. It was probably one
L04 0580  2    of Kipling's tales of the British Army. It concerned
L04 0580 11    an officer who had been disgraced and drummed out.
L04 0590  8    The steady roll of the drums had sounded behind him
L04 0600  5    as he walked between the endless ranks of the men he
L04 0610  4    had commanded, and each man about-faced and turned
L04 0610 13    his back as the officer approached. Marty wished these
L04 0620  8    poor farm people would turn their backs.
L04 0630  4       The fencing by the roadside ended. Now the dirt
L04 0640  2    highway was bordered on either side by a fairly deep
L04 0640 12    drainage ditch, too broad to leap over unless you were
L04 0650  9    an Olympic star. The day's rain had been added to the
L04 0660  7    stagnant water. He was trapped on the road when he
L04 0670  4    heard the sound of an approaching car. It was coming
L04 0670 14    toward him. The car was now in sight. Marty's heart
L04 0680 10    skipped a beat when he recognized it. It was the station
L04 0690  8    wagon that had passed his cab on the road, the station
L04 0700  6    wagon that had been parked at the Burch farm. Acey
L04 0710  2    Squire's station wagon. It had headed back toward Jarrodsville.
L04 0720  1    That had only been a ruse to lure him out on the deserted
L04 0720 14    road. Now Acey and his friends were returning to seek
L04 0730 10    him out.
L04 0740  1       The station wagon came to a stop a couple of hundred
L04 0740 12    feet in front of him, beside a fenced field. Then there
L04 0750  8    was another sound. A second car was coming from the
L04 0760  6    west, from the direction of Sanford's Run. It was the
L04 0770  4    Ford that had been outside Burch's farm.
L04 0770 11       Marty looked helplessly in both directions. It was
L04 0780  8    a narrow road, barely wide enough for two cars to pass.
L04 0790  8    He could not leave the road because of the water-filled
L04 0800  5    drainage ditch. When the two cars were equidistant
L04 0810  1    from him, the station wagon started up again and the
L04 0810 11    Ford gathered speed. They bore down on him. There was
L04 0820  9    nothing he could do except jump into the ditch.
L04 0830  5       He jumped, and sank to his knees in muddy water.
L04 0840  2       As the two cars roared by, there was a high-pitched
L04 0840 13    eerie, nerve-shattering sound. Marty knew how the Union
L04 0850  9    soldiers must have felt at Chancellorsville and Antietam
L04 0860  7    and Gettysburg when the ragged gray ranks charged at
L04 0870  6    them, screaming the wild banshee howl they called the
L04 0880  3    Rebel yell.
L04 0880  5       For moments he stood in water, shivering and gasping
L04 0890  3    for breath. He had turned his ankle slightly, and it
L04 0900  1    pained him. The cars, with their load of howling men,
L04 0900 11    had disappeared in the distance. There had been two
L04 0910  8    more cars parked at the farm, a Plymouth and a pickup
L04 0920  6    truck. They would be coming for him next, bearing down
L04 0930  2    on him from both directions. And then the station wagon
L04 0930 12    and the Ford would seek him out again. He would be
L04 0940 11    harassed repeatedly and would escape death by inches
L04 0950  7    time after time, all the way to Jarrodsville. He still
L04 0960  3    had three miles to go. Back East the more affluent
L04 0970  1    juvenile delinquents, who could afford hyped-up autos
L04 0970  9    instead of switch blades as lethal weapons, played
L04 0980  7    this same game and called it "Chicken".
L04 0990  2       He could not go through the fields. That way was
L04 1000  2    barred on both sides of the road by a high barbed-wire
L04 1000 14    fence. He had to make for the section of road just
L04 1010 10    ahead that was bordered by the rail fence, the section
L04 1020  5    by the farmhouse. At least he could climb up on the
L04 1030  4    fence when his tormenters roared by again. The Admassy
L04 1030 13    place could not be far now. He would go in there, climb
L04 1040 12    through the window, and at least be safe for a little
L04 1050  9    while and able to rest. There was even a bare chance
L04 1060  6    that the phone had not been disconnected.
L04 1070  1       He did not dare climb back up to the road. He was
L04 1070 13    deep in water, but at least they could not reach him
L04 1080  8    there. He splashed on, mud sucking at his feet with
L04 1090  5    each step, until he reached the end of the drainage
L04 1100  1    ditch and the beginning of the fence that enclosed
L04 1100 10    the farm. He climbed back to the road, and he felt
L04 1110  8    utterly exhausted. He stood, panting, for a moment.
L04 1120  4    And then he saw something that he had not seen before,
L04 1130  1    and panic gripped him again.
L04 1130  6       The fence, his only refuge when the metal death
L04 1140  4    came roaring at him, was made of rails, all right,
L04 1150  1    but the rails were protected by a thick screening of
L04 1150 11    barbed wire that would rip his flesh if he pressed
L04 1160  8    against it. He lurched on down the road despairingly,
L04 1170  3    because there was no place else to go.
L04 1170 11       He lost all sense of dignity. You could not stand
L04 1180  9    on dignity when you were soaked and muddied and your
L04 1190  6    life was at stake. Probably people were watching him
L04 1200  3    from the porch or from behind the windows of this farmhouse,
L04 1210  1    too, but he did not bother to look. He broke into a
L04 1210 13    dogtrot, breathing heavily, streaming with sweat. He
L04 1220  6    had to reach Admassy's place. It was his only sanctuary.
L04 1240  6    The fences on both sides of the road bristled with
L04 1250  3    the barbed wire. The fences stretched on endlessly.
L04 1260  1       And then he heard them.
L04 1260  6       And now he saw them.
L04 1260 11       The Plymouth was coming at him from the east, the
L04 1270 10    pickup truck from the west. They had timed it better
L04 1280  6    this time. They would reach him at almost exactly the
L04 1290  3    same instant. He stopped stone-still. If he backed
L04 1300  1    against the fence, one of the cars would brush him
L04 1300 11    as it passed, and he would be cruelly lacerated by
L04 1310  6    the wire.
L04 1310  8       He stumbled to the middle of the road and simply
L04 1320  6    stood there, waiting for them, a perfect target.
L04 1330  2       The cars must have had their gas pedals pushed down
L04 1330 12    to the floor boards. They were coming on at reckless
L04 1340 10    speed for such old vehicles. They thundered at him.
L04 1350  6    He held his arms close to his sides and made himself
L04 1360  4    as small as possible. When the Plymouth neared, it
L04 1370  1    veered toward him and seemed about to run him down.
L04 1370 11    He forced himself to stay frozen there. If he moved,
L04 1380  8    he would be in the path of the other car. He thought
L04 1390  5    the fender of the Plymouth brushed his jacket as it
L04 1400  3    went by. In a fraction of a second the pickup truck
L04 1400 14    hurtled by on the other side.
L04 1410  5       The weird, insane sound of the Rebel yell reverberated
L04 1420  2    again and echoed from the distant hills.
L04 1420  9       He did not leave the middle of the road. He did
L04 1430  9    not try to run. He trudged on, his aching eyes focused
L04 1440  5    straight ahead. He was nearing the Admassy house. He
L04 1450  3    was going to make it, he told himself. And then he
L04 1450 14    heard a car coming from the east, and he felt as if
L04 1460 12    he would break down and weep.
L04 1470  2       "Oh, no, not again", he said aloud. "Not again so
L04 1480  1    soon".
L04 1480  2       There was a new sound, a sound as piercing as the
L04 1480 13    Rebel yell, yet different. It was the sound of a siren.
L04 1490 11    Now he saw that the approaching car was painted white,
L04 1500  7    and he began to wave his arms frantically. It was the
L04 1510  5    prowl car from the sheriff's office.
L04 1520  1       The car drew up alongside him and stopped.
L04 1520  9       "Get in", Charley Estes said brusquely.
L04 1530  5       He staggered into the back seat and lay back, fighting
L04 1540  5    for breath. There was someone in front with the sheriff.
L04 1550  3    It was Pete Holmes, the cabdriver.
L04 1550  9       Pete turned around and said to Marty, "I guess you
L04 1560  9    think I'm a yellow-bellied hound. But there wasn't
L04 1570  5    no use in me staying there. I couldn't fight a dozen
L04 1580  4    or so of 'em. If I'd stayed, all that I'd have got
L04 1590  2    was four punctured tires and one busted head. Why didn't
L04 1590 12    you wait at the Burch house? You must've known I'd
L04 1600 10    gone to get the sheriff. I was lucky they let me go,
L04 1610 10    I guess".
L04 1610 12       The sheriff was occupied with maneuvering the car
L04 1620  7    around in a very narrow space. When it was finally
L04 1630  5    pointed east, he said, "You should never have come
L04 1640  2    out here alone. This is redneck country. Every man
L04 1640 11    in every one of these houses is a Night Rider.
L05 0010  1       Then he turned the telephone over to Rourke, and
L05 0010 10    went into the bedroom to change his slippers for dry
L05 0020  8    socks and shoes. Rourke was talking on the phone when
L05 0030  6    he came back. "About an hour, eh? Are you positive"?
L05 0040  3    He listened a moment and then said, "Hold it". He turned
L05 0050  3    his head and said, "Alvarez will definitely be in a
L05 0050 13    back room at the Jai Alai Club on South Beach within
L05 0060 11    an hour. Want to try and meet him there"?
L05 0070  7       Shayne looked at his watch. That wasn't too far
L05 0080  4    from Fifth Street, and should allow him to make Scotty's
L05 0090  2    Bar by midnight. He said with satisfaction, "That's
L05 0100  1    fine, Tim. I'll be there".
L05 0100  6       Rourke confirmed the appointment over the phone
L05 0110  4    and hung up. "I don't know what you're getting into,
L05 0120  2    Mike", he said unhappily. "I hope to Christ **h".
L05 0130  1       Shayne said briskly, "Grab another drink if you
L05 0130  9    want it. We've got one other call to make before I
L05 0140  9    meet Alvarez".
L05 0150  1       "Where"?
L05 0150  2       "It's out in the Northeast section. Have you got
L05 0160  3    my car here"?
L05 0160  6       "It's parked in front". Rourke hastily slopped whiskey
L05 0170  4    into his glass on top of half-melted ice-cubes.
L05 0180  1       "I'd better keep on driving yours", Shayne decided,
L05 0190  1    "because I'll be going on over to the Beach. I can
L05 0190 12    drop you back here to pick mine up". He went to a closet
L05 0200 11    to get a light jacket, and took his hat from beside
L05 0210  7    the door. Timothy Rourke gulped down the whiskey hastily
L05 0220  4    and joined him, asking, "Who are we going to call on
L05 0230  2    in the Northeast section"?
L05 0230  6       "A lady. That is, maybe not too much of a lady.
L05 0240  7    At least, I want to find out whether she's home yet
L05 0250  3    or not". He opened the door and followed Rourke out.
L05 0260  1       In Rourke's car, Shayne drove east to Biscayne Boulevard
L05 0270  1    and north toward Felice Perrin's address which had
L05 0270  9    been given to him by the Peralta governess. As he drove,
L05 0280  9    he filled in Timothy Rourke briefly on the events of
L05 0290  6    the evening after leaving the reporter to go to the
L05 0300  5    Peralta house, and on his own surmises.
L05 0300 12       "I want to be in Scotty's Bar at midnight when Marsha
L05 0310 10    makes her phone call there", he ended grimly. "I don't
L05 0320  7    know whether that threatening letter of hers has anything
L05 0330  6    to do with this situation or not, but I want to see
L05 0340  5    who takes the call".
L05 0340  9       "This deal at Las Putas Buenas where the two knife-men
L05 0350  8    jumped you", said Rourke with interest, "that sounds
L05 0360  4    like it was set up with malice aforethought by the
L05 0370  3    luscious Mrs& Peralta, doesn't it"?
L05 0370  8       "It does", Shayne grunted sourly, still able to
L05 0380  8    taste her mouth on his in the Green Jungle parking
L05 0400  5    lot. "That story of hers about an unsigned note directing
L05 0410  3    her to be there tonight sounds completely phony. If
L05 0420  1    it was designed to put me on the spot, it would have
L05 0420 13    to have been written before Peralta ever called me
L05 0430  6    in on the case".
L05 0430 10       "Do you think Laura did have the counterfeit bracelet
L05 0440  9    made without her husband's knowledge"?
L05 0450  2       "I haven't the faintest idea. I think her husband
L05 0460  4    strongly suspects so, and that's why he called me in
L05 0470  2    on the thing in direct defiance of his confederates
L05 0470 11    **h and almost certainly without telling them why he
L05 0480  7    was doing so. Isn't this Felice's street"? Shayne asked,
L05 0490  4    peering ahead at the partially obscured street sign.
L05 0500  4       Rourke could see it better out the right-hand side,
L05 0510  2    and he said, "Yes. Turn to the left, I think, for that
L05 0520  1    number you gave me. Not more than a block or so".
L05 0520 12       Shayne got in the left-hand lane and cut across
L05 0530 10    the Boulevard divider. There was a small, neon-lighted
L05 0540  6    restaurant and cocktail lounge on the southeast corner
L05 0550  2    of the intersection as he turned into the quiet, palm-lined
L05 0560  1    street where most of the houses on both sides were
L05 0560 11    older two-story mansions, now cut up into furnished
L05 0570  7    rooms and housekeeping apartments.
L05 0580  1       Shayne drove westward from the Boulevard slowly,
L05 0580  8    letting Rourke crane his head out the window and watch
L05 0590  9    for street numbers. A single automobile was parked
L05 0600  4    half-way up the block on the left-hand side. Shayne
L05 0610  2    noted idly that it carried Miami Beach license plates
L05 0610 11    as he approached, and then saw the flare of a match
L05 0620 10    in the front seat as they passed, indicating that it
L05 0630  5    was occupied.
L05 0630  7       He turned to see the briefly-illumed faces of two
L05 0640  7    men in the parked car just as Rourke said, "It's the
L05 0650  4    next house, Mike. On the right".
L05 0650 10       Instead of pulling into the curb, Shayne increased
L05 0660  8    his speed slightly to the corner where he swung left.
L05 0670  7    He went around the corner and parked, turning off his
L05 0680  4    lights and motor.
L05 0680  7       "I told you, Mike", said Rourke in an aggrieved
L05 0690  5    voice. "It was back there **h".
L05 0700  1       Shayne said, "I know it was, Tim". His voice was
L05 0700 11    chilling and cold. "Did you see the car parked across
L05 0710  9    the street"?
L05 0720  1       "I didn't notice it. I was watching for numbers
L05 0720 10    **h".
L05 0730  1       "It has a Beach license, Tim. Two men in the front
L05 0730 11    seat. I got a quick look at their faces as we went
L05 0740  9    past. Unless I'm crazy as hell, they're two of Painter's
L05 0750  5    dicks. A couple named Harris and Geely. Those names
L05 0760  3    mean anything to you"?
L05 0760  7       "Wait a minute, Mike. In Painter's office this evening
L05 0770  7    **h".
L05 0770  8       Shayne nodded grimly. "The pair whom Petey is officially
L05 0780  9    commending for slapping me around and pulling me in".
L05 0790  8       "What are they doing here"?
L05 0800  2       "A stake-out, I suppose. On Felice Perrin. Maybe
L05 0810  2    with specific orders to see that I don't make contact
L05 0810 12    with her. I'm not positive, Tim. I may be wrong. I'll
L05 0820 10    slide out and walk around the block back to the cocktail
L05 0830  9    lounge on Biscayne. You drive on and circle back and
L05 0840  6    pull up beside them parked there. You're a reporter,
L05 0850  3    and you're looking for Miss Perrin to interview her.
L05 0860  1    Make them show their hands. If they are Beach cops
L05 0860 11    on a stake-out, they'll admit it to a reporter. They've
L05 0870  8    got no official standing on this side of the Bay. As
L05 0880  8    soon as you find out if they are Geely and Harris,
L05 0890  3    come on around to the lounge where I'll be waiting".
L05 0900  1       Shayne opened the door on his side and stepped out.
L05 0900 11    Timothy Rourke groaned dismally as he slid under the
L05 0910  9    wheel. "The things you talk me into, Mike **h".
L05 0920  6       Shayne chuckled. "How often do they add up to headlines?
L05 0930  7    You should complain".
L05 0930 10       He crossed the street and walked swiftly southward
L05 0940  7    to circle back to the Boulevard and north a block to
L05 0950  6    the open restaurant.
L05 0950  9       He was standing at the end of the bar enjoying a
L05 0960  9    slug of cognac when Rourke came in six or eight minutes
L05 0970  6    later. The reporter nodded as he moved up beside him
L05 0980  2    at the bar. Shayne told the bartender, "Bourbon and
L05 0980 11    water", and Rourke told him, "It's those two, all right.
L05 0990 10    Harris and Geely. I made them show me their identification
L05 1000  9    before I could be persuaded not to call on Felice Perrin".
L05 1010  8       Shayne said happily, "I've got it all worked out,
L05 1020  7    Tim. Take your time with your drink. I'll beat it.
L05 1030  5    In exactly three minutes, go in that phone booth behind
L05 1040  3    you and call Police Headquarters. Be excited and don't
L05 1050  1    identify yourself. Just say that a couple of drunks
L05 1050 10    are having a hell of a fight down the street, and they
L05 1060  9    better send a patrol car. Then hang up fast and come
L05 1070  6    walking on down to the Perrin address. I'll be waiting
L05 1080  3    for you there".
L05 1080  6       The bartender brought Rourke's drink and Shayne
L05 1090  4    laid a twenty-dollar bill on the bar. He said in a
L05 1100  2    low voice, "I've got a date with a lady, Mister. Will
L05 1100 13    that pay for a pint I can take with me. You know how
L05 1110 13    it is", he added with a conspiratorial wink. "Candy
L05 1120  5    is dandy, but liquor is quicker **h and you don't have
L05 1130  5    any candy for sale here anyhow".
L05 1130 11       "We sure don't". The bartender winked back at him
L05 1140  9    and palmed the bill. He turned away and returned in
L05 1150  7    a moment with a pint of brandy in a small paper sack
L05 1160  5    which he slid over the counter to Shayne.
L05 1170  1       As the detective slid it into his pocket, Rourke
L05 1170 10    asked sadly, "What in hell are you going to do, Mike"?
L05 1180  9       "Make a couple of punk detectives named Geely and
L05 1190  6    Harris wish to God they'd stayed out of my way this
L05 1200  6    afternoon. Three minutes, Tim".
L05 1200 10       Shayne strode out blithely, and Rourke checked his
L05 1210  8    watch and sipped his drink, getting a dime ready to
L05 1220  6    make the telephone call to the police.
L05 1230  1       Outside, Shayne hesitated when he saw that Rourke
L05 1230  9    had parked his coupe directly in front of the bar headed
L05 1240  9    south. He walked over to the right-hand door, opened
L05 1250  6    it and got the reloaded automatic out of the glove
L05 1260  3    compartment and put it in his hip pocket. He hoped
L05 1260 13    he wouldn't be forced to use it in taking care of the
L05 1270 11    Beach detectives, but its weight was comforting at
L05 1280  6    his hip. On this side of the Bay, Miami Beach cops
L05 1290  3    had no more legal rights than any ordinary citizen,
L05 1290 12    and Shayne's pistol permit was just as good as theirs.
L05 1300 10       He went swiftly up the sidewalk toward the parked
L05 1310  8    car with the two Beach detectives in the front seat.
L05 1320  5    He tugged the brim of his hat low as he approached,
L05 1330  1    stepped out into the street just behind the car and
L05 1330 11    strode around to the right-hand side.
L05 1340  6       The big, paunchy man named Geely was on that side,
L05 1350  5    half-turned in the seat toward his hatchet-faced companion
L05 1360  2    so that his back partially rested against the closed
L05 1360 11    door.
L05 1370  1       Shayne turned the handle and jerked the door open
L05 1370 10    before either of the men were quite aware of his presence
L05 1380 10    in the night.
L05 1380 13       Geely grunted and slid partly out, and Shayne's
L05 1390  8    left arm snaked in around his neck to help him, while
L05 1400  7    he set himself solidly on the roadway and swung his
L05 1410  4    right fist to the big, gum-chewing jaw before Geely
L05 1410 14    could straighten up.
L05 1420  3       Shayne stepped back to let him slump to the ground,
L05 1430  2    and then dived over him through the open door into
L05 1430 12    Harris who was cursing loudly and trying to drag a
L05 1440  9    gun from a shoulder holster, somewhat impeded by the
L05 1450  5    steering wheel.
L05 1450  7       Shayne locked his big hands around Harris' thin
L05 1460  5    neck and dragged him out over the seat into the roadway.
L05 1470  3    He hit him once on the sharp point of his chin and
L05 1470 15    felt the body go limp. He dropped him into the street
L05 1480 11    a couple of feet away from Geely's recumbent figure
L05 1490  6    and stared down at both of them for a moment before
L05 1500  5    kicking the big man lightly in the side. He didn't
L05 1510  1    stir. They were both breathing heavily, out cold, and
L05 1510 10    Shayne didn't think either of them had recognized him
L05 1520  8    or could describe him.
L05 1530  1       He got the pint of liquor out of his pocket and
L05 1530 12    unscrewed the top, sprinkled the pungent stuff liberally
L05 1540  7    over both men, and then tossed the open bottle in on
L05 1550  6    the front seat.
L05 1550  9       He turned, then, to look toward the lighted Boulevard,
L05 1560  6    and saw Rourke's tall, emaciated figure come out of
L05 1570  5    the lounge and hurriedly start to angle across the
L05 1580  1    street toward the opposite side.
L05 1580  6       Shayne strolled across to intercept the reporter
L05 1590  3    in front of the two-story house where Felice Perrin
L05 1600  1    lived, and asked casually, "Get the police okay"?
L05 1610  1       "Sure. Said they'd have a patrol car here fast.
L05 1610 10    Let's get inside. What happened with you"?
L05 1620  5       "Why the two damned fools got all excited when they
L05 1630  6    saw the bottle, and knocked each other out cold", Shayne
L05 1640  3    said good-humoredly. "They'll have fun explaining that
L05 1650  2    to the Miami cops. Got no business over here on a stake-out
L05 1650 15    anyway".
L05 1660  1       They went up onto a front porch and into a small
L05 1660 12    hallway where a dim bulb burned high in the ceiling.
L05 1670 10    A row of mailboxes along the wall had numbers and names
L05 1680  8    on them. Shayne found one marked PERRIN ~2-A.
L05 1690  4       The stairway on the right was dark, but there was
L05 1700  3    a wall-switch at the bottom which lighted another dim
L05 1700 13    bulb at the top, and they went up.
L05 1710  8       There were two front rooms, both dark behind their
L05 1720  4    transoms, and there was no sound or light in the entire
L05 1730  1    house to indicate that any of the occupants were awake.
L06 0010  1       Eight, nine steps above him, Roberts had paused.
L06 0010  9    Mickey paused with him, waiting, no longer impatient,
L06 0020  7    trying now to think it out, do a little planning. He
L06 0030  6    looked down over the banister at the hotel desk, with
L06 0040  2    the telephone and pen set.
L06 0040  7       If I could call in, they could check the story while
L06 0050  6    we were on our way. I wouldn't have to tell them I
L06 0070  4    had Roberts-
L06 0070  6       Then he heard it, like a muffled thud, felt a subtle
L06 0080  5    change in air pressure. He glanced up in time to see
L06 0090  2    Roberts hurtling down on him from above, literally
L06 0090 10    flying through the air, his bloody face twisted. Mickey
L06 0100  8    tried to flatten against the banister, gripped it with
L06 0110  5    one hand, but Roberts' full weight struck him at that
L06 0120  4    moment in the groin. He gasped for air and the impact
L06 0130  1    tore his hand from the rail. He tumbled with Roberts,
L06 0140 10    helpless and in agony, over and over, down the steps.
L06 0150  8       By a wrenching effort, he managed to hunch and draw
L06 0160  7    in, to take the final fall on his back and shoulders
L06 0170  2    rather than his head. He was fuzzy in his mind and,
L06 0170 13    for a moment, helpless on the lobby floor, but he was
L06 0180 10    conscious, and free of the weight of Roberts' body.
L06 0190  6    When his vision cleared he saw the taller one scrambling
L06 0200  3    upward, reaching. Mickey was on his knees when Roberts
L06 0210  1    turned on the stairs and the razor flashed in his hand.
L06 0210 12    He felt his empty pocket and knew that Roberts had
L06 0220  9    retrieved the only weapon at hand.
L06 0230  3       Mickey's eyes fixed on the other's feet, which would
L06 0240  2    first betray the moment and direction of an attack.
L06 0240 11    He rose stiffly, forcing his knees to lock. The knifelike
L06 0250  8    pain in his groin nearly brought him down again. He
L06 0260  6    made himself back off slowly, his eyes wary on Roberts,
L06 0270  4    who now had no more to lose than he. The pain dulled
L06 0280  1    as he moved, and he steadied inside. After a moment
L06 0280 11    he extended one hand, the fingers curled.
L06 0290  5       "Come on", he said. "You want to be that big a fool-
L06 0300  7    I was hoping for this".
L06 0300 12       Roberts brushed at his eyes with his free hand and
L06 0310 10    started down the steps. He held the razor well out
L06 0320  6    to one side. He was invulnerable to attack, but he
L06 0330  3    could be handled, Mickey knew, if he could be brought
L06 0330 13    to make the first move.
L06 0340  4       They were eight feet apart when Roberts cleared
L06 0350  1    the last step. Mickey waited with slack arms.
L06 0350  9       "Any time, Roberts", he said. "Or would it be easier
L06 0360  9    if I put my hands in my pockets"?
L06 0370  3       The taunt was lost on Roberts. He advanced slowly,
L06 0380  2    directly, giving no hint of a feint to either side.
L06 0380 12    He was just short of arm's reach when he stopped. Mickey
L06 0390 10    backed off two steps, forcing him to come on again.
L06 0400  7    There was a fixed grin on Roberts' face, made hideous
L06 0410  4    by the swollen nose and the smeared blood.
L06 0420  1       Mickey backed off again and Roberts hesitated, then
L06 0420  9    came along. They moved in a series of rhythmic fits
L06 0430  9    and starts, a macabre dance- two steps back, two steps
L06 0450  6    forward, two steps back. Mickey felt his shoulders
L06 0460  1    come up against the wall beside the heavy slab front
L06 0460 11    door. This was going to be it now, any second, and
L06 0470 10    what he had to remember was to keep his eye on the
L06 0480  7    razor, no matter what, even if Roberts should feint
L06 0490  2    with a kick to the groin, the deadly hand was his exclusive
L06 0490 14    concern.
L06 0500  1       The kick came, sudden and vicious but short. Mickey's
L06 0520  1    guts twisted with the effort, but he kept his eye on
L06 0520 12    the weapon. It moved in a silver arc toward his throat,
L06 0530  9    then veered downward. He hunched his left shoulder
L06 0540  4    into it and slashed at Roberts' forearm with his own,
L06 0550  3    felt the blade slide off his sleeve. Before Roberts
L06 0550 12    could move inside to cut upward toward his face, he
L06 0560 10    slammed his right fist into Roberts' belly. Roberts
L06 0570  4    sagged and slashed at him wildly. Ducking, Mickey tripped
L06 0580  3    and fell to one side, landing heavily on the wood floor.
L06 0590  2    Then Roberts was on him, gasping for breath and for
L06 0590 12    a couple of seconds Mickey lost sight of the blade.
L06 0600  9    He felt it rip at the side of his jacket and a momentary
L06 0610  7    sting under his left ribs. He got a knee up into Roberts'
L06 0620  5    belly, used both hands and heaved him clear, then scrambled
L06 0630  3    to his feet. They were in the center of the lobby now.
L06 0640  1    Still clutching the razor, Roberts came up into a crouch,
L06 0640 11    shaking his head. When he charged Mickey was ready.
L06 0650  9    He hit Roberts with his left fist in the ribs and the
L06 0660  8    razor cut toward him feebly, then wobbled in mid-air.
L06 0670  4    With his right fist, and nearly all his weight behind
L06 0680  1    it, he smashed at the bloodstained face.
L06 0680  8       Roberts careened backward, his back arched, fought
L06 0690  5    for balance and, failing, stumbled against the newel
L06 0700  3    post at the foot of the stairs. The sound of his head
L06 0700 15    striking the solid wood was an ultimate, sudden-end
L06 0710  9    sound. He fell on his side across the lowest step,
L06 0720  7    rolled over once, then lay still.
L06 0730  1       Mickey found himself leaning against the desk, with
L06 0730  9    stiff hands, panting for breath. After a minute he
L06 0740  8    went to Roberts, looked at one of his eyes and felt
L06 0750  6    for a pulse. He couldn't feel any. Roberts appeared
L06 0760  1    to be dead; if not yet, then soon, very soon. Suddenly
L06 0760 12    it was cold in the lobby.
L06 0770  5    #@ 12#
L06 0770  7    It seemed to him that a long time had passed before
L06 0780  4    he decided what to do. Actually it was no more than
L06 0790  1    eight or ten minutes, and the sum of his reasoning
L06 0790 11    came to this:
L06 0800  1       There's no way to take him in now and keep those
L06 0800 12    other two- Wister and the one who hired the two of
L06 0810 10    them- from finding out about Roberts and lamming out.
L06 0820  5    The local law here would hold me till they check clear
L06 0830  3    back home, and maybe more than that. They would have
L06 0830 13    to. By then they could never catch up with the others.
L06 0840 11    There's no other way; I'll have to do it myself.
L06 0850  8       He looked at where Roberts lay sprawled on the step.
L06 0860  6    Mickey was sure now he was dead.
L06 0870  1       One thing, he thought, nobody knows about it yet.
L06 0870 10    Only me.
L06 0880  1       He climbed the stairs, went into Roberts' room,
L06 0880  9    found a suitcase and packed as much into it as he could.
L06 0890  9    He left a few things. It didn't have to be perfect.
L06 0900  5    Roberts was a wastrel. Walking away on impulse, he
L06 0910  2    might logically leave behind what it was inconvenient
L06 0910 10    to carry.
L06 0920  1       When he had closed the suitcase he found a rag and
L06 0920 12    moved about the room, wiping carefully everything he
L06 0930  7    might have touched. It took him nearly an hour. He
L06 0940  6    went to the room he had rented and got into his overcoat.
L06 0950  3    He left the rest of his things and returned to the
L06 0950 14    lobby. He set Roberts' suitcase near the front door,
L06 0960  9    went outside and walked back to the garage. He was
L06 0970  8    mildly surprised to find it was snowing. It snowed
L06 0980  3    softly, silently, an undulating interruption of his
L06 0980 10    vision against the night sky. He could feel it on his
L06 0990 11    face and in his hair.
L06 1000  2       He found the key to the Jeep, got it started and
L06 1000 13    warmed it up for five minutes. Then he backed out and
L06 1010 11    swung around to the front drive. He went into the hotel
L06 1020  7    and searched till he found the razor. He put it in
L06 1030  5    his own pocket for safekeeping. He took the suitcase
L06 1040  1    out to the Jeep and put it in the front seat. Then
L06 1040 13    he went back for Roberts.
L06 1050  2       The body was heavier than he had anticipated. He
L06 1060  1    got it onto his shoulder after some work and carried
L06 1060 11    it outside and down to the Jeep. He dumped it into
L06 1070  8    the back and made sure it wouldn't roll out, then returned
L06 1080  5    to the porch and closed the front door, making sure
L06 1090  2    it was unlocked.
L06 1090  5       He drove carefully in the direction of the brief
L06 1100  4    tour they had taken earlier. It snowed continuously,
L06 1100 12    but quietly, evenly. When he reached the dip in the
L06 1110 10    woods, he saw that already the earlier ruts were barely
L06 1120  7    discernible. The Jeep fought its way through the low
L06 1130  5    spot and got onto higher ground. He drove in low gear
L06 1140  2    to the fork in the road and swung as close as possible
L06 1140 14    to the entrance to the abandoned mine. He parked facing
L06 1150  8    it and left the headlights on, but when he started
L06 1160  6    into the tunnel with the suitcase, he found the illumination
L06 1170  3    extended no farther than half a dozen feet into the
L06 1180  1    passage. He went back and got the flashlight, returned
L06 1180 10    to the tunnel and carried the suitcase to the edge
L06 1190  8    of the pit he had found earlier. He tossed the bag
L06 1200  5    into the pit and watched dry dust spray up around it.
L06 1210  2    When the dust settled, he went back to the Jeep and
L06 1210 13    carefully worked Roberts' body onto his shoulder.
L06 1220  7       It wasn't like carrying the suitcase. The soft snow
L06 1230  6    was deceitful underfoot. Twice he nearly fell. Inside
L06 1240  4    the passage, he had to work his way over the fallen
L06 1250  1    timber and nearly collapsed under his clumsy burden.
L06 1250  9    By the time he reached the edge of the pit he was panting
L06 1260 11    and his shoulder and back ached under the drag of the
L06 1270  7    dead weight.
L06 1270  9       He stood looking down for a few seconds, then backed
L06 1280  7    up two or three paces from the edge. There was too
L06 1290  4    much weight casually to toss it away. He could feel
L06 1300  1    himself falling in with it and being unable to get
L06 1300 11    out. It would be a bad place to die. It was a bad place
L06 1310 11    for Roberts to wind up, but Roberts had asked for it.
L06 1320  6    It was too late to worry about that.
L06 1330  1       He knelt slowly and dumped the corpse onto the floor
L06 1330 11    of the tunnel. It was a relief to get rid of the weight.
L06 1340 11    He was shaking with tension and it took him a couple
L06 1350  7    of minutes to get his breath and settle down. Then
L06 1360  2    he got on his knees and rolled Roberts' body toward
L06 1360 12    the edge. It hung momentarily on the point of dropping
L06 1370  9    off. He gave it a strong push, heard it slide, then
L06 1380  7    tumble dryly into the hole. He got to his feet and
L06 1390  5    threw the flashlight beam into the pit. The body lay
L06 1400  1    in an awkward sprawl twelve or fifteen feet below the
L06 1400 11    level of the tunnel floor.
L06 1410  2       Deep enough, he decided. There was little chance
L06 1420  1    anyone would enter this shaft during the winter. The
L06 1420 10    external signs of his approach to it would be covered
L06 1430  8    by the snow, probably by the next day. It wasn't cold
L06 1440  5    enough in the tunnel to preserve the body intact. By
L06 1450  2    spring it would be a skeleton.
L06 1450  8       He made his way back to the Jeep. He had started
L06 1460  6    to back into the turn when he remembered the razor
L06 1470  3    in his pocket. He climbed down, went back into the
L06 1470 13    tunnel and tossed the razor into the pit. It landed
L06 1480  9    on Roberts' sprawled right thigh, poised precariously,
L06 1490  4    then slid off to the ground. He went back once more
L06 1500  4    to the Jeep and started the short drive to the hotel.
L06 1510  1       In the garage he checked the Jeep for signs of the
L06 1510 12    use he had made of it. There were stains here and there
L06 1520 10    and he cleaned them off, using an oiled rag he found
L06 1530  7    on a nail. He wiped the steering wheel and all the
L06 1540  4    places he might have touched the Jeep. He replaced
L06 1540 13    the flashlight where it had been stowed, got into his
L06 1550 10    own car and backed it out of the garage. There were
L06 1560  7    tire marks where it had been, but they were overlapped
L06 1570  3    by others and on the dusty floor would not be noticeable
L06 1580  1    except under close scrutiny. Liz Peabody, he thought,
L06 1580  9    might spend some time grieving for her lost lover,
L06 1590  8    but he doubted that she would launch an investigation.
L06 1600  4    He judged her to be a woman of some pride, though not
L06 1610  3    much sense. Still she would probably have sense enough
L06 1610 12    not to call in the local sheriff to find her boy friend
L06 1620 12    who, apparently, had run away.
L07 0010  1       He put in a call to Cunningham from his hotel room.
L07 0010 12    The maid answered and he decided Nancy must be at work.
L07 0020 10       Jeb cautioned him not to be too hopeful and then,
L07 0030  9    ignoring his own advice, said excitedly, "But it does
L07 0040  4    sound good. A woman named Lisa who tells nobody anything
L07 0050  2    about herself. That courtyard picture with the same
L07 0050 10    initials".
L07 0060  1       "I'm not exactly jumping up and down with enthusiasm.
L07 0070  1    I'll call you in a day or so".
L07 0070  9       On the highway he relaxed and enjoyed the drive
L07 0080  5    over Lake Pontchartrain and along the coast.
L07 0090  1       Gulf Springs was ten miles inland- more of a quaint
L07 0090 11    old coast town than those along the beach made garish
L07 0100 10    by tourist attractions.
L07 0110  1       He checked into a motel and drove downtown. The
L07 0110 10    courthouse was a white-stucco building minus the customary
L07 0120  9    dome. Instead of the usual straggling privet hedges
L07 0130  5    and patches of bare dirt in most small-town squares,
L07 0140  2    the building was hemmed in by a semitropical growth
L07 0140 11    of camellias and azaleas and a smooth lawn the improbably
L07 0150 10    bright-green shade of florist's grass.
L07 0160  5       He figured his best bet was a call on the sheriff.
L07 0170  4    A clerk in the outer office took him in to Sheriff
L07 0180  1    Carruthers, a big, paunchy man with thick, white hair
L07 0180 10    and a voice with a senatorial resonance which suggested
L07 0190  6    he should be running for higher office.
L07 0200  2       Seated in front of the desk, Hank said, "I'm looking
L07 0210  2    for some information with very little to go on, Sheriff".
L07 0210 12       He explained the background of the case, ending
L07 0220  9    with the tenuous clue which had brought him to Gulf
L07 0230  8    Springs.
L07 0230  9       The sheriff's swivel chair tilted back. "So you're
L07 0240  7    looking for a woman who married a man who might have
L07 0250  6    lived here a year ago and might have been poisoned.
L07 0260  1    If there was such a person, I'm afraid she got away
L07 0260 12    with it. Pity we don't know more about him. I think
L07 0270 11    the best bet is to go through the society columns of
L07 0280  7    last year and see if any of the grooms match with the
L07 0290  4    obituaries a little later. It'll be a tedious job,
L07 0300  1    but if you want to try it, the old newspaper files
L07 0300 12    are in the basement here in the county supervisor's
L07 0310  6    office".
L07 0310  7       "Maybe the society editor would remember a good-looking
L07 0320  7    out-of-town bride".
L07 0330  1       "That's an idea. Mrs& Calhoun has been society editor
L07 0330 10    here for twenty-five years. The editor says that marriages
L07 0340 10    may be made in heaven, but weddings are made in Mrs&
L07 0350  8    Calhoun's columns. She's the one who decides which
L07 0360  6    wedding is to get the lead space in the Sunday paper
L07 0370  2    and all that". He smiled. "Once, when the editor was
L07 0380  1    just out of the hospital from a gallstone operation,
L07 0380 10    Mrs& Calhoun and the mother of the bride went out to
L07 0390 10    his house and fought it out beside his bed. She'd be
L07 0400  6    sure to remember any bride who was vague about background.
L07 0410  2    She'd have made a great scientist dedicated to tracking
L07 0420  1    down heredity and environment. She'd also remember
L07 0420  8    if the groom died later". He stood up. "I wish you
L07 0430  9    good luck, but please don't dig up too tough a case
L07 0440  7    for me this close to election. If you find out anything,
L07 0450  4    come on back here and we'll get started on it".
L07 0460  1       Tracking down Mrs& Calhoun was like trying to catch
L07 0460 10    up with Paul Revere between Lexington and Concord.
L07 0470  7    It turned out that she also sold real estate, cosmetics,
L07 0480  7    and hospital insurance. The wearying trek stretched
L07 0490  3    into the afternoon- from newspaper plant to insurance
L07 0500  1    office to her house and back to the newspaper, where
L07 0500 11    he found her at five o'clock.
L07 0510  5       She was a large woman with a frizzled gray poodle
L07 0520  2    cut and a pencil clamped like a bit between her teeth
L07 0520 13    while she hunted and pecked on an old typewriter. It
L07 0530 10    took a couple of minutes to run through her various
L07 0550  1    businesses and get down to the one he wanted.
L07 0560  1       "Last year? Well, I do remember one. From Baton
L07 0570  1    Rouge. Married a man named Vincent Black. I remember
L07 0570 10    her because she didn't want her picture in the paper.
L07 0580  9    First bride like that I've seen in twenty-five years".
L07 0590  6       "What reason did she give"?
L07 0600  1       "Said she had a breaking-out on her face- some sort
L07 0610  1    of allergy- and none of her old pictures was good enough.
L07 0610 12    I didn't see her till several days later at the wedding,
L07 0620 10    and her face looked like it had never had a blemish
L07 0630  2    on it. But, of course, you couldn't see too well through
L07 0640  5    the veil".
L07 0640  7       "Was her name Lisa Carmody"?
L07 0650  1       "Now how in hell would I remember that"?
L07 0660  1       "Never mind. I can look it up. Do they still live
L07 0660 12    here"?
L07 0670  1       "I think they moved away shortly after they were
L07 0670 10    married. He was a salesman for something or other and
L07 0680  9    must have been transferred. I'm sure it'll be in the
L07 0690  7    files. We usually run a social note when somebody moves
L07 0710  3    away".
L07 0710  4       He stood up and thanked her.
L07 0720  1       "Have they inherited some money or something"? she
L07 0720  8    asked with a reportorial gleam in her eye.
L07 0730  6       He said vaguely, "Well, it is a little legal matter,
L07 0740  5    but nothing like that".
L07 0740  9       He hurried across to the courthouse and caught the
L07 0750  7    sheriff just as he was leaving.
L07 0760  1       "Sounds like what you're after", he said when Hank
L07 0760 10    had finished. "Come on, let's hurry down before they
L07 0770  9    lock up for the day".
L07 0780  2       In the basement the sheriff took him to a small,
L07 0780 12    dingy office occupied by a tall, thin man informal
L07 0790  9    in rolled-up shirt sleeves.
L07 0800  1       "Mr& Ferrell **h Hirey Lindsay, chairman of the
L07 0800  9    board of supervisors. Mr& Ferrell is a private detective,
L07 0810  9    Hirey. Wants to look up something in the newspaper
L07 0820  8    files, so don't lock him in here".
L07 0830  3       "Sure", said Hirey. "I'll just leave the door open.
L07 0840  3    It latches when you close it, so stay as long as you
L07 0840 15    like".
L07 0850  1       Carruthers crossed the room to a metal door with
L07 0850 10    an open grillework in the top half. He pulled it open.
L07 0860 10    "Now don't shut this door. It won't open from inside.
L07 0870  7    Before we built the new jail, we used to keep prisoners
L07 0880  6    in here overnight sometimes when the old jail got too
L07 0890  3    crowded. Hirey treats himself a lot better than we
L07 0890 12    do prisoners. They were a sight more comfortable than
L07 0900  8    the ones in the jail with the cold air from Hirey's
L07 0910  6    air conditioner coming through the grille".
L07 0920  1       He walked past the sheriff into a windowless room
L07 0920 10    with shelves full of big, leather-bound volumes from
L07 0930  9    floor to ceiling all around the walls. A metal table
L07 0940  7    and four chairs stood in the center.
L07 0950  1       "They're all here, back to 1865", Carruthers told
L07 0950  9    him. "It's all right to smoke, but make sure your cigarettes
L07 0960 11    are out before you leave. And, of course, you know
L07 0970  9    not to take clippings".
L07 0980  1       "I'll leave the air conditioner on for you, Mr&
L07 0980 10    Ferrell", said Hirey. "Don't forget to turn it off
L07 0990  9    and close the door good so it'll latch".
L07 1000  5       Hank thanked them and promised to observe the rules.
L07 1010  4    When they had gone, he stood for a minute breathing
L07 1020  1    in the mustiness of old paper and leather which the
L07 1020 11    busily thrumming air conditioner couldn't quite dispel.
L07 1030  6    #CHAPTER FOURTEEN#
L07 1030  8    In a tour around the stacks, he found that the earliest
L07 1040 11    volumes began on the left and progressed clockwise
L07 1050  6    around the room. An old weakness for burrowing in records
L07 1060  4    rose up to tempt him.
L07 1060  9       It was, indeed, all here- almost a century. From
L07 1070  7    reconstruction to moon rockets. But he pulled away
L07 1080  4    from the irrelevant old volumes and walked around to
L07 1090  1    the newer ones.
L07 1090  4       Last year's volume was at the top a couple of inches
L07 1100  3    below the ceiling. Near it was a metal ladder on casters
L07 1100 14    attached to the top shelf. He pulled it over, climbed
L07 1110 10    up, and lifted out the big volume, almost losing his
L07 1120  7    balance from the weight of it. He staggered over and
L07 1130  4    dropped it on the table.
L07 1130  9       Since Mrs& Calhoun remembered only that the marriage
L07 1140  6    had been in the spring, he started to plod through
L07 1150  4    several months. He tried to turn right to the society
L07 1160  1    page in each one, but interesting stories kept cropping
L07 1160 10    up to distract him. At last he found it in the paper
L07 1170 10    of April 2.
L07 1170 13       It told him little more than Mrs& Calhoun had remembered,
L07 1180 10    stating that it had been a small, modest wedding compared
L07 1190  9    to some of the others.
L07 1200  1       There was a marked contrast in the amount of information
L07 1200 11    on bride and groom. Mr& Black's life was an open book,
L07 1210 10    so to speak, from his birth in Jackson, Mississippi,
L07 1220  6    through his basketball-playing days at L&S&U& and his
L07 1230  6    attainment of a B&A& degree, which had presumably prepared
L07 1240  4    him for his career as district sales manager for Peerless
L07 1250  3    Business Machines.
L07 1250  5       The one line on the bride said she was Miss Lisa
L07 1260  6    Carmody from Baton Rouge. No mention of New Orleans.
L07 1270  3       Hank was beginning to feel sharp concern for Mr&
L07 1280  2    Black. If Mrs& Black was who he thought she was, Mr&
L07 1280 13    Black's Peerless selling days might well be over.
L07 1290  8       Now for their exodus from Gulf Springs. This time
L07 1300  7    the search took twice as long, cutting down on his
L07 1310  5    extra reading, for he had to pick through several columns
L07 1320  2    of one- and two-line social notes in each issue. He
L07 1320 14    found it in the edition of May 15. The item said Mr&
L07 1330 12    and Mrs& Black had moved to Jackson, his home town-
L07 1340  8    so the lovely Lisa had been with him a year ago.
L07 1350  6       Next on his program was a call to the Jackson office
L07 1360  2    of Peerless Business Machines to find out if Vincent
L07 1370  1    Black was still with them- or, more specifically, still
L07 1370 10    with us.
L07 1380  1       He glanced at his watch, saw it was only seven,
L07 1380 11    and decided to indulge his weakness now. For the next
L07 1390  9    hour he scrambled happily up and down the ladder, sharing
L07 1400  7    the excitement of reporters who had seen McKinley's
L07 1410  2    assassination, the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago,
L07 1420  1    and the Hall-Mills trial.
L07 1420  6       In the middle of the stock market crash, he heard
L07 1430  4    a slight noise in the outer office. He turned around,
L07 1440  1    saw nothing, and decided it must be a mouse. Something
L07 1440 11    else distracted him, yet there was no sound, only tomblike
L07 1450  9    silence. Then he knew it was not sound, but lack of
L07 1460  8    it. The air conditioner was no longer running.
L07 1470  2       He jumped up and turned around to see the metal
L07 1470 12    door closing. It clanged shut as he sprang toward it.
L07 1480 10       He pressed his face against the grille. "Who's there"?
L07 1490  8       The light shining through the grille dimly illumined
L07 1500  7    the office beyond- enough for him to see there was
L07 1510  7    no one there. Then he heard the outer door closing.
L07 1520  2       "Hey, come back", he shouted. He thought it must
L07 1530  1    be some damn janitor or cleaning woman puttering around,
L07 1530 10    figuring that Hirey had gone off and forgotten to turn
L07 1540 10    off everything and lock up. _
L07 1550  3       hen the faint beginnings of fear stirred in his
L07 1550 12    mind. Unless he was stone-blind, the person who'd just
L07 1560  9    left couldn't have missed seeing Hank through the open
L07 1570  6    door of the brightly lighted room. And even if he'd
L07 1580  4    somehow missed seeing him, he wouldn't have gone off
L07 1590  1    and left the light on and door open in the file room.
L07 1590 13       Whoever it was had meant to shut him up in here,
L07 1600 11    had followed him and waited till the courthouse and
L07 1610  5    square were deserted. But why? To search his room at
L07 1620  4    the motel? To come back later and kill him after the
L07 1620 15    stores had closed around the square and everybody had
L07 1630  9    left? No, they could kill him just as easy right now.
L07 1650  8    Nobody could hear what was going on in this underground
L07 1660  5    vault.
L07 1660  6       Then he heard it and smelled it- the steady hissing,
L07 1670  6    the dread, familiar pungency of gas escaping. It must
L07 1680  3    be coming from an upright heater against the far wall
L07 1680 13    in the supervisors' office.
L07 1690  3       Until now, Lilac Gaylor and Lila Kingsley had been
L07 1700  3    like an anagram which he could unscramble at his own
L07 1700 13    pace and choosing.
L07 1710  3       Except for those minutes in her room, he had lost
L07 1720  2    touch with her as a reality. Gaylor's obsession and
L07 1720 11    Cunningham's chimera-chasing reminiscences had mesmerized
L07 1730  6    him into thinking of Lila and Lilac, separately or
L07 1740  7    together, as a legend. They kept drifting apart and
L07 1750  3    merging again in his mind like some minute form of
L07 1750 13    life on a microscope slide.
L08 0010  1       "Well"- said Mr& Skyros. "I take a little time to
L08 0020  1    think it over". It was awkward: very awkward. There
L08 0020 10    would be all the nuisance of contacting someone else
L08 0030  7    to take over. Someone reasonably trustworthy. And Angie
L08 0040  4    would hear about it. And Angie knew-
L08 0050  3       "Time", said Angie, and he smiled very sweet and
L08 0050 12    slow at Mr& Skyros. "Not too much time, because I'll
L08 0060  9    be needing some more myself pretty much right away.
L08 0070  7    And I done favors for you, big favor not so long back,
L08 0080  6    didn't I, and I'm right here to take on where Pretty
L08 0090  3    left off. No trouble. I don't want no trouble, you
L08 0100  1    don't want no trouble, nobody wants trouble, Mr& Skyros".
L08 0110  1       Dear heaven, no, thought Mr& Skyros, turning away
L08 0110  9    as another man came in. He straightened his tie at
L08 0120  9    the mirror with a shaking hand; the genial smile seemed
L08 0130  5    painted on his face. Angie knew- Speak of dangerous
L08 0140  3    information! Angie knew too much entirely already.
L08 0140 10    Really he had Mr& Skyros at bay **h
L08 0150  8       "Big favor I done you. Acourse there's this deal
L08 0160  6    o' Denny's- and Jackie's- kinda hangin' fire, ain't
L08 0170  7    it, maybe you've been kinda worryin' over that. And
L08 0180  4    can't say I blame you", said Angie thoughtfully. "This
L08 0190  2    deal with the ace o' spades. Anything to do with an
L08 0190 13    ace o' spades, bad luck".
L08 0200  5       Ace of spades- a widow, that was what they called
L08 0210  4    a widow, these low-class crooks remembered Mr& Skyros
L08 0220  1    distractedly. All about that Angie knew, too. When
L08 0220  9    things got a little out of hand, they very rapidly
L08 0230  9    got a lot out of hand- it seemed to be a general rule.
L08 0240  6    All just by chance, and in a way tracing back to poor
L08 0250  4    Frank, all of it, because naturally- brothers, living
L08 0260  1    together- and Angie-
L08 0260  3       Mr& Skyros did not at all like the look on Angelo's
L08 0270  4    regular-featured, almost girlishly good-looking face-
L08 0290  3    or indeed anything about Angelo. Mr& Skyros was not
L08 0290 12    a man who thought very much about moral principles;
L08 0300  8    he found money much more interesting; but all the same
L08 0310  6    he thought now, uneasily, of the way in which Angelo
L08 0320  4    earned his living- and paid for his own stuff- and
L08 0330  2    eyed the soft smile, and the spaniel-like dark eyes,
L08 0330 12    and he felt a little ill.
L08 0340  3       "Look, my friend", he said, "in my life I learn,
L08 0350  2    how is it the proverb says, better an ounce of prevention
L08 0350 13    to a pound of cure. I stay in business so long because
L08 0360 11    I'm careful. Two weeks, a month, we talk it over again,
L08 0370  9    and maybe if nothing happens meanwhile to say the cops
L08 0380  6    know this and that, then we make a little deal, isn't
L08 0390  2    it"?
L08 0390  3       "That's a long while", said Angie. "I tell you,
L08 0400  4    you want to leave it that way, I don't fool around
L08 0410  1    with it. I go over to Castro and get fixed up there.
L08 0410 13    I can't wait no two weeks".
L08 0420  4       And Mr& Skyros didn't like Angie, but what with
L08 0430  3    Prettyman and three of his boys inside, and not likely
L08 0440  1    to come out- And Angie such a valuable salesman, Prettyman
L08 0440 11    said- All the nuisance and danger of getting in touch
L08 0450 12    with practically a whole new bunch of boys- Why did
L08 0460  8    everything have to happen at once?
L08 0470  1       Denny said stupidly, "Why, you ain't turning Angie
L08 0470  9    down, are you, Mr& Skyros? I mean, we all figured-
L08 0480 10    I guess anybody'd figure- Angie"-
L08 0490  1       Angelo gave him an affectionate smile. "Mr& Skyros
L08 0510  4    too smart a fellow want to get rid of me", he said.
L08 0520  3    "It's O&K&, Denny, everything's O&K& Ain't it, Mr&
L08 0530  3    Skyros"?
L08 0530  4       Oh, God, the name repeated over and over, anybody
L08 0540  4    to hear- Not being a fool, Mr& Skyros knew why. But
L08 0550  3    aside from everything else, it would scarcely be pleasant
L08 0560  1    to have dealings with one who was nominally an underling
L08 0560 11    and actually held- you could say- the whip hand. And
L08 0570  8    all because of Domokous! If Mr& Skyros had dreamed
L08 0580  6    of all the trouble that young man would eventually
L08 0590  2    cause-
L08 0590  3       Of course, there was another factor. Angie worth
L08 0600  2    his weight in gold right now, but these users, they
L08 0600 12    sometimes went down fast. Who knew, Angie might not
L08 0610  9    last long **h. The sweat broke out on Mr& Skyros' forehead
L08 0620  9    as he realized he had been actually thinking- hoping-
L08 0630  5    planning- perhaps-
L08 0640  1       Good God above, had not Domokous been enough?
L08 0640  8       He patted Angelo's thin shoulder paternally. "Now
L08 0650  5    you don't want to go talking that way", he said. "Sure,
L08 0660  6    sure, you're the one take over for Pretty, soon as
L08 0670  5    I get the supply, get started up again, isn't it? You
L08 0680  3    don't need worry, Angelo. I tell you, I know how it
L08 0680 14    is with you, my friend, I sympathize, and I'll make
L08 0690 10    it a special point- a special favor- get in touch,
L08 0700  9    and get some stuff just for you. I don't know if I
L08 0710  6    can manage it tonight or tomorrow, but I'll try my
L08 0720  2    best, my friend. You see, you got to remember, we all
L08 0720 13    got schedules, like any business! My man, he won't
L08 0730  8    be around a little while, he just fixed me up with
L08 0740  7    this stuff they took out of the Elite. It's awkward,
L08 0750  2    you see that, isn't it"?
L08 0750  7       "Well, that's your business, Mr& Skyros", said Angie,
L08 0760  7    and his dreamy eyes moved past Mr& Skyros' shoulder
L08 0770  6    to gaze vaguely out the ground-glass window. "I appreciate
L08 0780  4    it, you do that. Sure. We don't none of us want no
L08 0790  5    trouble **h. I'm in a room over the Golden Club on
L08 0800  1    San Pedro, you just ask for me there, you want see
L08 0800 12    me. Or maybe I call you- tonight? About nine o'clock,
L08 0810  7    I call and see if you got any. A couple decks for me,
L08 0820  8    Mr& Skyros- and ten-twelve to sell, see, I like to
L08 0830  5    have a little ready cash".
L08 0830 10       "Oh, now, I don't know about that much", said Mr&
L08 0840  9    Skyros. "And you know, Angelo, Pretty, he always keeps
L08 0850  6    it a strict cash basis, like they say"-
L08 0860  1       "Sure", said Angie. "Sure, Mr& Skyros. Fifty a throw,
L08 0870  4    that the deal? Sure. I bring you the cash, say five
L08 0880  1    hundred for ten decks. Never mind how much I cut it,
L08 0880 12    how much I get", and he smiled his sleepy smile again.
L08 0890  9    "Standard deal, Mr& Skyros. You go 'n' have a look
L08 0900  8    round for it".
L08 0900 11       "I do my best", said Mr& Skyros earnestly, "just
L08 0910  9    for you, my friend. This is awkward for everybody,
L08 0920  6    isn't it, we all got to put up with inconvenience sometimes.
L08 0930  3    But I do my best for you". He got out of there in a
L08 0940  5    hurry, brushing past another man in the door, mopping
L08 0950  1    his brow.
L08 0950  3       The expedient thing- yes, very true, one must make
L08 0960  1    do as one could, in some situations. It could all be
L08 0960 12    straightened out later. Not very much later, but when
L08 0970  8    things had settled down a little. After this deal with
L08 0980  5    the Bouvardier woman went through. An ace of spades
L08 0990  3    **h. He was not a superstitious man, but he felt perhaps
L08 1000  1    there was a little something in that, indeed. He rather
L08 1000 11    wished he had never got into the business, and still-
L08 1010  9    scarcely to be resisted, a nice little profit with
L08 1020  6    not much work involved, easy money **h
L08 1030  1    ##
L08 1030  2    Katya Roslev, who would be Katharine Ross so very soon
L08 1030 12    now, rang up her first sale of the day and counted
L08 1040 11    back the change. She did not notice that the customer
L08 1050  7    seized her purchase and turned away without a smile
L08 1060  3    or a word of thanks. Usually she marked the few who
L08 1060 14    did thank you, you didn't get that kind much in a place
L08 1070 12    like this: and she played a little game with herself,
L08 1080  8    seeing how downright rude she could act to the others,
L08 1090  6    before they'd take offense, threaten to call the manager.
L08 1100  3    Funny how seldom they did: used to it, probably. The
L08 1110  1    kind who came into a cheap store like this! Grab, snatch,
L08 1110 12    I saw that first! and, Here, I'll take this, I was
L08 1120 10    before her, you wait on me now or I don't bother with
L08 1130 11    it, see! This kind of place **h
L08 1140  3       She'd be through here, just no time at all- leave
L08 1150  1    this kind of thing 'way behind. Off at noon, and she'd
L08 1150 12    never come back. Never have to. Money- a lot of money,
L08 1160 10    enough. She'd be smart about it, get him to give it
L08 1170 10    to her in little bills so's nobody would suspect- maybe
L08 1180  5    couldn't get it until Monday account of that, the banks-
L08 1190  5    But that wasn't really long to wait. Not when she'd
L08 1200  2    waited so long already.
L08 1200  6       No need say anything at all to the old woman. She
L08 1210  6    had it all planned out, how she'd do. She'd say she
L08 1220  3    didn't feel good on Sunday, couldn't go to church-
L08 1220 12    there'd be a little argument, but she could be stubborn-
L08 1230 10    and when the old woman had gone, quick pack the things
L08 1240  9    she'd need to take, all but the dress she'd wear Monday,
L08 1250  7    and take the bag down to that place in the station
L08 1260  4    where you could put things in a locker overnight, for
L08 1270  1    a dime. Then on Monday morning- or it might have to
L08 1270 12    be Tuesday- get up and leave just the usual time, and
L08 1280 12    last thing, put the money in an envelope under the
L08 1290  6    old woman's purse there in the drawer. She wouldn't
L08 1300  2    be going to get that for an hour or so after Katya
L08 1300 14    had left, go do the daily shopping. No need leave a
L08 1310 10    note with it, either- or maybe just something like,
L08 1320  6    Don't worry about me, I'm going away to make a better
L08 1330  5    life.
L08 1330  6       A better life. Escape. It wasn't as if she wanted
L08 1340  5    much. She didn't mind working hard, not as if she figured
L08 1350  3    to do anything wrong to live easy and soft- all she
L08 1360  1    wanted was a chance, where she wasn't marked as what
L08 1360 11    she was. To be Katharine Ross, and work in a nicer
L08 1380  9    shop somewhere, at a little more money so she could
L08 1390  6    have prettier clothes, and learn ladies' manners and
L08 1400  2    all like that, and get to know different people than
L08 1400 12    up to now, not just the ones like her here, with foreign-sounding
L08 1410 11    names, the ones went to the same church and- Different
L08 1420  9    place, different job, different people, she'd be all
L08 1430  5    different too. Prettier, she'd do her hair another
L08 1440  3    way; smarter, and wear different kinds of clothes-
L08 1450  1    she'd be Katharine Ross, just what that sounded like.
L08 1460  1       "You've give me the wrong change", said the customer
L08 1460 10    sharply. "Think I can't count"?
L08 1470  4       Katya made up the amount in indifferent silence.
L08 1480  2    She was listening to other voices, out of the future.
L08 1490  1    Some of those vaguely-imagined new, different people.
L08 1490  9    Oh, Katharine's awfully nice, and pretty too, I like
L08 1500  8    Katharine- Let's ask Katharine to go with us, she's
L08 1510  8    always lots of fun- Katharine-
L08 1520  3       Soon, very soon now **h
L08 1520  8    #@ SIXTEEN @#
L08 1520 11    Mendoza didn't wake until nearly nine-thirty. It was
L08 1530  8    going to be another hot day; already the thermometer
L08 1540  5    stood close to ninety. Alison was still sound asleep;
L08 1550  3    he made fresh coffee and searched through all the desk
L08 1560  1    drawers for more cigarettes before thinking of her
L08 1560  9    handbag, and found a crumpled stray cigarette at its
L08 1570  7    bottom, which tasted peculiarly of face powder. He
L08 1580  5    left a note propped on the desk asking her to call
L08 1590  1    him sometime today, and drove home.
L08 1590  7       After he'd got out fresh liver for Bast, he paused
L08 1600  6    to look at her crouched daintily over her dish. Surely
L08 1610  3    she was just a trifle fatter around the middle? He
L08 1620  1    seemed to remember reading somewhere that Abyssinians
L08 1620  8    had large litters, and suffered a dismaying vision
L08 1630  6    of the apartment overrun with a dozen kittens. "@Y
L08 1640  4    que sigue despues?- what then"? he asked her severely.
L08 1650  4    "A lot of people are so peculiar that they don't like
L08 1660  2    cats, it's not the easiest thing in the world to find
L08 1660 13    good homes for kittens- and, damn it, you know very
L08 1670 10    well if I have them around long, impossible to give
L08 1680  6    them away! And I suppose now that you've finally grown
L08 1690  4    up, if a little late, you'd go on producing kittens
L08 1700  2    every six months or so. Yes, well, it's a pity to spoil
L08 1700 14    your girlish figure- which all those kittens would
L08 1710  8    do anyway- but I think when you've raised these we'll
L08 1720  7    just have the vet fix it so there won't be any more
L08 1730  6    **h. I wonder if the Carters would take one **h. And
L08 1740  3    it's no good looking at me like that", as she wound
L08 1740 14    affectionately around his ankles.
L09 0010  1    Maude's long nose unexpectedly wrinkled up. "Happened
L09 0010  8    to be in the hall! Happened to hear you quarrel about
L09 0020  8    her! Oh, well, you can't really blame Lolotte. She
L09 0030  5    lost her beau to you".
L09 0030 10       But she was talking of Emile when she saw the black
L09 0040 11    line of the open door; Sarah remembered it clearly.
L09 0050  5    Maude went on. "I've got to get busy. Miss Celie's
L09 0060  5    taken to her bed, with the door locked. She opened
L09 0070  2    it an inch and poked out the keys for me to give you.
L09 0070 15    Here"- She thrust a bundle of keys strung on a thick
L09 0080 13    red cord into Sarah's hand. "Not that there's much
L09 0090  6    use in locking up the smokehouse and the storehouse
L09 0100  4    now. Drink your coffee"-
L09 0100  8       Coffee. "It's- cold". Maude suddenly looked quite
L09 0110  6    capable of pouring it down her throat. "I don't want
L09 0120  8    it", Sarah said, firmly.
L09 0130  1       "Oh. Well- I'll take it down with me as I go".
L09 0140  1       Maude swooped up the cup and hiked up her top hoop
L09 0140 11    as if about to take off with a racing start. At the
L09 0150  8    door she turned back, her Roman nose looking very long
L09 0160  4    now and satiric. "I forgot. Ben and Lucien have gone
L09 0170  3    after them. It's just like that book your Northern
L09 0170 12    friend wrote- except there aren't any ice floes to
L09 0180  8    cross and no bloodhounds".
L09 0190  1       "I don't know Mrs& Stowe **h. What can they do if
L09 0200  3    they find them"?
L09 0200  6       "They can't do anything. It's silly, childish, running
L09 0210  4    after them like that. I told Ben so. But of course
L09 0220  3    the paterollers won't be of any help, not with everything
L09 0230  1    so upset and that Yankee cavalry outfit they say is
L09 0230 11    running around, God knows where".
L09 0240  4       She had swished away, she had been gone for a long
L09 0250  3    time probably when Sarah suddenly realized that she
L09 0250 11    ought to stop her, pour out the coffee, so no one would
L09 0260 11    drink it. But then the so-called coffee was bad enough
L09 0270  7    at best, cold it was all but undrinkable- especially
L09 0280  4    that cup!
L09 0280  6       She was deeply, horribly sure that Lucien had filled
L09 0290  5    it with opium. She had quarreled with Lucien, she had
L09 0300  3    resisted his demands for money- and if she died, by
L09 0300 13    the provisions of her marriage contract, Lucien would
L09 0310  7    inherit legally not only the immediate sum of gold
L09 0320  7    under the floorboards in the office, but later, when
L09 0330  3    the war was over, her father's entire estate.
L09 0340  1       She felt cold and hot, sticky and chilly at the
L09 0340 10    same time. Now wait a minute, she told herself, think
L09 0350  6    about it; Lucien is not the only person in this house
L09 0360  4    who could have put opium in that coffee.
L09 0360 12       She had lost a bottle of opium- but that was on
L09 0370 11    the trip from New Orleans. Or someone had taken it
L09 0380  6    during her first day at Honotassa. Yes, she had missed
L09 0390  4    it after her talk with Emile, after dinner, just before
L09 0400  2    Emile was shot. Rilly or Glendora had entered her room
L09 0400 12    while she slept, bringing back her washed clothes.
L09 0410  8    So somebody else could have come in, too- then or later
L09 0420  8    while she was out of the room. It would have been easy
L09 0430  5    to identify as opium by its odor.
L09 0430 12       It was not very reasonable to believe that Lucien
L09 0440  8    had procured unprocurable opium and come back to Honotassa
L09 0450  7    with a formed plan to murder her. He didn't even know
L09 0460  4    that she was there. And he certainly couldn't have
L09 0470  2    guessed that she would resist his demand for the gold
L09 0470 12    or that she was not the yielding- yes, and credible
L09 0480  8    fool he had every right to expect. No, he had been
L09 0490  6    surprised, unpleasantly surprised, but surprised.
L09 0500  1       Then somebody else? Don't question, Rev had said,
L09 0500  9    don't invite danger. Her skin crawled: Lolotte had
L09 0510  8    told Maude that she was in the hall and the door was
L09 0520 10    open. Sarah had begun to tell Lucien of Emile, she
L09 0530  5    had begun to question and a little draft had crept
L09 0540  1    across the room from the bedroom door, open barely
L09 0540 10    enough to show a rim of blackness in the hall. So Lolotte-
L09 0550 10    or anybody- could have listened, and that somebody
L09 0560  5    could have already been supplied with the missing bottle
L09 0570  4    of opium.
L09 0570  6       That was not reasonable either. The opium had disappeared
L09 0580  5    before Emile's death and whoever shot him could not
L09 0590  3    by any stretch of the imagination have foreseen Sarah's
L09 0600  1    own doubts and suspicions- and questions.
L09 0600  7       She began to doubt whether there had been in fact
L09 0610  7    a lethal dose of opium in the cup. So suppose somebody
L09 0620  3    only wished to frighten her, so she would leave Honotassa!
L09 0630  1       That made a certain amount of logic. Added to the
L09 0640  1    argument was the fact that while she might have tasted
L09 0640 11    the coffee if it had been still hot, she might even
L09 0650  8    have drunk some of it, she wouldn't have taken enough
L09 0660  4    to kill her, for she would have been warned by its
L09 0670  2    taste.
L09 0670  3       No. It was merely an attempt to frighten her.
L09 0680  1       She wouldn't go back to New York as Maude suggested;
L09 0680 11    she wouldn't run like a scared cat. But- well, she'd
L09 0690  9    be very careful.
L09 0700  1       She dressed and the accustomed routine restored
L09 0700  8    to her a sense of normal everyday life.
L09 0710  5       But before she left her room she dug into her big
L09 0720  4    moire bag, took out the envelope holding her marriage
L09 0720 13    contract and the wax seal had been broken. So somebody
L09 0730 10    else knew what would happen to her father's money if
L09 0740  8    she died.
L09 0740 10       Rev had known all along. Rev didn't need to break
L09 0750  8    the wax seal, read the contract and find out. He could
L09 0760  6    conceivably have wished to make sure; Rev loved Honotassa,
L09 0770  3    it was like a part of his breath and body; Rev had
L09 0780  2    stressed the need for money. Rev would never have tried
L09 0780 12    to give her poison!
L09 0790  2       She thrust the envelope back in the bag; there was
L09 0800  2    no point in locking it up in the armoire now, it was
L09 0800 14    like locking the barn after the horse was stolen. And
L09 0810  9    in all likelihood, by now, there was more than one
L09 0820  6    person in the house who knew the terms of her marriage
L09 0830  2    contract. There was no point either in telling herself
L09 0830 11    again what a fool she'd been.
L09 0840  6       She went downstairs and received another curious
L09 0850  2    shock, for when Glendora flapped into the dining room
L09 0850 11    in her homemade moccasins, Sarah asked her when she
L09 0860  9    had brought coffee to her room and Glendora said she
L09 0870  8    hadn't. "Too much work this morning, Miss Sarah- everybody
L09 0880  4    gone like that"-
L09 0880  7       Sarah swallowed past another kind of constriction
L09 0890  6    in her throat. "Well, then who brought it"?
L09 0900  4       "Miss Maude. She come to the kitchen and say she
L09 0910  4    take it up to you". Glendora put down a dish of lukewarm
L09 0920  1    rice. "Not much breakfast this morning. I don't know
L09 0920 10    what we're going to do, Miss Sarah".
L09 0930  6       "We've got to eat", Sarah said, curtly, because
L09 0940  5    a chill crawled over her again. Maude?
L09 0950  1       Glendora flapped away. The rice wasn't dosed with
L09 0950  9    opium, indeed it had no taste at all, not a grain of
L09 0960 12    salt. She ate what she could and went out along the
L09 0970  7    covered passageway, with the rain dripping from the
L09 0980  3    vines. In the kitchen Glendora was despairingly picking
L09 0990  1    chickens. "Get a basket", Sarah told her. "We'll go
L09 0990 10    to the storehouse".
L09 1000  2       Glendora dropped a chicken and a flurry of feathers,
L09 1010  1    and went with her through the drizzle, to the storehouse.
L09 1010 11    Sarah found the right key and unlocked the door.
L09 1020  9       It was a long, low room, like a root cellar, for
L09 1030  8    it was banked up with soil, and vines had run rampant
L09 1040  4    over that, too. It was dark but dry and cool. She doled
L09 1050  2    out what Glendora vaguely guessed were the right amounts
L09 1050 11    of dried peas, eggs, cornmeal, a little salt. The shelves
L09 1060  9    looked emptier than when Miss Celie had shown her the
L09 1070  8    storeroom, and since the men from the Commissary had
L09 1080  4    called; there were certainly now fewer mouths to feed
L09 1090  3    but there was less to feed them with. She took Glendora
L09 1090 14    to the smokehouse, unlocked it and saw with satisfaction
L09 1100  9    there was still a quantity of hams and sides of bacon,
L09 1110  9    hanging from the smoke-stained rafters.
L09 1120  2       They wouldn't go hungry, not yet. And the fields
L09 1130  1    were green and growing. "Can't you possibly imagine
L09 1130  9    what life is going to be like, here"? Maude had said.
L09 1140  9       Maude.
L09 1141  1       She sent Glendora back to the house, her basket
L09 1150  9    and her apron laden. She stood for a moment, rain dripping
L09 1160  7    from the trees over her head, thinking of Maude.
L09 1170  3       Maude had the opportunity to take the bottle of
L09 1180  2    opium from Sarah's room. Maude had the cool ruthlessness
L09 1180 11    to d o whatever she made up her mind to do. She couldn't
L09 1190 11    see how her death could affect Maude. She couldn't
L09 1200  6    see any reason why Maude would attempt to frighten
L09 1210  4    her. Besides, there was something hysterical and silly,
L09 1220  2    something almost childish about an attempt to frighten
L09 1220 10    her. Maude was neither hysterical nor silly and Sarah
L09 1230  8    rather doubted if she had ever been childish.
L09 1240  3       Yet Maude had suggested that Sarah return to New
L09 1250  2    York. Maude could have shot Emile- if she'd had a reason
L09 1260  1    to kill him.
L09 1260  4       There was no use in standing there in the drizzle,
L09 1270  1    trying to find a link between Emile's murder and opium
L09 1270 11    in a cup of coffee.
L09 1280  3       She started back for the house, saw a light in the
L09 1290  1    office, opened the door and surprised a domestic little
L09 1290 10    scene which was far outside the dark realm of murder
L09 1300  8    or attempted murder. Rev, George and Lolotte were mending
L09 1310  5    shoes.
L09 1310  6       a lighted lamp stood on the table that dusky, drizzling
L09 1320  5    day. They were all three bent over a shabby riding
L09 1330  2    boot; George had a tack hammer. Lolotte held a patch
L09 1330 12    of leather, Rev steadied something, a tiny brad, waiting
L09 1340  9    for George's poised hammer. George said, "First thing
L09 1350  7    I do when I get to Vicksburg again, is get me a Yankee"-
L09 1360  7       "With boots on", Lolotte laughed softly.
L09 1370  4       Rev looked up and saw her. Lolotte looked up and
L09 1380  4    stiffened. George didn't look up at all. There was
L09 1390  1    no way to know, no way to guess whether any one of
L09 1390 13    them was surprised at Sarah's appearance, believing
L09 1400  5    her to be drugged and senseless- and just possibly
L09 1410  4    dead.
L09 1410  5       Rev said, "Come in, Sarah. Reckon you know the news".
L09 1420  5       And what news, Sarah thought as satirically as Maude
L09 1430  3    might have said it.
L09 1430  7       Rev's face was suddenly a little fixed and questioning.
L09 1440  6    He turned to George and Lolotte. "Take your cobbler's
L09 1450  3    shop somewhere else. I want to talk to Sarah".
L09 1460  1       Everything in the office, the spreading circle of
L09 1460  9    lamplight, the patch of leather in Lolotte's hands.
L09 1470  8    George poised with the tack hammer, the homely, everyday
L09 1480  6    atmosphere, all denied an attempt at murder. A rush
L09 1490  5    of panic caught Sarah. "No. Not now. I mean I've got
L09 1500  3    to- to see to the kitchen. Glendora"-
L09 1500 10       Her words jumbled together and she all but ran from
L09 1510  9    the office and from the question in Rev's face.
L09 1520  5       Now why did I do that? she thought as warm, drizzling
L09 1530  4    rain touched her face. She was no schoolgirl, refusing
L09 1540  2    to bear tales.
L09 1540  5       As she reached the kitchen door the answer presented
L09 1550  2    itself; if she told anyone of the opium it must be
L09 1550 13    Lucien, her husband.
L09 1560  3       It might be, indeed it had already proved to be
L09 1570  3    a marriage without love, but it was marriage. So she
L09 1570 13    couldn't choose Rev as a confidant; it must be Lucien.
L09 1580 10       Always provided that Lucien himself had not dosed
L09 1590  7    her coffee with opium, she thought, as coldly and sharply,
L09 1600  5    again, as Maude might have said it.
L09 1610  1       She paused at the kitchen door, caught her breath,
L09 1610 10    told herself firmly that the opium was only an attempt
L09 1620  8    to frighten her and went into the kitchen, where Glendora
L09 1630  5    was eyeing the chickens dismally and Maude was cleaning
L09 1640  3    lamp chimneys. Glendora gave a gulp. "Miss Sarah, I
L09 1650  2    can't cut up no chicken. Miss Maude say she won't".
L09 1660  1       Again the homely, everyday details of daily living
L09 1660  8    refuted a vicious attempt to frighten her- or to murder
L09 1670  8    her.
L09 1670  9       The homely everyday details of living and domestic
L09 1680  6    requirements also pressed upon her with their immediate
L09 1690  4    urgency. No matter what had happened or hadn't happened,
L09 1700  1    somebody had to see about dinner. She eyed the chickens
L09 1700 11    with, if she had known it, something of Glendora's
L09 1710  7    dismal look and thought with a certain fury of the
L09 1720  6    time she had spent on Latin verbs.
L10 0010  1       "Not since last night. I didn't think there was
L10 0010 10    any reason to".
L10 0020  2       "Maybe there isn't. Speak to him again anyway. Try
L10 0030  1    talking to some of the fellows he works with, friends,
L10 0030 11    anyone. Try to find out how happy he is with his wife,
L10 0040 11    whether he plays around with women. You might try looking
L10 0050  6    into his wife too. She might have been talking to some
L10 0060  4    of her friends about her husband if they've been having
L10 0070  2    any trouble".
L10 0070  4       "You think Black's the one we're looking for"?
L10 0080  3       "Yeah. I think he might be", Conrad said grimly.
L10 0090  3    "Then again he might not".
L10 0090  8       "What a stinking world", Rourke said. "Black is
L10 0100  6    Gilborn's best friend".
L10 0110  1       "I know".
L10 0110  3       "Will you be coming back soon"?
L10 0120  1       "I think so. I'm on my way to see the Jacobs woman".
L10 0130  1       "Gilborn's secretary? What for? You don't think
L10 0130  8    Gilborn is the-"?
L10 0150  3       "I don't think anything. I just don't want to go
L10 0160  4    off half-cocked before picking up Black, that's all".
L10 0170  1    Conrad interrupted. "Gilborn says he was in his office
L10 0170 10    all day with her yesterday. I'd like to make sure.
L10 0180  8    Also, it's just possible she might know something about
L10 0190  6    Mrs& Gilborn".
L10 0190  8       "Right. I'll see you later".
L10 0200  5       "Aren't you ever going to go home"?
L10 0210  1       "It sure as hell doesn't look like it, does it?
L10 0220  1    I'm telling you, if these corpses ever knew the trouble
L10 0220 11    they put us to, they'd think twice before letting themselves
L10 0230  8    get knocked off".
L10 0240  1       "Remember to tell that to the next corpse you meet".
L10 0240 11       Conrad hung up and sat on the small telephone-booth
L10 0250 11    bench, massaging his right leg.
L10 0260  4       He looked at his watch. It was ten minutes before
L10 0270  2    eleven.
L10 0270  3       He wondered how long it would be before they had
L10 0280  2    a signed confession from Lionel Black.
L10 0280  8       Thirty years' experience let him know, even at this
L10 0290  7    early stage, that Black was his man.
L10 0300  2       But he still wanted to know why.
L10 0300  9    ##
L10 0300 10    It was a cold, windy day, the day after Kitti's death,
L10 0310  7    but Stanley Gilborn paid no attention to the blustery
L10 0320  5    October wind.
L10 0320  7       After leaving Conrad, Gilborn had no destination.
L10 0330  5    He simply walked, not noticing where he was, not caring.
L10 0340  5    He stopped automatically at the street corners, waiting
L10 0350  2    for the traffic lights to change, unheeding of other
L10 0350 11    people, his coat open and flapping.
L10 0360  5       As he walked, he tried to think.
L10 0370  1       Of Kitti. Of himself. Mainly of what Conrad had
L10 0370 10    tried to make him believe.
L10 0380  3       There was nothing coherent about his thinking. It
L10 0390  2    was a succession of picture-images passing through
L10 0390 10    his mind: the same ones, different ones, in no apparent
L10 0400  8    sequence, in no logical succession.
L10 0410  1       The enormity of what Conrad had told him made it
L10 0410 11    impossible for Gilborn to accept, with any degree of
L10 0420  9    realism, the actuality of it.
L10 0430  3       Conrad's words had intellectual meaning for him
L10 0430 10    only. Emotionally, they penetrated him not at all.
L10 0440  8       Whoever he was and your wife were intimate.
L10 0450  7       Gilborn remembered Conrad's exact words. They made
L10 0460  5    sense and yet they didn't. He knew Conrad had told
L10 0470  3    him the truth. It was so. Yet it wasn't so. It wasn't
L10 0480  1    so because it couldn't be so.
L10 0480  7       When Kitti was alive- and he remembered the pressure
L10 0490  6    of her hand resting lightly on his arm- she had been
L10 0500  6    the center of his life.
L10 0500 11       She was the sun, he the closest planet orbiting
L10 0510  4    around her, the rest of the world existing and visible
L10 0520  3    yet removed.
L10 0520  5       For fifty-five years he had lived, progressing towards
L10 0530  2    a no-goal, eating, working, breathing without plan,
L10 0540  1    without reason.
L10 0540  3       Kitti had come along to justify everything. She
L10 0550  1    was his goal, she was his reason. He had lived all
L10 0550 12    his life waiting for her.
L10 0560  3       Not once, in the time that he had known her, had
L10 0560 14    he ever considered the possibility, not once, not for
L10 0570  9    one one-thousandth of a second, of her infidelity.
L10 0580  7       He could not consider it now. Not really. And so
L10 0590  5    he walked, aimless again.
L10 0590  9       The walk ended, inevitably, right in front of his
L10 0600  7    hotel building. The doorman began to nod his head automatically,
L10 0610  6    then remembered who Gilborn was, what had happened
L10 0620  3    to him the night before. He looked at Gilborn with
L10 0620 13    undisguised curiosity.
L10 0630  2       Gilborn passed by him without seeing him.
L10 0640  1       He crossed the lobby and rode up in the elevator
L10 0640 11    lost in his own thoughts.
L10 0650  2       In the apartment itself, all was still. The police
L10 0660  1    were no longer there. There was no evidence that anything
L10 0660 11    was different than it had been.
L10 0670  5       Except that Kitti wasn't there.
L10 0680  1       Without taking off his coat, he sat in the blue
L10 0680 11    chair which still faced the closed bedroom door.
L10 0690  6       At last, sitting there, in the familiar surroundings,
L10 0700  3    the truth began to sink in.
L10 0700  9       Who?
L10 0710  1       He felt no anger towards Kitti, no sense that she
L10 0710 11    had betrayed him.
L10 0720  2       Who?
L10 0720  3       She was all he had, everything he had, everything
L10 0730  2    he wanted. Someone had taken her away from him.
L10 0740  1       Who?
L10 0740  2       Where there is a left-hand entry in the ledger,
L10 0740 12    there is a right-hand one, he remembered from his school
L10 0750 11    days.
L10 0760  1       Where there is a victim, there is a killer.
L10 0760  9       Who?
L10 0770  1       Whoever he was and your wife were intimate.
L10 0770  9       He rose from the chair, took off his coat. Quickly,
L10 0790  7    he went into the bedroom.
L10 0800  1       The bed still showed signs of where Kitti had lain.
L10 0800 11    Gilborn stood there for a long time. He looked at the
L10 0810 10    bed unblinkingly.
L10 0810 12       The bed was empty now. Kitti would lie in it no
L10 0820 11    more. He would lie in it no more.
L10 0830  4       Gilborn wondered whether Kitti had lain in that
L10 0840  1    same bed with **h Who?
L10 0840  6       For thirty minutes, Stanley Gilborn stood there.
L10 0850  3       At the end of the half-hour, racking his brains,
L10 0860  1    thinking over and over again of Kitti, her friends,
L10 0860 10    her past, he left the bedroom.
L10 0870  4       Who?
L10 0870  5       He could think of no answer.
L10 0890  1       Gilborn put on his coat again. Before leaving, he
L10 0890 10    took one last, lingering look at the apartment.
L10 0900  7       He knew he would never see it again.
L10 0910  4       In the street, walking as quickly as he could, Stanley
L10 0920  1    Gilborn was a lone figure.
L10 0920  6    ##
L10 0920  7    On Blanche Jacobs, Kitti Gilborn's death had a quite
L10 0930  6    different effect. For Blanche, Kitti's death was a
L10 0940  4    source of guilty, but nonetheless soaring, happy hope.
L10 0950  1       In Blanche's defense, it must be said she was unaware
L10 0950 11    of the newborn hope.
L10 0960  4       If anyone had asked her, she would have described
L10 0970  1    herself only as nervous and worried. The figures on
L10 0970 10    the worksheet paper in front of her were jumping and
L10 0980  9    waving around so badly it was all she could do to make
L10 0990  8    them out clearly enough to copy them with the typewriter.
L10 1000  3       She wondered whether Stanley would call. She wanted
L10 1010  2    to be with him, to give him the comfort and companionship
L10 1010 13    she knew he needed.
L10 1020  4       She had skipped her lunch hour in the fear that
L10 1030  1    he might call while she was out. He hadn't. And now
L10 1030 12    she was feeling sick, both from concern about Stanley
L10 1040  7    and hunger.
L10 1040  9       Why hadn't he called?
L10 1050  3       Men, she reflected, even men like Stanley, are unpredictable.
L10 1060  3       She tried to think of his unpredictable actions
L10 1070  2    in the eleven years she had known him and discovered
L10 1070 12    they weren't so many after all.
L10 1080  5       Stanley really was quite predictable. That was one
L10 1090  4    of the things she liked about Stanley. He wasn't like
L10 1100  1    so many other men. The dentist last night, for instance.
L10 1100 11    Dinner and the movies had been fine. He had taken her
L10 1110 10    upstairs to say good night. She had invited him in
L10 1120  6    for coffee.
L10 1120  8       It was in the kitchen, as she was watching the kettle,
L10 1130  7    waiting for the water to boil, that he had grabbed
L10 1140  4    for her. Without warning, without giving her a chance
L10 1150  1    to prepare for it. From behind, he had put his arms
L10 1150 12    on her shoulders, turned her around, and pressed her
L10 1160  7    to him, so close she couldn't breathe.
L10 1170  1       Later, she apologized for the long scratch across
L10 1170  9    his face, tried to explain she couldn't help herself,
L10 1180  8    that the panic arose in her unwanted. But he hadn't
L10 1190  7    understood. When he left, she knew she would never
L10 1200  4    see him again.
L10 1200  7       Stanley wasn't like that. She could always predict
L10 1210  4    what Stanley was going to do, ever since she first
L10 1220  2    met him.
L10 1220  4       Except for that one morning. The morning he walked
L10 1230  1    in to announce to her, blushing, that he was married.
L10 1230 11    She thought she was going to die.
L10 1240  6       She had assumed before then that one day he would
L10 1250  4    ask her to marry him.
L10 1250  9       Blanche couldn't remember when she had first arrived
L10 1260  6    at this conclusion. She thought it was sometime during
L10 1270  3    the second week she worked for Stanley. It was nothing
L10 1280  1    that he said or did, but it seemed so natural to her
L10 1280 13    that she should be working for him, looking forward
L10 1290  8    to his eventual proposal.
L10 1300  1       She was thirty-one years old then. Her mother was
L10 1300 11    already considerably concerned over her daughter's
L10 1310  5    future. But Blanche had been able to maintain a serene
L10 1320  6    and assured composure in the face of her widowed mother's
L10 1330  2    continued carping, had been able to resist her urgings
L10 1340  1    to date anyone who offered the slightest possibility
L10 1340  9    of matrimony.
L10 1350  1       For Blanche, it was only a matter of time before
L10 1350 11    Stanley would propose. It was to be expected that Stanley
L10 1360  9    would be shy, slow in taking such a momentous step.
L10 1370  6    Stanley went along in life, she knew, convinced that
L10 1380  3    he deserved the love and faith of no woman. As a result,
L10 1390  1    he never looked for it.
L10 1390  6       But one day, she expected, he would somehow discover,
L10 1400  3    without her having to tell him, that there was such
L10 1410  1    a woman in the world; a woman who was willing to give
L10 1410 13    him love, faith, and anything else a woman could give
L10 1420  8    a husband. Indeed, there was a woman who, unasked,
L10 1430  5    had already given him love. Unquestionably, Blanche
L10 1440  1    loved Stanley.
L10 1440  3       And then, unexpectedly, Stanley made his announcement.
L10 1450  2       On that first day, Blanche literally thought she
L10 1460  2    was going to die, or, at the very least, go out of
L10 1460 14    her mind.
L10 1470  1       It might have been easier for her if Kitti Walker
L10 1470 11    hadn't been everything that Blanche was not.
L10 1480  6       Kitti was thirty years younger than Stanley, taller
L10 1490  4    than Stanley, prettier than Stanley had any right to
L10 1500  3    hope for, much less expect. Kitti could have married
L10 1500 12    a score of men. There was no reason for her to marry
L10 1510 11    someone like Stanley Gilborn, there was no need for
L10 1520  7    her to marry Stanley.
L10 1520 11       Kitti had come into the office, on somebody's recommendation,
L10 1530  9    because she needed help in preparing her income tax
L10 1540  8    return.
L10 1540  9       Stanley had filled out the return and because, when
L10 1550  8    he was finished, it was close to the lunch hour, he
L10 1560  6    had politely asked Kitti to join him, never expecting
L10 1570  1    her to accept.
L10 1570  4       Blanche knew all this because the door to Stanley's
L10 1580  3    office was open and, without straining too hard, she
L10 1580 12    could hear everything that was said.
L10 1590  6       Stanley had gone out, saying he would be back in
L10 1600  6    an hour. He hadn't come back for over two.
L10 1610  1       After that day, Blanche still didn't know exactly
L10 1610  9    what had happened. There were mornings when Stanley
L10 1620  6    came in late, afternoons when he left early, days when
L10 1640  6    he didn't come in at all.
L10 1640 12       Blanche knew something must be causing Stanley's
L10 1650  7    new, strange behavior but she never once connected
L10 1660  5    it with Kitti Walker. It was too unprecedented. Then,
L10 1670  2    six weeks after the day Kitti first came into the office,
L10 1680  1    Stanley announced he and Kitti were married.
L10 1680  8       Somehow, Blanche managed to cover the stunned surprise
L10 1690  7    and offer her congratulations.
L10 1700  1       That night the two of them left for a week's honeymoon
L10 1710  1    in Acapulco.
L10 1710  3       While they were away Blanche came into the office
L10 1730  1    every morning, running things as she had always run
L10 1730 10    them for Stanley, going through the week in a dazed
L10 1740  8    stupor, getting things done automatically, out of habit.
L10 1750  4       For exactly one week, she was able to continue in
L10 1760  3    this manner.
L10 1760  5       On the morning of Stanley's return, however, her
L10 1770  3    strength left her. Two hours of watching his serenely
L10 1780  1    happy face, listening to his soft humming as he bent
L10 1780 11    over his penciled figures, and Blanche had to leave.
L10 1790  7       She stayed away for ten days. Those ten days were
L10 1800  6    like no others that Blanche had known.
L10 1810  1       Mostly, she stayed in bed. She didn't tell anyone,
L10 1810 10    even her mother, what was wrong. She refused to have
L10 1820  9    a doctor, insisting there was nothing a doctor could
L10 1830  6    do for her.
L11 0010  1       "Right", said the fingerprint man. "Also, if you're
L11 0010  9    going to believe those prints, you'll have to look
L11 0020  9    for a killer who's a top-grade piano player".
L11 0030  6       He demonstrated by playing an imaginary piano, doing
L11 0040  4    a staccato passage with a broadly exaggerated attack.
L11 0050  1    To make it clearer he shifted to acting out, but with
L11 0050 12    no change of manner, the killing of Rose Mallory. His
L11 0060  9    hands snatched at an imaginary bucket, swooping down
L11 0070  5    hard to grab it and coming away with equal snap like
L11 0080  3    a ball that's been bounced hard. In the same way he
L11 0090  1    pantomimed grasping a mantel and bouncing cleanly off
L11 0090  9    that, pressing his hands against the floor and bouncing
L11 0100  7    cleanly off that. He was moving like a ballet dancer,
L11 0110  5    playing for laughs. If Rose Mallory's killer acted
L11 0120  2    this way, catching up with him was going to be a cinch.
L11 0120 14    We'd know him by his stretch pants and the flowers
L11 0130 10    he'd wear twined in his hair.
L11 0140  4       Perhaps if Felix had first come upon us when this
L11 0150  1    boy was not cavorting so gaily up and down the hall
L11 0150 12    outside the murdered woman's apartment, we might have
L11 0160  6    had less trouble convincing Felix of our seriousness.
L11 0170  4    This, you will remember, was still New Year's Day.
L11 0190  2    By the time Felix turned up it was early afternoon,
L11 0190 12    which, one would think, would be late enough so that
L11 0200  9    by then, except for small children and a few hardy
L11 0210  5    souls who had not yet sobered up, it could have been
L11 0220  2    expected that people would no longer be having any
L11 0220 11    sort of active interest in the previous night's noisemakers
L11 0230  7    and paper hats.
L11 0240  1       Felix was the exception. He had retained his hat
L11 0240 10    and his horn, and, whatever fun might still be going,
L11 0250  7    he was ready to join it. That, incidentally, might
L11 0260  2    give you some idea of what Felix was like. After all,
L11 0270  2    he hadn't happened upon us in that second-floor hall
L11 0270 12    without warning.
L11 0280  1       The ~ME's boys had finished their on-the-spot examination
L11 0290  1    and the body had been removed for autopsy. The meat
L11 0290 11    wagon, therefore, was not out in front of the house
L11 0300  9    any more, but the cluster of squad cars was still there
L11 0310  7    and there was a cop on the door downstairs to screen
L11 0320  3    any comings and goings. There was, furthermore, the
L11 0330  1    crowd of curious onlookers gathered in the street and
L11 0330 10    a couple more cops to hold them at a decent distance.
L11 0340  8       Just put yourself in Felix's place for a moment.
L11 0350  5    You're a taxpayer, householder, landlord. You've been
L11 0360  3    away from home for the New Year festivities, but now
L11 0370  1    the party is over and you come home. Defining sobriety
L11 0370 11    in the limited sense of being free from the clinical
L11 0380  8    symptoms of the effects of alcohol ingested and not
L11 0390  4    yet eliminated from the system, you are sober.
L11 0400  1       You still have your paper hat and you're wearing
L11 0400 10    it, but then, it is an extraordinary paper hat and,
L11 0410  8    in addition to anything else you may be, you are also
L11 0420  7    the sculptor who created that most peculiar dame out
L11 0430  2    in the back yard. It's not too much to assume that
L11 0430 13    you will have a more lasting interest in paper hats
L11 0440  9    than will Mr& Average Citizen.
L11 0450  2       You have your paper horn clutched in your big, craggy
L11 0460  1    fist, and for your entrance you have planned a noisy,
L11 0460 11    colorful and exuberant greeting to your friends and
L11 0470  6    tenants. You find your house a focus of public and
L11 0480  5    police attention. Can you imagine yourself forgetting
L11 0490  1    under the circumstances that you are approaching this
L11 0490  9    startling and unexpected situation so unsuitably hatted
L11 0500  6    and armed with a paper horn?
L11 0510  1       Maybe one could be startled into forgetfulness.
L11 0510  8    You shoulder your way through the cluster of the curious
L11 0520  9    and you barge up to the cop on the door. You identify
L11 0540  7    yourself and ask him what's going on. Instead of answering
L11 0550  5    you, he sticks his head in the door and shouts up the
L11 0560  3    stairs.
L11 0560  4       "Got the upstairs guy", he bellows. "The owner.
L11 0570  2    Do I send him up"? Then he turns back to you. "Go on
L11 0580  2    in", he says. "They'll tell you what's cooking".
L11 0590  1       Even then, as you go into the house oppressed by
L11 0590 10    the knowledge that something is cooking and that your
L11 0600  7    house has passed under this unaccountable, official
L11 0610  2    control, could you go on forgetting that you still
L11 0610 11    had that ridiculous hat on your head and you were still
L11 0620 11    carrying that childish horn in your hand?
L11 0630  5       What I'm getting at is that we were fully prepared
L11 0640  4    for Felix's being an odd one. We'd seen his handiwork
L11 0650  2    out in the back yard, and the little his tenants had
L11 0650 13    told us of him did make him sound a little special.
L11 0660 10    We were not, however, prepared for anything like the
L11 0670  5    apparition that confronted us as Felix came up the
L11 0680  3    stairs. He, of course, must have been equally unprepared
L11 0680 12    for what confronted him, but, nonetheless, I did find
L11 0690  9    his reaction startling.
L11 0700  1       If Felix was still wearing the hat and carrying
L11 0700 10    the horn because he'd forgotten about them, he now
L11 0710  8    remembered. He came bounding up the stairs and joined
L11 0720  6    the dance. He adjusted the hat, lifted the horn to
L11 0730  4    his lips as though it were a flute, and fell in alongside
L11 0740  1    our fingerprint expert to cavort with him.
L11 0740  8       Our man stopped dead and glowered at Felix. Felix
L11 0750  7    threw his head back and laughed a laugh that shook
L11 0760  4    the timbers of even that solidly built old house. This
L11 0770  1    was a bull of a man. He was big-chested, big-shouldered
L11 0770 13    and heavy-armed. His face was ruddy and heavy and unlined,
L11 0780  9    and when he laughed he showed his teeth, which were
L11 0790  7    big and white and strong and unquestionably home-grown.
L11 0800  3    I don't remember ever seeing teeth that were quite
L11 0810  1    so white and at the same time quite so emphatically
L11 0810 11    not dentures. His hair had receded most of the way
L11 0820  8    to the back of his neck. He had only a fringe of hair
L11 0830  5    and he wore it cropped short. It was almost as white
L11 0840  1    as his teeth. For a man of his mass he was curiously
L11 0840 13    short. He wasn't a dwarf but he was a bit of a comic
L11 0850 12    figure. A man with so big and so staggeringly developed
L11 0860  5    a torso and such long and powerful arms is expected
L11 0870  3    to stand taller than five feet five. For Felix it was
L11 0880  1    a bit of a stretch to make even that measurement. The
L11 0880 12    man was just this side of being a freak.
L11 0890  6       We waited till he had finished laughing, and that
L11 0900  3    gave us a few moments for taking stock of him. He was
L11 0900 15    dressed in a manner Esquire might suggest for the outdoor
L11 0910 10    man's country weekend. Dark gray sports jacket, lighter
L11 0920  8    gray slacks, pink flannel shirt, black silk necktie.
L11 0930  5    His eyes were clear. He was freshly shaved, and if
L11 0940  4    there had been any alcohol in him we could never have
L11 0950  1    missed detecting some scent of it on the massive gusts
L11 0950 11    of his laughter. Not even a whiff. Eventually he subsided.
L11 0960  8       "Felix"? Gibby said.
L11 0970  3       "Me", he said merrily. "Me, the happy one".
L11 0980  1       "That much Latin we remember", Gibby said dryly.
L11 0980  9    "You always live up to your name, always like this,
L11 0990 10    always making happy"?
L11 1000  1       "I try", Felix said blithely. "The world is full
L11 1010  1    of blokes who put their hearts into making the tragic
L11 1010 11    scene. I've never noticed that it improves things any".
L11 1020  8       "Bully for you", Gibby said. "What's the rest of
L11 1030  7    your name"?
L11 1040  1       "No rest of it. Felix is all there is".
L11 1040  9       "All there ever was"?
L11 1050  2       "The past I leave to historians", Felix intoned,
L11 1060  1    demonstrating that he could be pompous as well as happy.
L11 1060 11       "You live in the present"?
L11 1070  5       "In the present", Felix proclaimed. "For the future.
L11 1080  4    Is there any other time in which a man can live"?
L11 1090  3       "We", Gibby announced, "are not philosophers. We
L11 1100  2    are Assistant District Attorneys. This gentleman is
L11 1100  9    a police officer. He is a fingerprint specialist. Could
L11 1110  8    your future, your immediate future, be made to include
L11 1120  7    taking us upstairs, giving us a bit of space in which
L11 1130  6    our friend can work, and making available to him your
L11 1140  2    finger tips"?
L11 1140  4       The happy one could never have looked happier. This
L11 1150  3    was more than joy. It was ecstasy.
L11 1150 10       "Those lovely whorls", he chortled. "So intricate,
L11 1160  6    so beautiful. Come right along. I love fingerprints".
L11 1170  5       He was prancing along the hall, heading for the
L11 1180  5    next flight of stairs.
L11 1180  9       Gibby called him back. "We're here because of what
L11 1190  7    happened last night", he said. "Past, yes, but important.
L11 1200  5    Since it is important, for the record let's have the
L11 1210  4    full name".
L11 1210  6       "That important"? Felix asked.
L11 1220  2       "That important".
L11 1220  4       "Grubb", Felix whispered.
L11 1230  1       "Felix Grubb"? Gibby asked, not bothering to whisper.
L11 1240  1       "Shh", Felix implored. "I can't see what would make
L11 1250  2    it necessary for you to know. Nothing could make it
L11 1250 12    necessary to proclaim it to the whole world".
L11 1260  8       Obligingly Gibby lowered his voice. "Felix Grubb"?
L11 1270  5    he repeated. "No. Edmund, but not for years. For years
L11 1280  6    it's been just Felix. First thing I did after my twenty-first
L11 1290  5    birthday was go into court and have it officially changed,
L11 1300  2    and this is something I don't tell everybody. That
L11 1300 11    was almost forty years ago".
L11 1310  5       Having volunteered that he was a man of about sixty,
L11 1320  4    he bounded up the stairs and with each leap rendered
L11 1330  1    the number less credible. This was a broth of a boy,
L11 1330 12    our Felix, and nothing was more obvious than the joy
L11 1340  8    he took in demonstrating how agile he was and how full
L11 1350  6    of juice and spirit. We followed him up the stairs.
L11 1360  2    The cops would gather up Connor and the foursome on
L11 1360 12    the third floor and bring us those of them who would
L11 1370 10    voluntarily submit to fingerprinting.
L11 1380  1       You may think we didn't need Nancy and Jean, but
L11 1390  2    you always get what you can when you can, and we had
L11 1390 14    no guarantee that a fingerprint record on them couldn't
L11 1400  8    be useful before we were through with this case. Also,
L11 1410  6    if we had excluded the ladies we would have to that
L11 1420  4    extent let the whole world know at least that much
L11 1420 14    of where we stood. The killer, if in our present group,
L11 1430 10    would certainly be interested in knowing that much,
L11 1440  6    and even though with the fingerprint evidence what
L11 1450  3    it was I could see no way he could use this bit of
L11 1450 16    information to improve on his situation, there might
L11 1460  8    always be some way. If you can possibly avoid it, you
L11 1470  7    don't hand out any extra chances.
L11 1480  1       Felix took us into his studio. It was that oddly
L11 1480 11    shaped space at the very top of the house, where ceiling
L11 1490 10    heights had to accommodate themselves to the varying
L11 1500  5    angles of roof slope. At each angle of its pitch a
L11 1510  3    big skylight had been fitted into the roof and all
L11 1510 13    these skylights were fitted with systems of multiple
L11 1520  7    screens and shades.
L11 1530  1       When Felix first opened the door on it, all these
L11 1530 10    shades were tightly drawn and the whole studio was
L11 1540  7    as dark as night. He quickly fixed that, rolling back
L11 1550  4    the shades on some of the skylights and adjusting screens
L11 1560  1    on the others. He flew about the place making these
L11 1560 11    adjustments and it was obvious that what he was doing
L11 1570 10    was the fruit of long experience. None of his movements
L11 1580  5    was tentative. There was no process of trial and error.
L11 1590  4    Starting with the room completely blacked out, as it
L11 1600  1    was when we came in, he unerringly fixed things so
L11 1600 11    that the whole place was bathed in the maximum of light
L11 1610  8    without at any point admitting even so much as a crack
L11 1620  7    of glare.
L11 1620  9       Expecting something more-than-average wacky, I was
L11 1630  4    surprised by what we found. There was no display of
L11 1640  2    either works in progress or of finished work. Here
L11 1640 11    and there on work table or pedestal stood a shape with
L11 1650  9    a sheet or a tarpaulin draped over it. These shapes
L11 1660  5    might have been mad, but there was no telling. They
L11 1670  2    were all completely shrouded. The equipment was solid
L11 1670 10    and heavy and in good condition. Everything was orderly
L11 1690  8    and it seemed to be arranged for the workman's comfort,
L11 1700  6    convenience and efficiency. There were tools about
L11 1710  4    but they were neatly kept. There was no confusion and
L11 1720  2    no litter. Supplies of sheet metal were neatly stacked
L11 1720 11    in bins.
L12 0010  1    ANDY DID NOT SEE the newspapers the next day. Someone
L12 0010 11    on his staff- he suspected it was Ed Thornburg- intercepted
L12 0020 10    them and for this Andy was grateful.
L12 0030  5       He finally fell asleep around six in the morning
L12 0040  3    with the aid of a sleeping capsule, a crutch he rarely
L12 0040 14    used, and didn't awaken until early afternoon. Memory
L12 0050  8    flooded him the instant he opened his eyes and the
L12 0060  8    sick feeling knotted his stomach.
L12 0070  1       Outside his window bloomed a beautiful summer day.
L12 0070  9    Presumably the same sun was shining upon little Drew
L12 0080  9    also, and those who had kidnapped him. But where? It
L12 0090  5    was still a very big world, despite all the modern
L12 0100  3    cant to the contrary.
L12 0100  7       Hub was sitting in a chair that blocked the hall
L12 0110  4    door. He was dozing, perhaps the only sleep he'd gotten.
L12 0120  2    He snapped to alertness at Andy's entrance. "Sorry,
L12 0130  1    Mr& Paxton. Nothing new. Lot of people waiting to see
L12 0130 11    you, though".
L12 0140  1       "Reporters"?
L12 0140  2       "Our own people. Questions about the show tonight".
L12 0150  5    Hub picked up the telephone. "Shall I let them know
L12 0160  4    you're awake"?
L12 0160  6       "I suppose. How's Lissa, do you know"?
L12 0170  4       Hub considered. "Some better. She's got plenty of
L12 0180  4    guts, Mr& Paxton. You want me to call her"?
L12 0190  1       "She expecting me to"? Hub shook his head so Andy
L12 0190 11    told him not to bother. The only reason for contacting
L12 0200 10    Lissa was to comfort or to be comforted. He could not
L12 0210  8    manage the former or expect the latter; they had nothing
L12 0220  5    to give to each other. The omission might look peculiar
L12 0230  3    to outsiders, but Andy could not bring himself to go
L12 0230 13    through the motions simply for the sake of appearances.
L12 0240  9       He had little time to himself, anyway. As the afternoon
L12 0250  8    sped toward evening, the suite saw a steady procession
L12 0260  7    of Paxton aides pass in and out, each with his own
L12 0270  4    special problem. Thornburg arrived with the writers.
L12 0280  1    They had spent the morning revising the act, eliminating
L12 0280 10    all the gay songs, patter and dancing with a view of
L12 0290  9    the best public relations. What remained lacked the
L12 0300  4    original verve but it was at least dignified, as befitting
L12 0310  3    the tragic circumstances. Raymond Fox reported that
L12 0310 10    the orchestra had hastily rehearsed "Cradle Song" in
L12 0320  8    case it was needed. Charlie Marble was back and forth
L12 0330  7    on several occasions, first to confer with Andy on
L12 0340  6    the advisability of cancelling the Las Vegas engagement-
L12 0350  1    they decided it was wise- and later to announce that
L12 0360  1    a prominent comedian, also an agency client, had agreed
L12 0360 10    to fill the casino's open date. And once Bake slipped
L12 0370  7    in, pale and drawn, last night's liquor still on his
L12 0380  6    breath with some of today's added to it. He asked if
L12 0390  4    there was anything he could do. Andy invented a job
L12 0390 14    to keep him busy, sending him ahead to El Dorado to
L12 0400 11    supervise last minute arrangements.
L12 0410  2       But from Rocco Vecchio, they heard nothing.
L12 0420  1       At last it was time to depart. Hub, nosing about,
L12 0420 11    spotted reporters in the lobby, so Andy was hustled
L12 0430  9    away quietly through the hotel's service entrance in
L12 0440  5    a strange car which Hub had procured somewhere.
L12 0450  1       They succeeded in eluding the curious at the hotel,
L12 0450 10    but there was no chance of avoiding them at the nightclub.
L12 0460 11    El Dorado was surrounded by a mob. They overflowed
L12 0470  8    the parking lot, making progress by automobile difficult.
L12 0480  4    Long before he reached the protection of the stage
L12 0490  3    door, Andy was recognized. Word of his arrival spread
L12 0490 12    through the crowd like a brushfire. They surged around
L12 0500  9    him, fingers pointing, eyes prying. It was not a hostile
L12 0510  8    gathering but Andy sensed the difference from last
L12 0520  4    night's hero-worshippers. They had come not to admire
L12 0530  3    but to observe.
L12 0530  6       "It's worse inside", Thornburg informed Andy. "Skolman's
L12 0540  4    jammed in every table he could find. Under the heading
L12 0550  4    of it's an ill wind, et cetera".
L12 0550 11       Backstage was tomblike by contrast. Andy's co-workers
L12 0560  8    kept their distance, awed by the tragedy. But in his
L12 0570  8    dressing room was a large bouquet and a card that read,
L12 0580  6    "We're with you all the way". It was signed by everyone
L12 0590  3    in the troupe. Andy couldn't help but be touched. He
L12 0600  2    instructed Shirl Winter to compose a note of thanks
L12 0600 11    to be posted on the call board.
L12 0610  5       Bake was waiting to report that Lou DuVol had been
L12 0620  3    sobered up to the point where he could function efficiently.
L12 0630  1    Andy gathered that this had been no small accomplishment.
L12 0630 10    Bake himself looked better; any kind of job was better
L12 0640  9    than brooding.
L12 0650  1       Andy told him, "Bake, I wish you'd talk to Skolman,
L12 0650 11    see if some kind of p& a& system can be rigged up outside.
L12 0660 12    It's just barely possible with this crowd that the
L12 0670  7    kidnapper wasn't able to get a table. I wouldn't want
L12 0680  6    him to miss the message".
L12 0680 11       "I'll try. Skolman isn't going to like it much,
L12 0690  9    though, giving away what he should be selling".
L12 0700  6       Skolman wasn't the only one who didn't care for
L12 0710  4    Andy's scheme. A short time later, Lieutenant Bonner
L12 0720  2    stomped into the dressing room. "I got a bone to pick
L12 0720 13    with you, Mr& Paxton. It's those damn loudspeakers".
L12 0730  8       Andy rolled up the revised script he had been studying.
L12 0740 10    "What about them"?
L12 0750  1       "They're going to louse me up good. My men have
L12 0750 11    been here all afternoon, setting up for this thing".
L12 0770  9    Bonner explained that, with the nightclub's cooperation,
L12 0780  6    the police had occupied El Dorado like a battlefield.
L12 0790  5    Motion picture cameras had been installed to film the
L12 0800  4    audience, the reservation list was being checked out
L12 0800 12    name by name, and a special detail was already at work
L12 0810 11    in the parking lot scrutinizing automobiles for a possible
L12 0820  6    lead. However, it was virtually impossible to screen
L12 0830  4    the mob outside, even if Bonner had manpower available
L12 0840  2    for the purpose. "I want you to have the speakers taken
L12 0850  1    out".
L12 0850  2       Andy sighed. "Seems like we're never going to see
L12 0860  1    eye to eye, Lieutenant. Didn't they tell you what I
L12 0860 11    wanted the p& a& system for"?
L12 0870  4       "Sure, I know. But it's such a long shot"-
L12 0880  3       "No longer than yours. What do you expect to get
L12 0890  3    tonight, anyway? You think somebody is going to stand
L12 0890 12    up in the audience and make guilty faces? Or have a
L12 0900 10    sign on his car that says, 'Here Comes the Paxton Kidnapper'"?
L12 0910  5    Andy crumbled the script in his fist. "I can't stop
L12 0920  8    you from doing what you think is right. But don't try
L12 0930  6    to stop me, either".
L12 0930 10       "Someday", Bonner said, "you're going to ask us
L12 0940  8    for help. I can hardly wait".
L12 0950  2       "What you don't understand is that I'm asking for
L12 0960  2    it now".
L12 0960  4       But Bonner departed, still full of ill will. He
L12 0970  1    had gotten stuck with a job too big for his imagination;
L12 0970 12    he had to cling to routine, tested procedures. To act
L12 0980  8    otherwise would be to admit his helplessness. But,
L12 0990  4    admit or not, Bonner was helpless. The crime showed
L12 1000  3    too much planning, the kidnappers appeared too proficient
L12 1010  1    to be caught by a checklist.
L12 1010  7       Andy's performance was scheduled for eleven o'clock.
L12 1020  4    He stalled for a half-hour longer, hoping to hear something
L12 1030  3    from Vecchio about the ransom money. Bake and Shirl
L12 1040  1    Winter, on separate telephones, could not reach him
L12 1040  9    at any conceivable location in Los Angeles, nor could
L12 1050  7    they secure any clear-cut information regarding his
L12 1070  3    efforts.
L12 1070  4       Bake cursed. "The sweaty bastard's probably halfway
L12 1080  3    to Peru with our money by now". When no one smiled,
L12 1090  2    he felt constrained to add, "Just kidding, natch".
L12 1100  1       Thornburg popped in to advise, "Andy, Skolman's
L12 1100  8    sending up smoke signals. You about ready"?
L12 1110  6       "What's he complaining about"? Bake asked. "They're
L12 1120  5    drinking, aren't they"?
L12 1130  1       "No. We got a bunch of sippers out there tonight.
L12 1130 11    I guess nobody wants to pass out and miss anything".
L12 1140  9    Thornburg added in a lower voice but Andy overheard,
L12 1150  6    "They act more like a jury than an audience".
L12 1160  2       Andy said, "Well, I guess we can't wait any longer.
L12 1170  2    Hub, you stick by the stage door. If Rock shows up
L12 1170 13    during the number- or you hear anything- give me the
L12 1180 10    signal".
L12 1190  1       Shirl Winter said, "I'll stay on the phone, Mr&
L12 1190 10    Paxton. There's a couple of call-backs I can work on".
L12 1200 10       "You're a sweetheart- but leave one line open. He
L12 1210  9    may try to phone us". Andy passed into the corridor,
L12 1220  5    their "good lucks"! following him. It was what they
L12 1230  5    said before every performance but tonight it sounded
L12 1240  1    different, as if he really needed it.
L12 1240  8       They were right. The act, cut to shreds and hastily
L12 1250  7    patched together during the afternoon, had not been
L12 1260  4    rehearsed sufficiently by anyone. The result had nothing
L12 1270  1    of the polish, pace or cohesion of the previous night.
L12 1270 11    Here's where luck would normally step in. But this
L12 1280  8    was no ordinary show and Andy knew it. Whether he sang
L12 1290  6    well or badly had nothing to do with it. The audience
L12 1300  3    had come not to be entertained but to judge. Twenty-four
L12 1310  1    hours had changed him from a performer to a freak.
L12 1310 11       Within this framework, what followed was strained,
L12 1320  6    even macabre. Eliminating the patter and the upbeat
L12 1330  6    numbers left little but blues and other songs of equal
L12 1340  3    melancholy. The effect was as depressing as a gravestone,
L12 1350  1    the applause irresolute and short-lived. Yet Andy plowed
L12 1350 10    ahead, mouthing the inconsequential words as if they
L12 1360  7    possessed real meaning, and gradually his listeners
L12 1370  4    warmed to him. Their clapping grew more fervent; the
L12 1380  2    evening was still not beyond salvaging, not as a show
L12 1380 12    but for him as a person.
L12 1390  5       The worst was yet to come.
L12 1390 11       As Andy reached the finale of his act, a subdued
L12 1400  9    commotion backstage drew his attention to the wings.
L12 1410  5    Rocco Vecchio- a perspiring, haggard Vecchio- was standing
L12 1420  5    there, flanked by two men in the uniforms of armored
L12 1430  1    transport guards. Vecchio was nodding and pointing
L12 1430  8    at the large suitcase he held.
L12 1440  5       Andy felt his heart thud heavily with relief. He
L12 1450  3    waved at Fox to cut off the finale introduction. The
L12 1450 13    music died away discordantly. He drew a deep breath.
L12 1460  9    "Ladies and gentlemen, in place of my regular closing
L12 1470  7    number tonight, I'd like to sing something of a different
L12 1480  5    nature for you. Ray, if you please- the 'Cradle Song'".
L12 1490  3       He sensed rather than heard the gasp that swept
L12 1500  3    across the audience. Nor could he blame them. This
L12 1500 12    particular song at this particular time could only
L12 1510  8    be interpreted as the ultimate in bad taste, callous
L12 1520  5    exploitation beyond the bounds of decency. Having no
L12 1530  3    choice, he plunged into it, anyway, holding onto the
L12 1530 12    microphone for support.
L12 1540  3       "Lullaby and goodnight **h"
L12 1540  7       Hisvoice shook. For the first time in his life he
L12 1550 10    forgot the lyrics midway through and had to cover up
L12 1560  7    by humming the rest. He wondered if the audience would
L12 1570  3    let him finish.
L12 1570  6       They did; though contemptuous, they were still polite.
L12 1580  5    But when he was finally through, their scorn was made
L12 1590  3    apparent. Someone clapped tentatively then quickly
L12 1590  9    stopped. Otherwise, the silence was complete. As the
L12 1600  8    lights came up, Andy could see that a number of patrons
L12 1610  8    were already on their way toward the exit.
L12 1620  3       He stumbled off-stage. "My God", he muttered. "My
L12 1630  2    God".
L12 1630  3       Hub was there to support him. "It's okay, Mr& Paxton.
L12 1640  3    The money's here, all of it".
L12 1640  9       At this moment, all he could think of was what he'd
L12 1650  9    been forced to undergo. "Did you hear them? Do you
L12 1660  6    know what they think of me"?
L12 1670  1       "Bunch of damn jerks", Hub growled. "Who needs them"?
L12 1670 10       Thornburg patted his arm. "Sure, Andy, it'll be
L12 1680  9    all right. Nothing broken that can't be mended". The
L12 1690  8    words were hollow. Thornburg knew, better than any
L12 1700  5    of them, that a public image was as fragile as Humpty
L12 1710  3    Dumpty. All the king's horses and all the king's men
L12 1720  2    **h
L12 1720  3       Vecchio shouldered in. "I got it, Andy. God knows
L12 1730  1    how, but I got it. You'll never believe the places
L12 1730 11    I've been today. I practically had to sign your life
L12 1740  9    away, you'll probably fire me for some of the deals
L12 1750  7    I had to go for, but"-
L12 1750 13       Andy nodded dully. "It doesn't matter, Rock. We've
L12 1760  8    done our part".
L12 1770  1       He clutched that knowledge to him as he returned
L12 1770 10    to his dressing room. The usual congratulatory crowd
L12 1780  6    was conspicuously absent; the place had the air of
L12 1790  7    a morgue. Andy had no desire to linger himself but
L12 1800  2    Hub reported that the mob outside was still large despite
L12 1800 12    the efforts of the police to disperse them.
L13 0010  1       His son watched until he got as far as the hall,
L13 0010 12    almost out of sight, then hurried after. "Dad. Dad,
L13 0020  7    wait".
L13 0020  8       He caught up with the old man in the living room.
L13 0030 10    Old man Arthur had put down the suitcase to open the
L13 0040  6    front door.
L13 0040  8       "Just this one favor, Dad. Just don't tell Ferguson
L13 0050  6    that crazy opinion of yours".
L13 0070  1       "Why not"? The old man gave the room a stare in
L13 0070 12    leaving; under the scraggly brows the pale old eyes
L13 0080  8    burned with a bitter memory. "It's the truth".
L13 0090  4       "The Bartlett girl was killed by Mr& Dronk's son.
L13 0100  4    Rossi and Ferguson have been across the street, talking
L13 0110  2    to the kid. They've found some sort of new evidence,
L13 0110 12    a bundle of clothes or something, and it must link
L13 0120  9    the kid even stronger to the crime. Why won't you accept
L13 0130  8    facts? The two kids were together a lot, they were
L13 0140  5    having some kind of teen-age affair- God knows how
L13 0150  2    far that had gone- and the kid's crippled. He limps,
L13 0150 12    and the man who hit you and took the cane, he limped.
L13 0160 11    My God, how much more do you want"?
L13 0170  5       His father looked him over closely. "You sound like
L13 0180  3    an old woman. You should have gone to work today, 'stead
L13 0190  1    of sneaking around spying on the Dronk house".
L13 0190  9       "Now, see here"-
L13 0200  3       "The trouble with you", old man Arthur began, and
L13 0210  3    then checked himself. Young Mrs& Arthur had opened
L13 0210 11    the oven and there was a drifting odor of hot biscuits.
L13 0220 11    The old man opened the door and stepped out into the
L13 0230  8    sunlight. "Isn't enough time to go into it", he finished,
L13 0240  7    and slammed the door in his son's face.
L13 0250  1    ##
L13 0250  2    Mrs& Holden turned from the window draperies. "They
L13 0260  1    found something else up there", she said half-aloud
L13 0260 10    to the empty room. "They took it away, overalls or
L13 0270  7    something". She walked restlessly across the room,
L13 0280  4    then back to the windows. "Now they've gone, they didn't
L13 0290  3    come back, and they didn't arrest that Dronk boy".
L13 0300  1    She stood frowning and chewing her lip. She was wearing
L13 0300 11    a brown cotton dress, cut across the hips in a way
L13 0310  9    that was supposed to make her look slimmer, a yoke
L13 0320  5    set into the skirt and flaring pleats below. She smoothed
L13 0330  2    the skirt, sat down, then stood up and went back to
L13 0330 13    the windows. "Why on earth did I send him off to work?
L13 0340 11    There was excuse enough to keep him home **h that young
L13 0350  9    Mr& Arthur's still over there".
L13 0360  2       With sudden energy, she went to the phone and rang
L13 0370  1    Holden's office and asked for him.
L13 0370  7       "I think you had better come home".
L13 0380  3       "Mae, we're so busy. Mr& Crosson's been on everybody's
L13 0390  4    neck, an order he expected didn't come through and
L13 0400  2    he's"-
L13 0400  3       "I don't care. I want you here. I'm all alone and
L13 0410  4    certain things are going on that look very ominous.
L13 0410 13    I need someone to go out and find out what's happening".
L13 0420 11       "But I couldn't do that, even if I were home"! His
L13 0430 11    voice grew high and trembling. "I can't be underfoot
L13 0440  8    every time those cops turn around! They'll **h they'll
L13 0450  5    think I did something".
L13 0460  1       He couldn't see the grin that split her mouth; the
L13 0460 11    teeth that shone into the phone were like a shark's.
L13 0470  9    "You'll just have to risk it. You can't wander along
L13 0480  8    in the dark, can you? I'd think that you **h even more
L13 0490  7    than I **h would be wondering what they're up to. They
L13 0500  4    found some clothes", she tossed in.
L13 0500 10       "What"?
L13 0510  1       Deliberately, she ignored the yelp. "Also, that
L13 0510  8    Mr& Ferguson was here. I guess he wants to ask you
L13 0520 11    some questions. I stalled him off. He doesn't expect
L13 0530  8    you until five".
L13 0530 11       "Then I'd better wait until five".
L13 0540  6       "No **h o **h o. Come home right away". She slapped
L13 0550  6    the receiver into its holder and stepped away. Her
L13 0560  3    eyes were bright with anticipation.
L13 0560  8       In his office, Mr& Holden replaced the phone slowly.
L13 0570  7    He rose from his chair. He had to cough then; he went
L13 0580  8    to the window and choked there with the fresh breeze
L13 0590  4    on his face. He got his hat out of the closet. For
L13 0600  1    a moment he thought of going into Crosson's office
L13 0600 10    to explain that he had to leave, but there was now
L13 0610  9    such a pain in his chest, such a pounding in his head,
L13 0620  5    that he decided to let it go. He passed the receptionist
L13 0630  1    in the outer office, muttering, "I've got to go out
L13 0630 11    for a little while". Let her call Crosson if she wanted
L13 0640 11    to, let Crosson raise the roof or even can him, he
L13 0650  9    didn't care.
L13 0650 11       He got into the car. Putting the key into the switch,
L13 0660  9    pressing the accelerator with his foot, putting the
L13 0670  6    car into reverse, seemed vast endeavors almost beyond
L13 0680  2    the ability of his shaking body. Once out in the street,
L13 0690  1    the traffic was a gadfly maze in which he wandered
L13 0690 11    stricken. When he turned into the highway that led
L13 0700  7    to the outskirts of the city and then rose toward home,
L13 0710  4    he had to pull over to the curb and wait for a few
L13 0720  1    minutes, sucking in air and squinting and blinking
L13 0720  9    his eyes to clear them of tears.
L13 0730  4       What on earth was in Mae's mind, that she wanted
L13 0740  1    him up there spying on what the cops were doing? What
L13 0740 12    did she think he could do?
L13 0750  5       He tried to ignore what his own common sense told
L13 0760  2    him, but it wasn't possible; her motives were too blatant.
L13 0770  1    She wanted him to get into trouble. She wanted the
L13 0770 11    police to notice him, suspect him. She was going to
L13 0780  8    keep on scheming, poking, prodding, suggesting, and
L13 0790  3    dictating until the cops got up enough interest in
L13 0800  1    him to go back to their old neighborhood and ask questions.
L13 0800 12    And he knew in that moment, with a cold sinking of
L13 0810  9    despair, a dying of old hopes, that Mae had spread
L13 0820  5    some kind of word there among the neighbors. Nothing
L13 0830  2    bald, open; but enough. They'd have some suspicions
L13 0830 10    to repeat to the police.
L13 0840  4       Though his inner thoughts cringed at it, he forced
L13 0850  3    himself to think back, recreating the scene in which
L13 0850 12    Mae claimed to have caught him molesting the child.
L13 0860  8       It hadn't amounted to anything. There had been nothing
L13 0870  7    evil or dirty in his intentions.
L13 0880  1       A second scene flashed before his mind, the interior
L13 0880 10    of the garage at the new house and the young Bartlett
L13 0890 11    girl turning startled to meet him, the dim dark and
L13 0900  8    the sudden confusion and fear and then the brightness
L13 0910  3    as Mae had clicked on the light.
L13 0910 10       Suppose the cops somehow got hold of that?
L13 0920  7       Well, it hadn't been what it seemed, he'd had no
L13 0930  7    idea the girl was in there. He hadn't touched her.
L13 0940  3       And when he came to examine the scene, there was
L13 0950  1    a certain staginess to it, it had the smell of planning,
L13 0950 12    and a swift suspicion darted into his mind.
L13 0960  6       Too monstrous, of course. Mae wouldn't have plotted
L13 0970  4    a thing like that. It was just that little accidents
L13 0980  2    played into her hands. Like this murder.
L13 0980  9       He leaned on the wheel, clutching it, staring into
L13 0990  8    the sunlight, and tried to bring order into his thoughts.
L13 1000  5    He felt light-headed and sick. There was no use wandering
L13 1010  4    off into a territory of utter nightmare. Mae was his
L13 1020  1    wife. She was married to him for better or for worse.
L13 1020 12    She wouldn't be wilfully planning his destruction.
L13 1030  6       But she was. She was.
L13 1040  1       Even as the conviction of truth roared through him,
L13 1040 10    shattering his last hope of safety, he was reaching
L13 1050  9    to release the hand brake, to head up the road for
L13 1060  7    home, doing her bidding. He drove, and the road wobbled,
L13 1070  3    familiar scenes crept past on either side. He came
L13 1070 12    to a stretch of old orange groves, the trees dead,
L13 1080  9    some of them uprooted, and then there was an outlying
L13 1090  7    shopping area, and tract houses. He had the feeling
L13 1100  3    that he should abandon the car and run off somewhere
L13 1100 13    to hide. But he couldn't imagine where. There was really
L13 1110 10    no place to go, finally, except home to Mae.
L13 1120  7       At the gate he slowed, looking around. Cooper was
L13 1130  4    beside his car, on the curb at the right, just standing
L13 1140  2    there morosely; he didn't even look up. Behind him
L13 1140 11    on the steps of the little office sat old man Arthur;
L13 1150 10    he was straight, something angry in his attitude, as
L13 1160  7    if he might be waiting to report something. Holden
L13 1170  3    stepped on the gas.
L13 1170  7       A new idea drifted in from nowhere. He could go
L13 1180  5    to the police. He could tell them his fears of being
L13 1190  3    involved, he could explain what had happened in the
L13 1190 12    old neighborhood and how Mae had misunderstood and
L13 1200  7    how she had held it over him- the scene was complete
L13 1210  7    in his mind at the moment, even to his own jerkings
L13 1220  1    and snivelings, and Ferguson's silent patience. He
L13 1220  8    could throw himself on the mercy of the Police Department.
L13 1230  9       It wasn't what Mae would want him to do, though.
L13 1240  9    He was sure of this. Once he had abandoned himself
L13 1250  5    to the very worst, once he had quieted all the dragons
L13 1260  3    of worry and suspense, there wouldn't be very much
L13 1260 12    for Mae to do. At that moment, Holden almost slammed
L13 1270 10    on the brakes to go back to Cooper and ask if Ferguson
L13 1280  8    was about.
L13 1280 10       It would be such a relief.
L13 1290  4       What was that old sign, supposed to be painted over
L13 1300  2    a door somewhere, Abandon hope, all ye who enter here?
L13 1300 12       Why, Holden said to himself, surprised at his own
L13 1310 10    sudden insight, I'll bet some of those people who enter
L13 1320  9    are just as happy as can be. They've worried, they've
L13 1330  5    lain awake nights, they've shook at the slightest footstep,
L13 1340  5    they've pictured their own destruction, and now it's
L13 1350  3    all over and they can give up. Sure, they're giving
L13 1350 13    up hope. Hand in hand with hope went things like terror
L13 1360 11    and apprehension. Good-bye. Holden waved a hand at
L13 1370  8    the empty street. Glad to see you go.
L13 1380  4       He drove into the paved space before the garage
L13 1390  1    and got out, slamming the car door. He looked up and
L13 1390 12    down the street. If Ferguson's car had been in sight,
L13 1400  8    Holden would have walked directly to it.
L13 1410  4       He went to the front door and opened it and looked
L13 1420  1    in.
L13 1420  2       Mae entered the room from the hallway to the kitchen.
L13 1430  1    She had a cup of something steaming, coffee perhaps,
L13 1430 10    in one hand, a fresh piece of toast in the other. She
L13 1440  9    stood there, watching Holden come in, and she put the
L13 1450  7    piece of toast in her mouth and bit off one corner
L13 1460  1    with a huge chomp of her white teeth.
L13 1460  9       "Mae"-
L13 1470  1       "I've been thinking", she said, swallowing the toast.
L13 1470  9    "Didn't you have an old pair of painting overalls in
L13 1480 10    the garage? You used them that time you painted the
L13 1490  8    porch at our other house. And then you wiped up some
L13 1500  5    grease".
L13 1500  6       She had caught him off guard, no preparation, nothing
L13 1510  4    certain but that ahead lay some kind of disaster. "No.
L13 1520  2    Wait a minute. What do you"-
L13 1520  8       "I've been looking for them, and they're gone. I'm
L13 1530  8    sure they were in the garage up until a couple of days
L13 1540  7    ago. Or even yesterday. You used to paint in them,
L13 1550  3    and then you just took them for rags. The police have
L13 1550 14    them now".
L13 1560  2       "I don't remember any overalls at all".
L13 1570  1       "They were all faded. Worn through at the knees".
L13 1570 10    She stood sipping and chewing and watching. "Green
L13 1580  6    paint, wasn't it? Well, I'm not sure of the color.
L13 1590  7    But you had them".
L13 1590 11       "Mae, sit down. Put down the cup of coffee. Tell
L13 1600 10    me what this is all about".
L13 1610  1       She shook her head. She took another bite of toast.
L13 1610 11    Holden noticed almost absently how she chewed, how
L13 1620  8    the whole side of her cheek moved, a slab of fat that
L13 1630  8    extended down into her neck. "My goodness, you ought
L13 1640  3    to remember if I do. You're going to have to go to
L13 1650  2    the police and explain what happened. Tell them the
L13 1650 11    truth **h or something **h before they come here".
L13 1660  7       A seeping coldness entered Holden's being; his nerves
L13 1670  5    seemed frost-bitten down to the tips of his tingling
L13 1680  4    fingers and his spine felt stiff and glass-like, liable
L13 1690  1    to break like an icicle at any moment. "I've never
L13 1690 11    owned any painting overalls.
L14 0010  1    A man with a sketch pad in hand sat with a large pink
L14 0010 14    woman in a small office at the end of a long, dim corridor
L14 0020 10    and made pencil lines on paper and said, "Is this more
L14 0030  6    like it, Mrs& MacReady? Or are the eyebrows more like
L14 0040  5    this"? When he had finished with that, he would go
L14 0050  3    to another part of the hotel and say much the same
L14 0050 14    things to someone else, most probably a busboy. "Begin
L14 0060  8    to look like him now, would you say? Different about
L14 0070  6    the mouth, huh? More like this, maybe"?
L14 0080  2       Men blew dust on objects in a room on the seventeenth
L14 0090  1    floor of the Hotel Dumont and blew it off again, and
L14 0090 12    did the same in a tiny, almost airless room in a tenement
L14 0100 10    in the West Forties. And men also used vacuum cleaners
L14 0110  7    in both rooms, sucking dust up once more.
L14 0120  2       Men from the Third Detective District, Eighteenth
L14 0120  9    Precinct, had the longest, the most tedious, job. At
L14 0130  9    the Hotel Dumont there had, at the time in issue, been
L14 0140  9    twenty-three overnighters, counting couples as singular.
L14 0150  4    These included, as one, Mr& and Mrs& Anthony Payne,
L14 0160  3    who had checked in a little after noon the day before,
L14 0170  1    and had not checked out together. But Gardner Willings
L14 0170 10    was not included; he had been at the Dumont for almost
L14 0180 10    a week. There was, of course, no special reason to
L14 0190  7    believe that the man or woman they sought had stayed
L14 0200  3    only overnight at the hotel. The twenty-three (or twenty-two
L14 0210  1    with the Paynes themselves omitted) provided merely
L14 0210  8    a place to start, and their identification was the
L14 0220  7    barest of starts. With names and addresses listed,
L14 0230  4    verification came next. It would take time; it would,
L14 0240  3    almost inevitably, trouble some water. ("I certainly
L14 0240 10    was not at the Dumont last night and my husband couldn't
L14 0250 11    have been. He's in Boston. Of course he's in"-)
L14 0260  7       The Hotel King Arthur across the street provided
L14 0270  6    almost twice as many problems. The King Arthur offered
L14 0280  5    respectable and convenient lodgings to people from
L14 0290  2    the suburbs who wanted to see a show and didn't want-
L14 0290 13    heaven knew didn't want!- to lunge anxiously through
L14 0300  8    crowded streets to railroad stations and, at odd hours
L14 0310  8    of night, drive from smaller stations to distant homes,
L14 0320  4    probably through rain or, in November, something worse.
L14 0330  2    The King Arthur was less expensive than the Dumont.
L14 0330 11    The King Arthur had fifty-four overnighters, again
L14 0340  8    counting rooms rather than people.
L14 0350  3       Check the overnighters out. Failing to find what
L14 0360  2    was wanted, as was most likely, check out other guests,
L14 0360 12    with special- but not exclusive- attention to those
L14 0370  9    with rooms on the street. (Anyone active enough can
L14 0380  5    reach a roof, wherever his room may be.) And know,
L14 0390  2    while all this went on, that there was no real reason
L14 0390 13    to suppose that the murderer had been a guest in either
L14 0400 10    hotel. It was not even certain the shot had been fired
L14 0410  7    from either hotel. There were other roofs, less convenient
L14 0420  4    but not impossible. It is dull business, detecting,
L14 0430  1    and hard on feet.
L14 0430  5       There was also the one salient question to ask,
L14 0440  3    and ask widely: Did you notice anything out of the
L14 0440 13    way? Like, for example, a man carrying a twenty-two
L14 0450 10    rifle, probably with a telescopic sight attached?
L14 0460  5       There was, of course, no hope it really would be
L14 0470  5    that simple. The sniper, whether psychopathic marksman
L14 0480  1    or murderer by intent, would hardly have walked to
L14 0480 10    his vantage point with rifle over shoulder, whistling
L14 0490  6    a marching tune. Anybody carrying anything that might
L14 0500  4    hide a rifle? Long thin suitcase? Or long fat suitcase,
L14 0510  3    for that matter? Shrugs met that, from room clerks,
L14 0520  1    from bellhops. Who measures? But nothing, it appeared,
L14 0520  9    long enough to attract attention. Cases, say, for musical
L14 0530  8    instruments? None noted at the Dumont. Several at the
L14 0540  8    King Arthur. A combo was staying there. And had been
L14 0550  5    for a week. Anything else? Anything at all? Shrugs
L14 0560  3    met that.
L14 0560  5       (Detective Pearson, Eighteenth Precinct, thought
L14 0570  2    for a time he might be on to something. A refuse bin
L14 0570 14    at the Dumont turned up a florist's box- a very long
L14 0580 11    box for very long-stemmed flowers. Traces of oil on
L14 0590  8    green tissue? The lab to check. The lab: Sorry. No
L14 0600  5    oil.)
L14 0600  6       Anything at all strange?
L14 0610  1       Well, a man had tried, at the King Arthur, to register
L14 0610 12    with an ocelot. At the Dumont, a guest had come in
L14 0620 11    a collapsible wheel chair. At the King Arthur one guest
L14 0630  7    had had his head heavily bandaged, and another had
L14 0640  4    a bandaged foot and had walked with crutches. There
L14 0650  1    had also been a man who must have had St& Vitus or
L14 0650 13    something, because he kept jerking his head.
L14 0660  6       As reports dribbled in, William Weigand tossed them
L14 0670  4    into the centrifuge which had become his head. Mullins
L14 0680  2    came in. There was no sign of Mrs& Lauren Payne at
L14 0680 13    her house on Nod Road, Ridgefield, Connecticut. The
L14 0690  8    house was modern, large, on five acres. Must have cost
L14 0700  8    plenty. The State cops would check from time to time;
L14 0710  6    pass word when there was word to pass. Weigand tossed
L14 0720  2    this news into the centrifuge. Sort things out, damn
L14 0720 11    it. Sort out the next move.
L14 0730  6       Try to forget motive for the moment. Consider opportunity.
L14 0740  3    Only those actually with Payne when he was shot, or
L14 0750  2    who had left the party within not more than five minutes
L14 0750 13    (make five arbitrary) positively had none. The Norths;
L14 0760  8    Hathaway, Jerry's publicity director; Livingston Birdwood,
L14 0770  5    producer of Uprising. They had been with Payne when
L14 0780  7    he was shot, could not therefore have shot him from
L14 0790  5    above.
L14 0790  6       Take Gardner Willings. He had left after the scuffle;
L14 0800  5    had been seen to leave. He would have had ample time
L14 0810  2    to go into a blind somewhere and wait his prey. Consider
L14 0810 13    him seriously, therefore? Intangibles entered, then-
L14 0820  6    hunches which felt like facts. Willings would ambush,
L14 0830  7    certainly; Willings undoubtedly had. Willings was,
L14 0840  4    presumably, a better than average shot. But- hunch,
L14 0850  4    now- Willings would not ambush anything which went
L14 0850 12    on two legs instead of four. Because, if for no other
L14 0860 10    reason, Willings would never for a moment suppose he
L14 0870  7    was not bigger, tougher, than anything else that went
L14 0880  4    on two legs. Ambushes are laid by those who doubt themselves,
L14 0890  1    as any man may against a tiger.
L14 0890  8       Faith Constable had had to "go on" from the party
L14 0900  8    and had, presumably, gone on. To be checked out further.
L14 0910  5    Forget motive? No, motive is a part of fact. Nobody
L14 0920  2    in his right mind punishes a quarter-century-old dereliction.
L14 0930  1    Grudges simply do not keep that well in a sane mind.
L14 0930 12    Faith Constable had accomplished much in a quarter
L14 0940  7    of a century. Jeopardize it now to correct so old a
L14 0950  6    wrong? Bill shook his head. Also, he thought, I doubt
L14 0960  3    if she could hit the side of a barn with a shotgun.
L14 0970  1       Lauren herself? She had left the party early, pleading
L14 0970  9    a headache. No lack of opportunity, presuming she had
L14 0980  8    a gun. She might, conceivably, have brought one in
L14 0990  5    in a large-enough suitcase. (Check on the Payne luggage.)
L14 1000  3    She might now have taken it away again. Motive- her
L14 1010  1    husband wandering? Bitter, unreasoning jealousy? Heaven
L14 1010  7    knew it happened and hell knew it too. But- it happened,
L14 1020 11    almost always, among the primitive and, usually, among
L14 1030  7    the very young. (Call it mentally young; call it retarded.)
L14 1040  5    There was nothing to indicate that Lauren Payne was
L14 1050  3    primitive. She did not move in primitive circles. She
L14 1060  1    was young, but not that young.
L14 1060  7       It occurred to Bill Weigand that he was, on a hunch
L14 1070  7    basis, eliminating a good many. He reminded himself
L14 1080  2    that all eliminations were tentative. He also reminded
L14 1080 10    himself that he had an unusual number of possibilities.
L14 1090  9       The Masons, mother or son, or mother and son? Opportunity
L14 1100  9    was obvious. Motive. Here, too, the cause to hate lay
L14 1110  8    well back in the years. But bitterness had more cause
L14 1120  5    to remain, even increasingly to corrode. With the boy,
L14 1130  3    particularly. The boy had, apparently- if Mrs& MacReady
L14 1140  1    was right in what she had told Mullins- only in recent
L14 1140 12    months been forced to give up college, to work as a
L14 1150 11    busboy. Seeing the man he blamed for this made much
L14 1160  7    of- youth and bitterness and-
L14 1170  1       Bill picked up the telephone; got Mullins.
L14 1170  8       "Send out a pickup on Mrs& Mason and the boy when
L14 1180  9    you've got enough to go on", Bill said. "Right"?
L14 1190  4       Mullins would do.
L14 1190  7       A man named Lars Simon, playwright-director, had
L14 1200  8    expressed a wish that Anthony Payne drop dead. He would
L14 1210  7    say, of course, that he had not really had any such
L14 1220  5    wish; that what he had said was no more than one of
L14 1230  2    those things one does say, lightly, meaning nothing.
L14 1230 10    Which probably would turn out to be true; which he
L14 1240  9    obviously had to be given the opportunity to say.
L14 1250  4       A man named Blaine Smythe, with "~y" and "~e" but
L14 1260  4    pronounced without them, had been fired at Payne's
L14 1270  1    insistence. He was also, if Pam North was right, a
L14 1270 11    closer acquaintance of Lauren Payne's than she, now,
L14 1280  7    was inclined to admit. He might deny the latter; would
L14 1290  7    certainly deny any connection between the two things,
L14 1300  4    or any connection of either with murder. He would have
L14 1310  2    to be given the opportunity.
L14 1310  7       Mullins? It was evident that Mullins was the man
L14 1320  6    to go. It was evident that a captain should remain
L14 1330  2    at his desk, directing with a firm hand and keeping
L14 1330 12    a firm seat. Bill Weigand was good and tired of the
L14 1340  9    wall opposite, and the crack in the plaster. Let Mullins
L14 1350  6    keep the firm seat; let Stein.
L14 1360  1    #@#
L14 1360  1    When Siamese cats are intertwined it is difficult to
L14 1360 10    tell where one leaves off and another begins. Stilts
L14 1370  8    and Shadow, on Pam's bed, appeared to be one cat- rather
L14 1380  8    large, as Siamese cats go, and, to be sure, having
L14 1400  5    two heads and two tails. On the other hand, they, or
L14 1410  2    it, seemed to have no legs whatever. Pamela North said,
L14 1410 12    "Hi", to her cats, and added that proper cats met their
L14 1420 11    humans at the door. Of four dark brown ears, one twitched
L14 1430  8    slightly at this. "All right", Pam said. "I know it
L14 1440  6    isn't dinnertime".
L14 1440  8       But at this the one too-large cat suddenly became
L14 1450  9    two cats, stretching. Shadow, the more talkative, began
L14 1460  5    at once to talk, her voice piteous. Stilts, a more
L14 1470  3    direct cat, leaped from the bed and trotted briskly
L14 1470 12    toward the kitchen. Shadow looked surprised, wailed,
L14 1480  7    and trotted after her. The hell it isn't dinnertime,
L14 1490  6    two waving tails told Pam North.
L14 1500  1       It was not, whatever tale was told by tails. Martha
L14 1500 11    presumably would cope. She might be firm. It was most
L14 1510 10    unlikely that she would be firm. They want to be fat
L14 1520  8    cats, Pam thought, and lighted a cigarette and leaned
L14 1530  3    back on a chaise and considered pulling her thoughts
L14 1530 12    together. After a time, it occurred to her that her
L14 1540 10    thoughts were not worth the trouble. A vague feeling
L14 1550  6    that Anthony Payne had had it coming was hardly a thought
L14 1560  5    and was, in any event, reprehensible. Had Faith Constable's
L14 1570  2    explanation of her confidence, so uninvited, been a
L14 1580  1    little thin? That was more like a thought, but not
L14 1580 11    a great deal more. Had that tall dark boy, carrying
L14 1590  7    trays too heavy for him, found what he might have considered
L14 1600  5    adulation of a man he probably hated more than he could
L14 1610  4    bear? And possessed himself- how?- of a rifle and killed?
L14 1620  3    Pam found she had no answers; had only a hope. The
L14 1620 14    poor kid- the poor, frail kid. Some people have luck
L14 1630  9    and some have no luck and that, whatever people who
L14 1640  7    prefer order say, is the size of it. The poor, unlucky-
L14 1650  5       The telephone rang. Pam realized, to her surprise,
L14 1660  3    that she had been almost dozing. At four o'clock in
L14 1670  1    the afternoon. Two martinis for lunch- that was the
L14 1670 10    trouble. I ought to remember. Don't pretend. You do
L14 1680  7    remember. You just- "Hello? Yes, this is she? What"?
L14 1690  6       The voice had music in it. Even with words coming
L14 1700  7    too fast, they came on the music of the voice.
L14 1710  2       "I said I would", Pam said. "They won't talk about
L14 1720  2    who gave the information. Not unless they have to.
L14 1720 11    They don't, Mrs& Constable. Not unless they have"-
L14 1730  7       She was interrupted.
L14 1740  2       "Call this a cry for help", Faith Constable said.
L15 0009  1    "Through a door conveniently unlocked", Madden supplemented.
L15 0009  8       "That damn door", said the police chief.
L15 0010  8       "A gift horse to be viewed with suspicion". Madden's
L15 0020  7    dark face wore a meditative look. "If there was collusion
L15 0030  6    between an outside murderer and a member of the household
L15 0040  6    it would be an elementary precaution to check on the
L15 0050  3    door later. And it makes a very poor red herring for
L15 0050 14    an inside job. Much better to break a cellar window".
L15 0060  9       "Don't forget, there was the hope it would pass
L15 0070  9    for a natural death", Pauling reminded him.
L15 0080  3       "Well, with a house as big as that there must be
L15 0090  3    at least one cellar window that wouldn't be noticed
L15 0090 12    right away unless there was a police investigation".
L15 0100  7       "Yeah. And a pane of glass isn't hard to"-
L15 0110  7       The telephone interrupted him. He scooped up the
L15 0120  6    receiver and said, "Police chief", into the mouthpiece,
L15 0130  3    and then, "Oh yes, Mr& Benson. I was hoping I'd hear
L15 0140  2    from you today".
L15 0140  5       With his free hand he pulled a pad and pencil toward
L15 0150  4    him and began to make notes as he listened, saying,
L15 0160  1    "Uh-huh" and "I see" at intervals.
L15 0160  8       At last he said, "Well, thank you for calling, Mr&
L15 0170  7    Benson. Although there was no doubt in my mind and
L15 0180  7    we've been handling it as one I'm glad to have it made
L15 0190  5    official".
L15 0190  6       He hung up. "Coroner", he said to Madden. "He's
L15 0200  4    just heard from the pathologist who says Mrs& Meeker
L15 0210  2    apparently died from suffocation". Pauling looked at
L15 0210  9    his notes. "Many minute hemorrhages in the lungs; particles
L15 0220  9    of lint and thread in the mouth and nostrils. Scrapings
L15 0230  9    from the bed linen identical with the lint and thread
L15 0240  7    found in the nasal and oral cavities. No other cause
L15 0250  4    of death apparent. Trachea clear of mucus and foreign
L15 0260  1    objects. Brain examined for thrombosis, clot or hemorrhage.
L15 0260  9    No signs of these, no gross hemorrhage of lungs, heart,
L15 0270  9    brain or stomach". He paused. "That's about it. Oh,
L15 0280  7    the time of death. The duration of the digestive process
L15 0290  5    varies, the pathologist says, but the empty stomach
L15 0300  2    and the findings in the upper gastrointestinal tract
L15 0300 10    indicate that Mrs& Meeker died several hours after
L15 0310  8    her seven-o'clock dinner. Probably around midnight,
L15 0320  5    give or take an hour either way".
L15 0330  1       Pauling paused again. "So there it is", he said.
L15 0330 10    "Not your problem, of course, unless Johnston and the
L15 0340  9    murderer are one and the same".
L15 0350  4       They discussed this possibility. However likely
L15 0360  1    it was, Pauling said, he couldn't limit himself to
L15 0360 10    it. He had to look for other prospects, other motives
L15 0370  8    until more conclusive evidence pointing to Johnston
L15 0380  4    came to light. Madden, with his investigation centered
L15 0390  2    on the fraud, said that tomorrow he would go to the
L15 0390 13    Bronx bank through which Mrs& Meeker's checks to Johnston
L15 0400  9    had cleared.
L15 0410  1       Arthur Williams had to be located, they agreed.
L15 0410  9    He might have been in collusion with Johnston on the
L15 0420  9    fraud; he might be Mrs& Meeker's murderer or have played
L15 0430  6    some part in her death. This was Madden's suggestion;
L15 0440  4    the police chief shook his head over it. If Arthur
L15 0450  3    Williams was involved in the fraud or the murder, then
L15 0450 13    he too had another identity. No one the Medfield police
L15 0460 10    had questioned professed to know any more about him
L15 0470  8    than about Johnston.
L15 0470 11       Scholarship applicant? Pauling looked doubtful.
L15 0480  5    Madden explained that he was thinking of an application
L15 0490  7    sent directly to Mrs& Meeker. Then he asked to use
L15 0500  6    the phone and called Brian Thayer, who said that he
L15 0510  2    was just leaving to keep a lunch date but would be
L15 0510 13    home by two o'clock.
L15 0520  2       Madden said that he would see him at two and made
L15 0520 13    another call, this one to Mrs& Meeker's lawyers. Mr&
L15 0530  9    Hohlbein was out for the day, but Mr& Garth would be
L15 0540 11    free at one-thirty. The secretary's tone indicated
L15 0550  4    that an appointment at such short notice was a concession
L15 0560  4    for which Madden should be duly grateful.
L15 0570  1       He inferred that Hohlbein and Garth were high-priced
L15 0570  9    lawyers.
L15 0580  1       He had lunch with Pauling. Promptly at one-thirty
L15 0580 10    he entered Hohlbein and Garth's elegant suite of offices
L15 0590  7    in Medfield's newest professional building.
L15 0600  3       He disliked Garth on sight, conservative clothes
L15 0610  2    and haircut, smile a shade too earnestly boyish for
L15 0610 11    a man who must be well into his thirties, handclasp
L15 0620  9    too consciously quick and firm. Youngish man on the
L15 0630  6    make, Madden labeled him, and was ready to guess that
L15 0640  4    in a correct, not too pushing fashion, the junior partner
L15 0650  1    of the firm had political ambitions; that Mrs& Garth
L15 0650 10    would be impeccably suitable as the wife of a rising
L15 0660  9    young lawyer; that there were three children, two boys
L15 0670  6    and a girl; that she was active in the Woman's Club
L15 0680  3    and he in Lions, Rotary, and Jaycee; and finally, that
L15 0690  2    neither of them had harbored an unorthodox opinion
L15 0690 10    since their wedding day.
L15 0700  3       Madden knew that he could be completely wrong about
L15 0710  1    all this, but also knew that he would go right on disliking
L15 0710 13    Garth.
L15 0720  1       Garth was prepared to be helpful in what he referred
L15 0720 11    to with fastidious distaste as this unfortunate Johnston
L15 0730  7    affair, which would not, he said more than once, have
L15 0740  8    ever come about if Mrs& Meeker had only seen fit to
L15 0750  6    consult Mr& Hohlbein or him about it.
L15 0760  1       Madden regretted not being able to find fault with
L15 0760 10    so true a statement. He asked to see a copy of Mrs&
L15 0770  9    Meeker's will.
L15 0770 11       Garth brought one out.
L15 0780  4       The date, October 8, 1957, immediately caught the
L15 0800  2    inspector's eye. "Fairly recent", he remarked. "Was
L15 0800  9    she in the habit of making new wills"?
L15 0810  8       "Oh no. She had reason to change the one she made
L15 0820  7    right after Mr& Meeker's death. Her estate had grown
L15 0830  4    considerably. She wanted to make a more equitable distribution
L15 0840  2    of it among the groups that would benefit the most;
L15 0840 12    particularly the scholarship fund. At the time the
L15 0850  8    will was drawn Mr& Hohlbein mentioned to me how mentally
L15 0860  7    alert she seemed for her age, knowing just what changes
L15 0870  5    she wanted made and so forth".
L15 0870 11       Garth hesitated. "Mr& Hohlbein and I have noticed
L15 0880  8    some lapses since, though. Most of them this past year,
L15 0890  8    I'd say. Even two or three years ago I doubt that she'd
L15 0900  7    have become involved in this unfortunate Johnston affair.
L15 0910  3    She'd have consulted us, you see. She always did before,
L15 0920  3    and showed the utmost confidence in whatever we advised".
L15 0930  1       The inspector nodded, doubting this. Mrs& Meeker
L15 0930  8    hadn't struck him as ready to seek anyone's advise,
L15 0940  9    least of all Garth's. With her sharp tongue she'd have
L15 0950  7    cut his pompousness to ribbons. It would have been
L15 0960  5    Hohlbein who handled her affairs.
L15 0960 10       Madden settled back to read the will.
L15 0970  7       He skimmed over the millions that went to Meeker
L15 0980  5    Park, Medfield Hospital, the civic center, the Public
L15 0990  3    Health Nursing Association, the library, and so on,
L15 0990 11    pausing when he came to the scholarship fund. Two millions
L15 1000 10    were added to what had been set aside for it in Mrs&
L15 1010 10    Meeker's lifetime, and the proviso made that as long
L15 1020  7    as Brian Thayer continued to discharge his duties as
L15 1030  4    administrator of the fund to the satisfaction of the
L15 1030 13    board of trustees (hereinafter appointed by the bank
L15 1040  8    administering the estate) he was to be retained in
L15 1050  7    his present capacity at a salary commensurate with
L15 1060  2    the increased responsibilities enlargement of the fund
L15 1060  9    would entail.
L15 1070  2       A splendid vote of confidence in Thayer, Madden
L15 1080  1    reflected. Tenure, too. Very nice for him.
L15 1080  8       He went on to personal bequests, a list of names
L15 1090  6    largely unknown to him. Twenty-five thousand to each
L15 1100  3    of the great-nieces in Oregon (not much to blood relatives
L15 1110  1    out of millions) ten thousand to this friend and that,
L15 1110 11    five thousand to another; to Brian Thayer, the sum
L15 1120  8    of ten thousand dollars; to the Pecks, ten thousand
L15 1130  6    each; to Joan Sheldon the conditional bequest of ten
L15 1140  4    thousand to be paid to her in the event that she was
L15 1150  1    still in Mrs& Meeker's employ at the time of the latter's
L15 1150 12    death. (No additional five thousand for each year after
L15 1160  9    Joan's twenty-first birthday; Mrs& Meeker hadn't got
L15 1170  6    around to taking care of that.)
L15 1180  3       Too bad, Madden thought. Joan Sheldon had earned
L15 1190  1    the larger bequest.
L15 1190  4       Mr& Hohlbein was left twenty thousand, Garth ten.
L15 1200  3    There were no other names Madden recognized. Arthur
L15 1200 11    Williams's might well have been included, he felt.
L15 1210  8    Mrs& Meeker had spent a small fortune on a search for
L15 1220  9    him but had made no provision for him in her will if
L15 1230  6    he should be found after her death, and had never mentioned
L15 1240  2    his name to her lawyers.
L15 1240  7       Madden took up this point with Garth, who shrugged
L15 1250  5    it off. "Old people have their idiosyncrasies".
L15 1260  1       "This one came a bit high at thirty thousand or
L15 1260 11    more".
L15 1280  1       "Well, she had a number of them where money was
L15 1280 11    concerned", Garth said. "Sometimes we'd have trouble
L15 1290  7    persuading her to make tax-exempt charitable contributions,
L15 1300  6    and I've known her to quarrel with a plumber over a
L15 1310  6    bill for fixing a faucet; the next moment she'd put
L15 1320  3    another half million into the scholarship fund or thirty
L15 1330  1    thousand into something as impractical as this unfortunate
L15 1330  9    Johnston affair. There was no telling how she'd react
L15 1340  9    to spending money".
L15 1350  1       Madden inquired next about the audit of the scholarship
L15 1350 10    fund.
L15 1360  1       There was an annual audit, Garth informed him. No
L15 1360 10    discrepancies or shortages had ever been found. Brian
L15 1370  8    Thayer was a thoroughly honest and competent administrator.
L15 1380  5    His salary had reached the ten thousand mark. His expenses
L15 1390  4    ran another four or five thousand. The lawyer didn't
L15 1400  2    know him very well although he saw him occasionally
L15 1400 11    at some dinner party- Thayer, like himself, Madden
L15 1410  7    reflected, was the extra man so prized by hostesses-
L15 1420  6    and found him easy enough to talk to. But he didn't
L15 1430  4    play golf, didn't seem to belong to any local clubs-
L15 1440  3    his work took him away a lot, of course- which probably
L15 1440 14    accounted for his tendency to keep to himself.
L15 1450  8       Garth's glance began to flicker to his watch.
L15 1460  6       He said that he had already told the police chief
L15 1470  3    that he didn't know what insurance man had recommended
L15 1480  1    Johnston to Mrs& Meeker. He would offer no theory to
L15 1480 11    account for her murder. The whole thing, his manner
L15 1490  9    conveyed, was so far outside the normal routine of
L15 1500  5    Hohlbein and Garth that it practically demanded being
L15 1510  2    swept under the rug.
L15 1510  6       No doubt Mrs& Meeker had snubbed him many a time
L15 1520  6    and he felt no grief over her passing. Even so, Madden's
L15 1530  2    dislike of the suave, correct lawyer deepened. It would
L15 1540  1    be all right with him, he decided, if his investigation
L15 1540 11    of the fraud, with its probable by-product of murder,
L15 1550  8    led to Garth's door. Motive? Ten-thousand-dollar bequest.
L15 1560  5    At first glance, not much of a motive for a man of
L15 1570  5    his standing; but for all his air of affluence, who
L15 1580  1    could tell what his private financial picture was?
L15 1580  9       The inspector knew as he left that this was wishful
L15 1590  9    thinking. Nevertheless, he made a mental note to look
L15 1600  8    into Garth's financial background.
L15 1610  1       Brian Thayer had a downtown address. He lived in
L15 1610 10    an apartment house not over three or four years old,
L15 1620  9    a reclaimed island of landscaped brick and glass on
L15 1630  5    the fringe of the business district.
L15 1630 11       He occupied a two-bedroom apartment on the fourth
L15 1640  9    floor, using the second bedroom as his office. Airy
L15 1650  6    and bright, the apartment was furnished with good modern
L15 1660  4    furniture, rugs, and draperies. Done by a professional
L15 1670  1    decorator, Madden thought, and somehow as impersonal,
L15 1670  8    as unremarkable as its occupant. In Dunston the rent
L15 1680  8    would run close to two hundred a month; in Medfield,
L15 1690  5    perhaps twenty-five less, not all of it paid by Thayer,
L15 1700  4    who could charge off one room on his expense account.
L15 1710  1       He took Madden into the room he used as an office.
L15 1710 12    It contained a desk, files, a typewriter on a stand,
L15 1720  9    and two big leather armchairs. A newspaper open at
L15 1730  5    stock-market reports lay on one of them. Thayer folded
L15 1740  2    it up and offered a drink.
L15 1740  8       The inspector declined. To begin the interview,
L15 1750  5    he asked if Thayer, with more time to think it over,
L15 1760  3    could add to what he had said the other day about Johnston.
L15 1770  1       Thayer shook his head. "It's all I think about,
L15 1770 10    too. That and her death. It's still unbelievable that
L15 1780  9    it was murder. For all her domineering ways, I can't
L15 1790  7    conceive of her having had a deadly enemy".
L16 0010  1       "Dammit, Phil, are you trying to wreck my career?
L16 0010 10    Because that's what you're doing- wrecking it, wrecking
L16 0020  8    it, wrecking it"! Griffith had confronted Hoag on the
L16 0030  7    building's front steps- Hoag had been permitted no
L16 0040  8    further- and backed him against a wrought-iron railing.
L16 0050  2    His rage had built up as he made his way here from
L16 0060  1    the second floor, helped by the quantity of champagne
L16 0060 10    he had consumed.
L16 0070  1       Hoag said, "I didn't send for you, Leigh. I want
L16 0070 11    the captain in charge. Where is he"?
L16 0080  7       "Phil, for God's sake, go away. The undersecretary's
L16 0090  5    in there. I told you there's nothing between Midge
L16 0100  4    and me, nothing. It's all in your mind". A couple of
L16 0110  3    sobs escaped him, followed by a sentiment that revealed
L16 0110 12    his emotional state. "Why, I'm not fit to touch the
L16 0120 10    hem of her garment".
L16 0130  1       "Leigh, get a grip on yourself. It's not about you
L16 0140  1    or Midge. I have some security information about the
L16 0140 10    prime minister".
L16 0150  1       Griffith looked at him suspiciously through red-rimmed
L16 0160  1    eyes. "Not about me? You mean it, Phil? You wouldn't
L16 0160 11    pull my leg, old man? I did get you on the platform
L16 0170 12    this morning".
L16 0180  1       "I'm not pulling your leg. Will you call that captain"?
L16 0190  1       "No use, he won't come". He peered closely at Hoag
L16 0200  1    in the gathering darkness. "What happened to your head"?
L16 0210  1       "I was hit- knocked out. Now will you get him"?
L16 0210 11       "He says I'm to take the message". He stared at
L16 0220 10    Hoag drunkenly. "Who'd hit you in the head"?
L16 0230  7       "It doesn't matter. You get back to the captain
L16 0240  7    and tell him this: Somebody's going to take a shot
L16 0250  5    at the prime minister, and Mahzeer is in on the plot.
L16 0260  1    Tell him under no circumstances to trust the prime
L16 0260 10    minister with Mahzeer".
L16 0270  1       Griffith said, "That's impossible. Mahzeer's the
L16 0280  2    ambassador".
L16 0280  3       "Nevertheless it's true".
L16 0290  1       "Impossible". Griffith was trying to clear his head
L16 0290  8    of the champagne fuzz that encased it. "I'll show you
L16 0300  8    how wrong you are. Mahzeer and the prime minister are
L16 0310  6    alone right now". He nodded triumphantly. "So that
L16 0320  3    proves it"!
L16 0320  5       Hoag looked terrified. "Where are they"?
L16 0330  3       "Where'd you expect, the john? Mahzeer's office".
L16 0340  2       "Where is that"?
L16 0340  5       "Facing us, two flights up. Look, old man, you can't
L16 0350  9    go up. They won't even let you in the front door. So
L16 0360  8    why don't you be a good boy and"-
L16 0370  3       Hoag grabbed him by the shoulders. "Listen to me,
L16 0370 12    Leigh. If you want to spend another day in the State
L16 0380 11    Department- another day- you get in there and tell
L16 0390  7    that captain what I told you". He bit out the words.
L16 0400  6    "And you know I can do it".
L16 0400 13       Griffith raised placating hands. "Easy does it,
L16 0410  7    Phil. I was just going. I'm on my way". He turned and
L16 0420  8    fled into the house and made his way up the marble
L16 0430  6    stairs without once looking back. On the second landing
L16 0440  2    he paused to look for Docherty, didn't see him, and
L16 0440 12    accepted a glass of champagne. He took several large
L16 0450  9    swallows, recollected that Docherty had gone up another
L16 0460  7    flight, and decided he would be wise to cover himself
L16 0470  4    by finding him. The way Hoag was, no telling what he
L16 0480  2    might say or do. He finished his champagne and climbed
L16 0480 12    uncertainly to the next landing. At the top a uniformed
L16 0490 10    officer blocked further progress. "Yes, what is it"?
L16 0500  6    he asked.
L16 0500  8       "I want Captain Docherty". He spotted Docherty coming
L16 0510  6    out of a room at the far end of the corridor and called
L16 0520  7    to him.
L16 0520  9       Docherty said, "It's okay, Bonfiglio, let him by".
L16 0530  6    They walked toward each other. "Well"?
L16 0540  2       Griffith said, "Hoag told me to tell you"- he waited
L16 0550  5    until they were close; it was hideously embarrassing-
L16 0560  1    "not to let the prime minister be alone with Mahzeer".
L16 0560 11       Griffith looked half-crocked to the captain; it
L16 0570  8    would be just like him. "Why not"?
L16 0580  3       "He claims Mahzeer's in a plot to kill the P&M&".
L16 0590  3       Docherty went taut: was it possible? Could the ambassador
L16 0600  4    himself be the man on this side the prime minister
L16 0610  1    feared? Not possible, he thought; the prime minister
L16 0610  9    knew who his enemy was here; he wasn't going to allow
L16 0620 10    himself to be led meekly to the slaughter. And if by
L16 0630  7    some wild chance Mahzeer was the man, he wouldn't dare
L16 0640  4    try anything now- not after Docherty had looked in
L16 0650  2    on the two of them to see that all was well. Docherty
L16 0650 14    was damned if he would make a fool of himself again
L16 0660 10    the way he had earlier over the laundry truck. One
L16 0670  5    more muddleheaded play like that one and they'd be
L16 0680  2    leading him away. Still, this had to be checked out.
L16 0690  1       "Where'd your friend Hoag get his information"?
L16 0690  7    he asked.
L16 0700  1       "Haven't the faintest, Captain".
L16 0700  5       "Would you mind sending him up here? I'd like to
L16 0710  8    talk to him". Troubled, he continued along the corridor,
L16 0720  4    poking his head into the next office for a careful
L16 0730  3    look around.
L16 0730  5    #3#
L16 0730  6    But Hoag had not stayed on the front steps when Griffith
L16 0740  4    disappeared into the building. He was unwilling to
L16 0750  2    rely on Griffith's carrying his message, and he had
L16 0750 11    no confidence the police would act on it. If Mahzeer
L16 0760  9    was alone with the prime minister he could be arranging
L16 0770  5    his execution while Hoag stood out here shivering in
L16 0780  3    the darkening street. He would have to do something
L16 0780 12    on his own. But what?
L16 0790  4       The door opened and three men and a woman in a sari
L16 0800  4    swept past him and down the stairs. In the lighted
L16 0800 14    interior he saw other men and women struggling into
L16 0810  9    their wraps. These were the early departures; in half
L16 0820  6    an hour the reception would be over. If Mahzeer was
L16 0830  3    planning to set up the prime minister for Muller he
L16 0830 13    would have to do it in the next few minutes. Hoag descended
L16 0840 12    the stone steps to the street and looked up at the
L16 0850 10    building. Wide windows with many small leaded panes
L16 0860  5    swept across the upper stories. On the second floor
L16 0870  2    he saw the animated faces of the party guests; the
L16 0870 12    scene looked like a Christmas card. On the third floor
L16 0880  9    one of the two windows was lighted; it was framed in
L16 0890  7    maroon drapes, and no faces were visible. This would
L16 0900  3    be Mahzeer's office. He and the prime minister would
L16 0910  1    be back from the window, seated at Mahzeer's desk;
L16 0910 10    they would be going over papers Mahzeer had saved as
L16 0920  9    excuse for just such a meeting. In a minute, or five
L16 0930  6    minutes, the business would be done; Mahzeer would
L16 0940  2    stand up, the prime minister would follow. Mahzeer
L16 0940 10    would direct the prime minister's attention to something
L16 0950  7    out the window and would guide him forward and then
L16 0960  7    step to one side. The single shot would come; Hoag
L16 0970  3    would carry its sound to his grave. Mahzeer, of course,
L16 0980  1    would be desolate. How was he to suspect that an assassin
L16 0980 12    had been lurking somewhere across the street waiting
L16 0990  7    for just such a chance?
L16 1000  1       Hoag turned. Where across the street? Where was
L16 1000  9    Muller waiting with the rifle? Narrow four-story buildings
L16 1010  9    ran the length of the block like books tightly packed
L16 1020  8    on a shelf. Most of them could be eliminated; Muller's
L16 1030  4    would have to be one of the half dozen almost directly
L16 1040  3    opposite. The legation was generously set back from
L16 1050  1    the building line; if the angle of fire were too great
L16 1050 12    the jutting buildings on either side would interfere.
L16 1060  6    Would the shot come from a roof? He ran his eye along
L16 1070  6    the roof copings; almost at once a figure bulked up.
L16 1080  3    But dully glinting on the dark form were the buttons
L16 1080 13    and badge of a policeman. With a cop patrolling the
L16 1090 10    road Muller would have to be inside a building- if
L16 1100  8    he was here at all, and not waiting for the prime minister
L16 1110  5    somewhere between this street and the terminal building
L16 1120  2    at La Guardia Airport.
L16 1120  6       Hoag crossed the narrow street, squeezing between
L16 1130  3    parked cars to reach the sidewalk. From this side he
L16 1140  3    could see farther into the legation's third-story window,
L16 1140 12    but he saw no faces; the room's occupants were still
L16 1150 10    seated or they had been called into the hallway by
L16 1160  8    an alarmed police captain. If only the latter were
L16 1170  4    true **h. He walked rapidly along the buildings scanning
L16 1180  1    their facades: one was a club- that was out; two others
L16 1180 12    he ruled out because all their windows were lighted.
L16 1190  9    That left three, possibly four, one looking much like
L16 1200  6    the next. He climbed the steps of the first and opened
L16 1210  5    the door to the vestibule. He quickly closed it again.
L16 1220  2    He had assumed that all these buildings had been divided
L16 1220 12    into apartments, but this one, from a glance at the
L16 1230 10    hall furnishings, was obviously still a functioning
L16 1240  5    town house, and its owners were in residence; that
L16 1250  2    made it doubtful as the hiding place of a man whose
L16 1250 13    plans had to be made in advance.
L16 1260  7       He went on to the next building and found what he
L16 1270  4    expected- the mingled cooking aromas of a public vestibule.
L16 1280  1    On one wall was the brass front of a row of mailboxes;
L16 1280 13    there were six apartments. Now what? The names on the
L16 1290 10    mailboxes meant nothing to him. This was senseless-
L16 1300  7    he had no idea what to look for. He peered in the boxes
L16 1310  6    themselves; all were empty except one, and that one
L16 1320  3    was jammed with letters and magazines. The occupants
L16 1320 11    of Apartment Number 3 were probably away for a few
L16 1330  9    days, and not likely to return on a Friday. Had Muller
L16 1340  7    made the same deduction? Muller was attracted to the
L16 1350  5    lore of mailboxes.
L16 1350  8       He opened the inner door; the cooking odors were
L16 1360  3    stronger- all over the city, at this hour, housewives
L16 1370  1    would be fussing over stoves. He climbed, as quickly
L16 1370 10    as he could urge his body, up the two unbroken flights
L16 1380  8    to the third floor, pulling himself along on a delicate
L16 1390  6    balustrade, all that remained of the building's beauty.
L16 1400  2    He paused on the landing to steady his breathing and
L16 1410  1    then bent to examine the single door by the light of
L16 1410 12    the weak bulb overhead. Now he was certain: the lock
L16 1420  8    had not yielded to Muller's collection of keys; fresh
L16 1430  5    scars showed that the door had been prized open. It
L16 1440  4    had been shut again, but the lock was broken; he noted
L16 1450  1    with a thrill of fear that the door moved under his
L16 1450 12    touch.
L16 1460  1       What was he to do now? He had thought no further
L16 1460 11    than finding Muller. He realized now he had more than
L16 1470  8    half hoped he wouldn't find him- that Muller would
L16 1480  4    not be here, that the attempt would be scheduled for
L16 1490  2    somewhere beyond Hoag's control. He could not break
L16 1490 10    in on an armed man. He would have to climb back down
L16 1500 11    to the street and signal a cop. Was there time?
L16 1510  6       His thoughts were scattered by the sharp report
L16 1520  4    of a rifle from the other side of the door. Hoag pushed
L16 1530  1    open the door: at the far end of the long dark room
L16 1530 13    Muller was faintly silhouetted against the window,
L16 1540  6    the rifle still raised; he stood with his feet apart
L16 1550  5    on a kitchen table he had dragged to the sill. He turned
L16 1560  3    his head to the source of the disturbance and instantly
L16 1560 13    back to the window and his rifle sight, dismissing
L16 1570  9    Hoag for the moment with the same contempt he had shown
L16 1580  8    in their encounter at Hoag's apartment.
L16 1590  1       Hoag stretched his left hand to the wall and fumbled
L16 1600  1    for the switch: evil flourishes in the dark. The room
L16 1600 11    was bathed in light at the instant Muller's second
L16 1610  7    shot came. Muller, nakedly exposed at the bright window
L16 1620  6    like a deer pinned in a car's headlights, threw down
L16 1630  3    the rifle and turned to jump from the table; his face
L16 1640  1    wore a look of outrage. A shot caught him and straightened
L16 1640 12    him up in screaming pain; a following volley of shots
L16 1650  8    shattered glass, ripped the ceiling, and sent him lurching
L16 1670  6    heavily from the table. He was dead before his body
L16 1680  4    made contact with the floor. Hoag stumbled back into
L16 1690  1    the hall, leaned against the wall, and started to retch.
L16 1690 11    #4#
L16 1690 12    After Captain Docherty sent Arleigh Griffith for Hoag
L16 1700  8    he was able to complete his detailed inspection of
L16 1710  6    the third floor and to receive a report from his man
L16 1720  5    covering the floors above before Griffith returned,
L16 1730  1    buoyed up by a brief stop for another glass of champagne.
L17 0010  1       The safe at Ingleside District Station stands next
L17 0010  9    to the gum machine in a narrow passageway that leads
L17 0020  8    to Captain Harris's office (to the left), the lieutenant's
L17 0030  6    office (farther along and to the left) and the janitor's
L17 0040  5    supply closet (straight ahead).
L17 0040  9       The safe is a repository for three dead flashlight
L17 0050  9    batteries, a hundred and fifty unused left-hand fingerprint
L17 0060  7    cards, a stack of unsold Policemen's Ball tickets from
L17 0070  4    last year, and thirty-seven cents in coins and stamps.
L17 0080  3    Gun set the captain's fifth of Hiram Walker inside
L17 0090  1    the safe before he reported to Lt& Killpath, though
L17 0090 10    he knew that Killpath's ulcer prevented him from making
L17 0100  7    any untoward incursion on Herman Wolff's gift. It was
L17 0110  6    more a matter of tact, and also it was none of Killpath's
L17 0120  5    goddam business.
L17 0120  7       He walked up to the lieutenant's office, leaned
L17 0130  4    wearily against the gun rack that housed four rifles
L17 0140  3    and a gas gun nobody remembered having used and a submachine
L17 0150  1    gun that was occasionally tried out on the Academy
L17 0150 10    Range. He stared at the clerk who sat at a scarred
L17 0160  9    and ancient fumed-oak desk stuffing envelopes.
L17 0170  2       "Where's the Lieut"?
L17 0170  5       The clerk wagged his head toward the captain's office.
L17 0180  8    Gun went to the connecting door, which was open, and
L17 0190  6    stood at attention while Orville Torrence Killpath,
L17 0200  2    in full uniform, finished combing his hair.
L17 0210  1       The lieutenant's sparse brown hair was heavily pomaded,
L17 0210  9    and as Killpath raked the comb through it, it stuck
L17 0220  8    together in thatches so that it looked like umbrella
L17 0230  5    ribs clinging to his pink skull. The lieutenant eyed
L17 0240  2    Gun's reflection in the mirror over the washbowl and
L17 0240 11    then glanced back at his own face, moving the comb
L17 0250 10    methodically around his head.
L17 0260  2       Leave me alone, Gun thought. Fight with Sam Schaeffer,
L17 0270  1    fight with the whole damned Bureau. But leave me alone.
L17 0270 11    Because I'm looking for the son of a bitch that killed
L17 0280 11    that old man, and I'm going to get him. If you just
L17 0290  8    leave me to hell alone, Lieutenant.
L17 0300  1       Killpath peered through half-closed lids at his
L17 0300  9    reflection, thrust up his chin in a gesture of satisfaction
L17 0310 10    and about-faced.
L17 0320  1       Gun waited for Killpath to sit down behind the desk
L17 0320 11    near the window. He sat stiff-backed in a chair that
L17 0330  9    did not swivel, though it was obvious to Gun that Killpath
L17 0340  6    felt his position as acting captain plainly merited
L17 0350  2    a swivel chair. The desk before him was in no better
L17 0350 13    repair than the rest of the furniture crowded into
L17 0360  9    the room, including wooden file cabinets with some
L17 0370  5    of their pulls yanked off and a wardrobe stained with
L17 0380  3    the roof seepage of countless seasons.
L17 0380  9       Killpath pulled one thin leg up, clamping his arms
L17 0390  9    around the shinbone to press his knee into an incredibly
L17 0400  6    scrawny gut. It was the posture which the men had come
L17 0410  4    to recognize as that of Killpath defying his ulcer.
L17 0410 13    He put his chin on his kneecap, stretching his neck
L17 0420 10    like that of a turkey on a chopping block, and stared
L17 0430  7    wordlessly at his sergeant.
L17 0440  1       Gun waited.
L17 0440  3       The 7:45 bell rang and he could hear the outside
L17 0450  1    doors bang shut, closing in the assembled day watch.
L17 0450 10       Finally, Orville intoned through his hawk nose,
L17 0460  7    "We can't have people running in any time they please,
L17 0470  6    Sergeant".
L17 0470  7       "No, sir". "Running in, running out. Can't have
L17 0480  6    it. Makes for confusion and congestion". He rocked
L17 0490  4    back in the chair, knee locked against stomach, his
L17 0500  2    beady eyes fixed on Matson.
L17 0500  7       He was silent again, possibly listening to the sounds
L17 0510  5    in the squadroom. Roll was being called. Gun cleared
L17 0520  3    his throat.
L17 0520  5       Killpath said, "You were expected to report to my
L17 0540  2    office twenty minutes ago, Sergeant. That's not getting
L17 0550  1    all the juice out of the orange, now is it"?
L17 0550 11       "No, sir".
L17 0560  1       Then Killpath smiled. Gun knew that nothing but
L17 0560  9    aces back to back would give the lieutenant an ulcer
L17 0570  9    and a smile at the same time.
L17 0580  1       The day-watch platoon commander, Lt& Rinker, was
L17 0580  9    calling out the beat assignments, but Matson couldn't
L17 0590  8    make the names mean anything.
L17 0600  2       "I called the station at three this morning", Killpath's
L17 0610  2    nasal voice pronounced. "Do you have any idea who might
L17 0620  1    have been in charge at the time"?
L17 0620  8       "Sergeant Vaughn, sir".
L17 0630  2       "Now, now, you're just guessing, Sergeant". He smiled
L17 0640  2    thinly, savoring his joke. "What if I said nobody was
L17 0640 12    here but a couple of patrolmen"?
L17 0650  6       "Sir, Vaughn knows better than to leave the station
L17 0660  6    without a relief. He must have"-
L17 0670  1       "He let a patrolman take over the duties of the
L17 0670 11    station keeper. Now that's not regulation, is it"?
L17 0680  6       "No, sir".
L17 0690  1       "But you didn't know a thing about it, did you"?
L17 0690 10    Killpath leaned forward; his foot slipped off the chair
L17 0700  8    and he put it back again, frowning now. "That's not
L17 0710  5    taking one's command with a responsible attitude, Matson".
L17 0720  3       Gun told himself that the old bastard was a fool.
L17 0730  4    But stupidity was no consolation when it had rank.
L17 0740  1       "I was out in the district, sir".
L17 0740  8       "Oh, yes. So I have heard". He stretched a pale
L17 0750  8    hand out to the scattered papers on his desk. "I might
L17 0760  6    point out that your inability to report to my office
L17 0770  3    this morning when you were instructed to do so has
L17 0770 13    not **h ah **h limited my knowledge of your activities
L17 0780  8    as you may have hoped". He took up a white sheet of
L17 0790  8    paper, dark with single-spaced data.
L17 0800  1       A car pulled into the driveway outside the window.
L17 0800 10    Gun knew it was Car 12, the wagon, returned from delivering
L17 0810  9    Ingleside's drunk-and-disorderlies to the City Jail.
L17 0820  5    But for some fool reason he couldn't remember which
L17 0830  3    men he'd put on the transfer detail. He stared at the
L17 0840  3    report in Killpath's hand, sure it was written by Accacia-
L17 0850  3    just as sure as if he'd submitted it in his scrawled
L17 0850 14    longhand. He sucked in his breath and kept quiet while
L17 0860  9    Killpath laid down the sheet again, wound the gold-wire
L17 0870  6    stems of his glasses around his ears and then, eying
L17 0880  3    the report as it lay before him on the desk, intoned,
L17 0880 14    "Acting Lieutenant Gunnar Matson one failed to see
L17 0890  8    that the station keeper was properly relieved two absented
L17 0900  7    himself throughout the entire watch without checking
L17 0910  4    on the station's activities or the whereabouts of his
L17 0920  3    section sergeants three permitted members of the Homicide
L17 0930  1    Detail of the Inspector's Bureau to arrogate for their
L17 0930 10    own convenience a patrolman who was thereby prevented
L17 0940  7    from carrying on his proper assignment four failed
L17 0950  4    to notify the station commander Acting Captain O& T&
L17 0960  3    Killpath of a homicide occurring in the district five
L17 0970  1    frequented extralegal establishments known as after-hours
L17 0970  8    spots for purposes of an unofficial and purportedly
L17 0980  7    social nature and six"- he leaned back and peeled off
L17 0990  9    his glasses "- failed to co-operate with the Acting
L17 1000  4    Captain by returning promptly when so ordered. What
L17 1010  1    have you to say to that, Sergeant"? Killpath sailed
L17 1010 10    the paper across the desk, but Matson didn't pick it
L17 1020  9    up or even glance at it.
L17 1030  1       "Well"?
L17 1030  2       "I didn't think Accacia knew so many big words,
L17 1040  4    Lieutenant".
L17 1040  5       Killpath licked his lips. "Patrolman Accacia is
L17 1050  3    an alert and conscientious law-enforcement officer.
L17 1060  1    I don't think his diligence mitigates your negligence,
L17 1060  9    Matson".
L17 1070  1       "Negligence, hell"! Gun held his breath a moment,
L17 1071  1    pushing the volume and pitch of his voice down under
L17 1080 10    the trapdoor in his throat. "Sir. I would have been
L17 1090  7    negligent and a goddam lousy cop to boot, if I'd sat
L17 1100  5    around this station all night when somebody got away
L17 1110  2    with murder in my district. It's too bad I didn't call
L17 1110 13    you, and it's too bad I let Schaeffer use Accacia when
L17 1120 11    he could have had a boy who'd be glad to learn something
L17 1130 10    of Homicide procedure. But I'm not one damned bit sorry
L17 1140  8    I went out to question the people I know in the places
L17 1150  6    they hang around, and"-
L17 1150 10       "Let's not push our patience beyond the danger line,
L17 1160  9    Sergeant", Killpath nasaled. "I shouldn't like to have
L17 1170  7    to write you up for insubordination as well as dereliction
L17 1180  5    of duty".
L17 1180  7       Gun stiffened, his hands balling into fists at his
L17 1190  6    sides. He clamped his jaws to keep the fury from spilling
L17 1200  4    out. An argument with Orville Torrence Killpath was
L17 1210  2    as frustrating and as futile as a cap pistol on a firing
L17 1210 14    range.
L17 1220  1       Killpath leaned forward again, rocked comfortably
L17 1220  7    with his arms still wrapped around one knee. "Let's
L17 1230  7    just remember, Sergeant, that we must all carry our
L17 1240  7    own umbrella. A district station can't run smoothly,
L17 1250  3    unless"- He interrupted himself, looking around Gun
L17 1260  1    at the doorway. "Morning, Lieutenant Rinker".
L17 1260  7       "Sorry, Orville. I thought you hadn't come in yet".
L17 1270  9       "I've been here for some time". He stood up, cocked
L17 1280 10    his head and eyed Gun coldly. "The sergeant is just
L17 1290  6    leaving".
L17 1290  7    ##
L17 1290  8    It had come as no great surprise to Matson that the
L17 1300  8    hot water in the showers didn't work, that Loren Severe
L17 1310  5    had thrown up all over the stairs, or that some thieving
L17 1320  3    bastard of a cop had walked off with his cigarettes.
L17 1320 13    It was the best he could hope for on a watch that had
L17 1330 13    ended with a session in Killpath's office.
L17 1340  4       Now, as he passed the open counter that divided
L17 1350  3    the assembly room from the business office, he nodded
L17 1360  1    and said good night to the station keeper and his clerks,
L17 1360 12    not stopping to hear the day-watch playback of his
L17 1370  9    chewing out.
L17 1370 11       Not that he gave a damn what the grapevine sent
L17 1380  8    out about Killpath's little speech on the comportment
L17 1390  4    of platoon commanders. He just didn't want to talk
L17 1400  3    about it. If the acting captain wanted his acting lieutenant
L17 1410  1    to sit on his ass around the station all night, Killpath
L17 1410 12    would just have to go out and drag Gun back by the
L17 1420 11    heels once an hour; because he'd be damned if he was
L17 1430  7    going to be a mid-watch pencil-pusher just to please
L17 1440  3    his ulcerated pro-tem captain.
L17 1440  8       At the doorway he squinted up at the gray morning
L17 1450  6    overcast and patted his jacket pockets for the cigarettes,
L17 1460  3    remembering then that he'd left them at the Doughnuttery.
L17 1470  1    He could pick up another pack on his way home, if he
L17 1470 13    were going home. But even before he started across
L17 1480  8    the oiled road to his Plymouth, parked in the lot under
L17 1490  6    the cypress trees across from the station, he knew
L17 1500  3    that he wasn't going home.
L17 1500  8       Not yet.
L17 1500 10       It was nine o'clock in the morning: the hour which,
L17 1510 10    like a spade turning clods of earth, exposed to the
L17 1520  7    day a myriad of busy creatures that had lain dormant
L17 1530  4    in the quiet night. Mission Street at this hour was
L17 1540  1    populated by a whole community that Gun could not have
L17 1540 11    seen on his tour of duty- the neighborhood that had
L17 1550  8    known Urbano Quintana by day.
L17 1560  2    #TEN#
L17 1560  3    Sol Phillips had purchased the Alliance Furniture Mart
L17 1570  2    seventeen years ago. It was professedly worth three
L17 1570 10    thousand dollars in stock and good will, and the name
L17 1580  9    was written in gold in foot-high letters across each
L17 1590  4    of the two display windows.
L17 1590  9       On the right window, at eye level, in smaller print
L17 1600  8    but also in gold, was Gonzalez, Prop&, and under that,
L17 1610  5    Se Habla Espanol. Mr& Phillips took a razor to Gonzalez,
L17 1620  6    Prop&, but left the promise that Spanish would be understood
L17 1630  6    because he thought it meant that Spanish clientele
L17 1640  2    would be welcome. Language was no problem anyway; Mr&
L17 1650  2    Phillips had only to signal from his doorway to summon
L17 1650 12    aid from the ubiquitous bilingual children who played
L17 1660  7    on the sidewalks of Mission Street.
L17 1670  2       Aside from the fact that business was slow this
L17 1680  1    time of year and his one salesgirl was not the most
L17 1690 11    enterprising, Mr& Phillips had no worries at all, and
L17 1700  8    he said as much to Gun Matson, who sat across from
L17 1710  5    him in civilian clothes, on a Jiffy-Couch-a-Bed, mauve
L17 1720  2    velour, $79.89 nothing-down special!
L17 1720  7       "She's honest as the day", Mr& Phillips said, and
L17 1730  8    added, "Mr& Gunnar, I can say this to you: Beebe is
L17 1740  9    a little too honest. You can't tell a customer how
L17 1750  5    much it's going to cost him to refinance his payments
L17 1760  1    before he even signs for a loan on the money down!
L17 1760 12    A time plan is a mere convenience, you understand,
L17 1770  7    and when"- He interrupted himself, smiling. "I put
L17 1780  5    her in lamps. That way I don't lose so much".
L17 1790  3       "Why don't you just hire somebody else"?
L18 0010  1       "She says she has to finish a story". He shrugged.
L18 0010 11    "I asked her why she couldn't do it tomorrow, but it
L18 0020 11    seems the muse is working good tonight and she's afraid
L18 0030  7    to let it go".
L18 0030 11       Casey made some comment, but his mind was busy as
L18 0040 10    he considered the man. His name was George Needham
L18 0050  5    and he, too, had come from a good family. He was perhaps
L18 0060  4    thirty-two, nicely set up, with light brown hair that
L18 0070  1    had a pronounced wave. He was always well groomed and
L18 0070 11    well tailored, and he had that rich man's look which
L18 0080  9    was authentic enough and came from two good prep schools
L18 0090  6    and a proper university. An only child, he had done
L18 0100  3    all the things that young men do who have been born
L18 0100 14    to money and social position until his father double-crossed
L18 0110  9    him by dying broke. Since then he had worked at this
L18 0120  8    and that, though some said his main interest was gambling.
L18 0130  4       All this went through Casey's mind in the first
L18 0140  4    instant, but what held his interest was the fact that
L18 0150  1    these two should be together at all. For he had understood
L18 0150 12    that Betty had been engaged to a boy named Barry Jenkins.
L18 0160 10    She had grown up with young Jenkins, and he had heard
L18 0170  7    that they had been at the point of getting married
L18 0180  3    at least twice. He wanted to ask her about Jenkins
L18 0190  1    now, but he knew he couldn't do so in Needham's presence.
L18 0190 12    And so, still wondering and a little perplexed, he
L18 0200  8    grinned at the girl and spoke lightly to make sure
L18 0210  6    that she would know he was kidding.
L18 0220  1       "Where did you pick him up"?
L18 0220  7       "Oh, I've known him quite a while". She glanced
L18 0230  5    at her companion fondly. "Haven't I, George"?
L18 0240  2       "I've been after her for years", Needham said, "but
L18 0250  3    I've never been able to get anywhere until the last
L18 0260  1    few days".
L18 0260  3       The girl's eyes were softly shining as she reached
L18 0270  1    out and touched Casey's hand. "Can I tell you a secret?
L18 0280  1    We're going to get married. Do you approve"?
L18 0280  9       Casey kept his smile fixed, but some small inner
L18 0290  8    disturbance was working on him as he thought again
L18 0300  4    about Needham, who was eight or ten years older than
L18 0310  1    the girl. He wondered whether Needham was going to
L18 0310 10    swear off gambling and get a steady job or whether
L18 0320  8    he was counting on the income from Betty's estate to
L18 0330  4    subsidize him. None of this showed in his face, and
L18 0340  2    he tried to keep his skepticism in hand. He made a
L18 0340 13    point of frowning, of acting out the part of the fond
L18 0350  9    father-confessor.
L18 0350 11       "I'll have to give it some thought", he said. "You
L18 0360 10    wouldn't want me to say yes without making sure his
L18 0370  9    intentions are honorable, would you"?
L18 0380  2       She made a face at him and then she laughed. "Of
L18 0390  1    course not".
L18 0390  3       "I'll get my references in order", Needham said,
L18 0400  2    and though he spoke with a smile, Casey somehow got
L18 0400 12    the idea that he was not particularly amused. "Stop
L18 0410  8    by any time, Casey". He stood up and touched the girl's
L18 0420  8    arm. "Come on, darling. If you're really serious about
L18 0430  5    working on that story, I'd better take you home".
L18 0440  3       Casey watched them go, still frowning absently and
L18 0450  2    then dismissing the matter as he called for his check.
L18 0450 12    As he went out he told Freddie the dinner was perfect,
L18 0460  9    and when he got his hat and coat from Nancy Parks and
L18 0470  7    put a fifty-piece piece in the slot, he told her to
L18 0480  5    be sure that it went toward her dowry.
L18 0480 13       A taxi took him back to the bar and grill where
L18 0490 10    he had left his car, and a few minutes later he found
L18 0500  5    a parking place across the street from his apartment.
L18 0510  1    Because his mind had been otherwise occupied for the
L18 0510 10    past couple of hours, he did not think to look and
L18 0520 10    see if Jerry Burton's car was still there. In fact,
L18 0530  7    he did not think about Jerry Burton at all until he
L18 0540  4    entered his living room and closed the door behind
L18 0540 13    him. Only then, when his glance focused on the divan
L18 0550 10    and saw that it was empty, did he remember his earlier
L18 0560  7    problem.
L18 0560  8       Even from where he stood he could see the neatly
L18 0570  7    folded blanket that he had spread over Burton, the
L18 0580  3    pillow, the sheet of paper on top of it. Then he was
L18 0580 15    striding across the room, his thoughts confused but
L18 0590  8    the worry building swiftly inside him as he snatched
L18 0600  6    up the note.
L18 0600  9    ##
L18 0600 10    Jack:
L18 0601  1       Look in the wastebasket. I knew the only way I could
L18 0610 10    beat you was to play possum, but it was a good try,
L18 0620  7    kid, and I appreciate it.
L18 0620 12       J&
L18 0621  1    ##
L18 0630  1    The wastebasket stood near the wall next to the divan,
L18 0630 11    and the instant Casey picked it up he knew what had
L18 0640  9    happened. The discarded papers inside were sodden,
L18 0650  4    there was a glint of liquid at the bottom, and the
L18 0660  2    smell of whisky was strong and distinct. He put the
L18 0660 12    basket down distastefully, muttering softly and thoroughly
L18 0670  6    disgusted with himself and his plan that had seemed
L18 0680  7    so foolproof. For he remembered too well how he had
L18 0690  4    brought back the loaded drinks to Burton and then returned
L18 0700  1    to the kitchen to get weaker drinks for himself.
L18 0700 10       For another second or two he gave in to the annoyance
L18 0710 10    that was directed at himself; then his mind moved on
L18 0720  6    to be confronted by something far more serious, and
L18 0730  3    as the thought expanded, the implications jarred him.
L18 0730 11    It no longer mattered that Burton had outsmarted him.
L18 0740  9    The important thing was that Burton had gone somewhere
L18 0750  7    to meet a blackmailer with a gun in his pocket. And
L18 0760  5    that gun was empty.
L18 0760  9       Even before his mind had rounded out the idea, he
L18 0770  7    thrust one hand into his trousers pocket and pulled
L18 0780  3    out the six slugs he had taken from the revolver. He
L18 0780 14    considered them with brooding eyes, brows bunched as
L18 0790  8    his brain grappled with the problem and tried to find
L18 0800  7    some solution. He said: "The crazy fool", half aloud.
L18 0810  4    He put the shells on the table, as though he could
L18 0820  2    no longer bear to hold them. He thought: Where the
L18 0820 12    hell could he have gone? How can I find him?
L18 0830 10       There was no answer to this and he began to pace
L18 0840  8    back and forth across the room, his imagination out
L18 0850  3    of control. He tried to tell himself that maybe Burton
L18 0860  1    had sobered up enough to get some sense. Maybe he only
L18 0860 12    intended to scare the blackmailer, whoever he was,
L18 0870  7    in which case an unloaded gun would be good enough.
L18 0880  5    He thought of other possibilities, none of them satisfactory,
L18 0890  2    and finally he began to think, to wonder if there was
L18 0900  1    some way he could reach Burton. Then, as he turned
L18 0900 11    toward the telephone, it rang shrilly to shatter the
L18 0910  7    stillness in the room and he reached for it eagerly.
L18 0920  4       "Yeah", he said.
L18 0920  7       "Casey"?
L18 0930  1       "Yeah".
L18 0930  2       "Tony Calenda".
L18 0930  4       Casey heard the voice distinctly and he knew who
L18 0940  8    it was, but it took him a while to make the mental
L18 0950  4    readjustment and control the disturbance inside his
L18 0960  1    head. When he heard Calenda say: "What about that picture
L18 0960 11    you took this afternoon"? it still took him another
L18 0970  8    few seconds to remember the job he had done for Frank
L18 0980  8    Ackerly.
L18 0980  9       "What picture"? he demanded.
L18 0990  3       "You took a picture of me at the corner of Washington
L18 1000  2    and Blake about three thirty this afternoon".
L18 1010  1       "Who says so"?
L18 1010  4       "One of my boys".
L18 1010  8       Casey believed that much. Calenda was not the sort
L18 1020  8    who walked around without one of his "boys" close at
L18 1030  6    hand.
L18 1030  7       "So"?
L18 1030  8       "With my trial coming up in Federal Court next week
L18 1040 10    I wouldn't want that picture published".
L18 1050  3       "Who says it's going to be published"?
L18 1060  1       "I wouldn't even want it to get around".
L18 1070  1       Under normal circumstances Casey was a little fussy
L18 1070  9    when people told him what to do with pictures he had
L18 1080  9    taken. Even so, he generally listened and was usually
L18 1090  4    reasonable to those who voiced their objections properly.
L18 1100  2    Right now, however, he was still too worried about
L18 1100 11    Jerry Burton, and the gun that had no bullets, and
L18 1110 10    the story Burton had told him, to care too much about
L18 1120  7    Tony Calenda. His nerves were getting a little ragged
L18 1130  4    and his impatience put an edge in his voice.
L18 1140  1       "Look", he said. "I was hired to take a picture.
L18 1140 10    I took it. That's all I know about it and that's all
L18 1150 10    I care".
L18 1150 12       "Maybe you'd better tell the guy who hired you what
L18 1160 10    I said".
L18 1170  1       "You tell him".
L18 1170  4       "All right", Calenda said, his voice still quiet.
L18 1180  3    "But I meant what I said, Casey. If that picture gets
L18 1190  2    around and I find out you had anything to do with it,
L18 1190 14    I'm going to send a couple of my boys around to see
L18 1200 12    you".
L18 1200 13       "You do that", Casey said. "Just be sure to send
L18 1210 10    your two best boys, Tony".
L18 1220  2       He hung up with a bang, annoyed at himself for running
L18 1230  1    off at the mouth like that but still terribly concerned
L18 1230 11    with the situation he had helped to create. As soon
L18 1240  8    as he could think logically again he reached for the
L18 1250  6    telephone directory and found Jerry Burton's home number.
L18 1260  3    He dialed it and listened to it ring ten times before
L18 1270  1    he hung up. He called the bar and grill where he had
L18 1270 13    picked Burton up that afternoon. When he was told that
L18 1280  9    no one had seen Burton since then, he thought of three
L18 1290  6    other places that were possibilities. Each time he
L18 1300  3    got the same answer and in the end he gave up.
L18 1300 14       By the time he had smoked three cigarettes he had
L18 1310 10    calmed down. He had done all he could and that was
L18 1320  7    that. And anyway Burton was not the kind of guy who
L18 1330  4    would be likely to get in trouble even when he was
L18 1330 15    drunk. He, Casey, had been scared for a while, but
L18 1340 10    that had come mostly from the fact that he felt responsible.
L18 1350  7    He should have stayed here and watched Burton. He didn't.
L18 1360  5    So he made a mistake. So what?
L18 1370  1       He kept telling himself this as he went out to the
L18 1370 12    kitchen to make a drink. Only then did he decide he
L18 1380  9    didn't want one. He considered opening a can of beer
L18 1390  6    but vetoed that idea too. Finally he went into the
L18 1400  2    bedroom and sat down to take off his shoes. He had
L18 1400 13    just finished unlacing the right one when the telephone
L18 1410  8    rang again. When he snatched it up the voice that came
L18 1420  7    to him was quick and urgent.
L18 1420 13       "Casey? You don't know me but I know you. If you
L18 1430 11    want a picture get to the corner of Adams and Clark
L18 1440  9    just as fast as you can. If you hurry you might beat
L18 1450  5    the headquarters boys".
L18 1450  8       Casey heard the click of the distant receiver before
L18 1460  7    he could open his mouth, and it took him no more than
L18 1470  6    three seconds to make his decision. For over the years
L18 1480  3    he had received many such calls. Some of them came
L18 1480 13    from people who identified themselves. Some telephoned
L18 1490  6    because he had done them a favor in the past. Others
L18 1500  8    because they expected some sort of reward for the information.
L18 1510  5    A few passed along a tip for the simple reason that
L18 1520  3    they liked him and wanted to give him a break. Only
L18 1530  1    an occasional tip turned out to be a phony, and, like
L18 1530 12    the police, Casey had made a point of running down
L18 1540  8    all such suggestions and he did not hesitate this time.
L18 1550  4       He was in his car with his camera and equipment
L18 1560  1    bag in less than two minutes, and it took him only
L18 1560 12    three more to reach the corner, a block from Columbus
L18 1570  9    Avenue. It was a district of small factories and loft
L18 1580  6    buildings and occasional tenements, and he could see
L18 1590  4    the police radio car as he rounded the corner and slammed
L18 1600  1    on the brakes. He did not bother with his radio- there
L18 1600 12    would be time for that later- but as he scrambled out
L18 1610  9    on the pavement he saw the filling station and the
L18 1620  5    public telephone booth and knew instantly how he had
L18 1630  3    been summoned.
L18 1630  5       The police car had pulled up behind a small sedan,
L18 1640  3    its headlights still on.
L19 0010  1       slowly he pulled out the hand throttle until the
L19 0010 10    boat was moving at little more than a crawl, and watched
L19 0020  8    Elaine rapidly spin from one station to another, tune
L19 0030  5    in the null, then draw in a line on the chart. "We're
L19 0040  2    out just a little too far. Make a 90 degree straight
L19 0050  1    for shore".
L19 0050  3       Poet came in, raising his eyebrows appreciatively
L19 0060  1    as he saw Elaine. "Now"? he asked.
L19 0060  8       "Pretty quick", she replied. "Will you drop the
L19 0070  7    anchor"?
L19 0070  8       Poet nodded, swung below and a moment later emerged
L19 0080  8    from the forward hatch where he picked up the anchor.
L19 0090  6    The rock and roll music coming from the radio station
L19 0100  2    suddenly faded as the boat coasted into the null on
L19 0100 12    the ~RDF.
L19 0110  1       "Reverse", Elaine said, then peered through the
L19 0110  8    loop of the ~RDF and waved to Poet. A second later
L19 0120 11    she came behind the wheel and backed off the anchor
L19 0130  8    line until it was set in the ocean floor. She cut the
L19 0140  5    engines and slowly the cruiser swung around on the
L19 0150  2    end of its lines until its bow was pointing into the
L19 0150 13    wind and the cockpit faced toward the shore. Nick watched
L19 0160  8    her somewhat enviously as she efficiently cut the engines,
L19 0170  6    and started the auxiliary motor.
L19 0180  1       Poet came up from below, wearing new bathing trunks.
L19 0180 10    The price tag hung from the belt and he pulled it off
L19 0190 11    as he entered the chartroom and looked at it curiously.
L19 0200  6    Nick wondered if Elaine had bought them, but he said
L19 0210  4    nothing. Nobody, he suddenly realized, was saying anything.
L19 0220  1    It seemed as if they were all under a spell. There
L19 0220 12    should be an excited conversation, for somewhere, directly
L19 0230  6    below them, was a treasure lost for more than four
L19 0240  6    hundred years.
L19 0240  8       But instead of chatter there was a null, like on
L19 0250  7    the radio direction finder. Once, in New York, he had
L19 0260  4    gone flying with some friends in a small private airplane
L19 0270  1    with a single engine. They had all been laughing, joking,
L19 0270 11    when suddenly the engine had failed. No one had screamed.
L19 0280 10    No one had prayed. All had fallen into a complete silence,
L19 0290  8    listening to the wind whistle over the wings. The pilot
L19 0300  6    had been good. He'd landed the plane on a small airstrip
L19 0310  5    in Connecticut and as soon as the aircraft had coasted
L19 0320  2    to a stop, everyone had burst into chatter at the same
L19 0320 13    moment.
L19 0330  1       There had been tension in the plane during the silent
L19 0330 11    descent; a tension similar to the one now. But in the
L19 0340 11    plane there was a concrete reason for it. Now, at this
L19 0350  7    moment, there should be none **h unless skin diving
L19 0360  3    was much more dangerous than he had been led to believe.
L19 0370  1    Yet tension existed. The same taut-nerved relationship
L19 0370  9    as there had been between the passengers on the plane
L19 0380  9    now strained at the three of them here on the boat.
L19 0390  7    It hung over them like a cloud, its arrival as sudden
L19 0400  3    as a cloud skidding over the sun.
L19 0400 10       Silently, Elaine picked up her keys from the table
L19 0410  8    and went out into the cockpit, Poet behind her, Nick
L19 0420  4    trailing behind him. She threw back a cushion over
L19 0430  1    one of the seats, unlocked a padlock on the chest beneath
L19 0430 12    it, then presently straightened, holding a long knife
L19 0440  7    and a wicked looking spear gun in her hand.
L19 0450  5       Poet whistled softly as he looked at the gun. "Hydraulic"?
L19 0460  2    he asked.
L19 0460  4       Elaine nodded. "They are the best". She kicked the
L19 0470  5    locker lid shut and replaced the cushion. "They are
L19 0480  3    the most efficient".
L19 0480  6       "And the deadliest", Poet commented as he buckled
L19 0490  5    on his tank harness.
L19 0490  9       "Why do you need an arsenal"? Nick asked, apprehensively,
L19 0500  7    staring at the weapon.
L19 0510  1       "It's quite possible there's more than codfish down
L19 0520  1    there, man", Poet replied with a short, nervous laugh
L19 0520 10    as he held the harness for Elaine.
L19 0530  5       A moment later, moving awkwardly because of the
L19 0540  3    swimming fins, she picked up the gun, handed the knife
L19 0540 13    to Poet, then rolled off the transom of the boat, back
L19 0550 10    first. Poet nodded to Nick and entered the water in
L19 0560  8    a similar fashion. Another moment and they were out
L19 0570  5    of sight, leaving behind only a string of bubbles as
L19 0580  1    a clue to their whereabouts.
L19 0580  6       For a while Nick followed the twisting course of
L19 0590  4    the bubbles, wondering which set came from Elaine.
L19 0600  1    They remained close together, their air trail wiggling
L19 0600  9    like serpents traveling side by side. Eventually the
L19 0610  7    bubbles became lost in the sparkle of the ocean surface,
L19 0620  5    and he rolled over on his back.
L19 0620 12       Clasping his hands behind his head, he stared at
L19 0630  9    the blue sky. There was nothing quite like being alone
L19 0640  6    on a boat on the ocean. Alfredo certainly must have
L19 0650  3    enjoyed being alone. Next to the ocean, probably the
L19 0660  1    loneliest spot was the desert. If Elaine's uncle had
L19 0660 10    stuck to this desire for aloneness, he probably would
L19 0670  7    still be alive.
L19 0670 10       Yet Alfredo wanted money **h wanted money to roam
L19 0680  8    through the deserts. And Graham wanted money probably
L19 0690  5    to roam among the dice tables in Las Vegas. It was
L19 0700  4    an odd combination **h a strange pair to stumble upon
L19 0710  1    the wreck of the Trinidad. But Graham hadn't stumbled
L19 0710 10    on it. Two to three weeks prior to the charter of the
L19 0720 11    Virginia, Graham had been snooping around the San Luis
L19 0730  8    Rey Mission.
L19 0730 10       The small helicopter with its two steel skids churned
L19 0740  8    offshore and Nick raised up to watch it heading south.
L19 0750  7    That was a hell of a note, he thought. A couple couldn't
L19 0760  4    even find a secluded spot anywhere on a beach to neck
L19 0770  3    nowadays without someone swooping down upon them. If
L19 0770 11    the character flying that thing had gone over San Clemente
L19 0780  9    Island yesterday he would have had an eyeful.
L19 0790  7       Off to the west a beautiful schooner slowly beat
L19 0800  3    its way into the wind, headed on a tack toward San
L19 0810  1    Clemente. Behind it a cabin cruiser drifted crossways
L19 0810  9    in the small ground-swell, a lone fisherman in the
L19 0820  8    chair aft. The fisherman was right in the middle of
L19 0830  5    the Deep. Nick recalled stories that the two best fishing
L19 0840  2    spots in Southern California were over the La Jolla
L19 0840 11    Deep and the Redondo Deep, two spots where the ocean
L19 0850 10    dropped off to fantastic depths almost from the shoreline.
L19 0860  6       Someday, geologists had warned, the land on both
L19 0870  7    sides of these deeps would fall into the ocean and
L19 0880  3    no more La Jolla or Redondo Beach. Meanwhile, fishermen
L19 0890  1    took advantage of them to pull up whoppers. Sometimes
L19 0890 10    the fish exploded as they neared the surface because
L19 0900  7    of the difference in pressure.
L19 0910  1       Why, he wondered, had Elaine wanted him along on
L19 0910 10    this trip? He couldn't skindive, he couldn't run a
L19 0920  8    boat, except on the open sea. He stood up, stretched,
L19 0930  6    looked around for the bubbles, but could see none.
L19 0940  3    Strolling down to the galley, he lit the butane under
L19 0940 13    the coffee pot and when the brew was heated, poured
L19 0950 10    himself a cup and went up to the chartroom. Turning
L19 0960  6    on the hi-fi, he went back to the cockpit, stretched
L19 0970  2    out on the cushions and listened to the music.
L19 0980  1       Elaine and Poet returned together, popping up over
L19 0980  8    the transom almost like dolphins breaking water.
L19 0990  5       He sat up and watched as they pulled themselves
L19 1000  2    over the stern. "Any luck"? he asked.
L19 1010  1       Poet shook his head, sliding his face mask up on
L19 1010 10    his forehead.
L19 1020  1       "We're right on the edge of the Deep", Elaine said.
L19 1020 11    Pulling off her face mask, she carefully placed the
L19 1030  9    spear gun across the stern, then lifted her wet hair
L19 1040  6    from her back and squeezed out the water. "Which is
L19 1050  2    a break as the area to search is less than a square
L19 1050 14    mile", she added as she swung her legs over the transom.
L19 1060 11    "Any news"?
L19 1070  1       "Not a thing". He tossed her a towel, then repeated
L19 1070 11    the service for Poet. "Cigarette"?
L19 1080  5       Elaine shook her head as she slipped out of her
L19 1090  7    harness, but Poet nodded. His feet still hung over
L19 1100  2    the stern of the transom, but as he reached for the
L19 1100 13    smoke he raised them to swing them in. The fin on his
L19 1110 11    foot caught on the moulding, throwing him off balance.
L19 1120  5    His forearm smashed painfully into the narrow washboard
L19 1130  3    and he grimaced as he grabbed his bruised limb with
L19 1140  1    his other hand and rolled into the boat.
L19 1140  9       "Kee-reist"! The word hissed distinctly from Poet's
L19 1150  6    lips as he struggled to his feet.
L19 1160  1       Nick's body became rigid. Turning slowly he saw
L19 1160  9    Poet in a brilliant glare of horror. Poet! His face
L19 1170 10    was still creased in pain as he studied the underside
L19 1180  7    of his arm. Poet a murderer? Turning quickly toward
L19 1190  3    Elaine, Nick saw that she, too, stood in shocked surprise.
L19 1200  2       The sudden silence was too silent. Instinctively
L19 1210  1    aware of the charged atmosphere, Poet raised his head
L19 1210 10    slowly, looking first at Elaine.
L19 1220  4       She had caught the implication of the oath. Her
L19 1230  2    face was frozen into the mask of a mannequin, her body
L19 1230 13    absolutely motionless.
L19 1240  2       And then Nick knew that all of them knew **h Elaine,
L19 1250  1    himself **h and Poet.
L19 1250  5       Elaine recovered first, so quickly that Nick thought
L19 1260  4    he might have imagined her sudden reaction. "Do you
L19 1270  2    need a bandage"? she asked steadily.
L19 1270  8       Poet rubbed his arm. "It's like banging a shin",
L19 1280  8    he said, his eyes lingered on Nick's face, then moved
L19 1290  6    back to Elaine. "Hurts like hell for a second, then
L19 1300  4    it disappears".
L19 1300  6       "I'll get some ointment". Elaine turned and started
L19 1310  5    toward the companionway. But her walk was too steady,
L19 1320  4    too slow, telegraphing her fear.
L19 1320  9       Nick sensed it. So did Poet. Springing like a cat,
L19 1330  9    he leaped back, swooped up the spring gun and, whirling,
L19 1340  5    pointed it toward the cabin. At the same instant, Nick
L19 1350  3    hit the barrel and threw himself upon the smaller man.
L19 1360  1    The gun fired next to his ear with a vicious whoosh
L19 1360 12    like the first stroke of an old steam engine. At the
L19 1370  8    same instant, Elaine screamed wildly, the sound ending
L19 1380  4    abruptly as Nick went off the boat and into the water
L19 1390  2    on top of the frantic, struggling Poet.
L19 1390  9       The moment the sea closed over Nick, some atavistic
L19 1400  7    sense warned him that he would survive in this alien
L19 1410  5    element only if he did not panic. But the murderer
L19 1420  1    to whom he clung had a tremendous advantage. The wide
L19 1420 11    flippers on Poet's feet gave his legs incredible power,
L19 1430  9    driving the two of them down into the water as they
L19 1440  7    rolled over and over. Poet was the captured, arms pinioned
L19 1450  3    to his side, and he twisted convulsively trying to
L19 1460  2    escape. Poet would escape, Nick thought grimly, because
L19 1460 10    he wore the apparatus which would keep him alive under
L19 1470  8    water. But Nick would not let go.
L19 1480  4       The rubber and glass face mask slipped from Poet's
L19 1490  1    forehead, bounced painlessly off Nick's chin, then
L19 1490  8    disappeared. Poet twisted again and Nick's knuckles
L19 1500  7    scraped on the air tank, ripping off the skin. For
L19 1510  5    a split second, Nick relaxed his grip and Poet's slippery
L19 1520  2    body spun completely around before Nick could stop
L19 1530  1    him, holding him now from the rear. Something flailed
L19 1530 10    at the side of Nick's head as they rolled around and
L19 1540  8    around.
L19 1540  9       Suddenly Poet stopped struggling and the two of
L19 1550  7    them hung suspended in the water, not rising, not sinking.
L19 1560  5    A sharp pain lanced across Nick's chest and a bubble
L19 1570  3    of air escaped from his tortured lungs, joining dozens
L19 1570 12    of others that sailed lazily toward the surface like
L19 1580  9    helium balloons rising into the sky. A black, snake-like
L19 1590  8    object swayed eerily in front of him, spewing bubbles
L19 1600  4    from its flat cobra head. The air hose was free! The
L19 1610  2    discovery struck Nick like a blow.
L19 1610  8       Desperately, Nick flashed one hand up, catching
L19 1620  6    Poet's neck in the bend of his elbow. At the same instant,
L19 1630  5    he grabbed the loose, writhing hose with his other
L19 1640  2    hand and bit down on the hard rubber mouthpiece. Instinctively
L19 1650  1    he exhaled through his nose then sucked in the air
L19 1650 11    from the hose. At once the excruciating pain in his
L19 1660  7    chest stopped and he was seized with a sudden, wild
L19 1670  4    exultation.
L19 1670  5       As if this was a signal, Poet abruptly began to
L19 1680  3    thrash the water and the quick movement slowly made
L19 1680 12    them sink through the water. Relentlessly, Nick held
L19 1690  8    on, sucking on the hose, inhaling the air that belonged
L19 1700  7    to Poet. Poet was not fighting Nick now.
L20 0010  1       HARBOR POINT sticks out into the ocean like the
L20 0010 10    fat neck of a steamer clam. It's a rich village but
L20 0020 10    not much for action- too many solid residents, not
L20 0030  5    enough tourists or working stiffs. It's at the far
L20 0040  4    end of the county and the last time I came here was
L20 0040 16    for a hit and run manslaughter- about seven months
L20 0050  9    ago.
L20 0050 10       Chief Bob Moore looked his same hick-self; a man
L20 0060  9    mountain running to lard in his middle-age. Seeing
L20 0070  6    me he said with real surprise, "Well, well, ain't we
L20 0080  3    honored! Hardly expected the head of County Homicide
L20 0090  1    up for this murder. You sure climbed fast, Jed. Rookie
L20 0090 11    investigator last summer and now it's Inspector Jed.
L20 0100  8    Took me 19 years to become Chief of our three man police
L20 0110  9    force. Proves a college education pays off". His sarcasm
L20 0120  6    was followed by a stupid grin of his thick mouth and
L20 0130  4    bad teeth.
L20 0130  6       "I guess it helps", I said, paying no attention
L20 0140  4    to his ribbing.
L20 0140  7       "Never could figure out why you ever wanted to be
L20 0150  7    a cop, Jed. You're not only young but **h well, you
L20 0160  3    don't even look like a police officer. A runt with
L20 0170  1    narrow shoulders and that brush haircut **h hell, you'd
L20 0170 10    pass for a juvenile delinquent of the hotrod set. In
L20 0180  8    my day the first requirement for a cop was to look
L20 0190  7    like the law, big and tough. Man, when my 275 pounds
L20 0200  2    and six-four comes along, why it's the same as another
L20 0200 13    badge. When I say move, a guy moves"!
L20 0210  8       "Don't worry about my being tough, Moore. Also,
L20 0220  6    it's far too early in the day for corny lines like
L20 0230  3    the bigger they come **h You've had your gassy lecture,
L20 0240  1    let's get to work. Who was the murdered woman **h Mrs&
L20 0240 12    Buck"?
L20 0250  1       "Widow, nice sort of woman. Comfortably fixed. Ran
L20 0250  9    a fair-sized farm. Came to the Harbor as a bride and
L20 0260 12    **h Don't worry Jed, this one is in the bag. I know
L20 0270 10    the killer, have the only road off the peninsula covered".
L20 0280  5       "Yeah, passed your road block as I drove in", I
L20 0290  6    said, sitting on his polished desk. Although Bob dressed
L20 0300  3    like a slob, he kept a neat office. "Okay, what happened"?
L20 0310  1       "About nine this morning Mrs& Buck phones me she's
L20 0320  1    having trouble with one of her farm hands- money trouble.
L20 0320 11    Colored fellow named Tim Williams- only hand she has
L20 0330  9    working for her now. Tim come with the migratory workers
L20 0340  8    that follow the crops up from the South last year,
L20 0350  5    but Tim and his wife settled here. Never had no trouble
L20 0360  3    with him before, thought he was a hard worker, hustling
L20 0360 13    around to get a full week's work. Anyway, Julia asks
L20 0370 10    me to **h".
L20 0380  1       "Julia"?
L20 0380  2       "Come on, Inspector, look alive. Julia Buck, the
L20 0390  4    deceased", Moore said, slipping me his smug, idiot-grin
L20 0400  1    again. "Julia asks me to come out at once. But she
L20 0400 12    didn't sound real alarmed **h you know, like there
L20 0410  9    was any immediate danger. I got there at 9:47 A&M&,
L20 0420  7    found her strangled. I would have come sooner if I'd
L20 0430  5    known **h. No doubt about Tim being the killer- I have
L20 0440  5    a witness. Don't know why the County had to send anybody
L20 0450  1    up here. Told them I can handle this".
L20 0450  9       "Yeah, seems you have a nice package, with all the
L20 0460  9    strings tied. Who's **h"?
L20 0470  1       "I'll collar Tim before night".
L20 0470  6       "Who's your witness"?
L20 0480  2       "Julia had- has- an old Indian woman cooking for
L20 0490  2    her- Nellie Harris. Probably the last of the original
L20 0490 11    Island Indians. Nellie was in the kitchen, had just
L20 0500  9    come to work, when she heard Tim arguing with Julia
L20 0510  7    in the living room. Swears she recognized his voice,
L20 0520  4    that Tim yelled, 'It's my money and I want it'! and
L20 0530  3    then rushed out of the house. Then she heard Julia
L20 0530 13    phone me. Nellie went on with her house work- until
L20 0540 10    I found Julia dead. And before you say it, Nellie ain't
L20 0550  8    near strong enough to have strangled Julia. There's
L20 0560  4    no doubt this Tim sneaked back and killed Mrs& Buck.
L20 0570  3    Another fact: Tim's disappeared- on the run. But there's
L20 0580  3    no way off the Point except through my road block.
L20 0580 13    Guess you want to see the body- have her up the street
L20 0590 12    in Doc Abel's office". "Let's see it".
L20 0600  5       We walked up Main Street to this big white house,
L20 0610  6    then around to the back. Being the Harbors sole doctor,
L20 0620  3    Abel was also its Medical Examiner. The corpse was
L20 0630  1    on a table, covered by a sheet. Doc Abel was busy up
L20 0630 13    front with some of his live patients. Pulling back
L20 0640  7    the sheet, I examined the bruises around Julia Buck's
L20 0650  4    once slender throat. Powerful hands had killed her.
L20 0660  2    "Find any prints"?
L20 0660  5       Chief Moore shook his big head, seemed lost in thought
L20 0670  6    as he stared at the nude body. Then he said, "Never
L20 0680  3    noticed it before **h I mean, when she was dressed
L20 0680 13    **h but for a woman her age, Julia had a real fine
L20 0690 12    figure".
L20 0700  1       I dropped the sheet, glanced at my watch. It was
L20 0700 10    almost one and I hadn't had lunch. Still, I wanted
L20 0710  6    to get this over with, had a lot of paper work waiting
L20 0720  4    in my own office. I told him, "I want to go see the
L20 0730  2    Buck house".
L20 0730  4       "Sure".
L20 0730  5       Walking back down Main Street, I said, "I saw the
L20 0740  7    Harbor's one squad car at the road block, we'll ride
L20 0750  5    out in my car".
L20 0750  9       "Naw, we'll use mine", Moore said, opening the door
L20 0760  7    of a sleek white Jaguar roadster. As I slid in beside
L20 0770  6    him he said, "Some heap, hey? Got a heck of a buy on
L20 0780  5    this, dirt cheap".
L20 0780  8       "Yeah, it's a real load", I told him, looking up
L20 0790  6    the street at my battered Ford.
L20 0800  1       Five racing minutes later we pulled into the driveway
L20 0800  9    of this typical two-story house, and when the Jaguar
L20 0810  8    stopped I managed to swallow. There was a garage and
L20 0820  6    a modern barn in the rear, all of it standing between
L20 0830  2    two large flat fields planted in early potatoes. Everything
L20 0840  1    shouted gentleman farming, the kind of grandfather-father-to
L20 0840 10    son folding money the Point is known for. The fins
L20 0850  9    of a Caddy were sticking out of the garage, while the
L20 0860  7    inside of the house was a comfortable mixture of old
L20 0870  3    and expensive contemporary furniture.
L20 0870  7       Nellie Harris wasn't old, she was ancient- a tiny
L20 0880  8    shriveled woman with a face like a tan prune. She was
L20 0890  7    also stone deaf in her right ear. She calmly repeated
L20 0900  2    what Moore had told me. When I asked, "Why didn't you
L20 0910  2    go into the living room to see how Mrs& Buck was"?
L20 0910 13    the old gal stared at me with her hard eyes, said,
L20 0920 10    "She didn't call. I do the living room last. I went
L20 0930  8    up stairs and did the bath and her bedroom- way I always
L20 0940  4    do in the morning".
L20 0940  8       "Have you any idea what this Tim and Mrs& Buck were
L20 0950  9    arguing about"?
L20 0960  1       "Probably wages. Miss Julia was a hard woman with
L20 0960  9    a dollar. Years ago when I asked her to put me in Social
L20 0970 11    Security, so's I wouldn't have to be working now, Miss
L20 0980  7    Julia threatened to fire me- all because it would mean
L20 0990  6    a few more dollars a year to her".
L20 1000  1       "Did you hear Tim return"?
L20 1000  6       "No sir. Nobody came until Chief Moore".
L20 1010  3       I drummed on the kitchen table with my pencil. "Mrs&
L20 1020  2    Buck have any men friends"?
L20 1020  7       "Her"? The wrinkled mouth laughed, revealing astonishingly
L20 1030  7    strong, white, teeth. "I never see none. But then I
L20 1040  8    wasn't her social secretary".
L20 1050  1       "Was she on friendly terms with other members of
L20 1050 10    her family"?
L20 1060  1       "Didn't have no family- around here. They had a
L20 1070  2    son- killed in the war".
L20 1070  7       I walked into the living room. There didn't seem
L20 1080  5    to be any signs of a struggle. I told Moore, "Where
L20 1090  2    does Tim's wife live"?
L20 1090  6       "I'll take you there. Look Jed, this is an open
L20 1100  8    and shut case and I have to relieve my men at the road
L20 1110  6    block soon. Okay, come on".
L20 1110 11       We did 80 miles an hour across a hard dirt road
L20 1120  9    to a cluster of shacks. In late summer migratory workers
L20 1130  4    lived five and six to a room in these. Now they were
L20 1140  3    empty, except for a cottage across the road.
L20 1140 11       Mrs& Tim Williams was about 21, with skin the color
L20 1150 10    of bitter chocolate, and if you discounted the plain
L20 1160  7    dress and worn slippers, she was startlingly pretty.
L20 1170  2    The inside of their place was full of new furniture,
L20 1170 12    five bucks down and a buck a week stuff, but all of
L20 1180 12    it clean and full of the warmth of a home.
L20 1190  6       Mrs& Williams was both sullen and frightened. She
L20 1200  2    said she didn't know a thing- Tim had left the house
L20 1210  1    at six in the morning, as usual. She hadn't seen him
L20 1210 12    since.
L20 1220  1       "Did Mrs& Buck owe him any wages"? I asked.
L20 1220 10       "Well, for this week, but they wasn't due 'till
L20 1230  9    Saturday. Listen, Mr& Inspector, no matter what anybody
L20 1240  7    say, my Tim didn't kill that woman! Tim is a good man,
L20 1250  6    hard working. He strong as a bull but gentle as a baby.
L20 1260  5    Even if he angry, Tim wouldn't hurt a woman. He never
L20 1270  2    in his life took a hand to a woman or **h"
L20 1270 13       "We'll get him soon, see what he says", Chief Moore
L20 1280 10    cut in.
L20 1290  1       "Does your husband have a car"? I asked.
L20 1290  8       "Got us an old station wagon. Need it for the job".
L20 1300  8       I asked a silly question: "You've no idea where
L20 1310  5    your husband could be, now"?
L20 1320  1       She shook her head. I knew she was lying. I stood
L20 1320 12    there, staring at her for a moment- thinking mostly
L20 1330  8    of her beauty and her poverty.
L20 1340  1       Moore said, "Come on, Jed, I have to get to my men".
L20 1350  1       On my way out I told her, "If you should **h eh
L20 1350 13    **h just happen to see your husband, get him to give
L20 1360 10    himself up. He'll get a fair trial. Hiding out like
L20 1370  6    this won't get him anything, except more trouble, or
L20 1380  3    a bullet".
L20 1380  5       "Yes. I'll tell him- if I see him".
L20 1390  4       We made it back to the Harbor in less than four
L20 1400  1    minutes. I tried not to act scared. That Jaguar could
L20 1400 11    really barrel along. I told Moore I was going to eat,
L20 1410 10    get some forms filled out by Doc Abel.
L20 1420  4       Chief Moore said, "If I don't see you when I return,
L20 1430  4    see you for certain at my road block, Inspector".
L20 1440  1       I had a bowl of decent chowder, phoned the Doc and
L20 1440 12    he said he'd leave the death statements with his girl-
L20 1450  8    in a half hour. Lighting my pipe, I took a walk. The
L20 1460  8    Harbor is a big yachting basin in the summer. Even
L20 1470  4    now, there were several slick cruisers tied to the
L20 1470 13    dock, an ocean-going yawl anchored inside the breakwater.
L20 1480  9    There was a 34 foot Wheeler with CHIEF BOB'S in big
L20 1490  9    gold letters on its stern also tied up at the dock.
L20 1500  7    It wasn't a new boat, about five years old, but fitted
L20 1510  4    with fishing outriggers and chairs. I asked an old
L20 1520  1    guy running a fishing station if the boat was Moore's.
L20 1520 11    He said, "You bet. Bob Moore is plumb crazy about blue
L20 1530  9    fishing".
L20 1540  1       I dropped into the doctor's office, picked up my
L20 1540  9    forms. As I was walking back to the Police Station,
L20 1550  6    which was in the same building with the City Hall and
L20 1560  5    Post Office, I saw Mrs& Tim Williams sneaking into
L20 1570  2    the back of my car. If she moved gracefully, she was
L20 1570 13    clumsy at it.
L20 1580  3       I got into the front seat. She was 'hiding' on the
L20 1590  2    floor of the back seat, the soft curves of her back
L20 1590 13    and hips- rousing lines. I drove out of the Harbor,
L20 1600  8    turned off into a dirt road among the scrub pine trees
L20 1610  6    and stopped. I waited a few minutes and she sat up.
L20 1620  3    For another moment we didn't talk, then she began to
L20 1620 13    weep. She mumbled, "I just know that Chief Moore is
L20 1630 10    out to kill my Tim"!
L20 1640  1       "Maybe. I never saw him so anxious before", I said,
L20 1650  2    lighting my pipe and offering her a cigarette. "Of
L20 1650 11    course, it could be because this is his first murder
L20 1660  9    case. You know where Tim is, don't you, Mrs& Williams"?
L20 1670  6       She puffed on the cigarette slowly, sitting slumped
L20 1680  4    against the back seat; didn't answer.
L21 0010  1    But the police have dropped the case. I want you to
L21 0010 12    go to Pearson City and find out why- first-hand stuff
L21 0020  8    for your modern crime series. Take the same train Diana
L21 0030  6    Beauclerk took and get there at the same time. Go to
L21 0040  4    the same hotel and occupy the same suite- 1105".
L21 0050  1       "Will the hotel rent it so soon after the crime"?
L21 0060  1       "Why not? The police have finished with it. Besides,
L21 0060  9    the number of the suite hasn't been published in any
L21 0070  9    newspaper. To the hotel people, you'll just be an innocent
L21 0080  6    tourist who happens to ask for that particular suite".
L21 0090  3       "Still, they may not want to rent it".
L21 0100  1       "That's your headache. Once inside, keep your eyes
L21 0100  9    open"!
L21 0110  1       "For what"! Alec was growing more and more skeptical.
L21 0120  1    "The police will have gone over every square inch of
L21 0120 11    the place with a fine-tooth comb. The hotel people
L21 0130  9    will have scoured and vacuumed it. Ten to one, it's
L21 0140  6    even been redecorated"!
L21 0140  9       "There's always a chance they may have overlooked
L21 0150  8    something", returned the chief. "I'm betting on that
L21 0160  7    chance. Interview the bellboy and chambermaid who waited
L21 0170  5    on Beauclerk. Study the topography of the suite. Soak
L21 0180  3    up local color. Reenact everything Beauclerk did.
L21 0190  1       Try to imagine you're going to be murdered yourself-
L21 0190 10    between eleven p&m& and one a&m& the night you arrive".
L21 0200 10       Alec smirked. "Cheerful way to spend an evening"!
L21 0210  8    A sudden thought wiped the smirk from his face. "Suppose
L21 0220  8    the murderer should return to the scene of the crime"!
L21 0230  7       The chief's eyes gleamed. He spoke softly. "That
L21 0240  5    is exactly what I'm hoping for. After all, the murderer
L21 0250  3    is still at large. And the key to the suite is still
L21 0260  1    missing".
L21 0260  2    ##
L21 0260  3    On the train Alec refreshed his memory of the Beauclerk
L21 0270  1    case by reading teletype flimsies- spot-news stories
L21 0270  9    about the crime sent out by the Pearson City Star,
L21 0280 10    a member of the Syndicate Press.
L21 0290  2       Diana Beauclerk was a second-rate actress living
L21 0300  1    in New York. Two weeks ago she had gone west to Pearson
L21 0300 13    City. Daniel Forbes, her divorced husband, lived there.
L21 0310  8    So did the firm of lawyers who had got her the divorce,
L21 0320  9    Kimball and Stacy.
L21 0330  1       She reached Pearson City at nine p&m& and went straight
L21 0330 11    to the Hotel Westmore. She telephoned the junior partner
L21 0340  8    of her law firm, Martin Stacy, and asked him to call
L21 0350  8    at her hotel that evening.
L21 0360  1       At the time of her divorce Forbes had promised to
L21 0360 11    pay her a lump sum in lieu of further alimony if she
L21 0370  8    remarried. According to Stacy, she told him she was
L21 0380  6    planning to remarry and she wanted him to ask Forbes
L21 0390  1    for the lump sum. Stacy replied that it would bankrupt
L21 0390 11    Forbes, who had just sunk all his money in a real estate
L21 0400 12    venture.
L21 0400 13       Stacy said he left her suite at nine forty-five
L21 0410 10    p&m&. She was in good health and spirits, but still
L21 0420  6    determined to get the money from Forbes. No one saw
L21 0430  4    Stacy leave. No other visitor inquired for her that
L21 0440  1    evening.
L21 0440  2       Next morning she was found dead in her suite with
L21 0440 12    a bullet from a .22-caliber Colt revolver in her brain.
L21 0450 10    According to the medical examiner, she was shot between
L21 0460  7    eleven p&m& and one a&m&. Her door was locked and the
L21 0470  7    key was missing. So was the gun.
L21 0480  1       When Alec finished reading he was sure that either
L21 0480 10    Forbes or Stacy had killed Diana Beauclerk. Forbes
L21 0490  6    had motive and Stacy had opportunity. Find a motive
L21 0510  4    for Stacy or an opportunity for Forbes and the case
L21 0520  1    would be solved.
L21 0520  4    ##
L21 0520  5    The Hotel Westmore proved to be one of the older hotels
L21 0530  3    in Pearson City, and definitely second-rate. Alec's
L21 0540  1    first impression of the lobby was gloomy, Victorian
L21 0540  9    dignity- black walnut and red plush, a black and white
L21 0550  9    tiled floor, and Persian rugs.
L21 0560  1       He studied the night clerk as a man measures an
L21 0560 11    adversary. "I'd like the room I had the last time".
L21 0570 10       "Certainly, sir". The clerk was young and limp,
L21 0580  8    with a tired smile. "Do you recall the number"?
L21 0590  4       "It was 1105".
L21 0590  7       The clerk's smile congealed. "That suite is taken".
L21 0600  7       Alec's glance went to a chart of guest names and
L21 0610  9    room numbers hanging on the wall behind the clerk.
L21 0620  4    Opposite the number 1105 stood one word: Unoccupied.
L21 0630  1       The clerk's glance followed Alec's. "We have better
L21 0640  2    rooms vacant now", he babbled. "Larger and more comfortable.
L21 0650  1    At the same rate".
L21 0655  1       Alec's face was dark, blunt, and sulky. He always
L21 0660  3    looked impertinent and he could look dangerous. He
L21 0660 11    was looking dangerous now. He raised his voice. "Anything
L21 0670  9    wrong with the plumbing in 1105"?
L21 0680  5       There was a sudden stillness in the lobby. Two women,
L21 0690  4    who had been chattering like parrots, were struck dumb.
L21 0700  2    A man, lighting a match for his cigar, paused until
L21 0700 12    the flame burned his fingers. Even the bellboys on
L21 0710  8    their bench were listening.
L21 0720  1       The clerk's eyes flickered. "Of course not"!
L21 0730  1       "Anybody with a contagious disease been in there"?
L21 0730  9       "No"! The clerk was almost hysterical. "It's just
L21 0740  8    that- well, 1105 is being redecorated".
L21 0750  5       "I don't believe it". Alec leaned on the desk, holding
L21 0760  6    the clerk's eyes with his. "Suppose you tell me the
L21 0770  5    real reason", he drawled. "There might be a story in
L21 0780  2    it".
L21 0780  3       "St-story"?
L21 0780  5       "I'm with the Syndicated Press, Feature Service.
L21 0790  4    Either I get the story- or I get the suite".
L21 0800  3       It was blackmail and the clerk knew it. "There is
L21 0810  2    no story", he piped tremulously. "Front! Show this
L21 0810 10    gentleman to 1105"!
L21 0820  3       The stillness persisted as Alec followed a bellboy
L21 0830  3    across the lobby to the elevator. He could feel eyes
L21 0830 13    on his back. He wished it had not been necessary to
L21 0840 10    announce the number of his suite quite so publicly.
L21 0850  6       The corridor on the eleventh floor was dimly lighted
L21 0860  4    by electric globes at intervals of thirty feet. A thick,
L21 0870  2    crimson carpet muffled every footfall. At the end of
L21 0870 11    the corridor Alec noticed a door marked: Fire Stairs.
L21 0880  8    It was a neat setup for murder.
L21 0890  4       The bellboy unlocked a white door numbered 1105.
L21 0900  2    The room was dark but a neon sign flashed and faded
L21 0900 13    beyond the window. A few snowflakes sifted down through
L21 0910  8    that theatrical red glow, languid as falling feathers.
L21 0920  5    Hastily the boy switched on a ceiling light.
L21 0930  2       The room looked normal and even commonplace. There
L21 0930 10    was no hint of a violent struggle now. Deal furniture
L21 0940 10    with a mahogany finish was neatly arranged as if it
L21 0950  7    stood in the window of a department store. The blue
L21 0960  4    rug was suspiciously bright and new. It had never been
L21 0970  1    stained with blood. Table covers and towels were clean,
L21 0970 10    ashtrays empty and supplied with fresh matches. The
L21 0980  8    mirror over the bureau was a blank eye, round and innocent.
L21 0990  7       Alec played the part of an innocent tourist. "Is
L21 1000  3    there anything wrong with this room"?
L21 1010  1       "N-no". The boy dropped his eyes.
L21 1010  8       "Afraid you'll lose your job if you don't keep your
L21 1020  9    mouth shut"?
L21 1020 11       The boy raised his eyes. "Listen, mister. If you
L21 1030  8    want my advice, pack up and take the next train back
L21 1040  7    to New York".
L21 1040 10       "Were you on duty here two weeks ago"?
L21 1050  6       The boy hesitated. Then, "I'm not talking. But I
L21 1060  5    wouldn't spend a night in here for a million bucks"!
L21 1070  2       He was in a hurry to get out of the room. Alec gave
L21 1080  2    him a tip and let him go.
L21 1080  9       Alone, Alec examined the doors. There were three-
L21 1090  4    one leading to a bathroom, one to the hall, and one
L21 1100  2    to the room next door which was immovable- locked or
L21 1100 12    bolted on the other side. Alec locked the hall door
L21 1110  9    and put the key with his watch on the bedside table.
L21 1120  6    It was just quarter of nine.
L21 1120 12       As he ranged his belongings on the bureau he noticed
L21 1130 10    a film of white dust on the dark surface of the wood
L21 1140  8    beyond the linen cover. Not gray like the dust that
L21 1150  4    collects in an unused room, but white. Women didn't
L21 1160  1    use white face powder nowadays, he recalled. They used
L21 1160 10    pink, tan, or cream powder.
L21 1170  3       Alec glanced into the bathroom. Blood in the bathtub
L21 1180  2    where the murderer appears to have washed his hands.
L21 1190  1    It seemed clean now, but Alec decided against a bath.
L21 1200  9    He crawled into bed and switched off the light.
L21 1210  5       In the darkness he could see the rosy reflection
L21 1220  2    of the neon sign on the wall opposite the window. It
L21 1220 13    winked as steadily as a metronome- on, off- on, off.
L21 1230 10    In less than five minutes Alec was asleep.
L21 1250  4       He never knew just what woke him. Yet suddenly he
L21 1260  3    was wide-awake. There was no sound and apparently no
L21 1260 13    movement in the room except the noiseless pulsation
L21 1270  8    of the red light on the wall.
L21 1280  3       He lay still, listening to the silence, watching
L21 1280 11    the light. Somewhere in the city a big clock sounded
L21 1290 10    twelve solemn notes- midnight. According to the medical
L21 1300  8    examiner she was shot between eleven p&m& and one a&m&
L21 1310  6    **h.
L21 1320  1       Alec heard a faint sound. His heart seemed to swell
L21 1330  6    and knock against the wall of his chest. For the sound
L21 1340  4    was inside the room.
L21 1340  8       he let his eyelids droop and breathed heavily, feigning
L21 1350  5    sleep. The sound was coming nearer. A monstrous shadow
L21 1360  3    fell across the illuminated wall, distorted and indefinable.
L21 1370  1       When the neon sign faded out, the shadow disappeared.
L21 1380  1    When the neon sign flashed on, the shadow was still
L21 1380 11    there. It stretched to an impossible height, climbing
L21 1390  6    the wall to the ceiling. That meant that something
L21 1400  4    between the light and its reflection on the wall was
L21 1410  2    moving closer to the source of the light- in this case,
L21 1410 13    the window.
L21 1420  1       Cautiously Alec tensed his muscles, ready to jump.
L21 1420  9    The bedsprings betrayed him with a creak. The shadow
L21 1430  8    vanished. Someone had moved beyond the range of the
L21 1440  8    light from the window.
L21 1440 12       Abandoning caution, Alec leaped out of bed and groped
L21 1450  9    for the light switch. Before he could snap it on, a
L21 1460  8    stinging blow caught him in the ribs. He lashed out
L21 1470  4    blindly with his right. There was a thick, squashy
L21 1470 13    crack of fist on flesh.
L21 1480  5       Something hard grazed his knuckles. He put everything
L21 1490  3    he had into the next and aimed down where the stomach
L21 1490 14    ought to be. Rough cloth rasped his fist. There was
L21 1500 10    a grunt, curiously inarticulate, like that of an animal
L21 1510  7    in pain. Something heavy shook the floor as it dropped.
L21 1520  6       Alec waited a moment, on guard. Nothing happened.
L21 1530  2    Again he groped for the light switch.
L21 1530  9       The blue rug had been rolled up and stacked in one
L21 1540 10    corner of the room. On the bare floorboards a man lay
L21 1550  6    face down. He had a short, heavy, powerful body.
L21 1560  2       Alec turned him over and discovered a round, lumpy
L21 1560 11    face with narrow, slanting eyes- a primitive Tartar
L21 1570  8    face from Russia or the Balkans. The man's shoes were
L21 1580  8    too pointed, his overcoat too broad at the shoulders
L21 1590  5    and too narrow at the waist.
L21 1590 11       There was a slight bulge under the left armpit-
L21 1600  8    a shoulder holster. Alec promptly removed the gun.
L21 1610  4    He was familiar with this type. He had seen it in the
L21 1620  3    lineup at Police Headquarters in New York, in Broadway
L21 1620 12    night clubs and Seventh Avenue pool rooms, in the criminal
L21 1630 10    courts. But he was surprised to meet it here. Diana
L21 1640  9    Beauclerk had no connection with the underworld.
L21 1650  4       A professional gunman would not have killed her
L21 1660  2    with a weapon of such small caliber as a .22. Nor would
L21 1660 14    he choose a respectable hotel as the scene for a killing
L21 1670 11    when it would be so much safer to take his victim for
L21 1680  9    a one-way ride on a lonely country road.
L21 1690  2       The man's eyelids fluttered. He opened his eyes.
L21 1690 10       "What are you doing here"? demanded Alec.
L21 1700  8       The man made no reply. His eyes were dazed. His
L21 1710  9    lips were bruised and swollen where Alec had hit him.
L21 1720  6       "Did you kill Diana Beauclerk"?
L21 1730  1       Alec expected an indignant denial, but there was
L21 1730  9    no response at all.
L21 1740  3       "Oh, come on, snap out of it! Or I'll turn you over
L21 1750  3    to the police"! The silence was getting on Alec's nerves.
L21 1760  2       The man opened his mouth, but no words came. Only
L21 1760 12    that curious, animal grunting Alec had heard during
L21 1770  8    their fight.
L21 1780  1       "Don't you speak English"?
L21 1780  5       The man opened his mouth wider. A forefinger pointed
L21 1790  5    toward his gullet. Alec leaned forward to look. There
L21 1800  3    were hideous scars inside the throat and the palate
L21 1800 12    was mutilated.
L22 0010  1    In good time I shall get to the distressing actuality,
L22 0010 11    to Red McIver and Handley Walker, to murder and sudden
L22 0020  8    death. But you realize, I am sure, how much old deeds
L22 0030  8    incite to new ones, and you must forgive me if I tell
L22 0040  5    you first of the old ones.
L22 0040 11       It was in 1814 that Abraham Wharf and his sister
L22 0050  6    sat by a meager fire in their house on Dogtown Common,
L22 0060  4    a desolate place even then. He was sharpening his razor.
L22 0070  2    "Sister", said he "do you think people who commit suicide
L22 0080  1    go to heaven"? and she answered, "I don't know, but
L22 0080 11    I hope you'll never do such a thing". Without a tremor,
L22 0090 10    "God forbid"! he said, and went out and cut his throat
L22 0100 10    in the cave near Granny Day's swamp.
L22 0110  3       What has this to do with the present? Much, I assure
L22 0120  3    you. You must know what gets into people, even such
L22 0120 13    as Red and Handley, before you can tell what comes
L22 0130 10    out of them. They had learned, both of them, about
L22 0140  7    Abraham Wharf. That's why I beg you not to forget him.
L22 0150  6    His ghost is not laid. Red and Handley, God help them,
L22 0160  3    knew the old Dogtown lore; and I knew they knew it,
L22 0160 14    for I'd told them a lot of it. And isn't it true that
L22 0170 13    you get a deeper perception about a man and his motives
L22 0180  8    when you know what it is he knows?
L22 0190  3       Yes, gentlemen, I am getting to the point, to my
L22 0200  1    point. You know the facts; they are set forth in your
L22 0200 12    own newspapers. You want from me the story, but a story
L22 0210 10    is about 'why' and then, perhaps, about 'how'. The
L22 0220  5    'when' you know; yesterday morning. So what I am trying
L22 0230  6    to tell you is the 'why'- that is my point- and that
L22 0240  3    concerns the spirit of the matter. There is an inwardness
L22 0250  2    and a luster to old furniture (look at that mahogany
L22 0250 12    highboy behind you) which has a provocative emanation,
L22 0260  8    if I may say so. Places, too, have their haunting qualities.
L22 0270  6    Even people. And my point in this sad story is the
L22 0280  7    spirit of the matter. When you hold the spirit of a
L22 0290  3    thing, then somehow you know the truth- you know a
L22 0290 13    fake antique from the real thing. And the truth is
L22 0300  9    what you've come for, is it not?
L22 0310  3       Now, Dogtown is one of those places that creeps
L22 0310 12    into the marrow as worms get into old wood, under the
L22 0320 11    veneer. In fact, all the folk who lived on the back
L22 0330  9    of Cape Ann, they are not just like others. There's
L22 0340  3    a different hall-mark on them. There were no witch
L22 0350  1    burnings here because everyone had a witch in the family.
L22 0350 11    Just think of old Granther Stannard who pulled the
L22 0360  8    teeth of Dark Younger (her real name was Dorcas), and
L22 0370  7    because he bungled the job and left two protruding
L22 0380  3    tusks she put such a hex on him that he thought his
L22 0380 15    legs were made of glass. After that he was never known
L22 0390 11    to run or even walk fast. Today Dogtown is the only
L22 0400  7    deserted village in all New England that I know of.
L22 0410  5    There it sits, a small highland, with towns like Gloucester
L22 0420  2    near by; but now it's the most lost and tortured place
L22 0430  1    in the world. Those who lived in that desolation of
L22 0430 11    rocky deformity took on some of the moraine's stony
L22 0440  8    character. Scientists say it is the last spewings of
L22 0450  6    a great glacier, but one rather feels that only a malevolent
L22 0460  3    giant could have piled up those crouching monsters
L22 0460 11    of granite which still seem to preserve a sort of suspended,
L22 0470 10    ominous life in them.
L22 0480  3       We'll walk up there later. It's perhaps a mile from
L22 0490  1    here where we sit. And not one single dwelling left
L22 0490 11    there, though once, in the early eighteenth century,
L22 0500  7    there were close to a hundred houses. (I myself have
L22 0510  5    identified about sixty sites, from the old maps and
L22 0520  2    registers. A fascinating pursuit, I assure you.) Even
L22 0520 10    I can remember nothing but ruined cellars and tumbled
L22 0530  8    pillars, and nobody has lived there in the memory of
L22 0540  7    any living man. It is now a sweep of boulders and ledges,
L22 0550  3    with oak, walnut and sumac creeping across the common,
L22 0560  1    and everywhere the ruins and the long, long shadows.
L22 0560 10       That's your setting, and a sinister one. Please
L22 0570  8    get that in your reports. It accounts for so many things.
L22 0580  7    Both Red McIver and Handley Walker lived nearby, almost
L22 0590  4    as near as I do. Red lived at Lanesville, and from
L22 0600  3    his house he could be up on the Common in a half hour's
L22 0610  1    brisk walk; Handley lived further on, at Pigeon Cove.
L22 0610 10    I'd often find one or other of them up around Dogtown
L22 0620 10    sketching. They were both painters, (They were? They
L22 0640  5    are? What should one say?) Well, anyhow, Dogtown Common
L22 0650  4    is so much off the beaten track nowadays that only
L22 0660  3    Sunday picnickers still stray up there, from time to
L22 0670  1    time. Sea-road, railroad, lack of water, killed Dogtown.
L22 0670 10    Dead, dead as a brass door nail, and I sometimes feel
L22 0680 10    like the Sexton, for I'm about the last to be even
L22 0690  7    interested.
L22 0690  8       I knew Red and Handley well. As I said, they were
L22 0700  7    both painters. They'd come, separately, to Gloucester
L22 0710  3    some twenty years ago- there's always been an artists'
L22 0720  2    colony somewhere on Cape Ann- and each married here.
L22 0730  1    They married cousins, Anta and Freya Norberg. There
L22 0730  9    are a lot of Scandinavians in this neck of the woods,
L22 0740  8    and many still make painted furniture and take steam-baths.
L22 0750  6    Pretty girls among them, with blonde hair and pert
L22 0760  4    faces. Handley married Freya and Red, of the red beard,
L22 0770  1    married Anta. And it was because of an old Norberg
L22 0770 11    inheritance that I got to understand them all so well.
L22 0780  9    The quarrel ended in a ridiculous draw, but I must
L22 0790  5    tell you about it. Oh, yes, I'm quite sure it's important,
L22 0800  3    because of the Beech Pasture. What's that? Why, that's
L22 0810  3    what gave me the feeling, gave me as-it-were the spirit,
L22 0820  1    the demoniac, evil spirit of this whole affair.
L22 0820  9       You see, besides being custodian of antiquities,
L22 0830  5    I am also registrar. No, I don't hold with those who
L22 0840  5    live entirely among dead things. I know as well as
L22 0850  3    the next man that a ship is called from the rigging
L22 0850 14    she carries, where the live wind blows, and not from
L22 0860  9    the hull. But you've got to know both. What's below
L22 0870  6    the water-line interests me also. As I was saying,
L22 0880  3    I've known all about the old records, including the
L22 0880 12    old Norberg deed. Some ten years ago that page was
L22 0890 10    torn out, I don't know by whom. About five years ago,
L22 0900  8    Handley came to ask me if he could see the tattered
L22 0910  5    register. He was courteous and casual about it, as
L22 0920  2    though it were of no consequence. He's always like
L22 0920 11    that, in spite of being a big man. (When you see him,
L22 0930 10    you'll notice his habit of fingering, I might almost
L22 0940  6    say, stroking a large mole with black hairs on it,
L22 0950  3    by his right temple.) A sensual man, but very courteous,
L22 0950 13    some would say slick. Like his glossy black hair. Too
L22 0960 10    many outside manners, to my taste. He is the sort who,
L22 0970  9    with an appraising eye, would cross the street to help
L22 0980  6    a strange woman on to a bus and then pinch her. A real
L22 0990  3    gentleman, I feel, would do neither. He's always worn
L22 1000  1    a broad-brimmed hat, and I've noticed, in my small
L22 1000 11    study at the Society, that he rather smells of cosmetics.
L22 1010  7    The next week, cousin Red wandered in as casually,
L22 1020  5    but curt and untidy. Red was small and fine-boned,
L22 1030  1    like ivory-inlay. He too asked to see the same page.
L22 1030 12    When I told him someone had torn it out, he shouted.
L22 1040 10    "By God, it's that damn Handley, the sneak"! And later
L22 1050  7    in the same week they both came together to examine
L22 1060  5    the register. Fortunately we were alone in the building-
L22 1070  3    so few people nowadays are interested even in their
L22 1070 12    own past or in the lovely craft of other days- for
L22 1080 11    they began to abuse each other in the foulest language.
L22 1090  7    Red thrusting out his tawny beard, Handley glowering
L22 1100  3    under his suddenly rumpled black hair. They actually
L22 1110  1    bristled. Le rouge et le noir. Violent men both. Red
L22 1110 11    always was morose, yet that day the dapper Handley
L22 1120  9    was the louder of the two. But for my presence, they
L22 1130  7    would have been at each others' throats.
L22 1140  1       During the quarrel I learned what the trouble was,
L22 1140 10    from the accusations each hurled at the other. The
L22 1150  9    Beech Pasture had suddenly become valuable. There's
L22 1160  4    a fine granite quarry there, and granite's coming back
L22 1170  3    for public buildings. Both men knew it was in the Norberg
L22 1180  2    family holdings, but to which of the cousins did it
L22 1180 12    belong, Anta or Freya? Fortunately, I knew almost exactly
L22 1190  9    what the will had said. It began with a preamble, of
L22 1200  9    course. This explained that the judge of probate of
L22 1210  5    Essex County, 1785 or 1786, appointed three free-holders
L22 1220  1    of Gloucester to divide and establish the Norberg estate.
L22 1230  1    After the usual Honorable Sirs, it went on to say that
L22 1230 12    there had been set off to the widow one full third
L22 1240 10    part of the real estate of the deceased Salu Norberg,
L22 1250  5    one lower room, on the Western side, privileges to
L22 1260  2    the well and bake-oven and to one third of the cellar
L22 1260 14    (I can show you the cellar when we go up), also one
L22 1270 12    Cow Right, and lastly they set off to the widow her
L22 1280  8    own land that she brought with her as dower, namely
L22 1290  3    the Beech Pasture. And I remember that the whole of
L22 1300  1    the privileges, not counting the Beech Pasture, was
L22 1300  9    valued at twenty pounds. I wish you could have seen
L22 1310  8    the crests fall on these two sparring coxcombs when
L22 1320  3    I told them that obviously the pasture belonged to
L22 1330  2    their wives jointly.
L22 1330  5       That battle scene, ridiculous at it was, remained
L22 1340  2    in my mind. A disturbing picture of bad blood, to be
L22 1340 13    further heightened with illicit if buccolic colors,
L22 1350  7    for on a subsequent day I saw Handley escorting Anta,
L22 1360  6    Red's wife, up on Dogtown Common. I felt it would be
L22 1370  6    inopportune to disclose my presence. Not that I intentionally
L22 1380  3    go unperceived, but the boulders up there are very
L22 1380 12    high and I am a small woman.
L22 1395  1       One other cause of jealousy between them I must
L22 1400  3    tell you. Paint! Gloomy and unkempt as Red McIver was,
L22 1410  1    he was much the better painter. I suppose Handley knew
L22 1410 11    it. If Red had a show at Gloucester, Handley would
L22 1420  8    hurry to hang his pictures in Rockport. You may say
L22 1430  5    this has little pertinence, but, gentlemen, remember
L22 1440  2    that all this prepared my mind, alerted my intelligence.
L22 1440 11    By such touches the pattern takes shape. You would
L22 1450  9    call these the motives of crime. I would call them
L22 1460  7    the patterns of life, perhaps even the designs of destiny.
L22 1470  4    Yet with all this knowledge I had nothing of substance
L22 1480  1    to unravel our case, as you would call it, till yesterday.
L22 1490  1       One month ago, on the 20th of October, was the opening
L22 1490 12    of the gunning season in Massachusetts. Not much to
L22 1500  7    shoot, but there are a few pheasant. Rabbits, too,
L22 1510  4    if you care for them, which most of the folk around
L22 1520  2    here haven't the sense to appreciate. Any more than
L22 1520 11    they have the sense to eat mussels. That was the day
L22 1530 10    Red was said to have gone away. Oh yes, he'd talked
L22 1540  7    about doing so. In fact, he often disappeared, from
L22 1550  2    time to time,- off to paint the sea, aboard a dragger
L22 1560  1    out from Gloucester. Anta, his wife, never seemed to
L22 1560 10    mind. I suppose these absences gave her more clearance
L22 1570  7    for her embraces with Cousin Handley. Anyhow, I wasn't
L22 1580  5    surprised, early that morning, to see Handley himself
L22 1590  3    crossing from Dogtown Common Road to the Back Road.
L22 1600  2    No, he didn't have his gun, which he should have. It
L22 1600 13    would have been a good excuse for his being there at
L22 1610 11    all. I myself had been up there by seven o'clock, after
L22 1620  7    mushrooms, since there'd been a week of rain which
L22 1630  5    had stopped early that morning and the day was as clear
L22 1640  1    as Sandwich glass.
L23 0010  1       That's what the man had said. Haney peered doubtfully
L23 0010 10    at his drinking companion through bleary, tear-filled
L23 0020  7    eyes. He had no ready answer, as much from surprise
L23 0030  6    as from the fit of coughing. Was the man drunk or crazy
L23 0040  5    or both? But his new-found buddy had matched him drink
L23 0050  2    for drink until he lost count, and the man's eyes were
L23 0050 13    still clear.
L23 0060  2       The guy is off his rocker, Haney thought to himself,
L23 0070  1    and looked away from those eyes. Eyes that were clear,
L23 0070 11    but also bright with a strange intensity, a sort of
L23 0080  8    cold fire burning behind them. Why hadn't he noticed
L23 0090  5    it before? No, the man was not drunk **h
L23 0100  1       He wondered how he got tied up with this stranger.
L23 0100 11    But, of course, he remembered now. It was blurred,
L23 0110  7    after two hours of steady drinking, but the occasion
L23 0120  4    of it came back to him. The stranger, his head seemingly
L23 0130  2    sunk in thought, started to cross the street against
L23 0130 11    the light just as a huge moving van roared through
L23 0140 10    the intersection.
L23 0150  1       Brakes howled and a horn blared furiously, but the
L23 0150 10    man would have been hit if Phil hadn't called out to
L23 0160  9    him a second before. His shout had been involuntary,
L23 0170  4    something anybody might have done without thinking,
L23 0180  1    on the spur of the moment. As a matter of fact, he
L23 0180 13    wouldn't have cared at all if the guy had been hit.
L23 0190 11    Actually, he regretted having opened his mouth when
L23 0200  5    the truck came to a stop and the angry driver jumped
L23 0210  2    down from the cab and walked back toward them.
L23 0210 11       By then, the stranger was thanking Haney profusely
L23 0220  7    and had one arm around his shoulders as if he were
L23 0230  6    an old friend. So the driver started to curse at both
L23 0240  3    of them as if they had been in a plot together to ruin
L23 0240 16    his safe-driving record.
L23 0250  4       Then the man he saved turned and looked squarely
L23 0260  2    into the truck driver's face, without saying a word.
L23 0260 11    Very suddenly, the driver stopped swearing at them,
L23 0270  8    turned on his heel and went back to his truck.
L23 0280  6       Haney hadn't given it much thought at the time.
L23 0290  3    Now he recalled it very clearly, and wondered what
L23 0290 12    the truck driver had seen in those eyes to make him
L23 0300 10    back off. It must have been the sort of look that can
L23 0310  8    call a bluff without saying a word.
L23 0320  1       When the light went their way, they went on across
L23 0320 11    the street. And when the stranger found out that Phil
L23 0330  8    was on the way to one of his favorite bars, he insisted
L23 0340  5    on offering to buy drinks for both of them.
L23 0350  1       Phil usually went alone and kept to himself, sitting
L23 0350 10    in a corner and passing the time by nursing his favorite
L23 0360  9    grudges. But he decided he wouldn't mind company in
L23 0370  6    return for free drinks, even though he made good money
L23 0380  5    at his job. Phil was like that.
L23 0380 12    ##
L23 0380 13    NOW he wondered if it was worth it, having a screwball
L23 0400  9    for company. He really didn't take the offer seriously,
L23 0410  6    but he began to feel uneasy. When he finally got the
L23 0420  5    coughing under control, he realized that Pete (all
L23 0430  1    he gave was his first name) was still waiting for an
L23 0430 12    answer- he didn't even seem to wink as he continued
L23 0440  8    to stare.
L23 0440 10       Haney managed a weak laugh. "Guess I can't think
L23 0450  8    of anyone, Pete. Thanks anyhow".
L23 0460  1       A faint crease appeared between the man's eyebrows.
L23 0470  1    "I think you aren't taking me seriously, Phil. I meant
L23 0470 11    it. And everybody has some kind of grudge. I might
L23 0480  9    have got hit by that truck if it wasn't for you. I
L23 0490  7    believe in returning favors. I'll do anything for somebody
L23 0500  4    I like. It won't cost you a cent, Phil. Go ahead and
L23 0510  3    try me"!
L23 0510  5       Phil rubbed his forehead wearily. He was beginning
L23 0520  3    to feel woolly. Maybe it would be better to humor the
L23 0530  1    guy and then make an exit. He really didn't expect
L23 0530 11    anything to come of it, and there were a few people
L23 0540  9    **h
L23 0540 10       "All right", he conceded finally, "if you must know,
L23 0550  7    I don't get along with the landlord. He keeps riding
L23 0560  5    me because I like to listen to the radio and sing while
L23 0570  4    I'm taking a bath. He says the neighbors complain,
L23 0580  1    but I don't believe it. Why don't they tell me themselves
L23 0580 12    if it bothers them"?
L23 0590  3       The man closed his eyes and nodded. When he looked
L23 0600  2    up again, he seeemd almost contented. "Fine. Give me
L23 0600 11    your address. It will take a little time. I want to
L23 0610 11    study your landlord's habits and movements first. You
L23 0620  6    see, I always make it look like an accident. Maybe
L23 0630  4    suicide, if it looks reasonable. In that way there's
L23 0640  1    no trouble for the customer".
L23 0640  6       Haney's eyebrows flew up. "Customer"?
L23 0650  3       Pete smiled modestly. "It's my line of work", he
L23 0660  5    said **h
L23 0660  7       Five minutes later, before Haney could make his
L23 0670  4    break, the stranger stood up and nodded farewell. Haney
L23 0680  1    watched the small but wiry man slip out the door quickly
L23 0680 12    and silently, and felt relieved to see that nobody
L23 0690  8    else seemed to notice his departure.
L23 0700  1       Phil decided to stay a little longer, and as time
L23 0700 11    passed it seemed as if the strange little man had never
L23 0710 11    been there, but for the other glass on the table. Some
L23 0720  8    time before midnight he returned to his apartment and
L23 0730  5    hit the sack, putting the whole incident out of mind
L23 0740  2    before he fell asleep.
L23 0740  6       The next day, Sunday, the hangover reminded Haney
L23 0750  3    where he had been the night before. The hangover in
L23 0760  2    turn reminded him of his conversation with the weirdy,
L23 0760 11    and he groaned. He went for more aspirin later in the
L23 0770 10    day, and passed the surly landlord on the way- he was
L23 0780  7    still alive and scowling as usual, as if tenants were
L23 0790  5    a burden in his life. Phil shrugged and ignored him.
L23 0800  1       He went back to work Monday. By Wednesday the landlord
L23 0800 11    was still alive. Of course **h On Thursday, Haney mailed
L23 0810 10    the monthly check for separate maintenance to his wife
L23 0820  8    Lolly, and wished the stranger could do something about
L23 0830  5    her **h
L23 0830  7       Coming home from work, he was startled to see a
L23 0840  7    police car parked in front of the apartment building.
L23 0850  2    Inside the lobby, people were standing around, talking
L23 0850 10    excitedly. His spine crawled with a foreboding premonition
L23 0860  8    as he asked one of his fellow tenants what had happened.
L23 0870  8       The landlord had died. Late that afternoon, it seemed,
L23 0880  6    he had fallen off the roof while on some obscure errand
L23 0890  5    or inspection. He had apparently been alone. Nobody
L23 0900  1    witnessed the fall- just the sickening impact when
L23 0900  9    his body smashed on the pavement just outside the basement
L23 0910  8    delivery entrance.
L23 0920  1       Haney hoped that nobody noticed his sudden pallor,
L23 0920  9    as he felt the blood drain from his cheeks. He muttered
L23 0930  8    something about how terrible it was, and walked with
L23 0940  6    deliberate slowness to the elevator. Once inside his
L23 0950  3    apartment, he poured a drink with trembling hands and
L23 0950 12    flopped limply in a chair.
L23 0960  5       After a while he began to feel better about it,
L23 0970  2    especially when no one bothered to ask any questions.
L23 0970 11    But after all, why should they? Still later, he finally
L23 0980  9    convinced himself that it was an accident- just a coincidence.
L23 0990  9    The stranger really had nothing to do with it, of course
L23 1000  9    **h
L23 1000 10       Haney went to bed, happy that at least he was rid
L23 1010  8    of that lousy landlord. After all, the man had no family,
L23 1020  5    so no one suffered, and everybody was better off for
L23 1030  2    it. Really, he said to himself, nobody kills a man
L23 1030 12    just as a favor!
L23 1040  1       So you thought I didn't mean what I said. The stranger's
L23 1050  1    eyes were large and sad, as if Phil Haney had hurt
L23 1050 12    his feelings. It was like a recurrent, annoying dream,
L23 1060  8    but now the dream was beginning to take on overtones
L23 1070  6    of a nightmare.
L23 1070  9       However, Haney knew it was not a dream. He might
L23 1080  9    be very tight, but he knew where he was. It was the
L23 1090  6    same bar, and it was two weeks later- Saturday night,
L23 1100  2    when he had an excuse to drink heavier than usual.
L23 1100 12    ##
L23 1100 13    HE had been sitting in the usual corner at the little
L23 1120 11    table, as far as possible from any talkative, friendly
L23 1130  5    lushes. He was enjoying the weekly ritual of washing
L23 1140  4    down his pet grievance with bourbon slightly moistened
L23 1150  1    with water. This favorite grievance was not the landlord.
L23 1150 10    He had already quite forgotten about him. In fact,
L23 1160  8    he had only mentioned him on the spur of the moment.
L23 1170  7    His real grievance was Lolly.
L23 1180  1       Toward the end of his fourth hairy highball, while
L23 1180  9    he was moodily making wet rings on the table-top with
L23 1190  8    the bottom of the glass, he became aware that he was
L23 1200  5    not alone. He looked up with bloodshot eyes and beheld
L23 1210  1    the stranger sitting across the table, smiling a secret
L23 1210 10    smile at him, as if they were fellow conspirators.
L23 1220  7    He hadn't even noticed- what was his name? Pete?- he
L23 1230  7    hadn't seen him sit down. The man was uncanny, like
L23 1240  4    a shadow, and made as much noise as a shadow.
L23 1250  1       Haney felt like shrinking out of sight, but he was
L23 1250 11    already trapped in the corner with the wiry, dark little
L23 1260  9    man. He began to wish that he hadn't shouted that other
L23 1270  6    evening when the truck bore down through the crossing.
L23 1280  3    Was he going to be saddled from now on with a creep
L23 1290  1    for a bar-buddy? He'd have to start going to some of
L23 1290 13    the other places again.
L23 1300  2       In a low voice, almost whispering, the man had asked
L23 1310  1    Phil if he was happy with the way the landlord had
L23 1310 12    been taken off his back. He made the mistake of answering
L23 1320  9    in an offhand way, and instantly realized that his
L23 1330  4    skepticism must have showed in his face or voice.
L23 1340  1       Pete frowned slightly, then became sad and moody.
L23 1340  9    Haney didn't want to encourage his company, but felt
L23 1350  9    he ought to buy him a drink anyhow, to prevent possible
L23 1360  6    trouble. But there was no trouble. The guy sulked over
L23 1370  5    his drink, obviously upset by Haney's lack of appreciation.
L23 1380  2       To break the uncomfortable silence, Haney began
L23 1390  1    to talk. In time, and two drinks later, he was complaining
L23 1390 12    bitterly about his wife, He was on the subject for
L23 1400 10    ten minutes or so when he noticed the renewed interest
L23 1410  5    in his listener- it showed in the alert face and the
L23 1420  4    suddenly bright eyes.
L23 1420  7       When he paused to moisten his throat, the stranger
L23 1430  5    broke in. "But why pay her bills? If she runs around
L23 1440  3    with other men, and if you hate her as you say, why
L23 1440 15    not just divorce her"?
L23 1450  4       Haney scowled. "That bitch would love a divorce",
L23 1460  3    he growled. "Then she'd get half of everything I have.
L23 1470  2    Community property deal- you know. I'd have to sell
L23 1470 11    out my business to pay her off with her share. She
L23 1480 11    can drop dead"!
L23 1490  1       Pete nodded understandingly. "Oh yes. Now I see.
L23 1490  9    You must understand, I haven't been in this state too
L23 1500  9    long. I came out here to retire. That's why I- why
L23 1510  7    I do a free job now and then. You should have told
L23 1520  4    me about her before".
L23 1520  8       Haney felt a twinge of annoyance when he heard the
L23 1530  7    now familiar line again. Then a wild thought ran circles
L23 1540  4    through his clouded brain. Suppose- just suppose this
L23 1550  2    guy was really what he said he was! A retired professional
L23 1550 13    killer **h If he was just a nut, no harm was done.
L23 1560 12    But if he was the real thing, he could do something
L23 1570  7    about Lolly. He felt very cunning, very proud of himself
L23 1580  5    as he played on the other man's soft spot.
L23 1590  1       "No offense intended", he said gently. "But it's
L23 1590  9    just that- well, you know. The cops didn't suspect
L23 1600 10    a thing, and I thought it was a coincidence. After
L23 1610  6    all, I didn't know you, Pete. It could have been an
L23 1620  5    accident". He shrugged casually. "But if you say you
L23 1630  4    managed it **h" The stranger was hooked. His eyes burned
L23 1640  1    feverishly. "Yes, yes", he muttered impatiently. "Of
L23 1640  8    course it looked like an accident. I always work it
L23 1650 10    that way- and always at a time when the customer has
L23 1660  8    an alibi. Let me prove it, Phil. I think I can manage
L23 1670  5    one more favor for you". He waited eagerly.
L23 1680  1       Haney swished the liquor in the bottom of his glass.
L24 0010  1    About halfway back Pops groped against a wall and stopped,
L24 0010 11    pulled away two loosely nailed wide boards at one end,
L24 0020  9    and went through. "C'mon", he whispered; "floor level's
L24 0030  5    about three feet down, so don't fall". I went through
L24 0040  6    and down, into pitch darkness. He said, "Jist stay
L24 0050  3    still. I'll pull the boards back and then get us a
L24 0060  2    light. Jist stay where you are". I jist stayed where
L24 0060 12    I was while he fumbled around and then walked away.
L24 0070  8    A moment later he struck a match and lighted a candle,
L24 0080  6    and I could see.
L24 0080 10       It was a big room, empty except for a few things
L24 0090  7    of Pop's at the far end- a wooden crate on which stood
L24 0100  5    the candle, a spread out blanket, and an unrolled bindle.
L24 0110  2    I looked back over my shoulder while I went to join
L24 0110 13    him; he'd hung another half of a blanket over the boarded
L24 0120 11    window so no light would show through.
L24 0130  5       I took the pint bottle from my pocket and handed
L24 0140  3    it over as I sat down beside him on the spread blanket.
L24 0150  1    "You first", I said.
L24 0150  5       He drank and handed it back. "Nice place", I told
L24 0160  4    him. "Listen, I got a buddy I travel with, real nice
L24 0170  3    guy named Larry. I know where he is, right near here.
L24 0170 14    Could he join the party and sleep here tonight too?
L24 0180 10    We'll both be blowing town tomorrow so we won't be
L24 0190  7    moving in on you".
L24 0190 11       He hesitated a second, looking at the bottle, before
L24 0200  8    he said "Sure-sure", and I reassured him. "He'll bring
L24 0210  7    a bottle too, and I'll get another one or maybe two
L24 0220  7    while I'm out. You can work on this one while I'm gone,
L24 0230  5    kill it if you want". I took a short swallow from it
L24 0240  3    myself and handed it to him.
L24 0240  9       His "sure-sure" was enthusiastic this time. He put
L24 0250  6    the bottle down. "Git over by the window while there's
L24 0260  3    light, an' I'll put th' candle out. When yuh come back
L24 0270  4    I'll put it out agin till you're both inside".
L24 0280  1       Charlie was waiting, leaning against a building
L24 0280  8    front. "Perfect set-up", I told him. "But we got to
L24 0290 10    go back to Fifth and get another bottle or two. On
L24 0300  6    the way I'll give you the scoop".
L24 0310  1       On the way I gave him the scoop. I bought another
L24 0310 12    pint of sherry and when we got back Pops let us in
L24 0320 10    in the dark, put back the blanket and then lighted
L24 0330  4    the candle again. I introduced my friend Larry to Pops
L24 0340  3    and we made ourselves comfortable. There was still
L24 0340 11    a little, not much, left in the first bottle and we
L24 0350 10    passed it around once and killed it, and Charlie opened
L24 0360  6    his.
L24 0360  7       I was reminded, amusedly, by a poem of Kenneth Patchen's
L24 0370  7    called The Murder of Two Men by a Young Kid Wearing
L24 0380  6    Lemon Colored Gloves, which Patchen himself read on
L24 0390  3    a record against jazz background. The poem consisted
L24 0390 11    of only two words, the word "Wait", repeated over and
L24 0400 10    over at irregular intervals and with different inflections,
L24 0410  6    and then the word "Now"! and a blaring final chord
L24 0420  6    from the jazz group.
L24 0420 10       This was the same, except that it was the murder
L24 0430  9    of one man by two men and neither of us was wearing
L24 0440  5    gloves. But we could wait all right; there was no hurry.
L24 0450  4    I said, "Wait **h wait" to Charlie and he grinned,
L24 0460  1    digging the reference. We'd heard the record together
L24 0460  9    once.
L24 0470  1       The second bottle passed a few times. Pop was taking
L24 0470 11    long ones, but not showing the effect yet. He seemed
L24 0480  8    as drunk as when I'd first talked to him, but no drunker.
L24 0490  7    He had a capacity; if we'd really been trying to get
L24 0500  5    him dead drunk we'd have had to go out for more wine.
L24 0510  2       About halfway through the second bottle, Charlie
L24 0510  9    looked at me across Pops, who was sitting between us
L24 0520 10    and asked "Now"? I said, "Wait", and handed the bottle
L24 0530  8    to Pops for his final drink. When he handed it back
L24 0540  7    and I had hold of it safely, Pops was looking toward
L24 0550  3    me and I said "Now", to Charlie and he swung the short
L24 0560  3    length of lead pipe he'd meanwhile taken from his pocket,
L24 0570  1    once. It was a lead pipe cinch.
L24 0570  8       There was a sound like the one you produce by flicking
L24 0580  5    a watermelon with your finger, only louder, and Pops
L24 0590  3    fell forward from the waist and then over sidewise.
L24 0590 12    Out cold, if not dead; and he'd never known what hit
L24 0600 10    him- he'd never known that anything had hit him.
L24 0610  7       I reached my hand toward him to put it inside his
L24 0620  7    shirt to feel for a heartbeat, but Charlie said "Wait"!-
L24 0630  3    and said it sharply, not as in the Patchen bit, but
L24 0640  2    as an order- so I stopped my hand and looked at him.
L24 0640 14    He was holding the piece of lead pipe out to me.
L24 0650 10       "We don't want to know whether he's dead, yet. I
L24 0660  7    gauged that blow to be borderline. To kayo him and
L24 0670  5    maybe or maybe not kill. You hit again about twice
L24 0680  1    that hard before we know whether he's dead or not.
L24 0680 11    That way we'll never know which of us really killed
L24 0690  8    him and which was just the accomplice. Dig"?
L24 0700  2       I dug him, I saw his point; it made sense. I took
L24 0710  3    the piece of pipe from Charlie's hand and used it,
L24 0710 13    harder than he had. The thunk was louder, anyway, and
L24 0720 10    I thought I heard bone crack.
L24 0730  3       Charlie said, "Good boy. That did it, if mine didn't.
L24 0750  2    And we'll never know which. All right, now I'll give
L24 0760  1    you a hand".
L24 0760  4       We straightened Pops up and I made sure there was
L24 0770  2    no trace of a heartbeat.
L24 0770  7       I nodded to Charlie. "Let's put him down again the
L24 0780  6    way he was. It's a more natural position". We did that.
L24 0790  4       "How do you feel"? Charlie asked me.
L24 0800  1       "Cool", I told him. "What do you feel"?
L24 0810  1       "Nothing. Well **h maybe I'm exaggerating. It was
L24 0810  8    a kick, but not a big enough one for me to want to
L24 0820 10    take the chance again, except for stakes. But let's
L24 0830  4    not talk about it abstractly until we're out of here.
L24 0840  2    Now, first question: the bottles. Shall we take them
L24 0840 11    all with us, or leave one"?
L24 0850  5       "Take them", I said. "If we left one we'd have to
L24 0860  6    wipe it for fingerprints. Here's the picture we want
L24 0870  3    to leave for the fuzz- whenever the body gets found.
L24 0870 13    This happened in the middle of a drinking bout with
L24 0880 10    another bum. If they'd been working on a bottle or
L24 0890  7    a jug he'd have taken it with him".
L24 0900  1       "Right. And he'd have taken the weapon with him
L24 0900 10    too, so we take that. Now"- He looked around. "I've
L24 0910  9    been careful about fingerprints. How about you"?
L24 0920  6       "Same. There are the boards over the window, of
L24 0930  7    course, but they're not painted and too rough to take
L24 0940  4    prints. Same goes for the rough cement of the ledge.
L24 0950  1    Besides, I doubt if the cops will even try dusting.
L24 0950 11    They find dead winos every day, maybe they won't even
L24 0960  8    autopsy him for the cause of death".
L24 0970  2       "We can't take a chance on that. We've got to assume
L24 0980  2    they'll decide he was murdered and we've got to keep
L24 0980 12    the picture consistent. Our hypothetical other bum
L24 0990  7    who killed him would have turned out his pockets. Let's
L24 1000  6    do that". We did that and found a dirty handkerchief,
L24 1010  4    some matches and fourteen cents in change. We took
L24 1020  2    the matches- they were book matches and once they'd
L24 1020 11    been touched might retain fingerprints- and the change.
L24 1030  7       We discussed the candle and decided the hypothetical
L24 1040  7    other bum would have left it burning to light his way
L24 1050  6    to the window and because he'd have no reason to blow
L24 1060  3    it out. The candle had been stuck on a tin lid so it
L24 1060 16    wouldn't set fire to the crate when it guttered out.
L24 1070 10    A fire wouldn't have mattered except that it would
L24 1080  6    cause Pops to be found sooner. He might not be found
L24 1090  5    for days, even weeks, otherwise.
L24 1090 10       We went once more over every point, then triple-checked.
L24 1100  8    Being picked up for questioning by a cop on the way
L24 1110  7    out seemed to be the only possible remaining danger,
L24 1120  2    and we weren't picked up by a cop. In fact, nobody
L24 1120 13    saw us, cop or citizen. Winsett is a quiet street with
L24 1130 11    no taverns and was completely deserted at that hour.
L24 1140  6    Which, if it matters, was one A&M&. Less than three
L24 1150  4    hours ago we'd decided, in Maxine Wells's pad on Cosmo,
L24 1160  4    to commit a trial murder. It had gone like clockwork.
L24 1170  1    Almost too smoothly, I found myself thinking, and then
L24 1170 10    told myself that was ridiculous. How safe is too safe?
L24 1180 10    Thinking like that can get you into a padded pad.
L24 1190  8       An hour later we were back in my unpadded pad, killing
L24 1200  6    what had been left of the second pint. We decided to
L24 1210  3    leave the third one intact for tomorrow. Also our plans
L24 1210 13    for me to commit Charlie's murder and for him to commit
L24 1220 11    mine. But we were really going to do it. We shook hands
L24 1230 10    on it.
L24 1230 12       We planned ahead only one step, a rendezvous for
L24 1240  8    tomorrow when we could swap notes. I'd tell him everything
L24 1250  5    I'd learned about Seaton's habits and habitat, and
L24 1260  4    he'd tell me the score on Radic. We made the date for
L24 1270  2    two o'clock in the afternoon at Maxine Wells's pad.
L24 1270 11    Charlie would get there early because he had the key.
L24 1280 10    From here on in, the less Charlie and I were seen together
L24 1290  8    in public, or visited one another's rooms, the better.
L24 1300  4       I was dead tired and slept soundly, as far as I
L24 1310  5    know dreamlessly.
L24 1310  7       We met at Maxine's and decided we were set to stay
L24 1320  6    as long as it took, into or even through the evening,
L24 1330  2    to talk things out. Charlie had brought food and we'd
L24 1330 12    decided on no drinks. I'd brought along the virgin
L24 1340  9    pint from last night, but we were going to kill that
L24 1350  8    only when we were through talking.
L24 1360  1       I talked first, telling him everything I knew about
L24 1360 10    Seaton and his house and domestic arrangements. I drew
L24 1370  8    diagrams and floor plans; he memorized them thoroughly
L24 1380  5    and then we tore them into tiny pieces and flushed
L24 1390  3    them down. He gave me equivalent and even more detailed
L24 1400  1    dope on Radic, including diagrams- one of the apartment
L24 1400 10    building Radic lived in and one of the apartment itself.
L24 1410 10    He'd been there several times, back when, while he
L24 1420  6    and Radic had been friends, or at least not enemies.
L24 1430  3       It didn't take us as long as we'd thought it might;
L24 1440  3    it was not quite six o'clock when we finished and Charlie
L24 1450  1    said, "Well, I guess that's it. Shall we flip a coin
L24 1450 12    to see which of us goes first? Or would you rather
L24 1460 10    deal a hand of show-down poker or play a game of gin
L24 1470  8    rummy, or what"?
L24 1470 11       "Wait a minute, Charlie", I said. "One thing we
L24 1480  8    haven't discussed, expense money. We'll need some at
L24 1490  6    least, if only bus fare to the scene of the crime.
L24 1500  5    And if you're as flat broke as I am, I think we'll
L24 1510  2    have to take the added risk of knocking over a filling
L24 1510 13    station or something before we split for one of us
L24 1520 10    to set up an alibi while the other does his dirty work".
L24 1530  7       He sighed. "All right, I'll come clean. I've got
L24 1540  5    a little stashed for a rainy day, and I guess this
L24 1550  3    is rainy enough. A couple of hundred. If you draw the
L24 1550 14    short straw I'll lend you some bread, like fifty bucks,
L24 1560 10    before I take off to visit my sister in Frisco. Then,
L24 1570  9    after I'm back, another fifty so you can put some mileage
L24 1580  8    on yourself and have a solid alibi somewhere while
L24 1590  3    I take care of your seat cover boy".
L24 1590 11       "Solid", I said. I took a deep breath, and the plunge.
L24 1600 11    "In that case, let's not draw. I'll go to bat first.
L24 1610  6    You'd have to wait till Seaton's back from Mexico City
L24 1620  5    and also while I set it up with Doris to have her have
L24 1630  5    an alibi for D-night. So it wouldn't be for days or
L24 1640  4    even a week before you could do anything. But your
L24 1640 14    friend Manny can go any time".
L24 1650  6       He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. "I was
L24 1660  3    hoping you'd say that, Willy. But I wouldn't have suggested
L24 1670  3    it. Well- in that case, I take off tomorrow morning
L24 1680  1    for Frisco. And, in case, I brought the money with
L24 1680 11    me".