Part 13 (1/2)

She regarded me thoughtfully. ”It's odd, though. I have the strangest impression I've seen you somewhere before.

I caught my party expression before it could slide off onto my s.h.i.+rt, and propped it up again. ”Well-that is, I have been around here for a day or two.”

”Maybe that's it.” Then she smiled charmingly. ”You've had that feeling, haven't you, Mr. Chatham. I mean, that you've seen someone before?”

”Oh, sure,” I said. I suppose everybody does at times.”

I was furious, and uneasy at the same time because I couldn't see what she was up to. So she hadn't been asleep. Then she knew it was purely accidental and that I'd fled the moment I saw her.

”How do you like our garden?” she asked. ”Don't you think Kelly's done a wonderful job?”

”Yes,” I said. ”It's very good.”

Maybe she was crazy. It was another minute or two before I could get away with any grace at all. Redfield said nothing, except to thank me curtly for helping him with the bricks.

”You must must come back, Mr. Chatham,” she said graciously. come back, Mr. Chatham,” she said graciously.

”Of course,” I said. ”Thank you.”

I went out to the station wagon, wondering if I was leaving blood tracks on the driveway. What was the matter with her, and what had she been trying to do? Why the knife? Or had it been that at all? Maybe she was just bouncing her nude body against me for kicks. Or as an invitation.

In the presence of her husband? Redfield? Redfield? If she liked to live that dangerously, why not take up Russian roulette with If she liked to live that dangerously, why not take up Russian roulette with all all the chambers loaded? the chambers loaded?

When I got back to the motel, Georgia Langston was behind the desk in the lobby, making entries in two big ledgers. Josie was muttering indignantly. ”I jest can't do nothin' with her, Mr. Chatham.”

”I can,” I said. I closed the ledgers, took her by the arm, and walked her into the bedroom. Stacking the two pillows, I told her firmly, ”In you go.”

She sighed with exaggerated martyrdom, but lay back. I removed her sandals, dropped them by the bed, and sat down in the armchair. She turned her head then, and smiled. ”You're a bully. But nice.”

”I happen to think you're pretty nice too,” I said. ”And I don't like picking up the pieces of people I'm fond of, so you stay there. I want to talk to you, anyway.”

She made a face. ”Well, do you think I could smoke, Doctor?”

I lit a cigarette for her and one for myself. ”How well did you and your husband know the Redfields?” I asked.

”Not really well,” she replied. ”We rarely entertained at all. You just can't, and operate a motel. I think we played bridge together two or three times. But he and my husband went fis.h.i.+ng together quite often.”

”That's something else I wanted to ask you about,” I said. ”Weren't you worried about his going fis.h.i.+ng alone? I mean, with a history of two heart attacks?”

She nodded. ”Of course. But he practically never did, because of the way I felt about it. The only reason he went alone that day was that Redfield had to go out of town at the last minute and he couldn't get anybody else-”

”Hold it,” I said quickly. ”Back up a minute. You mean he and Redfield had planned to go together, but Redfield had to cancel? Tell me exactly how it happened.”

She stared at me questioningly. ”The day it all happened was Thursday, you know. They'd had the trip planned since the previous Monday, or something like that. But around noon on Wednesday Redfield called here. He was leaving town right then, going up into Alabama somewhere, I think, to extradite a prisoner, or some other police job. He said he was sorry he hadn't called sooner.”

”He talked to you?” I asked. ”Not your husband?”

”Yes. Kendall was out somewhere.”

”And you gave him the message? You're sure of it?”

”Of course. But why are you asking me all this?”

”Frankly, I don't know,” I said. ”But there's something about it that keeps needling me. You say Redfield apologized because he hadn't called sooner? Did he say it was because he hadn't known about it sooner, or he'd just forgotten to?”

She thought about it ”Wait. I remember now. I'm pretty sure he said it had just slipped his mind.”

I nodded. ”Well, wait a minute. You say Redfield questioned you, along with the Sheriff. The next day, I mean. Was his trip called off, or something, or had he gone and come back?”

”Let's see,” she said. ”They took me into the Sheriff's office about nine-thirty that morning, I think. Redfield wasn't there then, I know. He came in around noon, or one o'clock.”

So he had gone out of town, apparently. And he'd known about it prior to noon the day before, possibly early that morning. I began to feel excited. Then it went flat. What possible connection could it have had with Langston, even a.s.suming my wild guess was right?

”Do you know anything about Mrs. Redfield at all?” I asked. ”Where she comes from originally and how long they've been married and so on?”

”No-o. I don't know much. As I say, I only met her a few times. But she seemed very nice. She was a school teacher, and I think they've been married a little over two years.”

”Is she a native?”

”I think she came here from Warren Springs. That's about sixty miles. But she does have relatives here; you'd never believe it if you've met her, an attractive girl like that, but she's a cousin of that horrible Pearl Talley-”

”Talley?” I said sharply.

”Umh-umh.” She smiled. I gather, from the way you said it, that you've met him?”

Twice,” I said. I told her about it.

”That's Talley, all right. The lipstick thing is typical. A lot of people think he's amusing-you know, a character-but to me he's revolting. Those depraved girls he lives with-And it isn't as if he were stupid and didn't know any better. He's very intelligent, and probably the shrewdest business man in the County. He owns a half-interest in the movie theatre, and a junk yard, and I don't know how much real estate.”

I know,” I said. ”Or at least, I've heard about his farms. But what else do you know about Mrs. Redfield?”

”Well, I gather you've met her too,” she said coolly. ”She is about the most attractive girl in town, isn't she?”

”Let's say the second most attractive,” I interrupted. ”But here's what I'm driving at. Everybody agrees Strader came up here to see some woman. And from what I've heard of him, the chances are it wasn't Gravel Gertie.”

She stared. ”You couldn't mean her?”

”Why not?”

”I don't know-but she just doesn't seem the type. And they've been married only two-”

”Let's take another look at the record,” I said. ”You don't exactly seem the type yourself. And you'd been married only one one year. But that didn't seem to bother anybody when it came to hanging Strader around your neck. So why can't we try him on Mrs. Redfield, just for size?” year. But that didn't seem to bother anybody when it came to hanging Strader around your neck. So why can't we try him on Mrs. Redfield, just for size?”

”But what do you have to go on?”