Part 19 (2/2)
”What third killing are you referring to?”
”The death of Luke Deloney, a man I never heard of until tonight. I met Helen Haggerty's mother at the L.A. airport and had a talk with her on the way down here. According to her, Deloney shot himself by accident while cleaning a gun. But Helen claimed he was murdered and said she knew a witness. The witness may have been herself. At any rate she quarreled with her father on the issue--he seems to have been the detective in charge of the case--and ran away from home. All this was over twenty years ago.”
”You seriously think it's connected with the present case?”
”Helen thought so. Her death makes her an authority on the subject.”
”What do you propose to do about it?”
”I'd like to fly to Iffinois tonight and talk to Helen's father. But I can't afford to do it on my own hook.”
”You could phone him.”
”I could. My sense of the situation is that it would do more harm than good. He may be a tough nut to crack.”
G.o.dwin said after a minute's thought: ”I might consider backing you.”
”You're a generous man.”
”A curious one,” he said. ”Remember I've been living with this case for over ten years. I'd give a good deal to see it ended.”
”Let me talk to Alex first, and ask him how he feels about laying out more money.”
G.o.dwin inclined his head and remained bowing as he stood up. He wasn't bowing to me. It was more of a general and habitual bow, as if he could feel the weight of the stars and was asking their permission to take part of the weight on human shoulders.
”I'll get him out of there. He's stayed long enough.”
G.o.dwin disappeared down the hallway. A few minutes later Alex came back alone. He walked like a man in a tunnel underground, but his face was more serene than I'd ever seen it.
He paused in the doorway. ”Dr. G.o.dwin said you were here.”
”I'm surprised to see you.”
Hurt and embarra.s.sment flickered across the upper part of his face. He brushed at it impatiently with his fingers. Then he stepped into the office, shutting the door behind him and leaning on it.
”I made a fool of myself today. I tried to chicken out.”
”It takes guts to admit it.”
”Don't gloss it over,” he said sharply. ”I was really lousy. It's funny, when Dad gets upset it has a peculiar effect on me. It's like sympathetic vibrations: he goes to pieces, I go to pieces. Not that I'm blaming _him_.”
”I'm blaming him.”
”Please don't. You have no right to.” His eyebrows knitted. ”The company's talking about bringing in computers to handle most of the work in the office. Dad's afraid he can't adjust, and I guess it makes him afraid of things in general.”
”You've been doing some thinking.”
”I had to. You started me off with what you said about annulling myself. I felt that way when I went home with Dad-- as though I wasn't a man any more.” He pushed himself clear of the door and balanced himself on his feet, his arms swinging slightly at his sides. ”It's really amazing, you know? You really can make a decision inside yourself. You can decide to be one thing or the other.”
The only trouble was that you had to make the decision every hour on the hour. But he would have to find that out for himself.
”How is your wife?” I said.
”She actually seemed glad to see me. Have you talked to her?”
”Dr. G.o.dwin wouldn't let me.”
”He wouldn't let me, either, till I promised not to ask her any questions. I didn't, but the subject of the revolver came up. She'd heard two of the aides talking about some newspaper story--”
”It's in the local paper What did she have to say about the gun?”
”It isn't hers. Somebody must have hidden it under her mattress. She asked me to describe it, and she said it sounded like her Aunt Alice's revolver. Her aunt used to keep it on her bedside table at night. Dolly was sort of fascinated by it when she was a little girl.” He breathed deeply. ”Apparently she saw her aunt threaten her father with it. I didn't want her to go into all that stuff but I couldn't prevent her. She calmed down again after a while.”
”At least she's stopped blaming herself for Helen Haggerty's death.”
”She hasn't, though. She still says it was her fault. Everything's her fault.”
”In what way?”
”She didn't go into it. I didn't want her to.”
”You mean Dr. G.o.dwin didn't want you to.”
”That's right. He's calling the shots. I guess he knows more about her than I ever will.”
”I take it you're going on with your marriage?” I said.
”We have to. I realized that today. People can't walk out on each other when they're in this kind of trouble. I think maybe Dolly realizes it, too. She didn't turn her back on me or anything.”
”What else did you talk about?”
”Nothing important. The other patients, mostly. There's one old lady with a broken hip who doesn't want to stay in bed. Dolly's been sort of looking after her.” It seemed important to him. ”She can't be so very sick herself.” It was an implied question.
”You'll have to take that up with the doctor.”
”He isn't saying much. He wants to give her some psychological tests tomorrow. I told him to go ahead.”
”Do I have your go-ahead, too?”
”Naturally. I was hoping you'd take that for granted. I want you to do everything you can to settle this thing. I'll give you a written contract--”
”That won't be necessary. But it's going to cost you money.”
”How much money?”
”A couple of thousand, maybe a good deal more.”
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