Better Than This (40 page)

“Pleasure to meet you, Nick. Can I offer you some coffee or something? You’ll have to excuse the state we’re in. Did Garrison tell you we have people staying with us? Four children as well as our own three.” She raised her eyes heavenward. “Do you have children of your own?”

I managed to shake my head.

“Well, take it from me, even in a place this size, seven kids have about the same effect as a herd of wild elephants.”

As if to underscore her words the ceiling suddenly shook with the sound of running, pounding feet. She gave me a look that said, see what I mean?

I knew at once that Garrison hadn’t been putting on an act, and that somehow I had got all of this completely and utterly

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wrong. The phone calls, Sally’s odd behaviour, none of it had anything to do with him. My first impulse was that I should get out of there, mumble whatever excuse I could come up with and hightail it away from White Falls as fast as I could.

“Did you say you came to see Sally?” Garrison said before I could organize my thoughts into action. “Is she staying with her parents then?”

I seized on that as an excuse. “Yes, that’s right. She came up for a couple of days.”

“I used to see her around now and then when she was in town,” Garrison said. “Though I haven’t for a while. Actually I almost ran into her in San Francisco the other week. I met her dad.”

“Frank?”

“Yes. He was waiting for Sally and her mother to meet him after they’d been shopping. Pity I missed them.”

Now I understood why Sally hadn’t mentioned meeting Garrison. It was because she hadn’t. I saw with horrible clarity that when Frank had told me about bumping into Garrison he hadn’t meant anything by it, there had been no hidden implication.

There was a pause, as Garrison pondered that he still didn’t know how any of this had brought me to his door, or how it explained my strange appearance and what must have seemed like threatening behaviour.

“Looks as if I’ve made a mistake,” I said apologetically. “Sally went out earlier and I thought she said she was coming to visit you. I must have misunderstood.”

“I see,” Garrison said, obviously unconvinced. “No, she didn’t come here. I didn’t even know she was in town. What about you, Kate, you haven’t seen her have you?”

“I’m afraid we’ve never actually met. Though I’ve heard Garrison mention her of course, and I know her parents a little.”

“Like I said, I obviously misunderstood. Well, sorry to disturb you. I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You wouldn’t like to stay for coffee?”

“Thanks, but I should be going.” I shook Garrison’s hand, and then his wife’s and apologized again for barging in. I could already see the questions and bafflement in their eyes. But they were pleasant well bred people and they didn’t say anything.

“You and Sally should come around for dinner. How long are you in town for?” Garrison said at the door.

“Oh, couple of days. That’d be great. I’ll tell Sally and we can call you.”

“I’d love to meet her,” Kate said.

I raised a hand and went back to my car, then waved again and called goodbye before I drove away. When I looked in the mirror they were standing at the door watching me. I could almost hear Kate asking her husband, “Who was that nut? Did he really think his wife was here? Sounded a little fishy to me.” They exchanged glances and turned and went back inside.

When I reached the road I pulled over and leaned my head against the wheel with my eyes closed. I kept seeing the Hunts’ bemused expressions, and I wondered how I could have made such a horrendous mistake. It was lucky that I hadn’t pulled a gun, or by then I would have been trying to explain myself to the county sheriff. I trawled back in my mind through all the incidents that had led me to believe that Sally was involved with Garrison, and the fact was I saw that it was all pretty much supposition on my part. If Frank hadn’t ever mentioned Garrison’s name I never would have even thought of him. But that didn’t change the calls I’d overheard, and her other suspicious behaviour. Could I have misread all of that as well? Had those things all been innocent?

I couldn’t think straight. My mind was sluggish. Nothing made any sense any more and I didn’t know what the truth was. All I knew was that I had to find Sally. It was only then that I saw what I should have seen right away, that if anyone would know where she was, it was Ellen. In fact once that thought took hold I slapped my hand on the wheel and cursed myself for being such a moron. The chances were that’s where Sally was. Where else would she go?

I drove straight to their house. There was no sign of Sally’s car, but if she was there I reasoned that she’d probably flown into Portland. However, I wasn’t about to make the same mistake

I had at the Hunts’. I did the best I could to straighten my appearance, though it didn’t help much. The old house was just the same, a little more faded, a little more of its lustre lost in the signs of peeling paintwork around the window frames, and the chimneys were in need of re pointing Even Frank’s glass houses that I glimpsed at the back of the house as I got out of my car looked as though they were sinking into the ground, and I noticed the odd pane of missing glass. They should have sold the place a long time ago when it was clear they couldn’t afford the upkeep, but I guess Ellen would rather live in a crumbling dump than move into an ordinary house like everyone else.

At the door I hesitated before ringing the bell. I hoped Garrison Hunt hadn’t called ahead of me. A lot of emotions see-sawed back and forth in my mind. Footsteps approached on the other side, and then the door opened and Ellen stood before me. She was surprised to see me, but only briefly. The merest hint of a gloating smile that flickered in her eyes told me that she knew Sally had left me and she wasn’t completely taken aback to see me there.

“Hello, Ellen,” I said in as civil a tone as I could muster.

She took in the state of my appearance and I imagined I had at last confirmed everything she always thought about me. “You better come inside, Nick.”

We went through to the kitchen where I sat down at the big scrubbed pine table. The wood burning stove was lit, though it wasn’t cold outside. I guessed it was cheaper to use than electricity.

“Would you like some coffee,” Ellen asked. “You look as if you could use some.”

“Thanks.”

“Frank’s in the garden.” She said it in such a way that I gathered that what she meant was that we could talk freely, just her and I. “Is she here?”

Ellen looked at me over the rim of her cup then set it down on the table. “No.”

I believed her. If Sally had been in the house I don’t think I would ever have crossed the threshold. “But you know where she is?” I ventured.

“I have a phone number for her. But she doesn’t want anyone to know where she is.”

“By anyone you mean me specifically.”

“Yes, Nick. I mean you.”

I drank my coffee and wondered what Sally had told her mother. I doubted whether she’d said anything. Not about the money or Dexter.

“I’d like to talk to her, Ellen. I need that number.”

“I can’t give it to you. Sally expressly said that if I heard from you I shouldn’t. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“She’ll have to sooner or later.”

“Perhaps.”

There was something in her tone that belied her agreement, however. “You don’t think so?”

“I think you should face up to the fact that Sally has left you, Nick. Your marriage is over and this time she isn’t going back.”

“This time. You make it sound as if this has happened before.”

“In a way it has. Several times when Sally was staying here she almost didn’t go back to San Francisco.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Nevertheless it’s true. I knew she was unhappy, that’s why we came down to the city to see you. I wanted to convince her to come home. I think that’s why she hadn’t visited for a while, because she was afraid if she did she wouldn’t go back again and Sally hadn’t yet reached the point of making that step.”

“But she stayed,” I pointed out.

“Yes. But I warned her she was making a mistake.”

I wanted to ask if Sally was seeing somebody else, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I couldn’t bear the humiliation. Besides, if there was somebody and Ellen knew about it, I was certain she wouldn’t have been able to resist telling me. It seemed that I was at an impasse. Ellen was never going to give me Sally’s number unless I beat it out of her, and tempting as that notion was I hadn’t yet sunk to that level.

“Sally wouldn’t say what made her finally leave, but whatever has happened, this time she won’t change her mind,” Ellen told me. “When she called she was distraught.”

“When was that?” I asked, wondering if it was Ellen I’d overheard Sally speaking to.

“Yesterday morning.”

“Not the night before?”

“No,” she answered uncertainly. She got up and took our empty cups to the dishwasher. “I always told you it would come to this.”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you,” I said bitterly.

“You aren’t right for each other, Nick, you never were.”

“No, Ellen, I wasn’t right for you. Sally had nothing to do with it.” I wondered what she’d say if she knew about the program and Dexter. Maybe she was right, I thought.

I was wasting my time there so I stood up to leave. “When you speak to her again, tell her I need to talk to her.” I tried to think of a message I could leave that Sally would find compelling. “Just tell her she’s got it all wrong.”

“It won’t do any good,” Ellen replied, and I saw that it didn’t matter what I said, she would never pass it on.

There was nothing left to say. I went to the front door and let myself out, and Ellen followed me and watched me go to my car. When I looked back she closed the door. I would have left then, but I saw Frank come out of one of his glass houses and at the same time he looked over and saw me. He came over, obviously surprised, and we shook hands.

“Where’s Sally?” he asked.

I realized he didn’t know she’d left me. “She didn’t come, Frank. I was just passing through.”

He appeared puzzled, but stood back as I got in my car. “You’re leaving?”

“Yes. Take care, Frank.”

“You too,” he said, bewildered by all this.

I started the car and was about to pull away when he called something and I wound down the window. “What was that?” He smiled. “I said did you spray those aphids yet?” I laughed.

I turned on my cell phone when I was half an hour from San Francisco. I called home first, but I wasn’t surprised when I heard my own voice on the answering machine. I waited when the tone sounded, in case Sally was there, but even as I spoke her name I knew it was futile and I hung up. I called Alice next, and the urgency in her tone cut through my fatigue like a cold water plunge.

“Oh my God where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”

I sidestepped the issue of what I’d been doing for the past thirty-six hours, my attention focused squarely back on Dexter. “Has something happened?”

A note of panic sounded in her voice. “I couldn’t get hold of you. I’ve been going crazy here. Everything’s going wrong.”

She wasn’t making any sense yet but it was clear that events had moved on while I was gone. “Slow down,” I told her, trying to remain calm myself. “What are you talking about. Tell me everything. Slowly.”

I heard her take a breath as she struggled to get a grip on herself. When she started speaking again she sounded calmer, more in control. “Marcus called me. I tried to get hold of you right away but there was no answer at your house and your cell phone was switched off. He was asking questions. Strange questions. First he wanted to know if I knew about Dexter, and then he asked if I’d talked to you. I said I had of course, and

then he started cross-examining me. He wanted to know every word you’d said.”

So Marcus was suspicious too. That was bad but it wasn’t catastrophic. So long as he hadn’t said anything to the police. “What did you say?”

“I acted dumb. He kept asking me if you’d said anything about seeing Dexter after the night at the restaurant.”

That was worse, I thought. “Has he said anything to the police?”

“I don’t think so. I would have heard from Morello if he had.”

“What else did Marcus say.”

“Nothing at first. After I spoke to him I kept trying to reach you but nobody knew where you were. I couldn’t get an answer at your house. Then Marcus called again and said he thought you might have had something to do with what happened to Dexter. He wanted to know what I thought we should do.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him he was wrong of course. I said he was crazy. And then we ended up fighting. He hung up in the end. I was sick with worry. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I couldn’t sleep at all so yesterday when I still couldn’t find you I tried to call Marcus back to see what was going on but I couldn’t get hold of him. All kinds of things have been going through my mind. I thought he must have gone to the police, that you’d been arrested or something. Every time the phone rang or somebody came near the boat I practically had a heart attack.”

My head was reeling as I tried to take all this in.

“Where have you been?” Alice said again.

“I went to Oregon.”

“Oregon?”

“Sally left me. I had to talk to her.”

“She went to Oregon?”

“Her parents live there, and…” I started to explain about Garrison Hunt, but stopped. “Look it doesn’t matter. She wasn’t there.”

For several seconds Alice didn’t say anything. I was trying to figure out how Marcus knew about Dexter until the answer was clear, that Sally must have told him.

“Sally knows doesn’t she?” Alice cut into my thoughts. “She knows about Dexter.”

“Yes,” I admitted. “That’s part of the reason I was trying to find her, to talk to her.” Alice made a groaning sound. “What is it?”

“Oh, Nick. You still don’t know, do you?”

And then in a flash of insight I did know. I knew exactly what she would say next and it was as if I had been stumbling around like a man lost in dense fog and suddenly a wind comes up and the fog lifts and the view is clear for miles.