Authors: Lynda La Plante
“Do you have drug dealers in New Orleans?”
She knew she had hit a red zone; Elizabeth Caley’s face was glistening with sweat and she was becoming more agitated by the second.
“Oh God, Robert will be so angry, this is terrible. You see, he is in the middle of this big business deal and”
“I only need a name, Mrs. Caley, someone you usually contact there.”
“No, no, please, if this was ever to get out, if anyone there was to know …”
She seemed to fall apart in front of Lorraine’s eyes, slumping into a chair and crying. The makeup smeared, and she held her head in
her hands as though it ached, pulling loose her tightly coiled hair. She continued to sweat profusely.
Lorraine leaned”forward to touch her.
“Please, I will be discreet, I promise you, but I do need to question everyone possible. You want me to find your daughter, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes, I do,”
she murmured, and then her body began to shake uncontrollably and she screamed,
“Phyllis, Phyllis, Phyllis!”
Phyllis came running as Elizabeth Caley lost control of herself. Urine trickled down her legs, her limbs jerking and her head twitching.
“It’s all right, I’m here, I’m here, Mrs. Caley, just hold on to me, you’re going to be all right, just hold on to me. Oh, my God, help me, for God’s sake, help me, she’s going into a spasm …”
Peters came running, and between them they helped her from the sunroom. Lorraine followed them out into the hall and watched as Peters carried Elizabeth up the stairs.
“Please stay down here,”
he said angrily to Lorraine.
“Yes, just leave her alone,”
Phyllis interjected.
Lorraine sighed with irritation, but there was nothing she could do. She knew she would get nothing more out of Mrs. Caley now, so there seemed no point in remaining at the house. She returned to the sunroom to collect her purse and cigarettes. A maid was already clearing up the tea trays. ť
Lorraine suddenly picked up the teapot, took off the lid and sniffed; it smelled of mint and something else, a herbal smell. She sniffed again.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Page, may I take that fromťu?”
It was the dour Peters. ^
“What the hell is in it?”
“Just a herbal remedy. Mrs. Caley has it delivered.”
“Where from?”
Peters picked up the tray.
“The Natural Health Store, I believe it’s called. Excuse me, I hope you won’t take offense, but why don’t you leave her alone? She is very sick and it’s tragic to see her this way, just as she was recovering and
“
“Yes, very reminiscent of Sunset Boulevard, but I wonder who will end up in the swimming pool?”
He stared hard at Lorraine and did not hide his disdain.
“You should perhaps take great care or it could be you.”
He walked out. Lorraine was about to follow him when the maid gave a small nervous cough. Lorraine turned toward her. She gave a furtive look at Peters’s disappearing ramrod back before she whispered to Lorraine.
“She gets it from home, ma’am. It’s no remedy.”
1GB “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
The girl chewed her lip and then tried to pass Lorraine, frightened.
“Wait, don’t go. Are you talking about the tea?”
Phyllis hurried in.
“Get back in the house, Sylvana, go along, quickly now.”
Sylvana shot a frightened look at Lorraine before scurrying away.
Lorraine turned to Phyllis with concern.
“Is Mrs. Caley going to be all right?”
Phyllis shook her head and shrugged.
“She’ll sleep it off.”
Lorraine took Phyllis’s arm as they walked back to the house.
“Phyllis, you had better get Mrs. Caley some treatment and fastotherwise she’s going to kill herself.”
“Yes, I know,”
Phyllis whispered, and then stopped in her tracks.
“What did you say that made her get so upset?”
“Who’s her drug dealer in New Orleans?”
Phyllis closed her eyes.
“Oh God, this is dreadful, if Mr. Caley was to know. Please, is it really necessary to”
“For Chrissakes, Phyllis, I am trying to find her daughter! Now if you know and persist in withholding information from me, in giving me halftruths …”
Just as it seemed that Phyllis was about to confide in Lorraine, Robert Caley strode in.
“What has been going on out here? Phyllis, you should be with Elizabeth. I want you to sit with her until a doctor comes to see her.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Caley, I’ll go straight to her now.”
“And stay with herif she vomits she could …”
Robert Caley sighed, waited for Phyllis to go and then looked at Lorraine.
“What did you say to her? She’s hysterical.”
“I’m just trying to do my job, Mr. Caley, but it seems everyone who works around here is so busy protecting your wife
“
“You saw her, don’t you think she needs protecting?”
he snapped.
“Yes, I do, but I don’t think you know how serious her condition is, Mr. Caley.”
“How dare you! I get her into a rehab center and she’s cleaned up only to get back on whatever drugs she can get her hands on. Well, she’s going away this time whether she likes it or not”
“So you know what she’s taking?”
“You name it and she’ll shove it up her nose, down her throat or inject it. Unless I put her under twenty-four-hour watch I can’t stop her. But believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Right now, Mr. Caley, your wife is using drugs that could very easily
kill her. They are very dangerous used in the quantity she is injecting and she could easily induce a thrombosis.”
He closed hiseyes.
“Oh, my God, what is itheroin?”
“No, they are prescribed sleeping tablets.”
He sighed, making a helpless gesture with his hands.
“The last thing I need right now is some asshole to get hold of her condition and the story to be plastered over every shit-filled tabloid there is. My competitors’d love it, with Anna Louise missing you can bet any money they’d link her drug abuse to”
“What if it is?”
Lorraine interrupted. He frowned and looked at her. She was sure he was unaware of the exact drugs used by Elizabeth Caley.
“Do you know who she used to procure drugs for her in New Orleans? Your wife has a very expensive habit, Mr. Caley, and she’ll either take stuff with her or score it there, so maybe there is a link.”
He sat down, head in his hands as he rested his elbows on the table.
“I doubt it, she has a pretty well-organized network of people who I think procure whatever she needs. And she pays highly for it, I have no doubt.”
“You know any of them?”
“I know her main contact is her own doctor. It’s madness, like a Catch—
22 situation if I report him he will obviously use my wife’s name, even more so now.”
He got up and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. He seemed tired out.
“I banned Juda Salina from the hous but it didn’t do any good, she just went to her place”
“Juda Salina procured drugs for your wifejV^re you sure?”
He cocked his head to one side.
“Sure as Ban be, but what can I do? Put the cops on her and then she informs the’ress who her client is?”
Lorraine leaned forward.
“I don’t think her doctor will be able to practice for some considerable timehe was arrested two days ago, and as I believe your wife did not use her own name I doubt if there will be any adverse publicity. Well, I hope not for her sake as much as yours.”
“Thank you,”
he said softly, and smiled, then gestured for her to walk beside him.
“I need some air, let’s go into the garden.”
They walked side by side in silence along the narrow pathway past the manicured lawns and flower beds. She felt him begin to relax and he gave her that gentle smile again.
“You mind if I ask you something personal, Mr. Caley?”
“No, Mrs. Page, you go right ahead. And if you don’t mind my being personal, I like this new haircut, it suits you.”
Lorraine ignored the compliment.
“Do you love your wife?”
He wasn’t expecting the question and took a moment before he answered, shaking his head,
“Of course I do, but maybe ‘care’ would be a
better description. If it wasn’t for her I’d still be bumming around selling real estate. That’s all I did, you know, when I met her, I was a real estate agent. In fact, I was trying to sell her a property.”
“You got lucky,”
Lorraine said softly, and his pleasant manner changed. He lost that vulnerable quality, his eyes hardened and his voice was cold.
“No, Mrs. Page, I fell in love with a very beautiful, sweet lady. Now, unless you want to ask any further personal questions, I had better see to my wife… . Oh, I offered you a ride, I’m flying to New Orleans tonight. If you wish to join me, call Phyllis, I’ll send my car around.”
“I accept the ride but I’ll make my own way to the airport.”
“Fine. Phyllis will give you details of which hangar my plane’s parked in. About six-thirty?”
“Thank you, I’ll be there.”
“I bet you will be, Mrs. Page.”
He returned to the house, not looking back, and Lorraine remained standing alone, angry at herself. There was no need for her to have asked Caley if he loved his wife; she knew he didn’t, but she believed he really did care about her.
She was getting into her car when she saw the private ambulance pull up in the driveway. She took a long time unlocking the door as she watched the two attendants hurry into the house. A third car was parked in the driveway, a dark four-door Mercedes-Benz. After a few moments the two attendants appeared on the steps, holding Elizabeth Caley between them. She was wearing a pair of dark glasses and a scarf swathed around her head and she was sobbing, needing the support of both men, but she made no attempt to resist as they helped her inside the ambulance.
Phyllis and Robert Caley came out behind Mrs. Caley, accompanied by a tall man in a gray suit carrying a doctor’s bag. Lorraine could not delay leaving any longer, as all three turned toward her.
“Goodbye, see you later,”
she called out, and then at once regretted her failure to say something more appropriateeven more so when she drove past the ambulance and caught a glimpse of Elizabeth Caley just before they closed the doors. She was weeping inconsolably, repeating her daughter’s name again and again”Anna Louise, Anna Louise …”
CHAPTER
Lorraine had expected a small twin-engined plane, but Robert V Caley owned a 1993 Citation Jet, which made her Russian cabdriver whistle with open admiration. As shppicked up her suitcase a tanned blond man jumped down the steps orthe plane.
“Mrs. Page?”
His wide smile seemed overbright.
“I’m Edward Hardy, Mr. Caley’s pilot. Let me take your case. Mr. Caley has been delayed, but he called in to say he would be here shortly. As it turns out, it’s not a problem, because we haven’t yet got clearance for takeoff.”
Lorraine stepped inside, and Edward moved ahead of her to indicate a plush leather easy chair. He stowed her case away in a compartment at the rear of the plane, keeping up a friendly conversation.
“If you need the bathroom it’s right here, and the bedroom is just beyond.”
She flicked him a glance, but the remark was innocent.
“If you need to wash, or do whatever ladies do. In the meantime, can I offer you a drink? We have champagne, chilled Chardonnay or a nice Merlot, if you prefer. There’s gin, whisky, vermouth, or I can make up a cocktailanything you want.”
Lorraine felt intensely self-conscious as she sat stiffly in the leather easy chair.
“Just ice water, please.” A diminutive Chinese man appeared, carrying a deep basket and a large foil-covered silver tray.
“Hi there, how you doing? Young Sin, this is Mrs. Page.”
She smiled as the little man began to lay out his many different covered dishes.
“You like lobster, Mrs. Page?”
he asked.
“Yes.”
“Flown in from Maine.”
He opened a table, deftly placing on it a white linen cloth and napkins, flower bowls, cutlery and cut-crystal glasses.
Lorraine drew a Vogue magazine toward her and flicked through the glossy pages. Had Anna Louise Caley sat in the same chair and read a similar magazine?
“Did you know Anna Louise?”
she asked as Edward refilled her glass.
“Yes, of course.”
“You were flying the plane on February fifteenth last year?”
“Yes, I was.”
Lorraine smiled, sipping her water.
“Anna Louise called home?”
“She did. We have a phone, do you need to make a call?”
“No, thanks. How was she on the flight?”
“I was in the cockpit.”
“But you must have welcomed her aboard.”
“Yeah, she was like usual, you know, cute kid, always real friendly.”
“You’ve worked a long time for the Caleys?”
“About eight years.”
“So you knew Anna Louise quite well?”
Edward hesitated and then put his hands on his hips.
“She was my employer’s daughter, ma’am. She was a nice kid but I never knew her. I never saw her outside business if that is what you mean.”
“You are a nice-looking young man, Edward.”
“I’m also married, Mrs. Page, with a two-year-old boy. No way would I start up anything that’d jeopardize my job, my marriage, or show disrespect to Mr. Caley.”
“How did you get on with Mrs. Caley?”
Edward was beginning to show his irritation at her questions.
“Mrs. Caley is one of the nicest women I know, always friendly. I know she has a few problems, but that isn’t my business. When she’s aboard she’s real quiet, she’s nervous about flying. You nervous at all, Mrs. Page?”
“No.”
“No, I didn’t think you would be.”
He was about to walk away when she slapped the magazine down.
“Edward, a second. Don’t get uppity with me. I’m hired by the Caleys to find their daughter, so I have to ask you a few questions, be they personal or not. I don’t mean to insult you, but I’ve had a lot of people tell me what a cute, sweet^kid Anna Louise was, when I know she was not quite so cute, not quite so innocent, and liked to be fucked.”