You Live Once (16 page)

“That’s a lot of money.”

“I’m a lot of lawyer, young man.”

I grinned at him. “Okay.”

“I will do some thinking and review the facts we have and come back and bring a tape recorder and we’ll go into this in detail, young man.”

“What happened to … Miss MacRae, my secretary? I’m anxious to keep her out of this.”

“That investigator, France, reported where he had found you. Kruslov had her brought in. She was here when they brought you in. Kruslov was willing to be convinced that she had no part at all in the murder. He knows her father, and I guess his brother knows her. He talked to France about it. So the papers didn’t get it yet. But I think they will when it comes to trial. The prosecution will want to show that you acted like a guilty man. That includes hiding, and whoever hid you.”

“The company will fire her.”

He looked at me sadly. “They’re not likely to give you a medal, Mr. Sewell.”

At about six o’clock they took me to the same room, that shabby defeated room with its smell of violence, where they had roughed me up. Toni was waiting there for me. They closed the door and left us alone. I suspected the influence of Jerry Hyers in that nice arrangement.

We kissed and both talked at once and kissed again. She put gentle fingertips against my swollen face and cried about that, and about us and about the whole miserable mess.

“It can’t be true, Clint. It’s hideous. It can’t really be true.”

“Part of it was true.”

She flushed. “Yes. Oh, yes. You know, they came to the plant and got me. Captain Kruslov said awful things to me. About helping you. Mr. France was there too. He
was terribly angry at you. You chipped one of his teeth. I talked to Mr. France afterward. I asked him if his assignment was over and he said he thought it was. I asked him if he’d work for you. I didn’t think he would he was so angry, but he said he would, and I’m going to pay him.”

“I don’t want you trying to pay his fees.”

“I want to. When I run out of money, you can pay him. But I want somebody trying to help you, Clint. Captain Kruslov is so certain it was you that it scares me.”

“You know it wasn’t.”

“Yes. I know, darling.”

“Don’t ever doubt it. Don’t ever wonder about me.”

“I couldn’t. Don’t talk like that.” She looked directly at me. “And don’t you doubt me. Nothing will ever change. I’ll wait for you. I’ll work to get you free.”

They warned us that we could have but two more minutes together. She said she would be at the office the next morning, Saturday morning, to clean up odds and ends and the phone in my office would be on one of the night circuits if I could get a chance to phone her. She said she would come and see me on Saturday afternoon and bring a change of clothing and toilet articles for me. She had something else to tell me, too, she said, but there wasn’t time to explain it. She had to leave then and they took me back to a cell that was colder, barer, more frightening, after the chance I had had to hold my tall warm girl in my arms and hear her voice and look into her eyes. Somebody has to believe in you, all the way. Somebody has to give a damn about you. You have to be important to somebody. Or life is just a routine of going through the motions.

They released me at ten-fifteen on Saturday morning. Hyers stood impatiently while I put the laces back in my shoes, put my belt through the loops, tied my tie around the collar of the dirty shirt. I ripped open the manila envelope, recovered wallet, keys, lighter, change, cigarettes.

“What’s up?” I asked Hyers.

“Let’s have some coffee down the street.”

I was glad it was a small dingy place. With a four day beard and dirty shirt, I looked like a bum. We took a booth near the back of the place.

Jerry Hyers ordered doughnuts and coffee and said to me, “They would have let you stay there all week end. Too damn much trouble to go through the red tape and get you out.”

“Would somebody kindly tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Don’t you know yet? They found Raymond this morning. Early. A couple of kids were cutting across the Pryor farm, going out on an all day hike. His car was on one of the farm roads. He’d taken his tow rope, climbed up on the roof of the car, heaved the rope over a limb, made it fast, tied it around his neck and swung off the car. The kids couldn’t reach the rope even if they’d felt like it. They left him hanging there and ran to the farm. He had the Olan girl’s pocketbook in one pocket and the missing key to your apartment in the other. Kruslov got hold of Mrs. Raymond right away. When she found out what had happened she admitted that she had lied about the night when the Olan girl was killed. Apparently Raymond was out until five in the morning. And she told Kruslov that Raymond, as your boss, had fixed you up with dates with the Olan girl so he could see her oftener. She told Kruslov that she was positive her husband had rented a room or apartment somewhere where he could have been seeing the Olan girl. Here’s a note. Turn it in at the police garage on Fourth Street and they’ll release your car to you. Charges against you have been dropped.”

“I thought of Dodd, but I couldn’t believe that …”

“Nice guy. If his nerve hadn’t broken, you’d be holding the big bag, young man. Your check for three hundred will take care of my activities in your behalf.”

“I’ll mail it Monday.”

“Thank you. I have to be off.” We shook hands and he hurried out, important and busy.

I finished my coffee, paid the check and found the police garage. After a bored look at the note they told me my car was around in back. Just go down the alley, mister. I drove back to the apartment and phoned my office.

Toni answered, “Mr. Sewell’s office.”

“This is Mr. Sewell, Miss MacRae. I phoned to tell you I won’t be in this morning.”

“Clint! Is it true then? There’s a rumor around that Mr. Raymond …”

“Are there enough people there to cook up a rumor?”

“Clint, tell me and stop fooling. Are you out?”

“I’m out, and you shouldn’t be working on Saturday. This is a picnic type day. Where will we go?”

“Clint!”

“Look, darling. I won’t be able to pick you up at the plant. I’ve got to get cleaned up and then I’m going to go see Nancy Raymond. Suppose I pick you up at your place at about two.”

“Where are you phoning from?”

“My apartment.”

“Well … you see, dear, I live there.”

“What?”

“Mrs. Timberland threw me out, with harsh words. I had a long talk with Mrs. Speers. That was what I didn’t have time to tell you. We thought it would be simpler if …”

“Mrs. Speers is knocking on my door right now, it so happens.”

“She’ll tell you then. I’ll see you, dear.”

I let Mrs. Speers in. Staring awed at my whiskers, she said, “I heard it over the radio. About Mr. Raymond. I told those stupid … ah … flatfeet that you hadn’t killed that girl. She came from a fine old family, but she was no good. All that drinking.”

“I certainly appreciate your attitude.”

“It horrifies me to think that anyone would hide a body in my house. Mr. Sewell, I had a long talk with your Miss MacRae. That Timberland biddy threw her out, bag and baggage. We talked about you, Mr. Sewell. She’s a splendid girl. We decided that it would be easiest if she would live here while we … made every attempt to aid you in your predicament.”

“She told me that over the phone.”

“Oh, you’ve talked to her! That makes it easier. I didn’t want you to think I’d been too free in letting her use this apartment. Naturally you can’t both stay here. I won’t have
that
sort of thing going on. You’ll have to take a hotel room until she can find other accommodations, Mr. Sewell.”

“Yes I …”

“You know, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed they released you so quickly. Isn’t that dreadful of me? I haven’t had so much excitement in … in just years and years. I imagine you want to get cleaned up after that horrid jail, don’t you? Poor Mr. Raymond. She must have driven him insane. Her mother was a lovely person, poor dear. Her father was quite a rounder, though. Remember about that hotel room. Don’t forget now!” She wagged a coy finger at me, smirked and backed through the doorway.

I showered, shaved and dressed. I couldn’t help having a holiday feeling. It went away when I turned into the Raymond drive and parked near the side door. Mrs. Raymond’s heavy old car was there, back from the lake.

The muscular Irish nurse opened the door to me. I said that I wanted to see Mrs. Dodd Raymond. The nurse whispered and took me into a small study to wait. I waited five minutes before Nancy appeared in the doorway. She wore black and she moved like an automaton.

She held a cold hand out to me. “So good of you to stop by, Clint.”

“Nancy, I’m terribly sorry.”

“Do sit down, won’t you? Mother Raymond is taking
this very badly. The doctor left just a little while ago.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I’d thought of asking you to be one of the pall bearers, but then I decided that under the circumstances we’d better not have any. The funeral will be on Monday at two
P.M.
The Upmann Funeral Home.”

I couldn’t get beyond the social glaze. She was saying the formal proper thing.

“Nancy!”

She looked at me and her eyes widened a bit. “I’m all right. I’m really all right. I’m standing it very well, Clint. I made the formal identification of the body this morning at nine. They’ll release the body to Upmann some time today after they’re through with it.”

“You don’t act all right.”

“I’m perfectly all right. I don’t know what you mean. The family burial plot is here in Warren, of course. Mr. Upmann said he would make the necessary arrangements. Mother Raymond wants the Reverend Doctor Lamarr to give the service. I phoned him. He was a little reluctant at first, but he agreed. He said it would be in good taste. Mother Raymond has always been a good friend of the church. I think he thought it would be difficult because the Pryors belong to the same church.”

“Nancy, remember me? Clint. I’m your friend. I didn’t come to pay the normal sympathy call.”

Her face broke and she began to cry. She cried herself to exhaustion. She lay on the leather couch in the small gloomy study and I sat beside the couch and held her hand. It took a long time before she could talk again.

“I hadn’t cried before,” she said tonelessly.

“It’s a good thing to do.”

“I was going to go away. I was going to leave him.

And he was in trouble. He should have told me.”

“He couldn’t tell you that.”

“I failed him somehow, Clint. I didn’t … measure up. He wanted more than I had to give.”

“He wouldn’t find it with Mary Olan.”

“I should have guessed something. He’s been acting so strangely.”

“How?”

“I don’t think he slept more than two or three hours the last three nights. Roaming the house at all hours. I tried to call him twice at the office but he wasn’t in. He didn’t seem interested in the plant any more. He seemed to be thinking something over, making his mind up about something. He wouldn’t talk to me. Then yesterday afternoon he talked … wildly. I couldn’t make any sense out of it. He shouldn’t have been home in the middle of the day. He didn’t seem to care. His hands were all dirty when he came home. He didn’t seem to notice the dirt until I mentioned it. Then he looked at his hands and smiled in a funny way and said, ‘Dust of years gone by, darling. Or call it gold dust. That’s just as good.’ He washed his hands and then came out to the kitchen where I was. He acted as if he’d made up his mind about something. He said, ‘I’ve got it made, baby.’ He wouldn’t explain what he meant. He had a wild-looking smile. ‘C.P.P. can go to hell,’ he said. ‘We’re going to really be in business.’ He kept nodding and smiling to himself. He left after dinner. He didn’t tell me where he was going. He made a phone call before he left, but I didn’t hear who he talked to or what he said. I … I won’t ever see him alive again.”

“Easy, gal.”

She looked into space. She held my hand tightly. “It’s all over, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s over, Nancy.”

She turned her face away from me. “I keep thinking of something awful,” she said in a small voice.

“Like what?”

“Like waiting until this is all over. Six months. Or a year even. And then going back and finding a way to have the good years.”

“What do you mean?”

She turned abruptly toward me, her eyes almost fierce. “We must be almost the same age, Clint. I’d know how to
be good for you, in the job and everything. I know the life. We had tests, you know. It wasn’t me, I can have children. It would be right this time. Young people all living together. And transfers to new places. I know it all. You could be proud of me, people like me. I was always active on committees and things. I made every new place look good. It was all good until we came here. That’s the horrid thing I keep thinking.”

I didn’t say anything and I didn’t release her hand. She turned her face away again.

“Stupid, wasn’t it?” she said.

“You’re upset.”

“It isn’t you. I just want that way of living back. I just want to be like that again, only this time with children. I’m sorry, Clint.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“You wouldn’t try it, would you?”

“I’m sorry.”

She took her hand away. I stood up and said goodby to her. She didn’t move or answer or look at me. I let myself out. Just as I reached my car, Kruslov drove in. He and another man started toward the house. I cut over and intercepted them.

“Now what?” Kruslov asked. He looked square and dull and tired.

“Now I want to know how proud you are, Kruslov. I want to know how big a charge you got out of slapping me around.”

He eyed me coldly. “Want an apology?”

“You might try one for size.”

“Never, you damn fool. You found a body and moved it. What the hell right has a civilian like you got meddling in police work? You complicate my job, mess up the evidence, shoot off your mouth and then come prancing around looking for an apology. There’s statutes that cover what you did, and if I get too damn annoyed at you I may see if I can make some of them stick. Now get the hell out of my way.”