[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Nightmares at least. A little craziness of some kind, probably. The family
will have to watch for it. He asked Johnny:
Who were the rest of them?
There were at least two other men, and one woman. And once, I swear, they had
like a party going on. Whole bunch of people, talking in some weird foreign
language.
Huh.
Yeah, I don t think the police and the FBI believe me either. They probably
think I was delirious. But one night all these people were in the house, all
talking what sounded like Latin.
Latin, said Clarissa, as if shocked, as if the use of Latin in such a
business would be some kind of special sacrilege. She sat back in her chair
and looked at Judy, who only gave an impatient little headshake in reply.
John went on: And the cops keep asking me if I ever got a message out,
anything like that. I didn t. I couldn t.
How d you ever know I was in there?
Wishing that he hadn t quit smoking quite so permanently the last time, Joe
bit at a hangnail. I don t think I
know the answer to that one myself.
Judy said defensively: I keep telling everyone, I just had a feeling of where
you were. First in a dream. And then, when Dr. Corday hypnotized me, I could
find the house. I seemed to be able to really see you for a while, in that
closet.
Mention of the closet made John give his head a twitchy shake. Where s Dr.
Corday now? he wondered. I
asked Mom and Dad and they just sort of put me off. I d like to be able to
thank him.
Judy said: He seems to have disappeared from his motel this morning. She
sounded almost casual about it, which made Joe feel vaguely relieved.
Johnny s eyes widened. I hope those guys didn t . . .
The kidnappers? Joe shook his head. I don t think so. The cops were
watching the motel all night, I m sure.
Then how d he get out?
That s a good question. Joe had his own ideas about that. His police
instincts, if after eight years in the business
you maybe began to have such things, told him that the old man had not looked
at all like Dr. Corday when he came out, and furthermore Dr. Corday was not
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going to be easy to find again. Because Dr. Corday no longer existed.
Disguises were generally nonsense, of course. But the kindly old family
doctor from London had itself been a disguise, one good enough to work, for a
while anyway and among strangers. Except . . . Clarissa, of course. Granny
Clare. Joe was going to have to talk to her in private when he got the chance.
She hadn t met his eye directly all morning.
Jeez, I hope he s all right. Johnny was starting to get upset about it.
I m sure he is, said Judy impulsively, sounding like there could be no
doubt.
I m just as glad he s gone, myself, said Joe, and felt astonished at the
violence of the glare that Judy turned on him.
She said:
He got my brother out of there.
Yes, he did do that. Joe turned to the window, to study the grayness of
middle-class Evanston in midwinter, through black skeletal trees. Afterwards,
though, Corday and I were talking, alone. The dead man was there on the cot in
the same room. The deputies were out in their car using the radio. Corday was
talking pretty crazy, then. I m saying this because if he pops up again I
think you all ought to use care in dealing with him.
Crazy how? Judy challenged.
Well. Like it might very well have been him who killed that fellow, that way.
Though he didn t confess it in so many words. To brag about something like
that, whether you really did it or not . . . I ve got to see Charley Snider
later today and go over all of this with him.
Judy was angry. If he killed a kidnapper, does that make him crazy? Her
brother was watching numbly. Clarissa was hiding her face, or maybe just
resting her eyes.
Joe continued: And then he said some incoherent-sounding things, like how the
man had run down the hill to get to running water. That man s not normal . . .
Clarissa, you all right?
Running water, repeated Granny Clare, through lips suddenly gone pale.
Looking worse than Johnny in his hospital bed, she started to get up, clutched
at a bedside table, sent papers spilling to the floor. Then she sank back in
her chair.
Judy, her normal self again, hurried to fuss over her grandmother. Clarissa
popped a nitroglycerin pill, took some water, looked a lot better.
Joe asked: Does running water mean anything in particular?
Judy scowled at him again, and turned to her brother, changing the subject.
What did the other people look like?
Oh, the only ones I really saw were the two men in the car, the ones who
grabbed me. I got the best look at the one who was driving but he was sort of
ordinary-looking, I guess. See, I was walking along the side of Sheridan
Road there, after dark, coming home from the Birches , and this car just
pulled up slowly, and this guy with a dark beard rolled down his window and
asked for some kind of phony directions. Then the back door opened, and this
real monster sort of jumped out. I didn t get much of a look at his face, not
then anyway, but man was he big. He was the one who . . .
John s voice trailed off. His eyes fell to his bandaged hands, and for a
moment the boy s face showed shock, as if it were just coming through to him
now what those bandages really meant. I ll be able to use my hands almost as
good as ever, he added, with the air of doggedly repeating something he had
been told.
You said there was a woman, Judy prodded, probably just trying to snap
Johnny out of his dark contemplation.
He looked vacantly at his sister for a moment before answering. Yeah. There
in the house, at night. She looked into the closet at me, but it was too dark
for me to see her. I dunno. It s all kind of vague. Suddenly turning into a
hospital patient after all, Johnny lay back on his pillows.
I think we d better let you rest. Judy bent over her brother to hug him one
more time.
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When it came Joe s turn to say farewell, he grinned at the boy and shook his
own two hands together. Let us know if we can bring you anything.
I will.
Judy had paused to restore the papers fallen from the table. Looking at one
sketch, she gave a little sniff and almost smiled. Know who this looks like
to me? I met him once, when he was trying to get Kate to go on a skiing
weekend with him. Craig Walworth.
FIFTEEN
You didn t just find upper-crust society in the Chicago phone book, of course.
But if you were in the police department you knew a number to dial to be told
the address of someone with an unlisted phone.
Alone after dropping Judy and Clarissa off in Glenlake, driving on south
toward the Loop s sky-notching towers, Joe considered for the dozenth time why
he shouldn t just lay Craig Walworth s name on Charley Snider. The main
reason, he decided, was his feeling that the evil old man wanted him to do
just that. Why else had the old man brought the name up out of nowhere when
they were alone?
Who is Craig Walworth?
Damn the old man to hell, anyway, for asking that and then disappearing. So
there was no real Walworth-connection to be pointed out to
Charley. One question, from someone who was very clever and not to be trusted;
and one sketch that might look a little like Craig Walworth but had evidently
been discarded because it didn t look too much like the bearded kidnapper.
When they had given Joe his days off to mourn for Kate, they hadn t
specifically warned him to keep from muddling up the Southerland
investigations by doing any poking around on his own. The captain evidently
hadn t thought him dumb enough to need a warning of that kind. Well, he wasn t
dumb. And he wasn t getting into the investigation, he told himself now. He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
Nightmares at least. A little craziness of some kind, probably. The family
will have to watch for it. He asked Johnny:
Who were the rest of them?
There were at least two other men, and one woman. And once, I swear, they had
like a party going on. Whole bunch of people, talking in some weird foreign
language.
Huh.
Yeah, I don t think the police and the FBI believe me either. They probably
think I was delirious. But one night all these people were in the house, all
talking what sounded like Latin.
Latin, said Clarissa, as if shocked, as if the use of Latin in such a
business would be some kind of special sacrilege. She sat back in her chair
and looked at Judy, who only gave an impatient little headshake in reply.
John went on: And the cops keep asking me if I ever got a message out,
anything like that. I didn t. I couldn t.
How d you ever know I was in there?
Wishing that he hadn t quit smoking quite so permanently the last time, Joe
bit at a hangnail. I don t think I
know the answer to that one myself.
Judy said defensively: I keep telling everyone, I just had a feeling of where
you were. First in a dream. And then, when Dr. Corday hypnotized me, I could
find the house. I seemed to be able to really see you for a while, in that
closet.
Mention of the closet made John give his head a twitchy shake. Where s Dr.
Corday now? he wondered. I
asked Mom and Dad and they just sort of put me off. I d like to be able to
thank him.
Judy said: He seems to have disappeared from his motel this morning. She
sounded almost casual about it, which made Joe feel vaguely relieved.
Johnny s eyes widened. I hope those guys didn t . . .
The kidnappers? Joe shook his head. I don t think so. The cops were
watching the motel all night, I m sure.
Then how d he get out?
That s a good question. Joe had his own ideas about that. His police
instincts, if after eight years in the business
you maybe began to have such things, told him that the old man had not looked
at all like Dr. Corday when he came out, and furthermore Dr. Corday was not
Page 53
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
going to be easy to find again. Because Dr. Corday no longer existed.
Disguises were generally nonsense, of course. But the kindly old family
doctor from London had itself been a disguise, one good enough to work, for a
while anyway and among strangers. Except . . . Clarissa, of course. Granny
Clare. Joe was going to have to talk to her in private when he got the chance.
She hadn t met his eye directly all morning.
Jeez, I hope he s all right. Johnny was starting to get upset about it.
I m sure he is, said Judy impulsively, sounding like there could be no
doubt.
I m just as glad he s gone, myself, said Joe, and felt astonished at the
violence of the glare that Judy turned on him.
She said:
He got my brother out of there.
Yes, he did do that. Joe turned to the window, to study the grayness of
middle-class Evanston in midwinter, through black skeletal trees. Afterwards,
though, Corday and I were talking, alone. The dead man was there on the cot in
the same room. The deputies were out in their car using the radio. Corday was
talking pretty crazy, then. I m saying this because if he pops up again I
think you all ought to use care in dealing with him.
Crazy how? Judy challenged.
Well. Like it might very well have been him who killed that fellow, that way.
Though he didn t confess it in so many words. To brag about something like
that, whether you really did it or not . . . I ve got to see Charley Snider
later today and go over all of this with him.
Judy was angry. If he killed a kidnapper, does that make him crazy? Her
brother was watching numbly. Clarissa was hiding her face, or maybe just
resting her eyes.
Joe continued: And then he said some incoherent-sounding things, like how the
man had run down the hill to get to running water. That man s not normal . . .
Clarissa, you all right?
Running water, repeated Granny Clare, through lips suddenly gone pale.
Looking worse than Johnny in his hospital bed, she started to get up, clutched
at a bedside table, sent papers spilling to the floor. Then she sank back in
her chair.
Judy, her normal self again, hurried to fuss over her grandmother. Clarissa
popped a nitroglycerin pill, took some water, looked a lot better.
Joe asked: Does running water mean anything in particular?
Judy scowled at him again, and turned to her brother, changing the subject.
What did the other people look like?
Oh, the only ones I really saw were the two men in the car, the ones who
grabbed me. I got the best look at the one who was driving but he was sort of
ordinary-looking, I guess. See, I was walking along the side of Sheridan
Road there, after dark, coming home from the Birches , and this car just
pulled up slowly, and this guy with a dark beard rolled down his window and
asked for some kind of phony directions. Then the back door opened, and this
real monster sort of jumped out. I didn t get much of a look at his face, not
then anyway, but man was he big. He was the one who . . .
John s voice trailed off. His eyes fell to his bandaged hands, and for a
moment the boy s face showed shock, as if it were just coming through to him
now what those bandages really meant. I ll be able to use my hands almost as
good as ever, he added, with the air of doggedly repeating something he had
been told.
You said there was a woman, Judy prodded, probably just trying to snap
Johnny out of his dark contemplation.
He looked vacantly at his sister for a moment before answering. Yeah. There
in the house, at night. She looked into the closet at me, but it was too dark
for me to see her. I dunno. It s all kind of vague. Suddenly turning into a
hospital patient after all, Johnny lay back on his pillows.
I think we d better let you rest. Judy bent over her brother to hug him one
more time.
Page 54
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
When it came Joe s turn to say farewell, he grinned at the boy and shook his
own two hands together. Let us know if we can bring you anything.
I will.
Judy had paused to restore the papers fallen from the table. Looking at one
sketch, she gave a little sniff and almost smiled. Know who this looks like
to me? I met him once, when he was trying to get Kate to go on a skiing
weekend with him. Craig Walworth.
FIFTEEN
You didn t just find upper-crust society in the Chicago phone book, of course.
But if you were in the police department you knew a number to dial to be told
the address of someone with an unlisted phone.
Alone after dropping Judy and Clarissa off in Glenlake, driving on south
toward the Loop s sky-notching towers, Joe considered for the dozenth time why
he shouldn t just lay Craig Walworth s name on Charley Snider. The main
reason, he decided, was his feeling that the evil old man wanted him to do
just that. Why else had the old man brought the name up out of nowhere when
they were alone?
Who is Craig Walworth?
Damn the old man to hell, anyway, for asking that and then disappearing. So
there was no real Walworth-connection to be pointed out to
Charley. One question, from someone who was very clever and not to be trusted;
and one sketch that might look a little like Craig Walworth but had evidently
been discarded because it didn t look too much like the bearded kidnapper.
When they had given Joe his days off to mourn for Kate, they hadn t
specifically warned him to keep from muddling up the Southerland
investigations by doing any poking around on his own. The captain evidently
hadn t thought him dumb enough to need a warning of that kind. Well, he wasn t
dumb. And he wasn t getting into the investigation, he told himself now. He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]