“Real keen police work, Ralph,” said Fraser Smith. “So you know the county map, do you?”
“Fact, Fraser. But the worrisome part is that every one of them young folks that disappeared had to pass right through town here to wherever they was headed. And for not one single soul in Huxtable Falls to ever get a glimpse of them? Makes you wonder if any of them got this far at all, don’t it?”
“You mean,” said Samuel Sprague, “if anything did happen to them, you’re pinning it down to around the Junction?”
“Closer than that, Sam. Just take notice that right inside our town limits near the Junction is the old Samson estate. Right?”
“Wrong,” put in Abner Perkins. “That property hasn’t rightly been the Samson estate for quite a spell now.”
“Good point, Abner,” said Ralph Gibbs. “Since you got them outsiders to take a five-year lease on it — and four years are already used up — maybe we should call it the Doctor Karl Jodl estate. Especially with all that work the Doctor’s paying you to fix it up. Looks sure he’ll pick up that option to buy next year, don’t it?”
“My business,” said Abner Perkins. “And the Doctor’s. Not yours. And if you—”
“Hush up, Abner,” said Samuel Sprague. He aimed his jaw at Ralph Gibbs. “What about Doctor Karl Jodl, Ralph? Seems to be a nice fellow, far as anyone knows. A little stand-offish maybe, but respectable, him and that whole crew he moved in with him on the estate.”
“Seems to be,” agreed Ralph Gibbs. “Anyhow, what it comes to is sort of a problem that’s too much for me. So before I work out the bottom line I’d like the opinion of you folks here. And before you provide that opinion just listen close.”
“About Doctor Jodl?” said Samuel Sprague.
“That’s right, Sam. Like, to start with, the fact that him and his crew settled four years ago for a five-year lease on the Samson estate, lease money to apply to purchase price if and when there was a sale. True, Abner? You made the deal, so you’d know.”
“It was a fair deal,” said Abner Perkins shortly.
“Kind of a happy surprise, too, wasn’t it? That big old mansion and them outbuildings rotting away, twenty acres of ground overgrown, that swamp in back oozing right up to the buildings. Didn’t look like you’d ever get rid of that property. Then all of a sudden—”
“It was a fair deal all around,” Abner Perkins said.
“—and all of a sudden along comes this Mr. Thomas from the Doctor—”
“Tomas,” said Abner Perkins. “Toe-mass. Tomas.”
“Beg pardon, Abner. Mr. Toe-mass. Along he comes, the Doctor’s check in hand, to sign the papers, and next thing you look to have struck gold in that property. I mean, what with all that contract work to bring it back to shape, buildings and grounds. Swamp’s all drained now except for its far end, ain’t it? Place does look pretty, all right.”
“Honest work, every inch,” said Abner Perkins. “Buildings and grounds.”
“That’s your style, Abner, no denying it. Then one night before work’s hardly got started, along comes this fleet of hired haulage vans, all doing business out of California, and quite a lineup of fancy cars with California plates, and next morning the Doctor and his people are settled in snug as can be. Maybe twenty of them by my count.”
“Twenty?” said Samuel Sprague.
“Well, figuring in the Doctor and his lady — that Madam Solange — and what looks to be assistant doctors and house help and security men, somewhat around twenty.” Ralph Gibbs nodded toward Fraser Smith. “Seems they do all their marketing at Fraser’s place, too. His books ought to show enough to back that figure up.”
“You looking to be my bookkeeper now, Ralph?” said Fraser Smith.
“Not likely, Fraser. Anyhow, gentlemen, there we have a whole new community, so to speak, hitched onto Huxtable Falls. Standoffish and highly prosperous. And not far from the Junction, where it seems young healthy folks have a way of disappearing now and then.”
“And you are soured on the Doctor for living there?” asked Abner Perkins coldly.
“You’re rushing me out of turn, Abner,” said Ralph Gibbs. “I was just getting around to asking how much anybody here ever sees of them folks close up. Aside from that Mr. Tomas who looks to be sort of manager of the works, and shows up all sunshine and smiles around town. Anybody here ever get a real close look at the Doctor and that Madam Solange?”
“Well,” said Samuel Sprague. “I’ve seen them waiting in that limo in town square a couple of times. What’s more, I give them a nod, they give me a nod. Nothing mysterious about it.”
“Seen them, too,” said Fraser Smith. “Nice-looking couple. High-toned. Old-fashioned mannerly. They just don’t want their feet stepped on by busybodies, that’s my guess.”
“And mine,” said Benjamin Starr. “They’re in the limo now and then when it gasses up. Never argue price for repairs or for any of them new cars they order. And those cars are always top dollar. And they pay all bills on the dot. Stand-offish? Why not? Maybe they’ve got more important business in mind than some.”
“You mean like medical business, Ben?” asked Ralph Gibbs.
“That’s what I mean.”
“Ralph,” said Samuel Sprague impatiently, “you know as well as us it’s medical business. That Mr. Tomas never made any secret of it. Doctor Jodi’s a heart man, top rank. Doing some big research for the government. With a fat grant from Washington, D.C. to pay for it. Can’t say I truckle to public money going that direction, but there’s nothing unlawful about it, is there?”
“Well, maybe just a mite, Sam. Like, for instance, Doctor Karl Jodi is not on any government grant at all. And he is not a heart man, any rank.”
The selectmen gaped. Finally Samuel Sprague said, “Not doing heart research? No grant?”
“Neither,” said Ralph Gibbs.
“But from what I heard—”
“Same as we all heard, Sam, from that Mr. Tomas. However” — Ralph Gibbs dug into the pile of papers on the table and came up with a well stuffed folder. He slid it across the table to Samuel Sprague — “however, what you’ve got there, Sam, is some letters between me and the government people in Washington. And the state people in California. Read ’em close. Take your time about it.” The selectmen kept eyes on Samuel Sprague as he took his time about it, his brow furrowing. Then he looked up at them. “No grant,” he said. “No heart man. Leastways, that’s what I make of it.” He looked at Ralph Gibbs. “What I can’t make of it is this medical stuff. This hemodynamics talk. What’s it mean?”
“Blood,” said Ralph Gibbs.
“Come again?”
“Blood, Sam. That red stuff that leaks out when you cut yourself shaving.” Ralph Gibbs tapped the stack of papers before him. “It’s all here. Seems that’s where the Doctor’s an expert. On the Coast he had those two outfits: the Jodi Institute for Hemodynamic Research and the Jodi Clinic for Rejuvenation, both tied tight together. And you saw those figures there for his last ten years’ profits, didn’t you? Money coming in by the barrel. All that part is from the private investigation agency I hired out there. Private but reliable.”
“Hired?” said Abner Perkins. “Out of the police budget?”
“Worth it, Abner. Especially if Sam here tells you about that letter from the state of California itself saying why that institute and that clinic were all of a sudden shut up.”
“Well, Sam?” said Abner Perkins.
“It’s down here in black and white, Abner. Just two words is all. ‘Unacceptable procedures.’ ”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning,” said Ralph Gibbs, “that a lot of beat-up old millionaires around the world were getting themselves rejuvenated some way the state of California didn’t truckle to.”