Dryden was quick to see a chance to modify the strategy. ‘Well, there’s really no need for both of us to stay. You could get a coffee, Elmer. It’s clear I’ll be here a few minutes yet.’
‘But I mustn’t let you out of my—’
‘Hey, you’ll have these people thinking I’m a head case,’ Dryden quickly said. ‘No, I can’t move with my foot like this, but it’s too embarrassing for this young lady having treatment in this small room overlooked by two strange men.’
‘I really don’t mind,’ she insisted.
‘So beat it, Elmer, old friend,’ Dryden went on. ‘If you’re concerned about me, you can wait right outside the door till I’m bandaged or whatever. Fair enough?’
Brannon scratched his head and looked around the room, possibly checking for a second exit, but there was none. Not even a window. To help him reach a decision, Dryden moved his right shoe and sock. The ankle was inflamed from the rubbing he had given it.
‘Okay, I’ll be right outside,’ said Elmer, defeated.
Dryden relaxed in his chair and enjoyed the leg show a yard away. In different circumstances, he might have steered this situation toward a date, because she was quite a looker, with more than a hint of fun in her large, brown eyes, but there were other priorities. So far, his plan was working well. If the girl had not been there, he would have needed to persuade Elmer to report the accident to Serafin. This way was better. It detained him, providing more time to work on the physician.
When her foot had been lightly bandaged, the girl got off the table, swinging her legs Dryden’s way. ‘I hope yours is as easy to treat as mine,’ she said with a smile.
‘Thanks. Sorry we burst in like that.’
‘My pleasure.’
It was cruel to pass up the invitation in those eyes. ‘There’s one thing you could do for me,’ he ventured.
She smiled again. ‘Yes?’
But Dryden was a cruel man. ‘If my friend’s still outside, would you tell him I’ll be a few minutes yet? He agitates easily, and I don’t want him coming in till I’m fixed up.’
A little bleakly she said, ‘Okay. Leave it to me. Nice to have met you.’
When the girl had left, the physician motioned to Dryden to climb on the table. Instead, he moved quickly to the door and flicked down the catch on the Yale lock.
‘Hey, what the hell...?’ demanded the physician. He was a young man built like a football player, capable probably of thrusting Dryden straight through the hardwood door if he cared to.
‘I’ll be frank, Doc,’ Dryden said. ‘You’re in a spot and I can help you. Do you know what’s been happening out there’ — he jerked his head in the direction of the track — ‘while you’ve been bandaging that cute little foot?’
‘What is this?’ The physician took a step toward Dryden. ‘You told me you were injured.’
‘I needed to speak to you. You may not think it matters to the meet physician who wins the runs and jumps, but I think you should know that it does, and I’m here to tell you why. A completely unknown girl has just won the 100 and 200 metres in times inside the Olympic qualifying standard.’
‘So?’
‘So you as physician in charge of this meet will have certain questions to answer unless you act fast. That girl has never run times like this in her life. She has to be on some kind of dope. Isn’t it your job to test for that?’
The physician shook his head. ‘Not a chance. I can’t carry out a dope analysis here. Listen, buddy, this is a club meet, not the Olympics. We don’t do dope tests here.’
‘You could get her to a hospital and test her there,’ said Dryden.
‘Who the hell are you to tell me my job?’
‘A free-lance press reporter. If that girl isn’t tested, I’ll wait until her times have knocked the national rankings sideways, and then sell this story to the Los Angeles Times. I have your name right from the program, I hope — Julius Fishback, M.D.? And you’re refusing to administer a test on Goldine Serafin on the grounds that this is a club meet, not the Olympics? I can quote that?’
‘Now wait a minute,’ said Dr. Fishback, rubbing his hand through his hair. ‘Take it easy, friend. I want no trouble. If you’re telling me you suspect this girl has taken an amphetamine — that’s what you’re saying, is it? — it’s my responsibility to investigate that.’
‘I’m glad you see it that way,’ said Dryden. ‘It’s of no consequence what I think. You’re the expert here. If you exercise your professional judgment to arrange for the girl to go to San Diego General for a dope test, it might just save a lot of questions from the press when it’s too late to do a thing about it.’
‘I follow you. What’s in it for you, then?’
‘If the test is positive, I have an exclusive. I’d like to travel with you to the hospital. Do you have a car, or should we ring for a cab?’
‘My car will do,’ said Fishback, ‘but someone has to detain the girl. If she’s finished her running, she may have changed and left by now.’
‘I think not,’ said Dryden. ‘She was running in the four hundred.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s off about now.’
‘The four hundred — on top of two others? She must be doped,’ said Fishback. He picked up the telephone. ‘Is this the stewards’ room? Fishback here — Meet Physician. I’ve decided to run a test on one of the athletes’ — he cupped his hand over the mouthpiece — ‘her name: what did you say her name was?’
‘Serafin,’ said Dryden. ‘Goldine Serafin.’
‘Goldine Serafin. I believe she’s running in the 400 metres. Would you have a marshal ask her to report to the medical room immediately after it finishes. Tell her it’s routine, but make sure she gets here, won’t you? Thanks.’ He put down the phone. ‘Why the big act about the ankle injury?’
Dryden smiled. ‘That was mainly for my friend’s benefit. He works on the San Diego Union. In a way, I’m upstaging him. I didn’t wish to hurt his feelings. Say, it would help a lot if you put your head round the door and told him you’re taking me to hospital for a check. I’m not asking you to tell a lie. I think it might get rid of Elmer.’
Dr. Fishback unlatched the door and spoke to Brannon, who presently came inside. Thoughtfully, Dryden was seated again.
‘You’re going to the hospital?’ said Elmer, wide-eyed.
‘You heard it from the doc,’ said Dryden. ‘Sorry, old pal, but there it is. You can’t take chances with your health.’
‘What the hell do I do?’
‘You’d better tell the others,’ said Dryden with a vexed sigh. ‘I hope I don’t spoil the arrangements. It’s the San Diego General, is it, Dr. Fishback?’
‘Er, yeah’
‘Okay, Elmer? Maybe they can pick me up there in an hour or so. It’s never very quick in hospitals.’
Elmer backed out, agonizing over his dilemma. Fishback shut the door.
‘I’m obliged to you,’ said Dryden.
The phone rang. Fishback picked it up, listened, said ‘yeah’ a couple of times, and put it down. ‘That was the stewards’ room. They’re bringing over your junkie. She just won the 400 metres in a time two tenths outside the U.S. record.’
Nine
A sound principle of merchandising practice is to exceed people’s expectations. Events in San Diego so far had slotted neatly into Dryden’s plan, but it was time to introduce another check against the predictable.
Dr. Fishback had not driven more than a few minutes along Park Boulevard in his Chrysler, with Goldine, white-faced, still in her tracksuit and clutching a bag containing her clothes, seated in the rear, when Dryden, at his side, said, ‘I don’t suppose the hospital would look on this as an emergency. They get a lot of casualty work Saturday evenings, I expect.’