“You’re at liberty to try, of course. Along that line, incidentally, you’d just as well get rid of Colly Alder. We had a little understanding last night, Colly and I, and I don’t think he’d be of much value to you from now on. Colly’s even more incompetent than you suspect me of being. He hasn’t bothered to learn the fundamentals of his trade.”
He stared in my direction with eyes gone blind in his frozen face, and I could see that he was deciding whether to acknowledge Colly or deny him. He decided finally to acknowledge him. Vision returning to his eyes, he shrugged.
“Thanks for the information. I’ll dismiss him at once. Actually, I didn’t have a very high regard for him from the first. I suspect that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a reliable private detective. Are you ready now to tell me your purpose in going to Amity?”
“Not yet. I was hired by Miss Salem. I’m responsible to Miss Salem. I’m obligated to report my purposes and results to no one but Miss Salem. She hasn’t instructed me to report to you, and until she does, I won’t.”
“That’s very commendable of you. I can see that you’re devoted to your duty, if not to Miss Salem personally. We’ve decided, however, that our interest in this is mutual. You may consider that you have been working for both of us equally.”
I looked at Faith Salem, and Faith Salem looked back. Her eyes were clear and cool and untroubled, and it was someone besides me who had held her in his arms and kissed her and felt for a few moments the tremor of her passion. She nodded her head gravely.
“Please try to answer any of Mr. Markley’s questions,” she said.
“All right.” I turned back to Markley. “As I’ve said before, I’m playing this by ear, and the vibrations, such as they are, tell me that it might be profitable to go to Amity. On the other hand, other vibrations tell me that it might not. If I go down there, I may find out which vibrations are right.”
“You’re still being evasive. You must have a more definite reason.”
“No. I’m not being evasive, but I don’t intend to commit myself to any position until it’s justified. Right now, none is.”
“Do you expect to find Mrs. Markley in Amity?”
“I don’t expect anything. She was in Amity once, and anywhere she was might be a place to give us a clue where she is.”
“That’s too tenuous. You’re wasting your time and our money.”
“I told Miss Salem in the beginning that I’d probably be. She insisted that I take the case anyhow, so I did, and I’m doing the best I can.”
“I’ll concede that. Nevertheless, it’s not good enough. At any rate, something has happened to make Miss Salem change her mind. She feels now that it would be better if you dropped the whole thing.”
“Better for her or for you or for me?”
“For you, as a matter of fact. Miss Salem is a generous person. She’s very considerate of the welfare of others.”
I looked again at Faith Salem and kept on looking at her. Her expression was grave but serene. If she had been subjected to pressure or persuasion or was in the least concerned for herself, it was not apparent. Or was there, perhaps, a mute suggestion of urgency for the merest moment?
“Even mine?” I said.
“Under the circumstances,” she said, “especially yours.”
“What circumstances?”
“I had a visitor last night. Mr. Markley had dropped in earlier, just after you had gone, but he had to leave for a while to keep another engagement. It was while he was gone that I had the visitor. He told me that I was doing you a disservice by hiring you for this job. He said that something unfortunate would surely happen to you if you kept on with it. He was very convincing, and I believed him.”
“Darcy?”
“That was his name. He claimed to be representing Silas Lawler. He gave me Silas Lawler’s assurance that Constance and Regis Lawler are all right. It seems that Silas Lawler is devoted to Constance and feels an obligation to his brother. He wants us to quit molesting them.”
“Who’s molesting them? We can’t even find them.”
“He wants us to quit trying.”
“My face testifies to that. You used a plural pronoun a couple of times. Us, you said. Did Darcy threaten you too?”
“I have the impression that he did, but not directly. He was quite subtle and polite about it.”
“That’s Darcy. Darcy is probably the politest and most subtle hood on record. He admires virtuosity.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Skip it. It’s just a private understanding between Darcy and me. I don’t blame you, however, for not wanting to annoy him. Defacing me is one thing. Defacing you would be another, and I can’t imagine a greater shame. I’ll consider myself dismissed.”
“If you think I’m worried about myself, you’re mistaken. I told you that I’ve never really been afraid of anything in my life, which is true, and I’m not afraid of anything now. It’s you I’m worried about, if you will only believe me.”
“I do believe you, and I wish you’d stop. It makes me uncomfortable to have someone worrying about me.”
“Well, since we’re dropping the investigation, I can stop, and you can get comfortable. Will you have another cup of coffee before you go?”
I didn’t want it, but I said I would. The reason I said I would was because it was a reason for staying there a little longer. As a dismissed detective, I wasn’t likely to see her again in proximity, if ever again at all, and I thought it would be pleasant this pleasant morning to look at her while the looking was good. She filled my cup and returned it, and at that moment Maria came out onto the terrace and pointed herself at Markley. He was wanted, she said, on the telephone. Whoever wanted him had said that it was important. Markley hesitated, undecided whether to take the call or not, and then he decided that he would. Standing, he excused himself and went inside.
“I’m glad we’ve been left alone for a moment or two,” Faith Salem said. “It saves me the trouble of contacting you later.”
“As I remember,” I said, “I’ve been dismissed. Why should you want to contact me?”
“You’re not dismissed, of course. That was only to humor Graham.”
“You mean you want me to go on with the investigation?”
“Yes. I still want to know where Constance is.”
“Isn’t this a pretty fancy piece of deception? It doesn’t seem to suit you.”
She smiled slowly, the smile spreading upward from her mouth into her eyes, and I was aware again, as I had been the first afternoon on this terrace, of an effect of astringency, an uncompromised compatibility she sustained with herself.
“If you assumed that I’m incapable of deception, you made a mistake. Deception is sometimes necessary.”
“True enough. I’d be the last one to deny it. I guess I’m suffering from deflation, to be honest. It appears that you’re not worried about my welfare after all.”
“I’m not excessively. You impress me as a man who can look after himself.”
“Thanks for your confidence. I’ll work hard to deserve it.”
“Are you being sarcastic about it? You’re not dismissed, but you can quit, of course. Do you want to?”
“In a way I do, in a way I don’t. Anyway, I won’t.”
“I didn’t think you would.”