Louise looked at the cards and handed them back. “Would you like to come in?”
“Thank you.”
The interior of the house also looked in need of work. The furniture was worn and the carpet was threadbare. Children’s toys littered the floor. Louise hastily cleared a spot on the couch and motioned for Jason to sit down.
“Can I offer you something? Coffee, tea?”
“Coffee would be nice,” he said. The woman seemed anxious, and he thought the activity would calm her. She went into the kitchen, where Jason could hear the sound of running water. The little girl had hung behind, regarding Jason with large brown eyes. When Jason smiled at her, she fled into the kitchen.
Jason gazed around the room. It was dark and cheerless, with a few mail-order prints on the walls. Louise returned with her daughter in tow. She gave Jason a mug of coffee and placed sugar and cream on the small coffee table. Jason helped himself to both.
Louise sat down across from Jason. “I’m sorry if I didn’t seem hospitable at first,” she said. “I don’t have many visitors asking about Alvin.”
“I understand,” Jason said. He looked at her more carefully. Underneath the frowsy exterior, Jason could see the shadow of an attractive woman. Hayes had good taste, that was for sure. “I’m sorry to barge in like this, but Alvin had spoken of you. Since I was in the area I thought I’d drop by.” He thought a few untruths might help.
“Did he?” Louise said indifferently.
Jason decided to be careful. He wasn’t there to dredge up painful emotions.
“The reason I wanted to talk to you,” he said, “is that your husband told me he’d made an important scientific discovery.” Jason went on to explain the circumstances of Alvin Hayes’s death, and how he, Jason, had made it a personal crusade to try to find out if her husband had indeed made a scientific breakthrough. He explained that it would be a tragedy if Alvin had come across something that could help mankind, only to have it lost. Louise nodded, but when Jason asked if she had any idea of what the discovery could have been, she said she didn’t.
“You and Alvin didn’t speak much?”
“No. Only about the children and financial matters.”
“How are your children?” Jason asked, remembering Hayes’s concern about his son.
“They are both fine, thank you.”
“Two?”
“Yes,” Louise said. “Lucy here’—she patted her daughter’s head—”and John is in school.”
“I thought you had three children.”
Jason saw the woman’s eyes film over. After an uncomfortable silence she said, “Well… there is another. Alvin Junior. He’s severely retarded. He lives at a school in Boston.”
“I’m sorry.
“It’s all right. You’d think I’d have adjusted by now, but I guess I never will. I guess it was the reason Alvin and I got divorced — I couldn’t deal with it.”
“Where exactly is Alvin Junior?” Jason asked, knowing he was probing a painful area.
“At the Hartford School.”
“How is he doing?” Jason knew of the Hartford School. It was an institution acquired by GHP when the corporation purchased an associated acute-care proprietary hospital. Jason also knew the school was for sale. It was a money-loser for GHP.
“Fine, I guess,” Louise said. “I’m afraid I don’t visit too often. It breaks my heart.”
“I understand.” Jason said, wondering if this was the son Hayes had been referring to the night he died. “Would it be possible for us to call and inquire how the boy is doing?”
“I suppose,” Louise said, not reacting to the extraordinary nature of the question. She got stiffly to her feet and, with her daughter still clinging to her, went to the telephone and called the school. She asked for the pre-teen dormitory and, when they answered, talked for a while about her son’s condition. When she hung up, she said, “They feel he’s doing as well as can be expected. The only new problem is some arthritis, which has interfered with his physical therapy.”
“Has he been there long?”
“Just since Alvin went to work for GHP. Being able to place Alvin Junior at Hartford was one of the reasons he accepted the job.”
“And your other son? You say he’s fine.”
“Couldn’t be better,” Louise said with obvious pride. “He’s in the third grade and considered one of the brightest in the class.”
“That’s wonderful,” Jason said, trying to think back to the night Hayes died. Alvin had said that someone wanted him and his son dead. That it was too late for him but maybe not for his son. What on earth had he meant? Jason had assumed one of his sons had been physically sick, but apparently that was not the case.
“More coffee?” Louise asked.
“No, thank you,” Jason said. “There’s just one more thing I wanted to ask. At the time of his death, Alvin was involved in setting up a corporation. Your children were to be stockholders. Did you know anything at all about that?”
“Not a thing.”
“Oh, well,” Jason said. “Thanks for the coffee. If there’s anything I can do for you in Boston, like look in on Alvin Junior, don’t hesitate to call.” He got up and the little girl buried her head in Louise’s skirt.
“I hope Alvin didn’t suffer,” she said.
“No, he didn’t,” Jason lied. He could still remember the look of agony on Alvin’s face.
They were at the door when Louise suddenly said,
“Oh, there’s one thing I didn’t tell you. A few days after Alvin died, someone broke in here. Luckily we were out.”
“Was anything taken?” Jason wondered if it could have been Gene, Inc.
“No,” Louise said. “They probably saw the usual mess and just moved on.” She smiled. “But they seemed to have searched through everything. Even the children’s bookcases.”
As Jason drove out of Leonia, New Jersey, and made his way back to the George Washington Bridge, he thought about his meeting with Louise Hayes. He should have been more discouraged than he was. After all, he’d learned nothing of importance to have justified the trip. But he realized there had been more to his wanting to go. He’d been genuinely curious about Hayes’s wife. Having had his own wife rudely taken away from him, Jason couldn’t understand why someone like Hayes would split up voluntarily. But Jason had never experienced the trauma of a retarded child.
Jason was able to catch the two o’clock afternoon shuttle back to Boston. He tried to read on the plane, but couldn’t concentrate. He began to worry that Carol wouldn’t meet him at the Boston airport, or, worse yet, that she’d show up with Bruno.
Unfortunately, the two o’clock shuttle that was supposed to land in Boston at two-forty didn’t even leave La Guardia until two-thirty. By the time Jason got off the plane it was three-fifteen. He got his luggage from the locker and ran from the Eastern terminal over to United.
There was a long line at the ticket window, and Jason couldn’t imagine what the airline agents were doing to make each transaction so lengthy. It was now twenty to four and no sign of Carol Donner.
At last it was Jason’s turn. He tossed over his American Express card, asking for two round-trip tickets to Seattle for the flight leaving at four, with open returns.
At least with Jason the agent was efficient. Within three minutes Jason had the tickets and boarding cards and was running for Gate 19. It was now five minutes to four. The flight was in the final stages of boarding. Arriving at Gate 19, Jason breathlessly asked if anyone had asked for him. When the girl at the desk said no, he quickly described Carol and asked if the agent had seen her.
“She’s very attractive,” he added.
“I’m sure she is,” smiled the agent. “Unfortunately, I haven’t noticed her. But if you are planning to go to Seattle you’d better board.”