`You usually go creeping round people's homes, prying? That's the foreign correspondent coming out, I guess. Incidentally, I understood you and Nancy were engaged – but I notice no ring on the third finger of her left hand…'
Newman grinned amiably. He made a throwaway gesture with his hand. Chase did not respond. His mouth twisted in a faint sneer, he waited, his head tilted forward. Newman put a cigarette in his mouth before replying.
`Let's take that lot in sequence, shall we? You have something to hide because you can afford a couple of brand new sports jobs?'
`I don't like your tone…'
`I'm not crazy about yours, but as long as enough rich patients continue to love you what does it matter? As to Nancy, we have a trial engagement…'
`I'd just as soon you didn't light that cigarette, Newman. You should read the statistics…'
`You think I'll pollute the atmosphere out here?' Newman lit the cigarette. 'Did you know that in Britain a lot of doctors have given up smoking and preach the gospel? Did you also know that the graph showing the degree of alcoholism among British doctors shows a steady climb.' Newman glanced at Chase's glass. 'You should read the statistics.'
`I've heard of trial marriages…' Chase's sneer became more pronounced. 'But a trial engagement is a new sexual exercise…'
`So, I've broadened your experience. Hello, Nancy. I think we ought to leave now – unless you have more questions for your friendly family doctor…'
Tight-lipped, Nancy waited until they were driving back along Sabino Canyon Road before she spoke. Extracting the cigarette from Newman's mouth, she took a few puffs and handed it back to him. He knew then she was in a towering rage.
`The condescending bastard! God knows what Linda sees in a man like that. Our previous doctor, Bellman, is a nice man.'
`I've nothing against Frank Chase,' Newman remarked airily as he swung round a bend. 'He's a hyena – scooping up red meat wherever he can find it, holding rich old ladies by the hand as they tell him about their imaginary ailments. That doesn't make him a conspirator. Your sister's place next? I'd like to talk to her on her home ground rather than at the Smugglers Inn. In people's homes you see them as they really are. The other night when she brought Harvey over for dinner at my hotel she put on an act. Her public image.'
`Do you know the one thing Chase didn't suggest when we were out by the pool – the one thing he should have suggested if he had really wanted me reassured about Jesse?'
`Oddly enough, as I wasn't there all the time, I don't know.'
`He never suggested that we visit the Berne Clinic so I could see Jesse for myself. And yes, I think you should talk to Linda. I'll leave you alone. Mind she doesn't seduce you…'
`It all started when Jesse – we all called him that – had a bad fall from his horse, Bob…' The large dark eyes stared at Newman, the long lashes half-closed demurely over them. `You do prefer to be called Bob, don't you? Nancy calls you Robert when she wants to make you mad. My kid sister is full of little tricks like that. Is that the way you like your tea? Have I got it right?'
Linda Wayne sat beside Newman on the couch, her long legs sheathed in the sheerest black nylon and crossed with her skirt just above her shapely knees. She wore a high-necked cashmere sweater which emphasized her full figure. When she had shown him into the vast living-room her right breast had briefly touched his forearm. He had felt the firmness under the cashmere, a material quite unsuited to the temperature outside but perfect for the stark coolness of the air-conditioning.
Her hair was jet black, thick and shoulder-length like Nancy's. Thick, dark eyebrows made her slow-moving eyes seem even larger. Her voice was husky and she exuded sexuality like a heavy perfume. Newman stopped himself gazing at the sweep of her legs and tried to recall what she had just said.
`Your tea,' she repeated, 'is it the right colour?'
`Perfect…'
`It's Earl Grey. I bought it in San Francisco. I just love your English teas. We drink a lot of tea in the States now…'
`But you don't ride horses much down here any more.' He swallowed a gulp of the tea quickly. He hated Earl Grey. 'So what was Jesse doing on a horse?'
`He rode every day like they used to years ago, Bob. We put him to bed upstairs and called the doctor..
`Frank Chase?'
`That's right…' She had paused briefly before she replied. She began talking more quickly. `Bellman, our previous doctor, was getting out of touch with modern developments. I thought a younger man would be more likely to move with the times. It's a good job I took that decision – he gave Jesse a thorough examination, including blood tests. That's how we found out Jesse was suffering from leukaemia. You can imagine the shock…' She moved closer to him and clasped his free hand. She looked very soulful.
`It was a very big jump,' he said.
She looked puzzled, wary. 'Bob, I'm not following you.. `From Tucson, Arizona to Berne, Switzerland.'
`Oh, I see what you mean.' She relaxed, gave him a warm smile. 'Jesse was a mountaineer. He liked Switzerland. He discussed it with Frank – Dr Chase. He simply acceded to my grandfather's expressed wish, bearing in mind the patient's best interests…'
`Come again? No, forget it. No thanks, no more tea.'
He simply acceded to my grandfather's expressed wish, bearing in mind the patient's best interests.
Linda's dialogue had suddenly gone wrong – she would normally never talk like that. But Frank Chase would. It confirmed what Newman had expected to happen. During the time between driving away from Chase's place down Sabino Canyon Road to Linda's home the hyena had called Linda to report their visit – to instruct her.
She squeezed his hand gently to get his full attention and began talking again in her soft, soothing voice. 'Bob, I'd like you to do everything you can to settle my kid sister's mind. There's nothing she can do about Jesse except worry.
`The kid sister can fly to Berne to find out what the hell is really going on…' Nancy stood in the open doorway, her manner curt, her tone biting. 'And when you've finished with it you might give Bob back his hand – he's only got two of them…'
`Nancy, there's simply nothing to go on,' Newman said emphatically. 'As a professional newspaper man I look for facts when I'm after a story – evidence! There isn't any showing something's wrong…'
It was mid-afternoon and they were eating a late lunch at the Smugglers Inn where he had insisted on staying. It gave him independence and kept Linda Wayne at arm's length. Nancy slammed down her fork beside her half-eaten steak.
`Fact One. Nobody asked for a second opinion…'
`Buhler, who did the blood tests, was tops according to Rosen. I gather you respect Rosen?'
`Yes, I do. Let that one slide, for the moment. Fact Two. I never heard Jesse say a word about he wished he could live in Switzerland. Visit it, yes! But God, he was always so glad to get back home.'
`When a man is ill, he dreams, to blot out reality…'
`Fact Three!' Nancy drummed on. 'At the very moment Jesse is ill because he falls off his horse Linda calls in an entirely new doctor. Fact Four! The only man who can confirm this diagnosis of leukaemia, Buhler, is dead. And his records go up in smoke with him! So everything rests on Dr Chase's word, a man you called a hyena…'
`I didn't like him. That doesn't make him Genghis Khan. Look, I'm seeing Rosen this evening. If nothing comes of that, can we drop the subject? I have to decide whether to accept this pretty lucrative offer from CBS to act as their European correspondent. They won't wait forever for a decision…'
`You want the job?' she interjected.
`It's the only way we can get married – unless you agree that we both live in London or somewhere in Europe..
`I've given up years of my life to practise medicine and I want to live in the States. I'd feel lost and marooned anywhere else. And, Bob, I am going to Berne. The question is – are you coming with me? There might even be a big story in it…'