“I remember it vaguely.”
“My sister was shot down on the street five years ago. She was a pretty kid. About to be married. In fact, she was buying clothes for her wedding trip that day. She had bad luck. They were killing a man that day, in the capital. A business matter. Perhaps he hadn’t cooperated or something. The executioner was a little nervous. One of the slugs missed, ricocheted off the front of a building, and hit my sister in the throat. She died on the way to the hospital. They never found who did it.”
She had spoken flatly, tonelessly, and the look of implacable hatred in her eyes shocked him. “A... a terrible thing,” he said weakly.
“I thought so. So did the boy she didn’t marry. So did the public — for about three days. Then it all died down. Those things always do. I was in training in the hospital there at the time. When the committee was started, somebody remembered the incident and remembered that the deceased had a sister who was a nurse. They came to me. I agreed to the proposition. I was arrested on suspicion on a narcotics charge and released for lack of evidence. That was my introduction to Valley Vale. I’ve been there nearly two years. I know Dressner is tied in with Ross Farlini. Lew Prade is Farlini’s errand boy in this end of the state. Dressner does Prade’s dirty work for him. My job is to keep my eyes open and be ready to testify when the committee is ready to subpoena Farlini. Dressner, Prade, and the rest of them. But I’ve learned very, very little. Not enough, yet, to balance my personal scales. They are all too wary. Dr. Dressner uses me only for what I am — a darn good professional nurse. He’s an extremely cautious man. But Lew Prade is my real target. Those are my troubles, Steve. The last twenty months haven’t been easy.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re not a part of — all that.”
She leaned forward, her eyes intent on his. “Maybe you can help me, Steve.”
“How do you mean that?”
“You didn’t mean to kill that — Novecki person. It would take your testimony to help us prove that Dressner made a misstatement of fact on the death certification, acting on Lew Prade’s orders.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Now, wait a minute!” he said. “I went through all that.”
“I’m thinking of my sister, Steve. Of the men who — make that sort of death possible.”
“To be maybe too damn blunt, Gloria, your sister isn’t able to approve or disapprove of your actions. But I’ve got a couple of kids who think I’m the greatest guy in the world, and—”
“How long are they going to keep thinking that, Steve? How long? They’re little kids. They could get over trouble easier right now than... Well, what will they think when they learn someday that you used your position to steal from the man who, you say, has been your friend as well as your employer? And they will find out someday. Believe me, they will.”
“You say they can get over trouble right now. One batch of it. Maybe. Ellen died and it rocked them. I ran out on them. That’s hard to forgive. But I’m back with them now. They trust me again. Don’t you see? That’s the trap. Suppose I could trust that this committee deal would really clobber Prade, Farlini, and the rest of them. Okay. Then I might be able to chance getting off with some sort of suspended sentence or something. But if your committee aims a wild punch and misses, then Prade, Incorporated, is going to make sure that I spend time in jail. And I just can’t risk that. I’ve been over it and over it in my head until I’m half crazy.”
She didn’t answer. She looked down at her coffee, frowning. He could hear the thunder more distinctly. She sighed heavily. “I suppose it is a lot to ask you to do. When you told me that Marty had died. I thought—”
“Didn’t you know?”
“No. I didn’t get a good look at the X-rays. After I was off duty they moved him over to one of the other buildings and took his records over there. When anything odd happens, it’s always in that other building, and I’m not permitted to go over there. The excuse is that a lot of the patients in there are under restraint.”
“I apologize for calling you a cold cookie. I thought when you thanked me for the flowers that you knew I’d killed him. It’s sort of a continuous nightmare — to know that you killed a man with your hands. Like a damn animal. If the kids knew that, they’d never really think about me the same way. There’d be a little awe and a little fear mixed in. I don’t want that.”
She made a brave attempt at a smile. “Anyway. I’ve learned something. I’ve learned that I haven’t been as clever as I thought. They must know I’m looking for information to use against them. Otherwise they wouldn’t have tried — so delicately — to keep us apart.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Well, I knew, of course, that a patient in another building, a patient with a Polish name, had died. I didn’t connect that up with that Marty who was brought in with you. And apparently Dr. Dressner didn’t expect Marty to die, or he’d never have brought him where I could have seen him and you in the first place. So, if we get together it means that you tell me about Marty, and. assuming I’m working against them, it would be logical for me to try to get you to make a statement to the police, or at least to the district attorney.”
“I see what you mean, Gloria.” He half smiled. “Maybe it also means that they’re not too certain I might not reverse my field.”
“You still might?”
“I told you why I can’t. I told you!”
The cars streaming by outside had their lights on. He envied the people in those cars. Perhaps every one of them had some problem — something they considered crucial, almost desperate. But there was a way out for them. He could see no way out for himself. No way that would leave him both honor and security. It was, he thought, very probably the classic choice. That last threshold choice of the human spirit. It would be naive to imagine that there existed somewhere a kind, powerful, and understanding person in authority who would listen to the entire tale, pat him on the hand, and tell him to go his way while the wicked were brought to judgment. More likely it would be a casual, dusty courtroom smelling of nervousness and boredom. “Fine a plaintiff guilty a manslaughter ’n sentence him to not lessen two or more’n five years ’n state’s prison. Next case.”
“Always,” she said softly, “always it’s yourself you have to live with.”
“Stop reading my mind, Gloria. Lew Prade has his doctrine. He talks about angles. Maybe I’m a new convert.”
“I hardly think you could be, Steve.”
“You’re so damn sure of yourself!”
“You sound irritated with me because you’re irritated with yourself.”
“Stop pushing me!”
“Steve, just how important is all that equipment? Really, I mean. To Vogeling and Lew Prade and Ross Farlini and their whole crew?”
He shrugged. “I suppose you’ve got to assume they’ll milk the contracts for the maximum they can get. You maybe read about the state-road program for the next five years? Thirty million a year. If Vogeling can get hold of the contracts, as well as the Jennings and Ryan back-ordered equipment, maybe Farlini can throw them five million a year for this end of the state. Get a few inspectors in there who’ll turn their backs when Vogeling skimps on the road foundations, and jimmy up the books on construction costs and profits, and they might be able to divvy up better than half a million on the side — apart from the recorded profits on the contract. Half a million a year. Two and a half million over a five-year period. But, you see, Vogeling must get that equipment, because it would be too obvious if the contracts were placed with a firm unable to handle it with existing equipment.”