“And you’re the key to all that profit?”
“Yes.”
“You know, Steve, it seems almost too pat. It was all fitted together so quickly and so neatly.”
“They’re fast on their feet. Lew says he is always looking for angles. So he found one and acted on it quickly. You might say that’s his trade.”
“What makes you think you can trust me, Steve?”
He stared at her. “What do you mean?”
“What’s going to keep me from telling my real boss, not Dressner, exactly what is going on?”
Her dark eyes were cool, almost hostile. He said slowly, “I am just not very bright, I guess. I wanted to talk to somebody. Somehow it was you I wanted to talk to. It never occurred to me that you would or could — clobber me. I suppose that’s the right word. You wouldn’t have to go to your boss. You could go right to George Ryan and tell him what I’m going to do, and that would be the end of it.”
“So, you just instinctively trusted me?”
“That’s the way it is.”
“Coldly and objectively, Steve, I want to stop you from doing what Prade wants you to do. I could tell myself I was doing it for your own good. Maybe we’re both too soft for this world, Steve. I can’t do it. It’s something you have to do.”
He smiled. “I thought for a minute the responsibility was being taken out of my hands. It was almost a relief. Almost, but not quite. I guess when Ellen died I lost my luck. Things have gone sour since then.”
“If you were in serious trouble. Steve, what would happen to Paul and Diana?”
“They’d go back with Ellen’s parents.”
“Is that bad?”
“It wasn’t good for them the last time. They’re quite old. They have a big. gloomy house. They were too tough on Ellen when she was a kid. The years haven’t made them any more lenient. They don’t have the usual attitude toward grandchildren. They expect too much of kids. When I got my children back it was as though they were coming out from under a big black cloud. If Ellen’s people were different it would simplify the whole thing. I feel I’m responsible to Ellen for the kids. Paulie and Diana are. at the age where— Another year in that house would mix them up for good. Kids have to have emotional security.”
She looked down at the table top. She flushed. She said, “This sounds weird, I know. but. you see, I’ve worked toward something for nearly two years, and I haven’t got anyplace, and I’m trying to find some way of being able to use what you’ve told me. We’re sitting here trying to figure something out, and— Either of us ought to be able to make any sort of suggestion, shouldn’t we?” She looked up at him quickly, her face still pink.
“What are you driving at?”
“I guess it’s partly your idea, anyway. You were talking about — thirty teeth and a pleasant baritone. I fill — certain requirements. I can make pretty good money, and I’m good with kids, and if the worst happened, I’d make them understand. while you were — away, just how it happened and why it happened. Then afterward we could maybe get it annulled or something, because it would really be just an — arrangement. But you could check on me. I could tell you the people to talk to. I’m reliable, and responsible.”
“And bright pink.”
“Don’t laugh at me. I don’t propose every day. It’s harder to do than I thought. You see, that way, they could be with me, and nobody could send them back to Ellen’s parents.”
“You’d saddle yourself with a pair kids. Just to be able to turn over more information to that investigating committee?”
“I’ve got something at stake. I’ve got what happened to my sister as well as the knowledge of two years wasted unless I can prove something.”
He looked at her. The blush had faded. She sat erect with pride and with dignity and a certain inflexibility of purpose that impressed him.
“And if, as you say, the worst happens, how do I go about making a living when I get out? Caning chairs?”
“Sometimes you can’t see beyond the end of your nose, Steve. You go to George Ryan right now and tell him the whole story, and tell him, very carefully, that you’ll endanger your own freedom and reputation rather than cheat him, and something tells me that there won’t be any problem when you get out. We should be married as quickly as possible. There are blood tests and things. It takes three days. Then we can tell the whole story to my boss and to George Ryan and to the police. I’ll drive you back to your car now and meet you at the license bureau in City Hall tomorrow morning at nine sharp.”
“Gloria, I... I don’t know how...”
She pulled her hand from under his. “This is a business arrangement, Steve. And it’s up to you. Do you want to go through with it?”
“It’s the only way out that seems to make any sense. I’d be a damn fool not to agree.”
They drove back to Coleburne. Fat raindrops began to fall as they reached the outskirts. By the time she pulled up behind his car the rain was bouncing high off the asphalt, a silver fringe on the curtain of the night. He looked at her. A neon sign that clicked off and on made an intermittent, harsh green light against the clear plane of her cheek. He took her gently in his good arm, and they held each other close. He kissed her with an unexpected clumsiness, and she responded with a dizzying warmth and then drew resolutely away from him.
“Steve — we have to keep it on the basis of — an impersonal arrangement, or I can’t go through with it. You do understand that, Steve?”
“I can understand it without liking it. Nine o’clock tomorrow?”
“Nine o’clock, Steve.”
The next morning was sunny, the air washed clean by the night’s rain. He had slept soundly for the first time since learning of Marty’s death. By nine-fifteen he was irritated, restless. By nine-thirty he was filled with vague alarm, and found himself dropping cigarettes on the tile floor of the corridor after two or three quick puffs. At nine-forty he asked the graying, spavined clerk if he might use the office phone for a local call. He had already filled out his portion of the license blank to save time.
The clerk had a musty cackle. “See’d a lot of times men didn’t show. Women always seem to. Go ahead. Like to hear how you handle a situation like this, friend.”
Steve phoned and recognized the voice of the other nurse. It was stupid not to have written down Gloria’s private number. It wasn’t listed, at least not under her name.
“Could you give me Miss Hess’s number again, please? This is Mr. Dalvin.”
“I’m sorry. Miss Hess is ill. She was taken sick in the night, Mr. Dalvin.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I’m afraid you’d have to see Dr. Dressner about that. She’s over in one of the other buildings.”
“May I speak with Dr. Dressner, please?”
“He isn’t going to be in today unless there’s an emergency and we have to call him, Mr. Dalvin.”
“Where do you call him if there’s an emergency?”
“I’m afraid I can’t give out that information, sir.”
“Who can give me a report on Miss Hess?”
“Dr. Dressner can tell you about it. He’ll be in sometime tomorrow. Maybe you could phone. About ten o’clock tomorrow?”
“Could I see Miss Hess if I came out?”
“Oh, no, sir. Visitors are allowed in this building, but not the others.”
He hung up sharply, walked toward the door, remembered to turn and thank the clerk.
With a sick feeling of apprehension, he walked the five blocks to the office. Perhaps she was actually sick. He tried to tell himself that. It didn’t work very well. Perhaps it would have been a good deal wiser not to have given his name to that other nurse, knowing that Lew Prade had told him very definitely to stay away from Gloria Hess. He could imagine the entire sequence: Doctor, a man named Dalvin asked for Miss Hess. I gave him her private number. She went out shortly after that and didn’t come back for three or four hours. Next sequence: Miss Hess, we know you saw Dalvin. It was suggested to you that you make no contact with him. We are aware of your activities, Miss Hess. We have been aware of them for some time.