He thanked Thompkins, walked out into the five-o’clock heat. The air no longer smelled washed. Humidity had folded down over the city again, wilting the women, shimmering the chrome glints of the cars.
He stood uncertainly on the corner, and then walked to the lot for his car. McGell had his office phone and his home phone. It would be wise to go to the house and wait for McGell to call. And when McGell called, he’d get some news.
The street lay quiet, the newly planted maples making small spots of shade. A big phone-company truck was parked down the street from his house, and men were working on the poles.
He turned into the driveway and cut off the motor.
“Hey, Daddy!” Diana called joyously. She came plunging down the two steps from the screened porch of Lew Prade’s house and ran to the car. “Daddy, we had ice cream over at Mr. Ryan’s house.”
He opened the door. He fought against panic. She leaped to the concealed running board, clutched his leg. He glanced at Prade’s porch, saw the bulky form of Lew behind the screen.
He kept his voice low. “What are you doing back here, sugar? Is Paulie here, too?”
“Mr. Joe brought us back, Daddy. We’re having a party at Uncle Lew’s.” Her voice was shrill.
“You’re invited, Stevie,” Lew called. “Come on and join the party.” Paulie appeared beside Lew. Steve got out of the car. He felt as if he were in the middle of a vast stage, too brightly lighted. The porch was a hundred miles away across the green lawn.
Steve walked to the screen door, holding Diana’s hand. Lew held the door open. Steve looked closely at him. The man’s expression seemed calm. Steve said hello to Paulie, rumpled the boy’s hair. He was proud that his voice did not shake. The one called Pritch and the one called Joe sat on wicker chairs. Ricky Vogeling sat on the couch. They had drinks. Paulie clutched a Coke bottle. The big doll sat in a straight-backed chair by herself, wearing her half-smile, glassy and permanent. She looked to Steve as though she sat there with robotic anticipation, ceramic glee.
“Bring Stevie a drink, Irene,” Lew yelled.
“Coming up,” she answered from the back of the house.
“Sit down, Stevie.”
Steve took one of the empty chairs. Lew sat beside Ricky on the couch. Steve heard himself say idiotically, “Warm day.”
Irene smiled a bit uncertainly at Steve, handed him a drink, and went back into the house. Diana was sitting on the floor near the doll. Paulie stood by the screen door. Lew said. “Kids, go on back and talk to Irene. She’s lonesome back there.”
“Can Betty Baker Dalvin stay out here. Uncle Lew? She likes it on the porch.”
“Sure, honey. Give me a kiss and run along now.”
The children left the porch. Lew said. “You’re right, Stevie. It is warm. A warm day for running around like you’ve been, making long-distance calls, going to talk to that stupid Thompkins, getting Ryan’s driver to pick up your kids downtown. You don’t want to exert yourself so much.”
“You’ve been busy, too,” Steve said with a faint attempt at defiance.
“Marty’s on the West Coast, Stevie. He’s working for a friend. Thought you’d like to know.”
“I found out today. How big a damn fool can a man be?”
“Stevie, I give it to you straight. Ross Farlini doesn’t want any fooling around. He wants Vogeling to get that equipment fast, and you’re going to divert it to us just the way I laid it out.”
“If Marty isn’t dead...”
“It doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You can’t call cop. What can you prove?”
“I can prove that Dressner framed Miss Hess. There are some people in the capital who’ll be interested in that.”
“Doc promises me that if anybody wants to take a look at her she won’t be able to say anything that makes sense. He’s got ways. Hell, we’ve known all along she was a plant. No point in chasing her away. They might have sneaked one in we wouldn’t know about. She’s on ice, all nice and legal, for ninety days. They got all kinds of treatments for her condition, Stevie. Some of them are pretty uncomfortable. You get wise with us, and we try to take better care of your friend Gloria. That’s item one. Item two is that in a little while we show the kids what happens to Daddy when Daddy is bad. And if that one doesn’t take, we can go right on spanking Daddy until Daddy is a nice man again.”
“You... dirty—”
“Now, Stevie. That attitude isn’t fair. You got to understand my position. Ross likes me to be efficient. I don’t want him sore at me. So I got to keep you in line. The doc and I are always anxious to please. You sort of fell into my lap, and I had you fooled thinking Marty was dead and you killed him. So you’re a little smarter than I give you credit for, and that’s okay, too. I like smart friends, and I want you to just brace yourself for this little clobbering, and everything will be fine from here on in with us.”
“No matter what you do to me, Prade, I won’t do it.”
“Movies he’s been seeing,” Pritch said with contempt.
“I guess you won’t mind if I go, Lew,” Ricky said.
“Weak stomach, Ricky? Okay, run along. You’ll get the stuff all right. Stevie is going to be a lot smarter in about fifteen minutes.”
“How did you get the kids back here?” Steve asked in a low voice.
“I had a hunch and told Joe here to keep them in sight. He told me where they went. So I sent Joe out there with a note from you. I printed it with my left hand. Just like you’d have to. Pretty slick, eh?”
“It won’t work, Prade,” Steve said, and his voice trembled.
“Irene! Send the kids out here.”
There was enough shrubbery around the porch so that whatever happened on it couldn’t be seen from the street. “Pritch, you go in turn up that radio loud.”
Pritch stood up slowly. He took two steps toward the living room and then looked out at the curb in front of the house.
“Phone company, Lew,” he said softly.
“Go stall them,” Lew snapped.
Steve turned his head and watched the three workmen heading toward the porch. Pritch met them. There were low voices Steve could not hear. He stared hard. It looked as though the tallest workman were slapping Pritch’s pockets, backing Pritch up. Ricky had got in his car. One man reached in casually and took the keys out of Ricky Vogeling’s hand.
They came up to the screen door. Lew Prade said, his voice thin and sharp, “What goes? What goes on?”
The tallest man had a lean, sad, worn face, graying hair, somber eyes. “Hello, Prade. Name’s McGell. Give him his subpoena, Benning. We got a lot of them, Prade. Blank except for the date, and we just filled those in.”
Lew said, “You know what you’re doing, maybe? You can’t touch me.”
“We’re not touching you, Prade. You got some dates. One before a committee. One before a grand jury, probably. Dressner gets a bid to the party, too. I think he’ll check Miss Hess and find she’s made an astonishing recovery.”
“You got nothing,” Lew said, regaining confidence. “Nothing at all, my friend.”
“I’m — glad to see you, Mr. McGell,” Steve said. “And if anybody ever made an understatement—”
McGell’s smile changed his face completely. “We let you sweat a little. Off the record, I like the way you were taking it. Hi, honey,” he said, sitting on his heels, arms outstretched.