“I’m trying to tell you, Sergeant! If you’ll just—”
“You some kind of a bum or something? A nut? Too dumb or shiftless to make out on a regular job? Or maybe you’re working an angle, hmmm. You’re a plant. You’re going to do a job on Britt yourself.”
Kay was trembling all over. Her face had turned from white to red to a mixture of the two, and now it was a beautiful combination flushed cream and reddish-streaked pastels.
Her mouth opened, and I braced myself for a yell. But she spoke very quietly, with only a slight shakiness hinting at the anger which she must have felt.
“I want the job, Sergeant Claggett, for two reasons. One is that I like Mr. Rainstar. I like him very much, and I want to help him.”
“Thank you, Kay,” I mumbled — I had to say something, didn’t I? — stealing a glance at Claggett. “I, uh, like you, too.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rainstar. The second reason I want the job, Sergeant Claggett, is because I’m not sure I belong in nursing. I want to find out whether I do or not before it’s too late to change to another field. So…
So she wanted to take what would probably be the toughest job she would ever encounter as a nurse. If she could measure up to it, fine. If not, well, that was also all right She would either make or break quickly. Her mind would be made up for her, and without any prolonged wavering, any mental seesawing.
“Those are my reasons for wanting the job, Sergeant Claggett. I hope they’re enough, because I can’t give you any others.”
Kay finished speaking, sat very straight and dignified in her chair, hands folded primly in her lap. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her. But I had felt that way before, with results that were not always happy for me. Except for that pleasant weakness, I would not be where I was now, with a nose which I could barely see around.
Claggett scrubbed his jaw thoughtfully, then cocked a brow at me. I cocked one at him, making it tit for tat. He grinned at me narrowly, acknowledging my studiously equivocal position.
“Well, now, young woman,” he said, “a fine speech like that must have taken a lot out of you. Suppose you take a relief or have lunch, and come back in about an hour?”
“Well” — Kay stood hesitantly — “I really don’t mind waiting, Sergeant. In fact—”
“I want to talk to Mr. Rainstar privately. Some other business. We’ll settle this job matter when you get back.”
“I see. Well, whatever you say, sir.”
Kay nodded to us, and left.
Claggett stretched his legs in front of him, and said he was glad to get that out of the way. “Now, to pick up on your accident—”
“Just a minute, Jeff,” I said. “You said we had that out of the way. You’re referring to Nurse Nolton’s employment?”
“Let it ride, will you?” He gestured impatiently. “I was going to tell you that I dropped in on PXA this morning. Just a routine visit, you know, to tell them about the accident to their favorite employee.”
“Well?” I said.
“Pat was pretty shook up about it. Reacted about the same as he did on my first visit. Kind of worried and angry, you know, like he might get hurt by a mess he wasn’t responsible for. Then he turned sort of foxy and clammed up. Because — as I read him — he knew we’d have a hell of a time proving anything against his niece, even though she had ordered the hit.”
“Yes?” I frowned. “How do you mean?”
“She’s in the hospital, Britt. Saint Christopher’s. She’s been there since just before midnight last night. Two highly reputable doctors in attendance, and they’re not giving out any information nor allowing any visitors.”
I gulped, blinked at him stupidly. I moved my nose out of the way, and had a small drink of water.
“Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say, Britt?” He winked at me narrowly. “Kind of an unusual alibi, but she’s kind of an unusual girl.”
“Maybe she really is sick,” I said. “She could be.”
“So she could.” Claggett shrugged. “It’s practically a cinch that she is, in that hospital with those doctors. But that doesn’t keep it from being a very convenient time to be sick. She could’ve set the deal up, then put herself well out of the way of it with a nice, legitimate sickness.”
“Oh, well, yeah.” I nodded slowly. “A fake attempt at suicide. Or an appendicitis attack — acute but simulated.”
“Possibly, but not necessarily,” Claggett said, and then pointed out that Manny had been under a great deal of nervous stress. She had concealed it, but this itself had added to the tension. Finally, after doing that which only she could do, she had collapsed with exhaustion.
“It’s my guess that she did pretty much the same thing, after her husband’s death. About the only difference is that she needed more time to recuperate then, and she went into seclusion.”
I said that killing her husband would certainly have put a lot of strain on her. But where was the evidence that she had killed him? He was only one of many who had died during the hurricane.
“Right,” said Claggett, “but the other deaths were all from drowning or being buried under the wreckage. Her husband apparently was killed by flying timbers; in other words, he was out in the open at the time the hurricane struck. Of course, he could have been, and might have been. But…”
He broke off and spread his hands expressively. I wet my lips nervously, then brushed a hand against them.
“I see what you mean,” I said. “She could have battered the hell out of him, beaten him to death. Then dragged his body outside.”
“That’s what I mean,” said Claggett.
From the hallway, there came the muted clatter of dishes, the faint aromas of the noon meals. They were not exactly appetite-stimulating; and I had to swallow down nausea as Claggett and I continued our conversation.
“Jeff,” I said at last. “I just don’t see how I can go through with this. How the hell can I, under the circumstances?”
“You mean, seeing Miss Aloe?”
“Of course, that’s what I mean! I can’t do the pamphlets without seeing her. I’ll have to confer with her more or less regularly.”
“Well…” Claggett sighed, then shrugged. “If you can’t, you can’t.”
“Oh, hell,” I said miserably. “Naturally, I’ll go through with it. I’ve got no choice.”
“Good! Good!” he said. “Let’s hope you can get out of here within the next few days. The doctors tell me that aside from your nose, and your nerves, and—”
“There’s nothing they can do for me here that can’t be done at home,” I said. “And I want to get out of here. No later than tomorrow morning. This place is dangerous. It makes me nervous. A lot of people die in hospitals.”
Claggett chuckled knowingly. “Here we go again, hmm? You just take it easy, my friend. Calm down, and pull yourself together.”
I said I wasn’t being nutty, dammit. The hospital was dangerous, which had damn well been proved in my case. There were too many people around, and it was simply impossible to ward them off or to check on all of them.
“At home, I won’t have more than two visitors at most. Manny and, possibly, Pat Aloe. Only those two — only one of them, actually — will be all that have to be watched. I say that’s a hell of a lot better than the way it is here.”
Claggett deliberated briefly, and agreed with me. “If it’s all right with the doctors, it’s all right with me,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’ll be going now, but I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What about the nurse?”
“What? Oh, yes, she almost slipped my mind. Hadn’t decided about her yet, had I?”
“No, you hadn’t. You were going to talk to her when she came back from lunch.”