Except that this guy was too shaky, and his words contradicted each other, and Matt just had a feeling. George had been hid out here, right here, right in this guy’s house. Maybe something had spooked him, maybe Parker was on the prowl again, or maybe the broad had got herself untied and to a phone — though he doubted that — and so George wasn’t here anymore, but he had been here, and of that Matt was dead certain.
And George would want to keep in touch. He’d want a line into his regular life; he’d want to know how things were going. And he’d keep on doing it through this Ed Saugherty, it only stood to reason.
Matt said, “No, that number isn’t good anymore. Just tell him I’ll get in touch. Okay?”
“All right,” the voice said.
“Bye,” said Matt, his voice soft, and put the phone back on its hook. He nodded at the phone, thinking, and then went out and got into his car and drove back to where Paul was sitting next to a hedge on the front lawn across the street from the Saugherty house. Matt parked the car and got out and Paul came over and Matt asked him, “Anything happen?”
“A light went on is all. It’s still on.”
Matt look across the street, and a light was shining in the house somewhere. “I guess I got him nervous,” Matt said.
“Come on.”
“Is he in there?”
Matt led the way across the street. “Not now. I don’t think so, not now. But he was. And Saugherty know where he went. Come on.”
They didn’t go direct to the front door but angled over to a corner of the house. Matt boosted Paul up and Paul stood on his shoulders, bracing himself with one hand against the wall while he reached up with a pair of wire cutters in the other and snipped the telephone wire. Then he got down to the ground again and they walked half a dozen steps to the garage door. Matt tried it and it lifted. They went in and Matt switched on the light and they shut the door again. They made no effort to be quiet.
The door between the garage and the kitchen was locked, but it had glass in the upper half. Matt took a pistol from under his jacket and smashed the glass with the butt. He reached through and unlocked the door and he and Paul stepped through. The kitchen was half lit with spill from the living room. They went into the house and shut the door behind them, and in the kitchen they met a wild-eyed man in bathrobe and pajamas and slippers, scuffing hurriedly across the floor in their direction. He stopped when he saw them and said, “What are you doing? What are you doing here?” It was the same voice Matt had heard on the phone.
Matt saw a light switch and clicked it on. Ed Saugherty squinted in the white glare, and Matt said to Paul, “Go check out the rest of the house.”
“Just a minute,” Saugherty said. “Just a minute.” He made as though to block Paul’s path, but Matt held the pistol up where Saugherty could see it, and Saugherty stayed where he was. Paul left the room.
They waited, neither saying anything. After a couple of minutes they heard a complaining woman’s voice and then a kid crying because he didn’t want to be awake. Saugherty said, “You can’t just — ” and then quit. Because they both knew Matt could. Just.
Paul called from the living room, “Okay, Matt.”
Matt waved the pistol at Saugherty. “Let’s join them.”
They went into the living room. Paul had closed the drapes over the picture window. A woman looking angry and scared was sitting on the sofa with three kids lined out beside her. The kids all looked teary and scared.
Matt said to Paul, “This it?”
Paul said, “There’s somebody been using the guest room, but he’s gone now. No luggage or anything.”
“So he isn’t coming back,” Matt said. “Or maybe he is.”
The woman snapped, “He isn’t. We didn’t want him here, and we don’t: want you here.”
Saugherty tried to shush her by patting the air with his hands, saying, “Pam. Pam.”
“You make me sick,” she told him and then didn’t look at him anymore. She glared at Matt instead.
Man said to Saugherty, “I’m the fella just phoned a little while ago.”
“Rosenstein?”
“That’s right. Very good. Matt Rosenstein. Now, all I want is to have a nice talk with George. You know? I’m sorry to get everybody out of bed this way, but I feel it’s kind of urgent. So all you have to do is say where George went, and we’ll go right away again.”
Saugherty shook his head. “I don’t know where he went. I really don’t.”
“That would be an awful shame,” Matt said, “because we don’t plan to leave here until we find out where he went. So if you really don’t know, it isn’t going to be so good for you.”
“He’s supposed to call,” Saugherty said. He sounded desperate. He kept blinking. He said, “He told me he’d call, but he didn’t tell me where he was or where he was going. I swear he didn’t. But he’ll call.”
“Well, that’s another shame,” Matt said, “since we just cut the phone wires. So we’re stuck with you telling us where George is. You see how it is?”
“But I don’t know!”
“Well, then, maybe he’ll come back,” Matt said, and by the expression that flicked across Saugherty’s face for just a second he knew he’d hit on it. Saugherty’s eyes glanced to one side, his mouth made a small grimace, and then it was over. But that was all Matt needed. He nodded and said, “Yeah, that’d be nice. He’ll come back here. How soon do you figure he’ll be back, Ed?”
Saugherty said, “He isn’t coming back. He’ll just call. When there’s no answer, he’ll be afraid to come back.”
“Naw. Not if the phone’s just out of order. He’ll be back. And we’ll just wait for him. Unless you’ve got some idea where he is? Some small idea?”
“I don’t. I swear I don’t.”
The woman said, “Ed, if you’re protecting that man — “
“For the love of God, Pam, do you think I’d — “
Matt turned to her, smiling his little smile. “Maybe you know something you’d like to tell us.”
“I didn’t talk to him,” she snapped. “My husband talked to him when he called.”
“He called?” Matt turned back to the husband. “When was this, Ed?”
“This afternoon.”
“And what did he say, Ed?”
“He said he wasn’t coming back, but he’d call, he’d let me know what was happening.”
“He didn’t say where he was?”
“He said he was in Washington; some girl was beaten up down there or something.”
“In Washington.”
“But he wasn’t staying there. He said he was leaving right after the phone call.”
“It’s a mobile age,” Matt said. “It’s easy to forget that. So the son of a bitch was in Washington today, was he?” He looked at Paul. “He’ll be back, won’t he?”
“I don’t know, Matt. The phone out of order could scare him off.”
“Can you splice it, patch it up?”
“Maybe. It looked like there was some tools and stuff out in the garage.”
Matt thought and then nodded. “Okay. We’ll fix the phone and we’ll wait. And George will call, and Ed, you’ll tell him everything’s okay here, he can come back, no trouble. And you better sound convincing.”
“Oh, I will,” Saugherty said, and all at once he sounded bitter. “I don’t owe George Uhl anything, don’t you worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Matt said.
Paul said, “You want me to fix the phone now, Man?”
“Not yet. A little later. Right now you keep an eye on everybody while the little lady gives me a tour of the house.” He smiled at her and saw the startled expression on her face. But she wasn’t as tough as that bitch down in Washington this afternoon; she wouldn’t take as much convincing. There’d be a lot of energy left in her when they got to it.