'Are we going to stay in the city?' asked Kathleen.
'No, we'll skirt round it, I think. But I would like to go to the bank in the city. They must have a branch here and the sooner we do it the better. I want to go alone and I don't want to take the car into town in case we get spotted by some eager-beaver patrolman. That means we have to find somewhere for you and the boy to stay till I get back.'
'We could ask the waitress,' suggested Kathleen.
The waitress sucked her pencil while she thought and then said, 'Old Mrs Lehman, she runs a rooming house about two miles north of here. She can probably fix you up.'
'Sounds ideal,' said Kathleen, listening intently while the woman gave more detailed instructions on how to find the Lehman place.
Avedissian paid and gave the waitress a large tip for her help. 'You're English aren't you?' she said as they went out the door. Avedissian wished that she hadn't.
They found the Lehman house without much trouble and Avedissian was pleased to find that it was well back from the road. The house itself was a wooden building, three storeys high and painted white, although it had been some time since the last painting and large areas were bare where the surface had flaked off. An old woman they took to be Mrs Lehman came out to meet them and Avedissian explained that they wanted a room for a couple of days to break their journey. They hated staying in the city.
'I feel the same myself,' said Mrs Lehman in a strong German accent. 'All that noise and fuss.'
They were shown to a bright, airy room on the first floor and were pleased with it. Avedissian paid in advance and brought in what little they had from the car. It consisted solely of what Kathleen had been able to grab with one hand when they left the motel in such a hurry, but they managed to disguise the fact from Mrs Lehman. Kathleen chatted to her downstairs while Avedissian pretended to carry up their 'luggage'.
‘The boy doesn't say much,' said Mrs Lehman, noting that he seemed immune to all her attempts to make a fuss of him.
'He's very shy,' lied Kathleen. There was probably no need to be evasive but it had become a state of mind.
'We should be safe here,' said Avedissian when they were alone. Kathleen agreed as they looked out of the window to the waving fields of corn. It seemed unlikely that either NORAID or Innes could find them here. 'When will you go into the city?' she asked.
'I'll check on the bus situation with the old woman then go as soon as I can. If we can get it all done today we can lie low here for a couple of days then make for Chicago and a flight home.'
'Wherever that is,' said Kathleen ruefully.
Avedissian put his hands on her shoulders and said softly, 'We'll find somewhere and we'll be together. All right?'
Kathleen nodded and said, 'Go ask Mrs Lehman.'
'You have just missed one,’ said the old woman when Avedissian asked about buses into the city. 'Next one is not for two hours. It stops at the end of the road.'
Avedissian thanked her and returned upstairs.
'Do you know what I'd like to do?' said Kathleen when Avedissian told her of the delay. 'Go for a walk. I feel as if I've been in prison for the last week.'
'We'll all go,’ said Avedissian.
They walked along the dirt road leading from the house to a local farm, with the sun on their backs and a soft breeze drifting through the corn. The child, who had continued to cling to Kathleen at all times up till now, relaxed his grip on her hand for the first time and skipped a few paces ahead of them. Kathleen looked at Avedissian and smiled. 'I think he's getting over it,’ she said.
‘I’ll get him some toys when I'm in the city this afternoon,’ said Avedissian.
'What's going to happen to him in the long run?' asked Kathleen.
'It all depends on where he came from,’ replied Avedissian.
'Where could he have come from?'
'My guess must be some kind of home or orphanage. I can't see any parents being duped into letting their child be used for something like this, can you?'
'I can't see any home or orphanage doing it either,’ replied Kathleen.
'Sometimes the situation with children in care is a bureaucratic mess,’ said Avedissian. The kids get bundled around from one branch of the social services to the next. If, as I suspect, the boy has no living relatives, he would be a real problem for them because of his handicap. Being a deaf-mute would not make him a good bet for adoption.'
'So you think that Bryant exploited some mix-up in the system?' asked Kathleen.
'Or created it,’ said Avedissian bitterly.
'If it does turn out that he has no relations…’ said Kathleen uncertainly.
Avedissian could see what was coming. 'Y-e-s?' he said with a smile.
'Do you think he could possibly…?'
'Why not?' said Avedissian. 'We're all in the same boat. Maybe we should stick together.’
Kathleen took Avedissian's arm and hugged it. Avedissian checked his watch and said, 'We'll have to start back.’
The bus was ten minutes late but Avedissian had been able to watch it coming for the last five minutes because of the dust cloud it had created in the distance. He climbed aboard and paid the driver, who asked him if he was staying at the Lehman place. Avedissian said that he was and the driver proceeded to tell him what a fine woman Rosa Lehman was and how she had two fine boys who had gone East to pursue careers in the professions. Lawyers, he thought, or maybe one of them was a doctor. He always did get mixed up between the Lehman boys and the Miller boys down in Twin Forks.
'Rosa's boys are both lawyers,’ prompted one of the other three passengers on the bus. 'It's Johnny Miller who became the doctor.'
'Thank you, Martha,’ said the driver without turning his head. 'You staying long?' he asked Avedissian.
'A couple of days.’
'You're English, aren't you?'
'Yes.’
'Don't get too many Englishmen in these parts,’ said the driver. It had been a cue for Avedissian to say what he was doing there but Avedissian just looked out of the window and, to his relief, the driver did not pursue the matter.
The journey took forty minutes and Avedissian stepped out in the centre of Des Moines in the early afternoon. He asked the driver about a return bus and was given details of when and where he could pick one up. 'Have a nice day,’ said the driver.
'You too,’ said Avedissian.
He found the main branch of the bank he was looking for without much difficulty, for all the banks seemed to be clustered together in the heart of the city, and walked in through the impressively tall doors. It was cool inside the main banking hall, thanks to air-conditioning. It was just a question of approaching the correct window for his purpose. There seemed to be more than twenty and all were manned.
Seeing that he appeared indecisive, an armed guard approached Avedissian and asked if he could be of assistance. The words were polite but the face was stone.
'I want to open an account,’ said Avedissian.
'Number fourteen, at the end,’ said the guard, pointing with his finger.
Thank you.'
'Welcome.'
As he walked across the floor to window fourteen Avedissian wondered if he were walking on real marble or whether it was just a very good imitation. The support columns in the hall appeared to be made of the same, endowing the place with an aura of Greek grandeur. A nation in search of a heritage, he thought, as he smiled at the lady in the window.
'How may I help you?'
‘I’d like to open an account.'
'Checking?'
'No, deposit.'
The woman took a form from the collection to her left and started writing. 'How much would you like to deposit, sir?'
'What's the minimum?'