“How do you stand on decency now, killer?” Jackie asked in a deadly voice.
He looked at her for a long moment, then stood up. “By now you shouldn’t have to ask the question. Excuse me. Couple of little things to do.” He went to his studio and closed the door.
“Me and my mouth,” Jackie said. “I’m sorry.”
“I’d always wondered about his hands,” Kat said.
“This is awkward as hell,” Jackie said. “I’m sorry. I’m no good at the game of pretending nothing happened. So I’m going to have to shoo you away and then go in there and tell him he’s a good man and I love him as he is, seeking no alterations in the merchandise.”
“I was going to have to leave in minutes anyhow, Jackie.”
“And we’ve got to pay those commercial fishermen out there,” Jackie said.
The kids had caught twenty-six bait fish, eleven by Alicia and fifteen by Roy. Jackie paid them the agreed rate to the penny, wise enough to know that any careless generosity at that time would have spoiled the game for them. As they walked out to the cars, Jackie and the children lagging behind, Kat said, “Can you come to my place, Jimmy? I didn’t get a chance to tell you about last night.”
He nodded. Just then Ross came out. “I didn’t know you people were going to run off so soon.”
“I tried to keep them around,” Jackie said.
As Kat turned around to drive out she saw Ross move close to Jackie and, with a slight defiant awkwardness, put his arm around her slender waist and hold her close.
When she arrived home, Kat had a slight problem convincing Roy and Alicia it was too late to go up to the Sinnats for a swim. She took their minds off it by reminding them of tomorrow’s picnic, and they went off to play in Roy’s room. She made herself a rum drink and opened a beer for Jimmy. They sat in the coolness of the living room, the draperies closed against the glare of the western sun.
“That’s the first time I ever saw any flaw in that united front,” Kat said.
“I admire the guy for the way he came out to say goodbye. She hit him a dandy. It’s easier to sulk.”
“You think it’s dramatic, and later you realize you were only being silly. It’s pride, I guess. The wrong kind. Last night was strange, Jimmy. I didn’t open my mouth. I just listened.”
She told him the conversation Martin, Eloise, Dial and Claire had, and then spoke of how Dial had reacted to it afterward. “He seems to think there’s somebody else behind it, Jimmy, somebody smarter than those five men we know about.”
“Where would he get that idea?”
“I don’t know. He’s a strange man. He’s big and hearty and sort of obvious, but there’s something... almost feline about him too. Intuition or something. And you’re never quite sure whether he’s laughing at you. And he’s also got the idea that somebody has been coaching Eloise, teaching her how to work on Martin, or Martin would never have gotten into this thing as deeply as he has.”
“They need Martin,” Jimmy admitted. “They need the access, and they’ll need the line of credit to develop the land once they get it.”
“If they get it. But they won’t.”
“That’s going to be a matter of considerable opinion around this town for a while, Katherine.”
“Why did you call me Katherine then?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s probably because you heard Van do it. Whenever he said anything to me like that, sort of dry and skeptical, when he thought I was getting a little too carried away, he’d call me Katherine.”
“That’s probably it. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t mind it, Jimmy. It just seemed odd.”
She looked at him and looked away. The light was strange in the room. The draperies were blue, yet the light had a green tinge. His face was in shadow.
“I talked to Nat Sinnat today,” he said, and she was relieved that he had interrupted the odd and awkward silence.
“Oh, did you? What about?”
“A story on the children’s art classes she teaches. Mortie said she was the one to talk to, and he was right. She was articulate and she has good ideas. But she seemed a little... odd.”
“Odd?”
“That’s not a good word, I guess. A little tense maybe. Not the tension of being interviewed. A more chronic kind.”
“I guess there’s reasons. Her mother was Di’s second wife. And it wasn’t a friendly divorce. I think Nat was about five at the time. Her mother is a real pinwheeling neurotic, according to Di. She didn’t marry again. She’s done a lot of traveling. She and Nat lived in France for a while. Her mother was bitterly opposed to Nat’s coming down here this summer. There was a big stink about it. All in all, I think Nat is wonderfully well balanced, considering her background. But she isn’t what you’d call exactly a normal girl of nineteen. She’s independent, in more ways than financial. She’s what I guess you’d call unconventional. She doesn’t give a damn what anybody thinks, really. She goes her own way. But I guess she took some kind of emotional beating last year. Claire has hinted about it. That’s why she came down here.”
“She’s a pretty kid.”
“Unusual looking.”
“Apparently she’s dating some boy younger than she is, a high-school kid.”
“Dating? Oh, no! That’s Jigger. You know. Burt Lesser’s boy. I guess he’s got a crush on her. She says Jigger is a very unhappy boy. I would have guessed that. Anyhow, that would make two of them, misery loving company or something like that. Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious about her. Just making conversation, I guess.”
“If you can stay, I think I can feed you.”
“Thanks, Kat. But I’ve got some more work to do. The load is a little heavier the last couple of days. Brian Haas got taken drunk.”
“Oh, no! Really? But wasn’t it almost certain that Mr. Borklund would fire him the next time he...”
“We’re trying to cover it, and maybe we have. If he got it out of his system it may come out all right.”
“Nan must be terribly upset.”
“She’s handling it pretty well. I’m going to stop in later on and see how things are going. We have to get him back to work by noon tomorrow. It will be up to him to hide the shakes.”
Again there was the heavy silence. She felt she should make some listless effort to break it. Perhaps it will rain? It’s been a very warm day? She felt trapped within an almost unbearable slowness of the passing moments. Tomorrow — anniversary of death — would be the worst time, and then it would be over and the second year of it could start. A year from tomorrow would not be so bad a day.
He leaned forward, bringing his face into the unusual light. His forearms rested on his knees, his strong hands clasped. He looked at the floor, then raised his head slightly to look at her, his face almost without expression.
“Kat?” His voice was low and hoarse.
“What is it? What’s the matter?”
He smiled and stood up, with that lithe and utterly relaxed elegance of movement. “Matter? Nothing’s the matter. I have to go.”
She walked to the door with him. “I thought you were going to tell me some terrible thing. Isn’t that a crazy impression to have? Bad tidings. Now I’m chattering. Damn it, I hate chattering women.”
He paused at the door and said, “Kat... if tomorrow turns out to be rough, call me, will you?”
“Aren’t you going to be out of town?”
“I canceled.”
“Not because of me, Jimmy.”
“For several reasons. I should be handy to see how Brian makes it. Where are you going for your picnic?”