"I don't see what that has to do with the fire."
"Maybe it hasn't got anything to do with it." He was still grinning, but his eyes were hard. "For twenty-five thousand bucks I could even ask foolish questions."
"I think I see what you're driving at," I said slowly. "You're implying that my wife was butting in where she wasn't wanted and that I resented it."
"Well, Joe?"
I nodded. Something seemed to nod my head. And when I spoke it was as though someone were whispering the words to me. The right words.
"It's probably pretty hard for you to understand," I said. "You see, Mrs. Wilmot was quite a bit older than I was. We didn't have any children. I think she felt from the beginning that she wasn't pulling her weight in the partnership-"
He cleared his throat, sort of embarrassed like. I went on.
"Her work didn't help me," I said-I heard myself saying. "It was a nuisance. I've spent hours undoing some of the things she did; and I used to get impatient and bawl her out. But I guess I was always ashamed afterward. She was trying to make up for things-for the things she couldn't give me and felt that she should-
"I wish she was back here, now. She could turn the show into a bathhouse and I'd never say a word. Anyway-well, that's the way it was. She did butt in, and I resented it. But we understood each other in spite of everything. That's all I've got to say."
Appleton blew his nose. "I think-I-I understand the situation, Joe. I'm sorry if I put the wrong interpretation on it."
"You've got your job to do," I said.
"I'll be frank with you. We don't like the looks of these fires where everything is so completely destroyed. Now, this Farmer girl-" He lowered his voice. "She was the last person to see Mrs. Wilmot alive. How did they get along together?"
"Why, all right, I believe," I said. "I can tell you this much. If Elizabeth hadn't wanted her here, she wouldn't have stayed one minute."
He nodded again. "That jibes with my information."
"If I had the slightest idea that Carol-"
"Now, don't let me put ideas into your head," he said quickly. "I'm just groping in the dark."
I glanced at my watch.
"I've got to be getting into town pretty quick," I said. "I suppose you'll be around for a while?"
"Oh, sure. You'll be seeing a lot of me before we get this thing settled."
I knew he meant just what he said, nothing more. I'd sold myself to him as much as I could be sold under the circumstances. He'd swallowed everything I'd said about Elizabeth.
Carol was fixing some breakfast when I went into the house. I sat down at the kitchen table and waited, and I think I said something about the coffee smelling good. She didn't answer me or turn around. Pretty soon I saw her hand go up to her face.
I swore under my breath, and got up. The back door was closed and the shades were drawn. I went over and stood beside her.
"Now what?" I said.
"N-Nothing."
"Come on, spit it out!"
I guess I sounded pretty harsh, but I was nervous. I had things to make me nervous. She whirled, her eyes flashing.
"I heard what you said to him!"
"What I said to him?"
"Yes. About Elizabeth!"
I couldn't figure out what she meant for a minute. Then I said, "Well, for God's sake, what did you think I should say to him? That I hated her guts and was damned glad she was gone? That would have sounded good, wouldn't it?"
"N-No-You didn't really mean it, did you?"
"Of course I didn't mean it."
She wiped her eyes and tried to smile. I sat down on a chair and pulled her onto my lap.
"Look, Carol," I said, "you're going to have to get over this suspiciousness and jealousy. If you don't it'll crop up at the wrong time, and that'll be just too bad. Don't you see? If people thought there was anything between you and me it would give you a motive for Elizabeth's-for this woman's-death."
"I know," she said. "I'll behave, Joe."
"You've got to, Carol," I said. "If they ever get the idea that you or I wanted Elizabeth out of the way, they'll do an autopsy on that- on the remains. They'll do one to end all autopsies. They won't know what to look for so they'll look for everything. And they'll find out it wasn't Elizabeth."
"But-well, there wasn't anything left-"
"Oh, yes, there was. The teeth were left, and that's all they'd need. The teeth would show that it wasn't Elizabeth."
She didn't know about things like that. She sat looking at me, making sure I wasn't kidding.
"Maybe-You don't suppose they've already-"
"Not a chance," I said. "If they had we wouldn't be sitting here. Oh, sure, they've had an inquest. Decided she died by reason of fire and so on. But that's all they've done, and we mustn't give them any reason to do any more than that. You'd better clear out of here tomorrow, at the latest."
"No!" She threw her arms around my neck. "Please don't make me, Joe!"
"But you've got to, Carol. We planned it that way. It don't look right for us to be staying here together."
"No! I don't care how we planned. It's different now."
"You'll be all right. You can get you a little job of some kind here in town and go ahead to school. In six or seven months, when all this blows over, we can start seeing each other and-"
"But what if something. should happen that I ought to know about? You wouldn't be able to let me know until-until it was too late."
"It'd be too late from the start," I said. "This isn't something we can run out on if things get hot. Anyway, if anything went wrong you'd know it as soon as I would."
"No, I wouldn't, Joe."
"Why the hell wouldn't you?"
"Elizabeth was your wife, and I was the last one to be seen with her. And you were out of town when it happened. They'd talk to you before they did anything."
"Well," I said, "what of it? You're not going to be at the north pole. If talking to you would do any good after things had gone that far, I could reach you easily enough."
She sat not looking at me. "They can't prove anything against you, Joe," she said in a funny voice. "Not what they can with me. If-if I took the blame-"
"Oh," I said slowly. "I see."
"Please, Joe-"
"Why don't you say what you mean?" I said. "You think if I got the chance I'd throw everything on you. Is that it?"
I shoved her to her feet and got up, but before I could move away she had her arms around me. She began crying again, and her breasts shivered against me, and I patted her and finally held her close.
"You shouldn't feel that way, Carol," I said. "We've got to trust each other."
"I d-do, Joe!" she said. "I trust you and love you so much that-and that wasn't the reason I wanted to stay! I-I just want to be near you. It doesn't seem like I'm living when I'm not with you."
Well, hell. I was pretty sure she meant it, but even if she didn't it sounded good. A woman can't make a man sore talking like that.
"Well," I said, "we'll talk about it again. I guess it will be all right if you stay around a few days. Maybe something will turn up by that time."
"That Mr. Chance. How long is he going to be in town?"
"I don't know," I said, wishing to God that I did. "I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on. He may be around helping me for quite a while."
"If he stayed here, too, it'd be all right for me to stay, wouldn't it?"
I didn't know how to get around that one. If I'd had my way Hap would be staying at the bottom of some good deep well.
"We'll see," I said.
16
I told Carol I wasn't hungry yet and left the house without eating breakfast. If there was ever a time in my life that I needed to keep my mind clear this was it, so I got away before I could be caught up in another argument.
I stopped at the Elite Cafй and ordered ham an'; and while I was eating Web Clay came in for a cigar. He saw me and came back to my booth. He'd already eaten but I got him to take a cup of coffee.