CHAPTER XX Identified
Judy’s list, when she finally had it completed, was as long as Santa’slist of good boys and girls. That was what she told Peter when shepresented it to him.
“Pauline and Flo helped me. We put in everything we could think of inthe order it all happened. But still I have a feeling there’s somethingimportant that we left out. Irene’s coming this evening,” Judy addedhopefully. “Maybe she has something to add to the list.”
Much later, when Peter was being interviewed by one of the agents fromthe New York office and Judy had stepped outside his room for a moment,she almost bumped into Irene. For a moment they stared at each other.Then both of them said, in the same breath, “You’re here!”
“Dale’s here, too,” Irene told her. “He’s outside in the waiting roomwith little Judy. We’ll take turns minding her so both of us can visitPeter.”
“You’ll have to wait. He has a visitor. Very confidential,” Judy said,lowering her voice. “They’re looking over a list that I gave them.Nobody is allowed in there until they’ve finished exchanging topsecrets.”
“Then I’ll go up and visit Clarissa and find out what happened—”
“Wait, Irene!” Judy stopped her. “I should have told you. That patientisn’t Clarissa. I don’t know who she is, but you may be able to identifyher. She keeps calling for you.”
Irene looked her disappointment.
“She could be someone who’s seen me on television—someone I don’t knowat all. Doesn’t she know who she is?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Is she out of her head? I’ve never been able to overcome my fear ofpeople who weren’t—rational,” Irene confessed. “Couldn’t someone elseidentify her?”
“She wants you, Irene. She keeps asking for the Golden Girl. She washurt on the way to see your show, and the idea seems fixed in her mind.She may calm down the minute she sees you,” Judy said.
“I hope so.” Irene paused, glancing back toward Peter’s room. Hisvisitor, portfolio in hand, had just come out. “We can go in now,” shetold Judy. “I’d rather not visit that woman upstairs until I’ve seenPeter.”
“Wait a moment, Mr. Blake!” Peter called from his room. “Here are acouple of young ladies I want you to meet. They may have something toadd to that list I just gave you.”
He introduced the man to Judy and Irene. They greeted him cordially, andthen Judy said, “I have nothing to add, Mr. Blake. If anything elsehappened I can’t think of it, but Mrs. Meredith may have something foryou. She’s on her way to identify that red-haired woman who was hurt inthe taxicab.”
“I am going up, but I probably won’t know her from Adam,” Irene said.
“From Eve,” Peter corrected her with a boyish grin. “Is Dale here? Maybehe might have a clue to her identity.”
“If I had somebody to mind the baby in the waiting room, we could bothgo up,” Irene began.
“I’ll mind her,” Judy said. “Is it all right, Peter? I won’t be long.”
“Of course it’s all right. I’ll go with you,” Peter surprised Judy bysaying. “I’m supposed to walk around and get used to this cast. It makesme feel a little top-heavy right now. You’ll have to help me on with myrobe.”
Judy smiled. It was so good to see Peter up and walking. She escortedhim to the waiting room where little Judy had to be stopped frompouncing on him. The baby stared at the cast and then said sorrowfully,“Peter all broke.”
“How does she mean that?” asked Dale. “Good to see you so chipper,” headded, shaking the hand that Peter extended. “I’ve always heard that youcan’t keep a good man down.”
Mr. Blake was introduced and invited to accompany Dale and Irene to theroom in the old building where the red-haired woman was. They leftquietly just as Peter was saying to little Judy, “I guess I must looksomething like a broken dolly to you.”
“Baby,” little Judy corrected him. Irene had brought along one of littleJudy’s “babies” to keep her amused.
“A dolly can also be a truck used for television cameras,” Judyremarked. “You learn a whole new language. A chair becomes a prop, and alog is no longer something to throw in the fireplace. It’s a completerecord of everything that happens on a station from sign-on in themorning to sign-off at midnight. I might remember what I forgot to puton that list if I looked at the station log.”
“Do that,” advised Peter. “There may have been something to make youdream—”
“On television?” Judy laughed. “I don’t know what it was unless thatwitch gave me nightmares.”
“Funny witch!” spoke up little Judy.
“You see,” Judy pointed out, “she was a funny witch. She wasn’tfrightening even to a baby. The whole play was delightful. Did you seethe reviews of it? Nobody seemed to recognize Francine Dow. Little Judyis holding the doll—excuse me, I mean the baby, that played the part ofSleeping Beauty during the first part of the show. They also used a filmstrip of a real baby.”
“The advertising was on film, too, wasn’t it? That’s one thing you didomit from your list,” Peter pointed out. “You forgot to list thecommercials you watched.”
“The commercials! Who could list them? There are so many of them.Anyway, they aren’t important. But maybe they are,” Judy quickly amendedher first statement. “That golden hair wash commercial started usworrying about our hair. We watched it when we were waiting for the tourto begin.”
“At Radio City?”
“Yes, but it didn’t originate from there. It was on a local channel. Youknow, the same one that features the Golden Girl show. I wish you couldhave been there, Peter.”
“Perhaps that’s where I should have been. There are federal controls tokeep advertisers in line. If I had known—”
“Where Mommy Daddy gone?” little Judy interrupted, suddenly realizingthat Dale and Irene were no longer in the room.
“They went to call on a patient,” Judy explained hurriedly. She waseager to hear the rest of what Peter had started to say, but again thebaby interrupted.
“Wanna see patient!”
“I’m a patient. You’re visiting me,” Peter told her.
“You’re not sick,” she replied. “You’re mended.”
“Beautifully mended,” Peter agreed, kissing the top of her curly head.“It’s no use, Judy. We’ll have to explore the possibilities anothertime.”
Little Judy chattered on. Peter let her examine his cast. “It’s _hard_.Who did ’at? Scribbles on it,” she observed.
“Autographs,” Peter corrected her.
She tried to say the word and made such a funny _o_ with her mouth thatboth Judy and Peter had to laugh. It wasn’t easy for a two-year-old tosay a big word like _autograph_. Any attempt at serious conversation wasabandoned. All three of them were laughing and saying funny words whenDale and Irene returned. Mr. Blake was with them. They looked so seriousthat even little Judy stopped laughing.
“What’s wrong?” Judy asked at once. “Did you know the patient? Is sheall right?”
“She’s—she’s—Oh, Judy! I can’t believe it,” Irene burst out. “She musthave been hurt right after the show.”
“No, Irene. It was during the show.” Judy remembered it distinctly. “Weheard the ambulance siren right after Sleeping Beauty pricked her fingeron the spindle and the witch pronounced the curse.”
“Francine Dow played the part of Sleeping Beauty, didn’t she?” Peterinquired.
“I certainly thought she did,” Judy began.
“But that’s impossible,” Dale blurted out when Irene could only gasp indisbelief.
“You see,” Mr. Blake pointed out, “we identified the patient. She’sbetter. She knows her own name, and Mrs. Meredith is sure of it. _She isFrancine Dow!_”