Kay, Claggett and the doctor immediately converged on my bed.
I held up my hand and said, “Please, gentlemen and lady. Please do not ask me how I feel.”
“You might tell us?” the doctor chuckled. “And you don’t want to see us cry.”
“Second please,” I said, and I again held up my hand. “Please don’t joke with me. It might destroy the little sense of humor I have left. Also, and believe you me, I’m in no damned mood for jokes or kidding. I’ve had my moments of that, but that’s passed. And I contemplate no more of it for the foreseeable future.”
“I imagine you’re in quite a bit of pain,” the doctor said quietly. “Nurse, will you—”
“No,” I said. “I can survive the pain. What I want right now is a large pot of coffee.”
“Have it after you’re rested. You really should rest, Mr. Rainstar.”
I said I was sure he was right. But I’d prefer rest that wasn’t drug induced, and I felt well enough to wait for it. “I want to talk to Sergeant Claggett, too,” I said, “and I can’t do it if I’m doped.”
The doctor glanced at Claggett, and Jeff nodded. “I won’t let him overdo it, Doc.”
“Good enough, then,” the doctor said. “If he can make it on his own, I’m all for it.”
He left, and Kay got the coffee for me. It did a little more for me than I needed doing, making my over-alerted nerves cry out for something to calm them. But I fought the desire down, indicating to Claggett that I was ready to talk.
“I don’t think I can tell you anything, though,” I said. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think I was in a kind of dream state. I mean, everything seemed to be out of kilter, but not in a way that I couldn’t accept.”
“It didn’t jar you when you were shoved forward? That seemed okay to you?”
“I wasn’t aware that I had been shoved forward. My feeling was that things had been shoved away from me, not me from them. I didn’t begin to straighten out until I shot through those doors, and I wasn’t completely unfogged when I went down the steps.”
“Damn!” Claggett frowned at me. “But people were passing all around you. You must—”
“No,” I said, “they weren’t. Almost no one comes and goes through that front entrance, and I’m sure that no one did during the time I was there…”
Kay said quickly, a little anxiously, that my recollection was right. I was out of the way of passersby, which was why she had left me there in the entrance area.
Claggett looked at her, and his look was extremely cold.
Kay seemed to wilt under it, and Claggett turned back to me. “Yes, Britt? Something else?”
“Nothing helpful, I’m afraid. I know that people passed behind me. I could hear them and occasionally see their shadows. But I never saw any of them.”
Claggett grimaced, said that he apparently didn’t live right. Or something.
“Everything points to the fact that someone tried to kill you, or made a damned good stab at it. But since no one saw anyone, maybe there wasn’t anyone. Maybe it was just an evil spirit or a malignant force or something of the kind. Isn’t that what you think, Nolton?”
“No, sir.” Kay bit her lip. “What I think—I know—is that I should have taken Mr. Rainstar with me when I went to the admitting desk. You warned me not to leave him untended, and I shouldn’t have done it, and I’m very sorry that I did.”
“Did you see anyone go near Mr. Rainstar?”
“No, sir. Well, yes, I may have. That’s a pretty busy place, the lobby and desk area, and people would just about have to pass in Mr. Rainstar’s vicinity.”
“But they made no impression on you? You wouldn’t remember what they looked like?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Kay said, just a wee bit snappishly. “How could I, anyway? They were just a lot of people like you see anywhere.”
“One of ’em wasn’t,” said Claggett. “But let it go. I believe I told you—but I’ll tell you again since you seem pretty forgetful—that Mr. Rainstar has been seriously harassed, and that an attempt might be made on his life. I also told you—but I’ll tell you again—that Miss Aloe is not above suspicion in the matter. We do not believe she would be directly responsible, although she could be, but rather as an employer of others. Do you think you can remember that, Miss Nolton?”
“Yes, sir.” Kay bobbed her head meekly. “I’ll remember.”
“I should hope so. I certainly hope so.” Claggett allowed a little warmth to come into his frosty blue eyes. “Now, you do understand, Nolton, that you could get hurt on this job. You’d represent a danger or an obstacle to the people who are out to get him, and you could get hurt bad. You might even get killed.”
“Yes, sir,” said Kay. “I understand that.”
“And you still want the job?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why?”
“Sir?”
“You heard me, Nolton!” Claggett leaned forward, his eyes stabbing into her like blue icicles. “Jobs aren’t that hard to get for a registered nurse. They aren’t hard to get period. So why are you so damned anxious to have this one? A first-class chance to screw yourself up? Well, what’s the answer? Why—”
“I’m trying to tell you, Sergeant! If you’ll just—”
“You some kind of a bum or something? A nut? Too dumb or shiftless to make out on a regular job? Or maybe you’re working an angle, hmmm. You’re a plant. You’re going to do a job on Britt yourself.”
Kay was trembling all over. Her face had turned from white to red to a mixture of the two, and now it was a beautiful combination flushed cream and reddish-streaked pastels.
Her mouth opened, and I braced myself for a yell. But she spoke very quietly, with only a slight shakiness hinting at the anger which she must have felt.
“I want the job, Sergeant Claggett, for two reasons. One is that I like Mr. Rainstar. I like him very much, and I want to help him.”
“Thank you, Kay,” I mumbled—I had to say something, didn’t I?—stealing a glance at Claggett. “I, uh, like you, too.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rainstar. The second reason I want the job, Sergeant Claggett, is because I’m not sure I belong in nursing. I want to find out whether I do or not before it’s too late to change to another field. So…”
So she wanted to take what would probably be the toughest job she would ever encounter as a nurse. If she could measure up to it, fine. If not, well, that was also all right. She would either make or break quickly. Her mind would be made up for her, and without any prolonged wavering, any mental seesawing,
“Those are my reasons for wanting the job, Sergeant Claggett. I hope they’re enough, because I can’t give you any others.”
Kay finished speaking, sat very straight and dignified in her chair, hands folded primly in her lap. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her. But I had felt that way before, with results that were not always happy for me. Except for that pleasant weakness, I would not be where I was now, with a nose which I could barely see around.
Claggett scrubbed his jaw thoughtfully, then cocked a brow at me. I cocked one at him, making it tit for tat. He grinned at me narrowly, acknowledging my studiously equivocal position.
“Well, now, young woman,” he said, “a fine speech like that must have taken a lot out of you. Suppose you take a relief or have lunch, and come back in about an hour?”
“Well”—Kay stood hesitantly. “I really don’t mind waiting, Sergeant. In fact—”
“I want to talk to Mr. Rainstar privately. Some other business. We’ll settle this job matter when you get back.”
“I see. Well, whatever you say, sir.”
Kay nodded to us, and left.
Claggett stretched his legs in front of him, and said he was glad to get that out of the way. “Now, to pick up on your accident—”
“Just a minute, Jeff,” I said. “You said we had that out of the way. You’re referring to Nurse Nolton’s employment?”
&n
bsp; “Let it ride, will you?” He gestured impatiently. “I was going to tell you that I dropped in on PXA this morning. Just a routine visit, you know, to tell them about the accident to their favorite employee?”
“Well?” I said.
“Pat was pretty shook up about it. Reacted about the same as he did on my first visit. Kind of worried and angry, you know, like he might get hurt by a mess he wasn’t responsible for. Then he turned sort of foxy and clammed up. Because—as I read him—he knew we’d have a hell of time proving anything against his niece, even though she had ordered the hit.”
“Yes?” I frowned. “How do you mean?”
“She’s in the hospital, Britt. Saint Christopher’s. She’s been there since just before midnight last night. Two highly reputable doctors in attendance, and they’re not giving out any information nor allowing any visitors.”
I gulped, blinked at him stupidly. I moved my nose out of the way, and had a small drink of water.
“Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say, Britt.” He winked at me narrowly. “Kind of an unusual alibi, but she’s kind of an unusual girl.”
“Maybe she really is sick,” I said. “She could be.”
“So she could,” Claggett shrugged. “It’s practically a cinch that she is, in that hospital with those doctors. But that doesn’t keep it from being a very convenient time to be sick. She could set the deal up, then put herself well out of the way of it with a nice legitimate sickness.”
“Oh, well, yeah.” I nodded slowly. “A fake attempt at suicide. Or an appendicitis attack—acute but simulated.”
“Possibly but not necessarily,” Claggett said, and he pointed out that Manny had been under a great deal of nervous stress. She had concealed it, but this itself had added to the tension. Finally, after doing that which only she could do, she collapsed with exhaustion.
“It’s my guess that she did pretty much the same thing, after her husband’s death. About the only difference is that she needed more time to recuperate then, and she went into seclusion.”
I said that killing her husband would certainly have put a lot of strain on her. But where was the evidence that she had killed him? He was only one of many who had died during the hurricane.
“Right,” said Claggett, “but the other deaths were all from drowning or being buried under the wreckage. Her husband apparently was killed by flying timbers; in other words, he was out in the open at the time the hurricane struck. Of course, he could have been, and might have been. But…”
He broke off, spread his hands expressively. I wet my lips nervously, then brushed a hand against them.
“I see what you mean,” I said. “She could have battered the hell out of him, beaten him to death. Then, dragged his body outside.”
“That’s what I mean,” said Claggett.
From the hallway, there came the muted clatter of dishes, the faint aromas of the noon meal. They were not exactly appetite-stimulating; and I had to swallow down nausea as Claggett and I continued our conversation.
“Jeff,” I said at last. “I just don’t see how I can go through with this. How the hell can I, under the circumstances?”
“You mean, seeing Miss Aloe?”
“Of course, that’s what I mean! I can’t do the pamphlets without seeing her. I’ll have to confer with her more or less regularly.”
“Well…” Claggett sighed, then shrugged. “If you can’t, you can’t.”
“Oh, hell,” I said miserably. “Naturally, I’ll go through with it. I’ve got no choice.”
“Good! Good,” he said. “Let’s hope you can get out of here within the next few days. The doctors tell me that aside from your nose, and your nerves, and—”
“There’s nothing they can do for me here that can’t be done at home,” I said. “And I want to get out of here. No later than tomorrow morning. This place is dangerous. It makes me nervous. A lot of people die in hospitals.”
Claggett chuckled knowingly. “Here we go again, hmm? You just take it easy, my friend. Calm down, and pull yourself together.”
I said I wasn’t being nutty, dammit. The hospital was dangerous, which had damn well been proved in my case. There were too many people around, and it was simply impossible to ward them off or to check on all of them.
“At home, I won’t have more than two visitors at most. Manny, and possibly Pat Aloe. Only those two—only one of them, actually—will be all that have to be watched. I say that’s a hell of a lot better than the way it is here.”
Claggett deliberated briefly, and agreed with me. “If it’s all right with the doctors, it’s all right with me,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’ll be going now, but I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What about the nurse?”
“What? Oh, yes, she almost slipped my mind. Hadn’t decided about her yet, had I?”
“No, you hadn’t. You were going to talk to her when she came back from lunch.”
“Uh-huh. Well”—he glanced at his watch. “I’m going to have to go now. I’ll talk to her on the way out.”
He left before I could ask what he was going to say to her. But when she came in a few minutes later, I learned that he had okayed her for the job—but not very pleasantly.
“The very idea!” she said indignantly. “Saying he’d go after my hide if anything happened to you! I’d just like to see him try, darn him!”
“Don’t say that,” I said. “Bite your tongue, Kay.”
She looked blank, then caught my meaning and laughed. “I didn’t think how that sounded, Britt. Naturally, he isn’t going to try because nothing is going to happen to you.”
My lunch tray was brought in. Consommé with toast, vanilla custard and tea. It looked reasonably good to me, but I ate almost none of it. I couldn’t. After a couple of sips of tea, I suddenly went to sleep.
Claggett called me that night to say that I would be checking out of the hospital the next morning. He told me the conditions under which I would be checking out, and going from the hospital to my home. I listened stunned, then sputtered profane objections.
He laughed uproariously. “But you just think about it, Britt. Think it over, and it doesn’t sound so crazy, does it? Sure, it’s his own idea, and I say it’s a good one. You couldn’t be any safer in your mother’s arms.”
I said that wasn’t very safe. My mother, the first woman judge of the State Circuit Court, had taken to the sauce harder than Dad.
“The poor old biddy dropped me on my head more times than she was overturned, and, believe me, they didn’t call her Reverse-Decision Rainstar for nothing.”
“Aaah, she wasn’t that bad,” Claggett chuckled. “But what do you think about this other? It’s the safest way, right?”
“Right,” I said.
19
Kay Nolton and I left the hospital next morning, in the company of Pat Aloe, and two very tough-looking guards. I don’t know whether Pat was armed or not, but the guards carried shotguns.
A very large black limousine with a uniformed chauffeur was waiting at the side entrance for us. I got into the back seat between the two guards. Kay rode in front between Pat and the chauffeur. Pat jabbed a finger at him, and nodded to me.
“This is the character that was supposed to have picked you up at the restaurant that night two—three months ago, Britt. Too damned stupid to do what he’s told, but who the hell ain’t these days?”
The man grinned sheepishly. Pat scowled at him for a moment, then turned his gaze on Kay. Looked at her long and thoughtfully.
She jerked her head around suddenly, and looked at him.
“Yes?” she said. “Something wrong?”
“I’ve seen you before,” he said. “Where was it?”
“Nowhere. You’re mistaken.”
“You guys back there! Where have I seen her?”
The guards leaned forward, examined Kay meticulously. They made a big business out of squinting at her, stroking their chins with pseudo-shrewdne
ss, and the like—a pantomime of great minds at work. Pat put an end to the charade with a rude order to knock it off for Nellie’s sake.
“What about you, Johnnie?”—to the chauffeur; and then, disgustedly, “Ahh, why do I ask? You’re as stupid as these guys.”
“Mis-ter Aloe!” Kay heaved a sigh of exaggerated exasperation. “We have not met before! I would certainly remember it if we had!”
I murmured for her to take it easy, also quietly suggesting to Pat that the subject was hardly worth pursuing. He glanced at me absently, not seeming to hear what I had said.
“I never forget a face, Britt, baby. Ask anyone that knows me.”
“You sure don’t, Mr. Aloe! Not never ever!”
“I don’t know where or when it was. But I’ve seen her, and I’ll remember.”
He let it go at that, facing back around in the seat. Kay gave me a smile of thanks for my support in the rearview. I smiled back at her, then shifted my gaze. What difference did it make, whether he had or hadn’t seen her? And why should I be again starting to feel that creeping uneasiness in my stomach?
Pat took an envelope from his pocket, and handed it to me. It was the bonus check I had so foolishly given back to Manny, and I accepted it gratefully. The money would keep Connie off my back indefinitely, relieving me of at least one of my major worries.
We arrived at the house. The guards and the chauffeur remained with the car while Pat accompanied Kay and me inside. As she preceded us up the steps, he told me sotto voce that I should have a salary check coming pretty soon, and that he would see to it and anything else that needed taking care of, in case Manny wasn’t available.
I said that was very nice of him, and how was Manny getting along? “I hope she’s not seriously ill?”
“Naah, nothing like it,” he grunted. “Just been working to hard, I guess. Got herself run down, and picked up a touch of flu.”
“Well, give her my best,” I said. “And thanks very much for seeing me safely home.”
I held out my hand tentatively. He said he’d go in the house with me if I didn’t mind. “Reckon you’ll want to check in with the sergeant, and let him know you got here all right.”