“What about the police?” Lila asked. “I still think you ought to go to the police.” She moistened her lips. “Suppose there was an accident—you couldn’t stop at every hospital between here and Tulsa. Why, for all we know, Mary may be lying unconscious somewhere right now. She might even be—”
This time it was Sam who patted her shoulder. “Nonsense,” he muttered. “If anything like that had happened, you’d have been notified by now. Mary’s all right.” But he glared over Lila’s shoulder at the investigator. “You can’t do a thorough jog all alone.” he said. “Lila’s being sensible. Why not let the police in on it? Report Mary missing, see if they can locate her.”
Arbogast picked up the gray Stetson. “We’ve tried it the hard way so far. I admit it. Because if we could locate her without dragging in the authorities, we might save our client and the company a lot of bad publicity. For that matter, we could save Mary Crane some grief, too, if we picked her up ourselves and recovered the money. Maybe there wouldn’t be any charges that way. You’ve got to agree it was worth a try.”
“But if you’re right, and Mary did get this far, then why hasn’t she been to see me? That’s what I want to know, just as badly as you do,” Sam told him. “And I’m not going to wait much longer to find out.”
“Will you wait another twenty-four hours?” Arbogast asked.
“What do you have in mind?”
“More checking, like I said.” He raised his hand to forestall Sam’s objections. “Not all the way back to Tulsa—I admit that’s impossible. But I’d like to nose around this territory a bit; visit the highway restaurants, filling stations, car dealers, motels. Maybe somebody saw her. Because I still think my hunch is right. She intended to come here. Perhaps she changed her mind after she arrived, and went on. But I’d like to be sure.”
“And if you don’t find out in twenty-four hours—?”
“Then I’m willing to call it quits, go to the police, do the whole Missing Persons routine. Okay?”
Sam glanced at Lila. “What do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’m so worried now, I can’t think.” She sighed. “Sam, you decide.”
He nodded at Arbogast. “All right. It’s a deal. But I’m warning you right now. If nothing happens tomorrow, and you don’t notify the police, I will.”
Arbogast put on his jacket. “Guess I’ll get a room over at the hotel. How about you, Miss Crane?”
Lila looked at Sam. “I’ll take her over in a little while,” Sam said. “First I thought we’d go and eat. But I’ll see that she’s checked in. And we’ll both be here tomorrow. Waiting.”
For the first time that evening, Arbogast smiled. It wasn’t the kind of a smile that would ever offer any competition to Mona Lisa, but it was a smile.
“I believe you,” he said. “Sorry about the pressure act, but I had to make sure.” He nodded at Lila. “We’re going to find your sister for you. Don’t you worry.”
Then he went out. Long before the front door closed behind him, Lila was sobbing against Sam’s shoulder. Her voice was a muffled moan. “Sam, I’m scared—something’s happened to Mary, I know it!”
“It’s all right,” he said, wondering at the same time why there were no better words, why there never are any better words to answer fear and grief and loneliness. “It’s all right, believe me.”
Suddenly she stepped away from him, stepped back, and her tear-stained eyes went wide. Her voice, when it came, was low but firm.
“Why should I believe you, Sam?” she asked softly. “Is there a reason? A reason you didn’t tell that inspector? Sam—was Mary here to see you? Did you know about this, about the money?”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t know. You’ll have to take my word for that. The way I have to take yours.”
She turned away, facing the wall. “I guess you’re right,” she told him. “Mary could have come to either one of us during the week, couldn’t she? But she didn’t. I trust you, Sam. Only it’s just that it’s so hard to believe anything any more, when your own sister turns out to be a—”
“Take it easy,” Sam cut in. “What you need right now is a little food, and a lot of rest. Things won’t look so black tomorrow.”
“Do you really think so, Sam?”
“Yes, I do.”
It was the first time he’d ever lied to a woman.
— 8 —
Tomorrow became today, Saturday, and for Sam it was a time of waiting.
He phoned Lila from the store around ten, and she was already up, had already eaten breakfast. Arbogast wasn’t in—apparently he’d gotten an early start. But he had left a note for Lila downstairs, saying that he would call in sometime during the day.
“Why don’t you come over here and keep me company?” Sam suggested, over the phone. “No sense sitting around in your room. We can have lunch together and check back at the hotel to see if Arbogast calls. Better still, I’ll ask the operator to transfer any calls over here to the store.”
Lila agreed, and Sam felt better. He didn’t want her to be alone today. Too easy for her to start brooding about Mary. God knows, he’d done enough of it himself, all night.
He’d done his best to resist the idea, but he had to admit that Arbogast’s theory made sense. Mary must have planned to come here after she took the money. If she had taken it, that is.
That was the worst part: accepting Mary in the role of a thief. Mary wasn’t that kind of a person; everything he knew about her contradicted the possibility.
And yet, just how much did he know about Mary, really? Just last night he’d acknowledged to himself how little he actually understood his fiancée. Why, he knew so little that he’d even mistaken another girl for her, in a dim light.
Funny, Sam told himself, how we take it for granted that we know all there is to know about another person, just because we see them frequently or because of some strong emotional tie. Why, right here in Fairvale there were plenty of examples of what he meant. Like old Tomkins, superintendent of schools for years and a big wheel in Rotary, running away from his wife and family with a sixteen-year-old girl. Who ever suspected he’d do a thing like that? Any more than they’d suspected Mike Fisher, the biggest lush and gambler in this part of the state, would die and leave all his money to the Presbyterian Orphans’ Home. Bob Summerfield, Sam’s clerk in the store, had worked here every day for over a year before Sam knew he’d pulled a Section Eight in service—and for trying to beat out his chaplain’s brains with a pistol butt, too. Bob was all right now, of course; a nicer, quieter guy you wouldn’t find in a hundred years. But he’d been nice and quiet in the army, too, until something set him off. And nobody had noticed. Nice old ladies did away with their husbands after twenty years of happy marriage, meek little bank clerks suddenly up and embezzled the funds—you never could tell what might happen.
So perhaps Mary did steal the money. Perhaps she was tired of waiting for him to pay off his debts, and the sudden temptation was just too much. Maybe she thought she’d bring it here, cook up some story, get him to accept it. Maybe she planned for them to run away together. He had to be honest about the possibility, even the probability, that this was the case.
And if he granted that much, then he had to face the next question. Why hadn’t she arrived? Where else could she have headed for after leaving the outskirts of Tulsa?
Once you began speculation about that, once you admitted to yourself that you didn’t really know how another person’s mind operated, then you came up against the ultimate admission—anything was possible. A decision to take a wild fling out in Las Vegas; a sudden impulse to drop out of sight completely and start a whole new life under another name, a traumatic access of guilt, resulting in amnesia—
But he was beginning to make a federal case out of it, Sam told himself wryly. Or a clinical case. If he was going off on such farfetched speculations, he’d have to admit a thousand and one other alternatives. That she had been in an accident, as Lila fea
red, or picked up some hitchhiker who—
Again, Sam closed off the thought. He couldn’t afford to carry it any further. It was bad enough keeping it to himself without the added burden of keeping it from Lila. His job today was to cheer her up. There was always the slim chance that Arbogast would find a lead. If not, he’d go to the authorities. Then, and only then, would he allow himself to think about the worst that might happen.
Talk about not knowing other people—why, when you came right down to it, you didn’t even know yourself! He’d never suspected that he could entertain such sudden doubt and disloyalty concerning Mary. And yet how easily he’d slipped into accepting the attitude! It was unfair to her. The least he could do, in partial atonement, was to keep his suspicions from her sister.
Unless, of course, she was thinking the same things . . .
But Lila seemed in better spirits this morning. She’d changed into a lightweight suit, and when she came into the store her step was buoyant.
Sam introduced her to Bob Summerfield, then took her out to lunch. Inevitably, she began speculating about Mary and about what Arbogast might be doing today. Sam answered her briefly, attempting to keep both his replies and his tone of voice on a casual level. After their meal, he stopped at the hotel and arranged to have a transfer made on any calls which might come in for Lila during the afternoon.
Then they went back to the store. It was a light day, for Saturday, and much of the time Sam was able to sit in the back room and chat with the girl. Summerfield handled the customers, and it was only occasionally that Sam had to excuse himself and step out to take care of matters.
Lila seemed relaxed and at ease. She switched on the radio, picked up a symphonic program on AM, and listened with apparent absorption. Sam found her sitting there when he returned from one of his trips up front.
“Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, isn’t it?” he asked.
She looked up, smiling. “That’s right. Funny, your knowing so much about music.”
“What’s so strange about that? This is the age of hi-fi, remember? Just because a person lives in a small town doesn’t mean he can’t be interested in music, books, art. And I’ve had a lot of time to fill.”
Lila smoothed the collar of her blouse. “Maybe I’ve got things backward, then. Maybe the funny thing isn’t that you’re interested in things like this, but that you’re also in the hardware business. The two just don’t seem to go together.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the hardware business.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that. But it seems, well, so—trivial.”
Sam sat down at the table. Suddenly he stopped and picked up an object from the floor. It was small, pointed and shiny.
“Trivial,” he echoed. “Perhaps. Then again, maybe it’s all in the way you look at it. For example, what’s this in my hand?”
“A nail, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. Just a nail. I sell them by the pound. Hundreds of pounds a year. Dad used to sell them too. I’ll bet we’ve sold ten tons of nails out of this store alone since it opened for business. All lengths, all sizes, just common ordinary nails. But there’s nothing trivial about a single one of them. Not when you stop to think about it.
“Because every nail serves a purpose. An important, a lasting purpose. You know something? Maybe half the frame houses in Fairvale are held together by nails we’ve sold right here. I guess it’s a little silly of me, but sometimes when I walk down the street here in town I get the feeling that I helped build it. The tools I sold shaped the boards and finished them. I’ve provided the paint that covers the houses, the brushes which applied it, the storm doors and screens, the glass for the windows—” He broke off, with a self-conscious grin. “Listen to the Master Builder, will you? But no, I mean it. Everything in this business makes sense, because it serves a real purpose, fills a need that’s a part of living. Even a single nail, like this one, fulfills a function. Drive it into a crucial place and you can depend on it to do a job, keep on doing it for a hundred years to come. Long after we’re dead and gone, both of us.”
The moment he said the words he regretted them. But it was too late now. He watched the smile fade from her lips, as if on cue.
“Sam, I’m worried. It’s almost four now, and Arbogast hasn’t called—”
“He will. Just be patient; give him time.”
“I can’t help it! You said twenty-four hours, and then you’d go to the police if you had to.”
“I meant it. But it won’t be twenty-four hours until eight o’clock. And I still say maybe we won’t have to go. Maybe Arbogast is right.”
“Maybe! Sam, I want to know!” She smoothed her blouse again, but her brow remained wrinkled. “You aren’t fooling me for one minute, with all this routine about nails. You’re just as nervous as I am. Aren’t you?”
“Yes. I guess so.” He stood up, swinging his arms. “I don’t know why Arbogast hasn’t called in by now. There aren’t that many places in this area to check, not if he stopped at every highway hamburger joint and motel in the county! If he doesn’t get in touch with us by suppertime, I’ll go over to Jud Chambers myself.”
“Who?”
“Jud Chambers. He’s the sheriff here. Fairvale’s the county seat, you know.”
“Sam, I—”
The phone rang, out in the store. He disappeared without waiting for her to complete her sentence. Bob Summerfield was already answering.
“It’s for you,” he called.
Sam picked up the receiver, glancing over his shoulder and noting that Lila had followed him out.
“Hello—Sam Loomis speaking.”
“Arbogast. Thought you might be worried about me.”
“We were. Lila and I have been sitting here and waiting for you to call. What did you find out?”
There was a short, almost imperceptible pause. Then, “No dice, so far.”
“So far? Where have you been all day?”
“Where haven’t I been? I’ve covered this area from one end to another. Right now I’m in Parnassus.”
“That’s way down at the edge of the county, isn’t it? What about the highway in between?”
“I came out on it. But I understand I can come back another way, on an alternate.”
“Yes, that’s right. The old highway—it’s a county trunk now. But there’s absolutely nothing along that route. Not even a filling station.”
“Fellow in the restaurant here tells me there’s a motel back in through there.”
“Oh—come to think of it, I guess there is. The old Bates place. I didn’t know it was still open. It isn’t likely you’ll find anything there.”
“Well, it’s the last on the list. I’m coming back anyway, so I might as well stop in. How you holding?”
“All right.”
“And the girl?”
Sam lowered his voice. “She wants me to notify the authorities immediately. And I think she’s right. After what you’ve told me, I know she’s right.”
“Will you wait until I get there?”
“How long is it going to take?”
“An hour, maybe. Unless I run into something at this motel.” Arbogast hesitated. “Look, we made a bargain. I’m willing to keep my end of it. All I’m asking is for you to wait until I come back to town. Let me go with you to the police. It’ll be a lot easier to get co-operation that way, with me along. You know how it is with small-town law. The minute you ask them to put through a long-distance call they press the panic button.”
“We’ll give you an hour,” Sam said. “You can find us here at the store.”
He hung up and turned away.
“What did he say?” Lila asked. “He didn’t find out anything, did he?”
“Well, no, but he isn’t finished yet. There’s another place where he plans to stop—”
“Only one more place?”
“Don’t say it like that. Maybe he’ll hear something there. If not, he’s due back within an hour. W
e’ll go to the sheriff. You heard what I told him.”
“All right. We’ll wait. One hour, you said.”
It wasn’t a pleasant hour. Sam was almost grateful when the late Saturday afternoon crowd came in and he had an excuse to go out front and help wait on the overflow. He couldn’t pretend to be cheerful any longer, couldn’t make small talk. Not to her, nor to himself.
Because he was beginning to feel it now.
Something had happened.
Something had happened to Mary.
Something—
“Sam!”
He turned away from the cash register after completing a sale, and Lila was there. She’d come out from the back room and she was pointing at her wrist watch. “Sam, the hour’s up!”
“I know. Let’s give him a few more minutes, shall we? I’ve got to close up the store first, anyway.”
“All right. But only a few minutes. Please! If you knew how I felt—”
“I do know.” He squeezed her arm, squeezed out a smile. “Don’t worry, he’ll be here any second.”
But he didn’t come.
Sam and Summerfield shooed out the last straggler at five-thirty. Sam checked the register and Summerfield spread the dust covers for the night.
Still Arbogast didn’t appear.
Summerfield switched off the lights, prepared to depart. Sam got ready to lock the door.
No Arbogast.
“Now,” Lila said. “Let’s go now. If you don’t, then I w—”
“Listen!” Sam said. “It’s the phone.”
And, seconds later, “Hello?”
“Arbogast.”
“Where are you? You promised to—”
“Never mind what I promised.” The investigator’s voice was low, his words hurried. “I’m out at the motel, and I’ve only got a minute. Wanted to let you know why I hadn’t showed. Listen, I’ve found a lead. Your girl-friend was here, all right. Last Saturday night.”
“Mary? You’re sure?”
“Pretty sure. I checked the register, got a chance to compare handwriting. Of course she used another name—Jane Wilson—and gave a phony address. I’ll have to get a court order to photostat the register entry, if we need proof.”