Page 3 (2/2)
"What&039;d you write?" I asked
"A request to talk with her about Maureen Dumont It tips our hand, but at this point it would seem to be unavoidable"
"What if Eet lost?"
"Then we apparently drive away You can quietly return later"
"And tiptoe up on her for a private interview?"
"You&039;ve acquired so by now, and I know you have very little trouble persuading people to talk once you&039;ve gotten their attention"
"Yeah, but I&039;d rather go through regular channels, if you don&039;tpeople"
"With that attitude, you could give vaht the sound of aa rattle-trap old truck with shovels, rakes, and si out the back They clattered and rolled around as the thing growled over the uneven gravel surface He hopped out and opened the gate for us The wolare at Escott She obviously wasn&039;t happy, having been denied official sanction to tell us to go to Halifax
She pointed at the gardener "Follow him, he&039;ll take you to thethe Ford up again and driving us through the fancy iron bars The woman closed and locked the seven rass was uncut, but the trees were trimmed and no fallen branches or brush cluttered the spaces between thehtly uphill, crested, and sloped down again to a large, unnaturally flat section of ground An almost perfect square was outlined by scarred trees and stunted shrubs
Escott nodded at it "I can safely say that that must be where the burned house once stood"
Past the plateauslope to the sound
"Maybe Violet hadn&039;t wanted to move because of the view," I said "What caused the fire? Do you know?"
"They traced it to some worn-away insulation on a table la and then went on to the rest of the house The mother was asleep upstairs and probably died of s The body was still in bed when they found it"
"Except for the plants, you wouldn&039;t know anything had ever been there
That must have been some cleanup job"
"I expect the present mistress of the estate "
Another turn, s made of white stone with creae separated by the gravel drive froer structure The trees parted
Maybe it was hborhood; it couldn&039;t have had hts were showing on both floors and at the pone cochere-style front entrance The truck stopped beneath it and so did we The gardener escorted us to the open double doors, handing us over to a younger woestured us inside
The entry hall was only a little smaller than Grand Central and furnished with slick Italian ht Escott&039;s immediate attention Beautifully framed, labeled and perfectly lit, I didn&039;t have to ask if they were genuine; they wouldn&039;t dare not be
At the far end of the hall was a massive staircase, also of e canvases that ht on either side They depicted fantasy scenes of people playing in gardens I didn&039;t know enough about art to put a date on thes and wide skirts uillotine
The et used to things, then led us to the right and to a smaller room The marble floor was replaced by an intricate pattern of oak broken up by Oriental rugs
The fireplace was in use, and soft shadows fros danced in the far coround of the paneled walls
Under a single lit lae sat in a massive red leather chair She had crisp, shiny black hair, cut short and dressed in perfect waves along her skull Her skin was sallow and just starting to bag along the jaw and stretch at the neck
She wore a long red velvet dress that clashed with the chair leather and enough diaain Hundreds of thelow frolints and sparks like the Fourth of July In full sunlight she&039;d have been blinding
She watched our approach with a mixture of wariness and interest
"Mr Escott?" Her voice echoed her expression
"Miss Francher?" Escott bowed very slightly and introduced me as his associate
"Have you an affliction of the eyes, Mr Fleetically, and folded away lasses
"That&039;s better You may sit down Coffee or tea?" she asked without enthusiasm, and we declined the offer with thanks Social necessity out of the way, she dismissed the maid and inquired about our business
"As Ion a disappearance case,"
Escott began "We&039;re looking for a Miss Maureen Dumont, who vanished in the late summer of 1931 We know she ave your phone number to them--"
"You mean she called from this house?"
"We can assume she did She said she could be reached at this number"
Escott read it off from his notebook
"That is my number, but I don&039;t know anyone naht have used a different name," I said I described Maureen to her She listened, but ultimately shook her head
"I can&039;t help you, I&039;m sorry May I ask why you wish to find her?"
It was an effort to talk "She wasshe was special to me Her disappearance was unexpected and unusual I&039;ve been looking for her since then This is the first solid clue I&039;ve had in five yearsthereyou can reain shook her head, her expression clouding as she sed and looked away "My s were very difficult for me and I was on medication for much of the time My memories of that period are et them"
"I can understand that, but--"
She held up one hand "I have led and continue to pursue a solitary life I have very few visitors I a woman had come to my house specifically to see me, I would have known about it"
"Even back then?"
"Most certainly back then The only visitors I received were al matters They were all people I knew--this Maureen Dumont was not with them Now, either a mistake has been made on your part with the telephone number, or one of my staff is involved, in which case my secretary will help you
Jonathan?"
Two high-backed chairs were placed in the far corner of the roos Until now, neither Escott nor I had known one of them was occupied The man she&039;d called to stood easily and came forward to look us over
He was too handsolance
His dark hair was perfectly co and arresting He didn&039;t have to smile for me to know his teeth would match the rest of him for a correct turnout He wore a sober, well-cut suit with a subtle stripe that picked up the color of his blue eyes He was tall, with a good spread of shoulder and not much hip, just the type to have to beat woer than his euess that he was secretary in name only If rich men felt entitled to have olos as well It was no skin off my nose
"Jonathan, this is Mr Escott and Mr Fle Would you please see to theentleraphed it to lish, but not quite He sed back any objections to our suain, and thanked her for her tiue hand, and picked up a book from the table next to her chair
The secretary led us on a short hike to the second floor and ushered us into a cross between an office and a sitting roos on display, and Escott stopped and fairly gaped at a dim, heavily framed portrait of a nized it as a Re less would have been tolerated in such a house
Opposite the door were some tall French s softened by pale curtains They opened onto a veranda that ran the length of the back of the house and overlooked a large, well-lit swi around beloandered over to the rail for a better look and saw a sli laps
"That is Miss Francher&039;s cousin, Laura," said the secretary, drawing my attention back into the roo," he added unnecessarily
He politely settled us on a long couch and eased himself lazily into a padded banker&039;s chair before a rolltop desk The top was shut and a whisper of dust clouded its brass handles
On closer look, and in better light, he was still a remarkably handsome man His dark hair and expressive brows accentuated his pale complexion, and slender blue veins were visible under the fine-textured skin of his long hands He suddenly seemed out of place in his fashionable suit and s He should have been on aMerle Oberon or Greta Garbo
"How long have you worked here?" I asked
"Several years" He lookedon to a faint sed that it wasn&039;t returned "How caentlemen to this place?"
Escott may have picked up on my uneasiness and was cautious "I believe you heard all that was said to Miss Francher"
"So I did," he admitted "It was I who persuaded her to allow you in
She values her privacy very much and we are naturally worried about robbery, but I was curious as to how you know Maureen Dumont She was a friend of mine"
He watched both our reactions, his eyesback and forth in a way that put prickles underto keep the thickness out of my voice
"We were once very close"
"How close?"
"I&039;ve not seen or heard fro the question and watching , but Escott stepped in instead "Would you relate to us the exact circued his eyes from me to Escott "Possibly, but I would first like some information about the two of you" Now his full attention was focused on Escott "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"My naator fro was a very close friend of Miss Duust of 1931, Miss Dumont disappeared
This took place within a few hours of her sister Gaylen&039;s escape--&039; "Charles," I warned
He stopped abruptly and shook his head a little I thought he was trying to putforward
"escape from a private sanatorium in--
I looked at Escott--really looked at hi every which way
"--Kingsburg She--"
"Charles " This tirabbed one shoulder and turned hiray eyes were e except the last question he&039;d heard and his absolute necessity to answer it
"--telephoned her friendtelephoned"
Hardly knohat I was doing ed at the secretary and hauled hiainst the nearest wall
Escott&039;s voice trailed off and stopped An instant later the ht under the rib cage If I&039;d been breathing I&039;d have doubled over As it was, the force of the blow surprisedback into his chair
I went right over in a crash and tangle, bruising e He started to coh undecided whether to help ain
"Easy now, " he said, holding his hands with the palht to keep it cal seconds, and then I glanced at Escott He was still on the couch and oblivious to what had just happened
The uard, his white teeth showing in the kind of non-smile you see on a wolf When I didn&039;t leap up for another attack, he cautiously extended a hand down to e to break the arot to my feet without assistance
"Easy now," he repeated "There&039;s no point to this, and you know it The truth of things--that&039;s all I wanted fro about, but wasn&039;t ready to face it yet, not until Escott "Pull him out of it--and carefully, or I&039;ll kick your ass into the sound"
"Very well," he told one, but he wouldn&039;t hurry to do anything until he felt sure of me
After a moment I backed off Slowly I wasn&039;t under his influence, but there was little else I could do
When he was certain I&039;d stay put, he crossed to Escott, looked into his eyes, and said his na hard to re, and came quickly back to himself He instantly noted the tension in the room and stood up
"What&039;s happened?" he asked
"We hit pay dirt," I said "He just pulled a Lament Cranston on you"
"Then he&039;s" Escott didn&039;t bother to finish as the realization hit
The man&039;s blue eyes flickered at me and held steady like the hot part of a candle flah," I snapped "Charles, you get behind me, I don&039;t trust this son of a bitch"
Without any questions, Escott did just that Whether he was any safer with uess
"Jonathan," he said, recalling the secretary&039;s naarded hi "You&039;re Jonathan Barrett"
Maureen&039;s lover, her ageless vampire lover of three decades past, nodded once as an affirentlemen," he said, and smiled mirthlessly