Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Ending
The clock on the dashboard showed that it was almost nine o'clock, and the night was dark.Louise Fischer and the two officers escorting her had just passed a square building.There was a neon sign on the building and it said MYRE VALLEY LIMBER COMPANY.Then they turned into a street that was clearly the center of the city, although there were not many large houses of that kind on either side of the street.Ten minutes later, the car stopped beside a stone pillar in front of a gray public building.The driver got out and another man opened the door for Louise.They led her into the gray building.
There are three men in the house.A man in his sixties, with a sad face, uneven gray hair and beard.He was reclining in his chair with his feet resting on the cluttered yellow desk.He wore a hat, but no coat.The other was a pale young blond man who straddled a chair across the room in front of a filing cabinet.He was talking: "...so the traveling salesman asked the farmer if he could stay with him for the night, and—" Louise Fischer and her two companions just entered, interrupting took his word.
A third man stood with his back to the window.He is of medium build, thin and in his early thirties, with thin lips and pale complexion. He is dressed in gorgeous brown and red clothes with a stiff collar.He walked quickly to Louise Fischer, showing his white teeth when he smiled. "I'm Harry Claus, they won't let me see you there, so I'll wait for you here first." He spoke quickly and firmly, "Don't worry, I've taken care of everything."
The blond storyteller hesitated and shifted positions.The two policemen who had brought Louise Fischer back from the city looked at the lawyer disapprovingly.
Klaus laughed again, this time with more thorough certainty. "You know she won't tell you anything until she's talked to me, right? Well, is it okay?"
The officer with his feet on the table said, "All right, all right." He looked at the two men standing behind the woman. "If there's no one in Taft's office, let them use it."
"Thank you." Harry Kloss picked up a brown briefcase from the chair, took Louise Fischer's arm, and led her to turn around, following behind the man with muscular chest and ruddy complexion.
The man led them only a few inches down the hallway, until they came to a room very similar to the one just now.He didn't go in with them.He said: "Come back when you finish talking." When they entered, he slammed the door.
Klaus turned to look at the door. "They're idlers," he said cheerfully. "We'll teach them a lesson." He dropped the briefcase on the table. "Sit down."
"Where's Brashear?" she said. "He—"
He shrugged his shoulders so much that they almost touched his ears. "I don't know. I can't get anything out of those guys."
"That means--"
"That means he's gone," he said.
"Do you think he can get away?"
He shrugged again. "We can always hope for that."
"But a cop told me he was shot and—"
"It just means they expected it, it doesn't make any real sense." He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her to the edge of a chair to sit down. "It's no use worrying until we have something definite to worry about." He pulled another chair over and sat down next to her. "Now let's worry about you first. I want to know—don't I just need to know what happened and how it happened.”
She frowned suspiciously. "But you just told me you got it—"
"What I told you is that I've got it all done, that's right." He patted her on the knee, "I've got your bail done, so you can get out as soon as they're done asking you a few routine questions. This is the place. But first we have to decide how you should answer them." His piercing gaze fell from under the brim of his hat and fell on her. "You want to help Brashear, don't you?"
"yes."
"That's fine." He patted her knee again, this time resting his hand on her knee, "Now, tell me everything, from the beginning."
"You mean from the first time I met Kane Robson?"
He nods.
She folded her knees just in time to drive his hand away.She looked at the white wall opposite, but didn't really look at it."We didn't do anything wrong and we didn't deserve to be tortured," she said emotionally.
"Don't worry." He said in an easy, confident voice, "I'll get you two out of this." He handed her a shiny cigarette case for her to pick up.
She took one, leaned over to his lighter and lit it.Leaning forward, she asked, "I don't have to stay here tonight, do I?"
He patted her cheek. "I think so. They shouldn't have been questioning you for more than an hour." His hand fell on her lap again. "The sooner we two can get this over with, the sooner they'll let you go."
She took a deep breath, straightened up and leaned back in the chair. "There's not much to say." She began, biting each word clearly so that her accent wouldn't cloud others' understanding. "I met him in a small part of Switzerland. I have no money, and no friends. He likes me, and he is rich." She made a gesture with her hand holding a cigarette, "So I promised him."
Klaus nodded sympathetically, moving his fingers over her lap.
"He bought me the clothes in Paris, and the jewels. Those weren't his mother's stuff, they were something he gave me."
Still nodding, the lawyer moved his fingers over her lap again.
"Then he brought me here—" She pressed the still burning cigarette butt on the back of his hand, "I live in his—"
Klaus quickly retracted his hand, brought it to his mouth, and sucked the back of his hand. "What are you doing?" he asked angrily.The back of his hand was covering his mouth, muffled his voice.Then he dropped his hand and looked at the burn on the back of his hand. "If there's something you don't like, you can say it, okay?"
She didn't smile. "I don't speak 'Eagle' very well," she said, emphasizing her accent, "and I stayed with him for two weeks—less than two weeks—until—"
"If it wasn't for Brashear, you'd be throwing this trouble at another lawyer." He pouted, blowing the burn on the back of his hand.
"Until last night," she went on, "I found that I couldn't bear him any longer. We had a quarrel, and then I went away. I left exactly as I came, in the same evening dress, with ..."
She was almost done talking when the phone rang.The lawyer walked to the table and picked up the microphone. "Hello? . . . yes . . . just a minute or two . . . ok. Thanks." He turned around. "They're getting impatient."
She got up from her chair and said, "I'm done right away. Then the police came and he jumped out the window and they arrested me for stealing those rings."
"Did you say anything to them after they arrested you?"
She shook her head. "They didn't let me talk, nobody wanted to hear me. Nobody cared about it."
As Louise Fischer and Klaus left the courthouse, a young man in a crumpled blue suit approached them.He took off his hat and tucked it under his arm. "Miss Fischer, I'm a reporter for the Mile Valley Gazette, would you—"
Klaus smiled and said, "No comment right now. Come to me at the hotel tomorrow morning and I'll give you a statement." He handed a business card to the reporter, cleared his throat, and said, "We Going to get something to eat now. Maybe you can tell us where to eat—or you'd like to come with us."
The young man's face lit up.He looked down at the business card in his hand, then looked up at the lawyer. "Thank you, Mr. Claus, I'd love to. The tavern around the corner is a good one. It's the best one open at this hour." He turned south, "My name is George Dunn .”
Klaus shook hands with him and said, "Nice to meet you." Louise Fischer nodded and smiled.The three walked down the street.
"How's Conroy?"
"He's not sober yet," the young man replied. "They don't know how badly he's hurt yet."
"Where is he?"
"Still at Robson's. They dare not move him."
They turned the corner.Klaus asked, "Any news from Brashear?"
The reporter craned his neck over Louise Fischer to look at the lawyer. "I thought you already knew."
"what do you know?"
"I know—know what everyone wants to know, of course it's about this."
He led the two into a restaurant with white tiles.The three of them sat down at a table.The dozen or so people sitting at the bar and tables were all looking at Louise Fischer and whispering.
Louise Fischer sat in the chair Dunn had pulled out for her and fetched a menu from a shelf on the dining table, seemingly indifferent or not at all to the interest in her."I'm starving," she said.
A fat, bald man with two curled white beards was three tables away from them.He sat there, making eye contact with Dunn as he walked over to his chair, shaking his head in greeting.
Dunn said, "Excuse me—that's my boss." He walked over to the mustachioed man's desk.
"He's a good boy," Klaus said.
Louise Fischer said: "We've got to make a call to Link. They must have heard from Brashear."
Klaus twitched the corners of his mouth and shook his head. "Can you trust the county government's telephone exchange?"
"but--"
"We'll have to wait until tomorrow. It's late anyway." He looked at his watch and yawned. "Play with this brat, maybe he knows something."
Dunn returned to their table.His cheeks were flushed and he seemed embarrassed.
"Any news?" Klaus asked.
The young man shook his head violently. "Oh, no!" he said emphatically.
A waiter came over.Louise Fischer ordered soup, steak, potatoes, asparagus, salad, cheese, and coffee, Klaus ordered scrambled eggs and coffee, and Dunn ordered pie and milk.
After the waiter walked away, Dunn suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked past Klaus.Louise Fischer turned her head and followed the reporter's line of sight.Kane Robson is entering the restaurant, followed by two men.The fatter, paler, younger one smiled and raised his hat to greet them.
Louise Fischer lowered her voice and said to Klaus, "He is Robson."
The lawyer didn't turn his head."It's all right," he said, handing her his cigarette case.
She took a cigarette without taking her eyes off Robson.Robson took off his hat and bowed when he saw her.Then he said something to his two companions and walked towards her.His face was pale, and his black eyes gleamed.
When he walked to their table, she had already lit a cigarette. "Hi, dear." He sat down on the empty chair directly opposite her, turned his head to look at the reporter for a while, and said casually, "Hi, Dunn."
Louise Fischer said, "Mr. Robson, this is Mr. Claus."
Robson didn't see a lawyer.He said to the woman, "Is your bail settled?"
"You've seen it all."
He smiled mockingly: "I wanted to explain that if you can't get the money together, I can put it on first, but I forgot."
For a moment they all fell silent.Then she said, "I'll send for my clothes tomorrow morning. Can you let Ittu pack them first?"
"Your clothes?" He laughed. "When I found you, you didn't have any stitches or threads around you except what you were wearing. Let your new man buy you new clothes."
Young Dunn flushed and stared at the tablecloth in embarrassment.Klaus was expressionless, but his eyes were bright.
Louise Fischer said gently: "Your friends will miss you if you're away for too long."
"Make them want to go. I want to talk to you, Louise," he said impatiently to Dunn. "Why don't you two step aside and do what you like?"
The reporter jumped up from the chair, slurring his speech: "When...Of course, Luo...Mr. Robson."
Klaus looked at Louise Fischer questioningly.She nodded, but barely noticeably.So Klaus got up and left with Dunn.
"Come back to me and I'll end the ring shit," Robson said.
She looked at him curiously. "You want me to go back, even if you know I hate you?"
He nodded and grinned. "That would be more interesting to me."
She narrowed her eyes, studied his face, and asked, "How is Dick?"
His face and voice were suddenly full of undisguised malice. "He won't live long."
She looks surprised. "You hate him?"
"I don't hate him—I don't love him either. You and he are too fond of each other. I would never let the men and women of the house get mixed up like this."
She smiled contemptuously. "I see. Well, what if I go back with you?"
"I'll explain to those people that the ring thing was a misunderstanding. You just thought I gave them to you, that's all." He leaned closer and looked at her, "but your boyfriend Brashear There's no room for redemption. He deserved it."
Her expression did not reveal her thoughts at all.She leaned slightly towards the end of the table, and said carefully: "If you are really as dangerous as you think, then I will not dare to go back with you--I would rather go to jail than that. But I am not afraid of you. By now you should know that there is nothing you can do to hurt me, and you should also know that I am very good at taking care of myself."
"Maybe you still have a lot to learn," he replied quickly, and then resumed his calm and objective tone. "Well, what's your answer?"
"I'm not a fool," she said, "I don't have money, and I don't have friends to help me. You have both, and I'm not afraid of you. I want to try to make the best choice for me. First of all, I will try not to rely on you to solve this trouble and deal with the problems in front of me. If I can't, I will come back to you."
"If I still want you then."
She shrugged. "Yes, of course."
Louise Fischer and Harry Cross arrived at Link's door the next morning. Where the door was opened for them.She put her arms around Louise Fischer. "Look, I told you, Harry will get you out." She immediately turned to the lawyer, "You didn't let them lock her up all night, did you?" "No," he said, "but we missed the last train, so we had to spend the night in a hotel." A group of people entered the living room. Evelyn Grant got up from the sofa.She rushed to Louise Fischer and said bluntly, "It's my fault, it's all my fault!" Her eyes were red and swollen, and she started crying again. "He mentioned Downey to me—Mr. Link—I thought he was going to be here, so I called and Dad caught me. He called the police. I just wanted to help him— " Donnie stood in the doorway complaining, "Shut up, stop it. Stop it!" he said to Klaus petulantly, "She's been crying and screaming for an hour. She's driving me crazy." Fan said, "Stop talking about that child, she's very sad." Downey said, "She deserves it." He turned to Louise Fischer and smiled, "Hey baby, is everything going well?" She said, "Hello. I think it's going well." He looks at her hands. "Where is your ring?" "We had to leave it to the police." "I told you!" His voice turned grim. "I told you, you should let me sell them." He turned to Klaus. "Can you get them back?" The lawyer said nothing. Van helped Evelyn back to the sofa and comforted her. Louise Fischer asked, "Have you ever—" "Brashear?" Downey spoke before she could finish.Then he nodded. "Yes, he's fine." His gaze fell forward on the girl on the sofa, and then he said quickly in a low voice, "He's currently in the nursing home on the top of the mountain, the one outside the city—should still be under observation. You Knows he's got a gunshot wound to the side. But he'll be all right—Dr. Bailey's going to take care of him and make him look good again. He—" Louise Fischer suddenly opened her eyes wide, holding her throat with her hands. "But he—do you mean Dr. Ralph Bailey?" she asked sharply. Donnie nodded. "Yeah, he's nice. He'll—" "But he's a friend of Kane Robson's!" she screamed. "I met him. He was at Robson's house." She turned to look at the lawyer. "He went there with Robson last night." This restaurant is the fat one, the fat one." The men stared at her. She grabbed Klaus' arm and shook it. "That's what he must have been there last night—he went to Robson and asked him what to do." Van and Evelyn had risen from the couch to listen to her. Donnie said, "Well, maybe it'll be all right. The doctor's a nice guy, I don't think he'll—" "Shut up!" Klaus yelled. "It's troublesome—damn it, very troublesome." He frowned and asked Louise Fischer thoughtfully. "Is there any possibility of a mistake?" "Absolutely not." Evelyn squeezed between the two men and came face to face with Louise Fischer.She cried again, but now with anger. "Why did you kill him like this? Why go to him when you're in all this trouble? It's all your fault they put him in the cell--he'd go crazy if it wasn't for you, Nothing will happen. You—” Donnie touched Evelyn on the shoulder. "I think I'm going to give you a good beating." She ran away from him crying. Klaus said, "For God's sake, stop talking nonsense. Let's see what we can do." He frowned again at Louise Fischer. "Did Robson talk to you last night?" Tell me about this?" She shook her head. Donnie said, "Well, look. We should go get him back right away. It's not—" "That's easy." Klaus sneered heavily. "If something happens to him there—" The lawyer shrugged. him?" Donnie nodded. "of course can." "Then go see him. Let him understand what's wrong, and see what can be done." Donny and Louise Fischer left by the back door, walked across the backyard into the alley, and walked two blocks away.They paid attention all the way and found no one following them. "I don't think there's a tail behind," Downey said, leading the way to an intersection. On the next corner there was a garage-cum-body shop where a Negro was fumbling with an engine. "Hello, Tony," Downey said, "lend me a car." The black man looked at Louise Fischer curiously, and said, "Of course it's no problem. Just the one in the corner." The two got into a black car and drove out. "It's not fair," Downey said, before adding, "I'm going to get him out." Louise Fischer was silent. Half an hour later, Downey drove the car into a main road, and a white building could be seen at the end of the road. "That's it," he said. They left the car at the gate, walked under a sign that said "Hilltop Nursing Home" in gold letters on a black background, and entered an office. "We're here to see Mr. Lee," Downey told the nurse behind the counter. "He's waiting for us." The nurse licked her lips nervously and said, "Room 203 is right next to the stairs." They went up the dark stairs to the second floor. "It's here." Downey stopped walking as he said.He opened the door without knocking and beckoned Louise Fischer in. Brashear lay flat on the bed, looking more sallow than usual.Besides him, there were two other men in the room.One of them was the big, tired-looking man who had arrested Louise Fischer."I can't have any of you come and see him," he said. Brashear rose half upright from the bed and held out a hand to Louise Fischer. She walked around the big man to the bed and took his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry—sorry!" she murmured. He grinned, but there was no joy in it. "It's bad luck, it's okay. I'm just afraid of these damn windows." She leaned down to kiss him. The big man said, "Okay, okay. Now you have to go. I'm a bad luck man, and I'm in charge of this mess." Donnie stepped forward to go to the bed. "Listen, Brashear, here—" The big man stretched out a hand and weakly pushed Donnie back. "Go away, what are you hanging around here? You have nothing to do here." He said, putting a hand on Louise Fischer's shoulder. "Please go, please. Say goodbye to him— —maybe you'll see him in a while." She kissed Brashear again, and stood up. Brashear said, "Donny, can you take care of her for me?" "Of course," Downey promised, "don't let them scare you. I'll let Harry come and see you—" The big man snarled, "Will it take all day to say goodbye?" He grabbed Louise Fischer by the arm and pushed her and Donny out. The two walked back to the car in silence, and no one spoke on the way back to the city.When the car entered the urban area, Louise Fischer said, "Can you kindly lend me ten dollars?" "No problem," Downey withdrew a hand from the steering wheel, stuffed it into his pants pocket, and handed her two five-dollar bills. Then she said, "I want to go to the train station." He frowned: "What are you doing?" "I want to go to the train station," she repeated. As soon as the car reached the train station, she got out of the car. "Thank you very much," she said, "don't wait for me, I'll be back later." Louise Fischer went into the station and bought a pack of cigarettes at the newsstand.She then walked to a public phone booth, asked for a long-distance call, and dialed the number in Myer Vale. "Hi, is it Itu?...Is Mr. Robson there? I'm Fischer...yes." She waited, "Hi, Kane...well, you won, if you last night Just tell me what you know, and you won't have to wait till now...yes...yes, yes." She hung up the receiver and stared for a long time.Then she left the public phone booth, walked to the ticket window, and said, "A ticket to Mile Vale—one way—thank you."
The room was large, with high ceilings, and the furniture was all dark oak.Kane Robson buries himself comfortably in a large chair.At his elbow was a small table with a silver-clad crystal coffee set, a half-filled silver-clad crystal decanter, glasses, cigarettes, and an ashtray.In the shadow of the fire in the fireplace, his eyes flickered. Ten paces away, Louise Fischer sat in a smaller chair, tall and erect, half toward him and half toward the fire.She was wearing a light-colored pajamas, with slippers of the same color on her feet. Somewhere throughout the house a clock was chiming the hour of midnight.Robson listened carefully before saying, "You're making a serious mistake, my dear, and you're being too self-righteous." She yawned. "I barely slept last night," she said, "I was too sleepy to be frightened by you." He stood up and grinned at her. "I haven't slept much either. Shouldn't we be seeing the sick before we go to bed?" At this moment, a skinny middle-aged female nurse entered the room and said out of breath: "Mr. Conroy regained consciousness, I'm sure." She said. Robson pursed his lips, his eyes flicked a flash of light, then leveled off. "Call Dr. Black," he said. "He'll want to know about it right away." He turned to Louise Fischer. "I'll go up with him, and I'll come back when she finishes calling." Louise Fischer also stood up. "I will go with you." He pouted. "I don't know if that's appropriate. Maybe the excitement of seeing too many people—I mean suddenly seeing you back again—may not be good for him." The nurse had left the room by this time. Louise Fischer laughed, but Robson pretended not to see, and said, "No, honey, you'd better stay here." "I'm not staying here," she said. He shrugged. "Very well, but—" He went upstairs without finishing his sentence. Louise Fischer followed him upstairs, but not as quickly.However, when she came to the door of the ward, she caught Conroy's extremely frightened eyes in time.Then his bandaged head fell back on the pillow. Robson stood just inside the door and said softly, "Oh, he passed out again." There was no trace of worry in his eyes. She looked inquiringly. The two just stood there, staring at each other until the Japanese butler came to the door and said, "There is a gentleman who calls himself Brashear who wants to see Miss Fischer." Robson's face slowly crept into the look of someone thinking about an intimate joke.He said, "Take this Mr. Brashear into the living room and Miss Fischer will be down in a minute. Another call to the deputy." Robson smiled at the woman. "how?" She said nothing. "How do you choose?" he asked. The nurse comes in. "Dr. Black is not at home. I left a message." Louise Fischer said: "I don't think you should leave Mr. Conroy here alone, Miss George." Brashear stood in the middle of the living room, feet wide apart for balance.His left arm hangs down, bound to the left side of his body.He wore a black jacket buttoned down to the throat; his face was a hideous sallow mask, his eyes burning red with rage.He gritted his teeth. "They told me you're back here. I gotta see." He spat on the floor. "Bitch!" She takes a step. "Don't be silly, I—" She stopped when the nurse ran through the doorway, and asked eagerly, "Miss George, what are you doing?" The nurse said, "Mr. Robson said I might try calling Mrs. Webb's house to see Dr. Blake." Louise Fischer turned, stopped, kicked off her slippers, and ran quickly up the stairs with only her socks on.Conroy's ward door was closed, and she pushed it open. Robson was leaning over the patient, holding the bandaged head with both hands, and pressing the patient face down into the pillow. His two thumbs were firmly pressing down on the back of the patient's head, as if the weight of his whole body was on them.His face was crazy and his lips were wet. Louise Fischer screamed "Brashear!" and threw herself on Robson, clawing at his legs with her nails. Brashear came into the house, staggering as if he couldn't see his way, his left arm still tied around him.He threw his right fist, but it missed, and the fist was only a step away from Robson's face.Robson hit him twice in the face, but he appeared to be unconscious and threw another punch into Robson's stomach.Fischer grabbed Robson's ankle so tightly that he couldn't stabilize his body, and Robson fell heavily to the ground. On the hospital bed, the patient is trying to sit up, and the nurse is busy taking care of him.Tears streamed down his face and he kept sobbing: "When he was helping me into the car, he tripped over a log. He hit my head hard with this log." Louise Fischer sat Brashear on the floor with his back against the wall and wiped his face with her handkerchief. He opened his eyes and murmured, "This guy is a lunatic, isn't he?" She put an arm around him and laughed, a small moan in her throat. "All men are crazy." Robson lay there motionless. At this time, there was a commotion outside the house, and three men rushed in. The tallest looked from Robson to Brashear and giggled. "So there's our chap who doesn't like hospitals," he said. "It's a good thing he didn't escape from the gym, or he'd have to hurt someone." Louise Fischer took the ring off her finger and laid it on the floor at Robson's left foot.
Notes:
Louise Fischer and Harry Cross arrived at Link's door the next morning. Where the door was opened for them.She put her arms around Louise Fischer. "Look, I told you, Harry will get you out." She immediately turned to the lawyer, "You didn't let them lock her up all night, did you?" "No," he said, "but we missed the last train, so we had to spend the night in a hotel." A group of people entered the living room. Evelyn Grant got up from the sofa.She rushed to Louise Fischer and said bluntly, "It's my fault, it's all my fault!" Her eyes were red and swollen, and she started crying again. "He mentioned Downey to me—Mr. Link—I thought he was going to be here, so I called and Dad caught me. He called the police. I just wanted to help him— " Donnie stood in the doorway complaining, "Shut up, stop it. Stop it!" he said to Klaus petulantly, "She's been crying and screaming for an hour. She's driving me crazy." Fan said, "Stop talking about that child, she's very sad." Downey said, "She deserves it." He turned to Louise Fischer and smiled, "Hey baby, is everything going well?" She said, "Hello. I think it's going well." He looks at her hands. "Where is your ring?" "We had to leave it to the police." "I told you!" His voice turned grim. "I told you, you should let me sell them." He turned to Klaus. "Can you get them back?" The lawyer said nothing. Van helped Evelyn back to the sofa and comforted her. Louise Fischer asked, "Have you ever—" "Brashear?" Downey spoke before she could finish.Then he nodded. "Yes, he's fine." His gaze fell forward on the girl on the sofa, and then he said quickly in a low voice, "He's currently in the nursing home on the top of the mountain, the one outside the city—should still be under observation. You Knows he's got a gunshot wound to the side. But he'll be all right—Dr. Bailey's going to take care of him and make him look good again. He—" Louise Fischer suddenly opened her eyes wide, holding her throat with her hands. "But he—do you mean Dr. Ralph Bailey?" she asked sharply. Donnie nodded. "Yeah, he's nice. He'll—" "But he's a friend of Kane Robson's!" she screamed. "I met him. He was at Robson's house." She turned to look at the lawyer. "He went there with Robson last night." This restaurant is the fat one, the fat one." The men stared at her. She grabbed Klaus' arm and shook it. "That's what he must have been there last night—he went to Robson and asked him what to do." Van and Evelyn had risen from the couch to listen to her. Donnie said, "Well, maybe it'll be all right. The doctor's a nice guy, I don't think he'll—" "Shut up!" Klaus yelled. "It's troublesome—damn it, very troublesome." He frowned and asked Louise Fischer thoughtfully. "Is there any possibility of a mistake?" "Absolutely not." Evelyn squeezed between the two men and came face to face with Louise Fischer.She cried again, but now with anger. "Why did you kill him like this? Why go to him when you're in all this trouble? It's all your fault they put him in the cell--he'd go crazy if it wasn't for you, Nothing will happen. You—” Donnie touched Evelyn on the shoulder. "I think I'm going to give you a good beating." She ran away from him crying. Klaus said, "For God's sake, stop talking nonsense. Let's see what we can do." He frowned again at Louise Fischer. "Did Robson talk to you last night?" Tell me about this?" She shook her head. Donnie said, "Well, look. We should go get him back right away. It's not—" "That's easy." Klaus sneered heavily. "If something happens to him there—" The lawyer shrugged. him?" Donnie nodded. "of course can." "Then go see him. Let him understand what's wrong, and see what can be done." Donny and Louise Fischer left by the back door, walked across the backyard into the alley, and walked two blocks away.They paid attention all the way and found no one following them. "I don't think there's a tail behind," Downey said, leading the way to an intersection. On the next corner there was a garage-cum-body shop where a Negro was fumbling with an engine. "Hello, Tony," Downey said, "lend me a car." The black man looked at Louise Fischer curiously, and said, "Of course it's no problem. Just the one in the corner." The two got into a black car and drove out. "It's not fair," Downey said, before adding, "I'm going to get him out." Louise Fischer was silent. Half an hour later, Downey drove the car into a main road, and a white building could be seen at the end of the road. "That's it," he said. They left the car at the gate, walked under a sign that said "Hilltop Nursing Home" in gold letters on a black background, and entered an office. "We're here to see Mr. Lee," Downey told the nurse behind the counter. "He's waiting for us." The nurse licked her lips nervously and said, "Room 203 is right next to the stairs." They went up the dark stairs to the second floor. "It's here." Downey stopped walking as he said.He opened the door without knocking and beckoned Louise Fischer in. Brashear lay flat on the bed, looking more sallow than usual.Besides him, there were two other men in the room.One of them was the big, tired-looking man who had arrested Louise Fischer."I can't have any of you come and see him," he said. Brashear rose half upright from the bed and held out a hand to Louise Fischer. She walked around the big man to the bed and took his hand. "Oh, I'm sorry—sorry!" she murmured. He grinned, but there was no joy in it. "It's bad luck, it's okay. I'm just afraid of these damn windows." She leaned down to kiss him. The big man said, "Okay, okay. Now you have to go. I'm a bad luck man, and I'm in charge of this mess." Donnie stepped forward to go to the bed. "Listen, Brashear, here—" The big man stretched out a hand and weakly pushed Donnie back. "Go away, what are you hanging around here? You have nothing to do here." He said, putting a hand on Louise Fischer's shoulder. "Please go, please. Say goodbye to him— —maybe you'll see him in a while." She kissed Brashear again, and stood up. Brashear said, "Donny, can you take care of her for me?" "Of course," Downey promised, "don't let them scare you. I'll let Harry come and see you—" The big man snarled, "Will it take all day to say goodbye?" He grabbed Louise Fischer by the arm and pushed her and Donny out. The two walked back to the car in silence, and no one spoke on the way back to the city.When the car entered the urban area, Louise Fischer said, "Can you kindly lend me ten dollars?" "No problem," Downey withdrew a hand from the steering wheel, stuffed it into his pants pocket, and handed her two five-dollar bills. Then she said, "I want to go to the train station." He frowned: "What are you doing?" "I want to go to the train station," she repeated. As soon as the car reached the train station, she got out of the car. "Thank you very much," she said, "don't wait for me, I'll be back later." Louise Fischer went into the station and bought a pack of cigarettes at the newsstand.She then walked to a public phone booth, asked for a long-distance call, and dialed the number in Myer Vale. "Hi, is it Itu?...Is Mr. Robson there? I'm Fischer...yes." She waited, "Hi, Kane...well, you won, if you last night Just tell me what you know, and you won't have to wait till now...yes...yes, yes." She hung up the receiver and stared for a long time.Then she left the public phone booth, walked to the ticket window, and said, "A ticket to Mile Vale—one way—thank you."
The room was large, with high ceilings, and the furniture was all dark oak.Kane Robson buries himself comfortably in a large chair.At his elbow was a small table with a silver-clad crystal coffee set, a half-filled silver-clad crystal decanter, glasses, cigarettes, and an ashtray.In the shadow of the fire in the fireplace, his eyes flickered. Ten paces away, Louise Fischer sat in a smaller chair, tall and erect, half toward him and half toward the fire.She was wearing a light-colored pajamas, with slippers of the same color on her feet. Somewhere throughout the house a clock was chiming the hour of midnight.Robson listened carefully before saying, "You're making a serious mistake, my dear, and you're being too self-righteous." She yawned. "I barely slept last night," she said, "I was too sleepy to be frightened by you." He stood up and grinned at her. "I haven't slept much either. Shouldn't we be seeing the sick before we go to bed?" At this moment, a skinny middle-aged female nurse entered the room and said out of breath: "Mr. Conroy regained consciousness, I'm sure." She said. Robson pursed his lips, his eyes flicked a flash of light, then leveled off. "Call Dr. Black," he said. "He'll want to know about it right away." He turned to Louise Fischer. "I'll go up with him, and I'll come back when she finishes calling." Louise Fischer also stood up. "I will go with you." He pouted. "I don't know if that's appropriate. Maybe the excitement of seeing too many people—I mean suddenly seeing you back again—may not be good for him." The nurse had left the room by this time. Louise Fischer laughed, but Robson pretended not to see, and said, "No, honey, you'd better stay here." "I'm not staying here," she said. He shrugged. "Very well, but—" He went upstairs without finishing his sentence. Louise Fischer followed him upstairs, but not as quickly.However, when she came to the door of the ward, she caught Conroy's extremely frightened eyes in time.Then his bandaged head fell back on the pillow. Robson stood just inside the door and said softly, "Oh, he passed out again." There was no trace of worry in his eyes. She looked inquiringly. The two just stood there, staring at each other until the Japanese butler came to the door and said, "There is a gentleman who calls himself Brashear who wants to see Miss Fischer." Robson's face slowly crept into the look of someone thinking about an intimate joke.He said, "Take this Mr. Brashear into the living room and Miss Fischer will be down in a minute. Another call to the deputy." Robson smiled at the woman. "how?" She said nothing. "How do you choose?" he asked. The nurse comes in. "Dr. Black is not at home. I left a message." Louise Fischer said: "I don't think you should leave Mr. Conroy here alone, Miss George." Brashear stood in the middle of the living room, feet wide apart for balance.His left arm hangs down, bound to the left side of his body.He wore a black jacket buttoned down to the throat; his face was a hideous sallow mask, his eyes burning red with rage.He gritted his teeth. "They told me you're back here. I gotta see." He spat on the floor. "Bitch!" She takes a step. "Don't be silly, I—" She stopped when the nurse ran through the doorway, and asked eagerly, "Miss George, what are you doing?" The nurse said, "Mr. Robson said I might try calling Mrs. Webb's house to see Dr. Blake." Louise Fischer turned, stopped, kicked off her slippers, and ran quickly up the stairs with only her socks on.Conroy's ward door was closed, and she pushed it open. Robson was leaning over the patient, holding the bandaged head with both hands, and pressing the patient face down into the pillow. His two thumbs were firmly pressing down on the back of the patient's head, as if the weight of his whole body was on them.His face was crazy and his lips were wet. Louise Fischer screamed "Brashear!" and threw herself on Robson, clawing at his legs with her nails. Brashear came into the house, staggering as if he couldn't see his way, his left arm still tied around him.He threw his right fist, but it missed, and the fist was only a step away from Robson's face.Robson hit him twice in the face, but he appeared to be unconscious and threw another punch into Robson's stomach.Fischer grabbed Robson's ankle so tightly that he couldn't stabilize his body, and Robson fell heavily to the ground. On the hospital bed, the patient is trying to sit up, and the nurse is busy taking care of him.Tears streamed down his face and he kept sobbing: "When he was helping me into the car, he tripped over a log. He hit my head hard with this log." Louise Fischer sat Brashear on the floor with his back against the wall and wiped his face with her handkerchief. He opened his eyes and murmured, "This guy is a lunatic, isn't he?" She put an arm around him and laughed, a small moan in her throat. "All men are crazy." Robson lay there motionless. At this time, there was a commotion outside the house, and three men rushed in. The tallest looked from Robson to Brashear and giggled. "So there's our chap who doesn't like hospitals," he said. "It's a good thing he didn't escape from the gym, or he'd have to hurt someone." Louise Fischer took the ring off her finger and laid it on the floor at Robson's left foot.
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