by Ken McClure
Avedissian cursed his luck. NORAID, Innes, the police, they all knew now that he had headed north on leaving Kansas City. Avedissian read the story again and found some reassurance in the fact that there was no mention of the child. The slob at the motel had taken so little interest in them when they arrived that he had completely overlooked the fact that Kathleen had not been alone in the background. That made all the difference between a couple and a family. There was no description of either him or Kathleen in the story for the same reason, thought Avedissian.
The fact that the story was on page three also helped. Not everyone would see it. In fact a murder at a seedy motel in Kansas City might not have made the papers at all if it had not been for the fact of the car bomb explosion at the Plaza Hotel and the apparent murder of several other people. Police believed that the two events might be linked. The car bomb story itself had made page one. An Englishman had died and two Americans, and an unidentified man had been found murdered in one of the rooms. No theories as to reason or motive were offered.
Avedissian left the cafe and considered his position. He decided that they would have to leave the Lehman place sooner than they had intended for it was just conceivable that the waitress at the breakfast diner might be asked about an English couple and direct the enquirer to the house. They would have to find somewhere else. He checked his watch and saw that there would be a bus in fifteen minutes, and he still had things to do.
Avedissian sought out a large chain-store where he would be anonymous and bought a small Japanese cassette recorder then, remembering what he had said to Kathleen, he went to the toy department and bought a few things for the child before picking up some essential toilet articles and hurrying to catch the bus. This time he paid the driver and went straight to a seat at the back of the vehicle to discourage any questions or conversation.
Kathleen and the boy were playing together in the garden of the Lehman house when Avedissian got back. They both came to meet him when he appeared at the gate. For the first time Avedissian noticed that all trace of suspicion had disappeared from the boy's eyes when he looked at him. He was pleased.
'Did everything go all right?' asked Kathleen.
'I opened an account but we have another problem. They know we came north.'
'Who does?'
'Everyone.' Avedissian told her about the story in the paper. 'We'll have to move.'
Kathleen looked dejected. She said, 'Couldn't we stay here tonight? I don't think I could face another night like last night.'
Avedissian considered then agreed. It was against his better judgement but he wanted to stay too. He gave the boy the toys he had bought for him and saw him smile for the first time. It was a good moment.
As the boy played with a toy bulldozer Kathleen looked at him fondly and said to Avedissian, 'What are we going to call him?'
'He must already have a name,’ replied Avedissian.
'But we don't know it. We'll have to call him something.'
'You choose,' said Avedissian.
'I already have,’ said Kathleen. 'Harry.’
Avedissian smiled and said quietly, 'Why not… Our Harry.’
Avedissian left Kathleen and Harry in the garden while he went upstairs to their room. He got out the tapes that he had taken from Innes's room and plugged in the recorder to play them back. He searched through the first one, listening to snatches of conversation to establish where he was in the train of events. It brought back chilling memories.
He ascertained that the tape he was scanning had been for the room bug. The other cassette must hold the telephone monitor. He pressed the fast-forward button again then stopped it. He was listening to the torture sequence. 'The password!' demanded Innes's voice… 'All right… all right… it's ARCHIMEDES… but…’
Avedissian cued the tape backwards and lined it up to deliver the password alone. He removed the cassette and put in the other one to listen to the last telephone call made from the room. He wrote down the account number that Innes had asked for then changed over the tapes again.
There was no telephone in the room. He would have to ask Mrs Lehman if he could use hers.
'Of course,’ said Rosa Lehman. 'Is it a local call?'
Avedissian assured her that it was and she said that she would go speak to Kathleen outside until he had finished. 'Bless you,’ said Avedissian. He looked at the framed photographs that the old woman kept on her dresser while he waited for the bank to answer. One man looked as if he might have been Rosa's husband. There were two of young men in college gowns. The lawyers, thought Avedissian. A woman's voice answered.
‘This is Mr Avedissian, account number…’Avedissian read from the paper in his hand, '5523408.1 want to have the contents of account number 4494552 transferred into mine.’
'One moment, please.’
Avedissian's palms grew damp as he began to imagine the worst. A man's voice came on the line. 'How can I help you?' it said. Avedissian repeated his request and the man replied, This is an unusual request. I take it some arrangement has been made with the bank in this matter?'
'Yes,’ said Avedissian with his heart in his mouth.,
'Might I ask what arrangement?'
'A password transfer,’ said Avedissian.
'I see… one moment, please.’
Avedissian now began to have visions of the bank stalling in order to trace the call. He considered putting down the receiver and putting an end to the tension that was becoming unbearable.
'We don't seem to have a record of any such arrangement,’ said the voice.
'It was made with your branch in Kansas City,’ said Avedissian, trying a last resort.
'Kansas City?' said the voice. 'You didn't say that. I assumed that this was a local arrangement.’
'No,’ said Avedissian, walking a tightrope of nerves.
'One moment, please.’
Avedissian found the delay excruciating. The spectre of police cars already whining their way towards the Lehman place haunted him.
'Hello, caller?'
'I'm still here.’
'We have confirmed the arrangement with Kansas City and have a copy of the voice print. Are you ready?'
'Yes,’ croaked Avedissian, for his mouth had gone dry. He fingered the recorder button in readiness.
'At the tone, give the password…’ bleep.
Click… 'ARCHIMEDES.’
'Transfer is complete, caller. The money has been credited to your account.'
Avedissian put down the phone and felt weak at the knees. It had worked! It had actually worked! There was now twenty-five million dollars in the account he had just opened. He went outside but did not have to tell Kathleen for she read it in his face. She smiled.
They left the Lehman place after breakfast next morning after telling Rosa Lehman that they had had to change their plans and were heading south to St Louis, Missouri. She wished them well and waved to them from the gate as they drove off. They filled the car's tank at a local gas station and bought a route map at the same time, for it was Avedissian's intention to head north-west on country roads, the more remote the better. They had agreed that, whenever they had to stop for petrol or supplies, the child should be kept very much in evidence, thus promoting their image as a family on the move rather than an English couple who might provoke memories of the newspaper article.
The day grew hot and Harry began to get restless as they drove across seemingly endless deserts of corn. Occasionally they would see a farm vehicle in the distance or, more usually, a dust cloud thrown up by something moving along a far-off dirt road but, for the main, they were alone on the road.
'I think he's thirsty,' said Kathleen.
'Me too,’ said Avedissian. 'We'll stop when we find some place.'
The vision of ice-cold Coke was snatched from them by the sound of tortured metal being turned against its will. Avedissian stopped the car and got out, fearing the worst. He was not disappointed. When he looked underneath the differential casing
looked red-hot. Blue smoke was curling out from what Avedissian could see was a crack in the metal.
‘The car is finished,' he said. 'We've lost all the oil from the rear axle. It's seized up.'
Kathleen and Harry got out to survey the useless heap of metal and stood in silence before it in the burning heat.
'Do you know where we are?' asked Kathleen quietly.
'Not really.'
'Maybe we can thumb a lift?'
'Maybe,' replied Avedissian but he was thinking of how little traffic they had come across on this route. That had been the whole idea. 'We can’t just leave the car at the side of the road,' he said. The police will find it and identify it as the car from the motel. Innes and NORAID will be waiting for news of the car too. We could have them all down our necks.'
'What do you suggest?' asked Kathleen, looking at the cornfields. There's no place to hide it.'
'We'll get it off the road anyway. Anything that gives us a bit more time.'
Avedissian set the steering wheel and let off the brake. He put his back against the front grille and dug in his heels to get purchase before heaving. Sweat glistened on his face as the car edged slowly back. Kathleen and Harry helped by adding their weight to the wing until, with painful slowness, the rear wheels cleared the apron of the road and eased over the edge on to a slight downhill run.
'Heave!' groaned Avedissian, putting in a final effort to impart as much momentum to the car as possible. It rolled back about twenty feet into the corn and stopped for ever as far as they were concerned. 'Better than nothing,' said Avedissian, doing his best to disguise the path of the car's entry into the corn.
Half an hour passed without any vehicle coming along the road. The sun was now unbearably hot and thirst was becoming a fixation, then Avedissian had an idea. He got up from where they had been sitting at the edge of the road and said, 'Maybe we can drink the contents of the windscreen washer in the car.'
Kathleen watched as Avedissian waded through the corn to reach the car and released the hood to look for the screen wash bottle. He removed the cap and stuck in his fingers before putting them up to his mouth. 'Water!' he exclaimed. 'Plain water!'
The bottle was clamped to the wing valance with a metal band. Avedissian found an adjustable spanner in the back and released it. He brought the bottle over to Harry and Kathleen and they took turns at drinking. 'You're a genius,’ gasped Kathleen after taking her turn.
'If I was I'd know how to get us out of this mess,’ said Avedissian.
'Stop blaming yourself,’ pleaded Kathleen. 'Somebody will be along soon. You'll see.
Avedissian smiled and Kathleen got up to look along the road. She put her hand to her eyes and stood on tip-toe saying, 'That just might be a dust cloud in the distance.’ She was craning her neck as she spoke. She took a few steps forward without looking where she was putting her feet and tripped over a stone to go tumbling down the bank and into a shallow ditch. Avedissian sprang to his feet in alarm but Kathleen laughed and assured him that she was all right. She was sitting up in the ditch looking more embarrassed than injured.
'Out you come,’ smiled Avedissian but the smile froze on his face as he saw something move in the dirt beside her. 'Look out!' he yelled but the warning came too late. The snake had sunk its fangs deep into Kathleen's leg and her scream rent the air. She rolled over in panic and Avedissian could see that the snake had not left her. It was preparing to bite again as he threw himself down the bank and struck out with the adjustable spanner that was still in his hand. The blow did not kill the snake outright but he managed to get a grip on it, holding it firmly behind the head so that it could not strike at him. He held it against a rock to bring down the spanner on its head and destroy it with all the fear and anger he felt behind the blow.
Kathleen was in a state of shock and trembling uncontrollably when Avedissian examined the wound. He did his best to clean it up with water from the screen bottle and encourage bleeding from the site of entry but knew that a great deal of the venom had got into her body. Harry was sitting on the edge of the ditch with terror in his eyes. Something terrible had happened to the lady who was kind to him. Kathleen caught sight of Harry and managed to control her fear and pain. 'It's all right,’ she said, looking directly at him. 'Come!' She held out her hand and Harry came towards her uncertainly and took it. 'Just you sit there,’ she said.
Kathleen turned to Avedissian and asked, 'Am I going to die?'
'I think it was some kind of viper,’ said Avedissian. 'I don't think the bite will be fatal but you will have a lot of pain. We really have to get you to a doctor with anti-serum.’
‘That sounded like the truth,’ said Kathleen.
'It was,’ said Avedissian. He got up and climbed up to the road to look along it in both directions. 'Please, God,’ he murmured. 'Just one lousy car.’
ELEVEN
It was twenty minutes before Avedissian's prayer was answered. At first he thought that his ears were deceiving him but the sound grew louder and louder until he could see the dusty farm truck coming towards them. He left Kathleen by the verge and stood in the middle of the road with his arms raised. The vehicle stopped and the driver, an elderly man wearing bib overalls, looked out of the cab. 'What's your problem?' he asked.
'My wife's been bitten by a snake.'
The man turned his engine off and got out to hurry over to Kathleen. 'We'd best get you to a doctor as soon as possible,' he said after offering sympathy. Avedissian and the farmer helped Kathleen into the cab then Avedissian lifted up Harry and got in himself. It was a tight squeeze and very hot inside.
They rattled along the flat ribbon of road in the heat and with the smell of manure from the heavily contaminated wheel arches in their nostrils. Kathleen seemed close to losing consciousness and Avedissian took her head on his shoulder to whisper encouragement.
The boy doesn't look too well either,' said the farmer.
'He's just thirsty,' said Avedissian. 'We've been out in the sun a long time.'
The man reached down behind his seat and brought out a bottle of lemonade. He handed it to Avedissian saying, 'Give him some.'
Avedissian held the bottle to Harry's lips and saw him drink with relish. The slaking of his thirst brought about an almost immediate improvement in his demeanour. Avedissian handed the bottle back.
'Maybe your wife would like some? You too?' asked the man.
Kathleen took some, then Avedissian. The lemonade was warm but, in the circumstances, it tasted better than anything Avedissian could ever remember.
'Looks like you folks have been having a bad time.'
'Our car broke down.'
'I didn't see it back there,' said the farmer.
'We walked a good bit, trying to find somewhere,' said Avedissian.
'That's easy to do in these parts,' said the man.
Avedissian could see that they were approaching a small cluster of houses. 'Where are we?' he asked.
'Alta Vista,' said the man.
Even with all that he had on his mind Avedissian saw the name as being incongruous. Alta Vista, High View, the ground seemed absolutely flat for as far as the eye could see.
They stopped at a clapboard house on the very edge of town and the driver got out and hurried up to the door, while Avedissian helped Kathleen out and made sure that Harry was with them. An elderly man came out from the house with the farmer. Avedissian waited at the gate until he reached them.
'Doc Feldman,' said the man. 'Let's get her inside.'
Avedissian stood by while Feldman examined the bite on Kathleen's calf. 'How long?' he asked.
Avedissian looked at his watch. 'Fifty minutes. Do you have anti-serum here?'
'Should do. Marty said it was a pit viper?'
'I couldn't argue,' said Avedissian. 'I wouldn't know one from another.'
'English?'
'Yes.'
Feldman brought out a tray from his fridge containing several small brown bottles and extracted one of th
em. He read the label, holding the bottle at nearly arm's length, and said, 'This is the stuff.' He filled a syringe and asked Kathleen if she was having much pain. The expression on her face gave him his answer. 'It's going to last for a while yet but this is going to improve matters,' he said and then injected the anti-serum.
Kathleen was settled in bed in a ground floor room, prepared by Feldman's housekeeper, and Avedissian said to Feldman, 'I can't thank you enough.'
'It's my job,’ said Feldman. 'It has been for a long time.'
'How long?' asked Avedissian.
Feldman smiled and said, 'I came here forty years ago to escape from Boston. What brings you here?' he asked.
Avedissian gave him the story about being on their way to visit relatives when their car broke down.
'Is someone dealing with it?'
'No, not yet,' said Avedissian. The snake bite took precedence.'
'Of course,' said Feldman, looking intently at Avedissian. 'Would you like me to call Tyler's garage?'
'No!' said Avedissian, almost too quickly, for he had still to think of a good reason why not. 'It's finished,' he said. 'It's a rented car and it's just going to hold us up even more if we have to hang around for the recovery. I'll phone the car company and tell them where they can find it. They can make their own arrangements.'
'As you like,' said Feldman. He turned to look at Harry who was sitting on the floor outside the door where Kathleen was sleeping. 'Your son is very quiet,' he said.
'He is a deaf-mute,' said Avedissian.
'I thought so,' nodded Feldman. 'He's also very nervous.'
'It's been a harrowing day,' said Avedissian.
'I guess so,’ said Feldman with a trace of uncertainty in his' voice.
'Doctor, is there somewhere in town where we can stay until my wife is well enough to travel?' asked Avedissian.
'You can stay here,' replied Feldman. 'There's only me and Minnie, my housekeeper, all alone in this big house.'