Rose's Last Summer

by Margaret Millar

  “Olive Goodfield’s disappearance is no hoax.”

  “I realize that, but I think she disappeared voluntarily. I examined the farewell note she left, the one Miss Dallo­way gave you at the airport. The handwriting is undoubt­edly the same as the handwriting in the margins of the two maps, but in the case of the note there are indications that she was under emotional stress: discrepancies in spac­ing and pressure and certain distortions of letters. I’m convinced she left the house of her own free will and with what she considered good reason.”

  “It must have been a compelling reason to make a woman who was an invalid pick up and leave like that in the middle of the night without luggage and, as far as I know, without money.”

  “She was afraid. Fear is a compelling enough reason. Whether it’s rational or irrational. Perhaps something happened to precipitate her decision, perhaps nothing hap­pened.”

  “Something happened,” Greer said. “Her son Jack, ar­rived from San Francisco, but I can’t see any connection between that and her disappearance.”

  “You can’t, but maybe she could.” Barrett rose and butted the cigar in an ashtray. “I’ve done quite a bit of work with the Missing Persons Bureau in L.A. People dis­appear for some very strange reasons. I remember one young man who was gone for two years because he didn’t want to wear a tie his mother had given him for his birth­day and he didn’t have enough nerve to say so. When we finally caught up with him in Spokane, his mother had died. It turned out fine. He’s married now, has a good job and two kids.”

  “What’s the moral, that we should all be born orphans?”

  “The moral is, don’t buy birthday ties.” Barrett went to the door, grinning. “See you later. You know where I’m staying.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’d like to see you break this case, Jim. Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  The door closed.

  Greer looked at his watch. Nearly six. He was going to be late to dinner again. Pot roast, May had promised, fla­vored with plenty of garlic and braised onions. He tried to imagine the pot roast waiting for him at the table, but the vile odor of the cigar still clung to the walls and his tongue, and the roof of his mouth tasted only the acid bit­terness of too much coffee.

  “Pot roast,” he said aloud, but the image, the smell, wouldn’t come. He knew perfectly well he’d be lucky if he got a couple of fried eggs by ten o’clock.

  “Sorry, we’re all out of pot roast,” Frank said from the doorway. “How about a top sirloin with a double order of french fries?”

  “It’s no joke.” Greer sighed. “Other men can get home for meals. Postmen, plumbers, cement finishers, auto me­chanics, they’re all sitting down right now feeding their fat faces. Did you bring Goodfield along?”

  “Yes. There was no trouble, he wanted to come.”

  “What did he say?”

  “As far as I can tell, he believes the kidnapping is real, all right. He’s almost hysterically anxious to find his mother. I’m not sure that it’s filial devotion, though. Looks more like anger to me.”

  “Who’s he mad at?”

  “See for yourself.”

  “All right, bring him in.”

  Frank opened the door. “You can come in now, Mr. Goodfield.”

  Red-cheeked, red-eyed, Willett swept into the office as if there was a strong wind pushing at his back. “Where is she? Where is that lying, deceitful, two-faced little mon­ster?”

  “You’ll see her in a minute. Sit down.”

  “The impudence. The treachery. After all we put up with from her. She never did an hour’s honest work. I’m incensed, that’s what I am, incensed, and I’m not a man to get incensed without reason.”

  “Sure, sure. But—”

  “When I think of the way Ethel cooked and scrubbed and washed dishes while that lazy little viper sat around and sneered. Sneered. At my wife. And the paper—the way she mutilated the evening paper before I had a chance to see it. Cut whole sections right out of it. And all the time I was putting up with that kind of thing she was plotting behind my back.”

  “When I talked to you this morning, you didn’t seem quite so angry with her.”

  “That was before I found out she was Dalloway’s daughter. Imagine the two of them plotting, scheming to­gether—”

  “What was the object of their scheming, do you think?”

  “Money,” Willett said tersely. “My money. They ab­ducted my mother and—”

  “They didn’t.”

  “Pardon? What—did you say?”

  “They didn’t abduct your mother. She left of her own accord.”

  Willett sagged heavily against the desk, hanging onto the edge of it with plump fingers that looked pale and boneless as worms. “My God. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know until a short time ago. She left a note addressed to you. Murphy—Miss Dalloway removed it when she arranged the kidnapping setting.”

  “Let me see the note.”

  “It’s in the lab right now. I can tell you what she said, approximately. She stated that she was leaving because she couldn’t tolerate her life and that you were to trust her, not to worry, and above all, not to look for her.”

  There was a prolonged silence. Frank lit a cigarette, Greer looked carefully at a picture on the wall that he’d seen a thousand times before, Willett pressed a white silk handkerchief tightly to his mouth as if to hold back a stream of words that might have spurted out like blood or bile.

  He spoke through the handkerchief, his voice muffled and hoarse. “She had no right. No right. The injustice of it. Never cared about anyone but herself. I always treated her well, too well. I should never have, never, never have listened to—”

  “Sit down, Mr. Goodfield.” Greer pushed a chair to­wards him.

  But Willett was too distracted to sit down. “It’s incredible that she’d do a thing like this to me after all I’ve done. You’re sure she wrote that note?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re positive?”

  “Yes.”

  “I—then, there’s nothing for me to do but to accede to her wishes. I know my duty. If she doesn’t want me to look for her, I won’t.”

  “I know my duty, too. I’m going to find her.”

  “No. Please. You don’t understand, Captain. She’ll be upset if you go against her wishes, she’ll be furious.”

  “If the day comes when an old woman’s anger can set me off course, I’ll turn in my badge.”

  “I am not afraid for myself,” Willett said quietly, “but for her. She’s ill. The least shock might be fatal.”

  “So far she’s proved pretty durable. That case of Scotch didn’t go up in smoke. Nor, for that matter, do ordinary invalids take off in the middle of the night and disappear. No, Mr. Goodfield,” he added with a sardonic smile, “I don’t think a shock is going to kill her.”

  “It’s useless to argue with you.”

  “Quite useless. Every policeman in town is looking for your mother, has been since this morning.”

  “I see. Well, in that case, there’s nothing more to say.”

  “Not on that score.” Greer leaned across the desk and spoke into the com box. “Daley? Come in here, will you?”

  A minute later Daley appeared, a pink-cheeked, blue-eyed young man with an air of gentleness that made him irresistible to women and infuriated his wife. “Yes sir?”

  “Take Mr. Goodfield in to see Miss Dalloway. See that they’re left alone.”

  “Alone? You mean—”

  “I mean, alone.”

  “I heard you, sir. Only it seems to me that it would be contrary to official reg—”

  “Daley, when you get to be a Captain, you may run this place the way you want to. Meanwhile.”

  “Meanwhile, yes sir.�
�

  Willett followed Daley through the side door, glancing back over his shoulder as if he wanted to change his mind and go home again.

  Frank crossed to the window and threw his cigarette out onto the patch of lawn below. “I agree with Daley. You’re being extraordinarily lenient.”

  “I’m generous. I want them to have a nice heart-to-heart chat.”

  “Have you got the cell wired?”

  “No. If they speak up clearly I can hear them through the wall, but something tells me they’re not going to. Be quiet and listen.”

  Frank listened. He heard the sharp clank of the cell door as it opened and closed again, and then Daley’s voice: “I’m afraid I’ll have to lock it, sir” . . . “There’s no dan­ger of fire, everything’s fireproofed” . . . “Yes sir, I know you’re a taxpayer. So am I.” A silence, followed by Lora Dalloway’s voice, brisk and incisive: “When are you go­ing to get over pulling that taxpayer routine? Every boy with a paper route is a taxpayer in this day and age.”

  “Goddam you,” Willett said. “Where is she?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  “Tell me or I swear I’ll—”

  “Don’t swear anything. My patience is thin. So are the walls. That cop isn’t as fatheaded as he looks. I was put in this cell because his office is right next to it. I heard you when you came in, so he can hear us now. Understand?”

  Willett apparently understood. Although he began talk­ing again, his words were indistinct, mere nonsense sylla­bles like a speech played backward on a tape recording.

  “Let them talk,” Greer said, sounding relaxed and con­tented. “They should have lots to say to each other. Then it’ll be my turn.”

  “Greer—”

  “How’s Miriam?”

  “Fine,” Frank said. “Listen—”

  “And the boys?”

  “Fine.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “Greer, I don’t think you should leave those two alone together in there without even trying to find out what they’re talking about.”

  “I know what they’re talking about. And I want them to be alone together. The cosier they get, the better.”

  “What’s the gimmick?”

  “Nature,” Greer said. “Human nature. That’s the gim­mick.”

  “See that it doesn’t explode.”

  “Take two people who hate each other and mistrust each other and yet want something from each other and you get an explosion. Or a deal. I kind of think,” he added after a moment, “that it’ll be a deal.”

  24

  It was a deal.

  Seven-thirty, and outside the window in Greer’s office hung the sea haze that preceded darkness. He pressed the wall switch and the fluorescent ceiling lights flickered on, giving Willett’s skin a moist, greenish phosphorescence.

  “Sit down,” Greer said. “Finish your talk with Miss Dalloway?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.” Willett sat down, first looking care­fully at the chair as if he thought Frank or Greer might pull it out from under him. “A very satisfactory talk, as a matter of fact. Certain doubtful points were cleared up.”

  “Indeed?”

  “I was rather hasty in judging Miss Dalloway, I’m afraid. After giving the matter some thought I’m con­vinced that her part in this affair was the result of a mere girlish impulse.”

  “Going after three thousand dollars tooth and nail is a little more than an impulse and Miss Dalloway is a little more than a girl.”

  “I don’t propose to argue,” Willett said with a decisive shake of his head. “Miss Dalloway has explained every­thing to me and offered to make full restitution. Under the circumstances I refuse to prosecute or sign any com­plaint against her.”

  “I see.”

  “Furthermore, I refuse to appear in court as a witness against her.”

  “And Mrs. Goodfield?”

  “My wife will also refuse when I explain the situation.”

  “What is the situation?”

  “Miss Dalloway acted on impulse and is willing to re­pay the money.”

  “She hasn’t got the money.” Greer smiled. “I have.”

  “That’s merely a technicality. It’s not your money, it’s mine.”

  “You may have to go to court to prove it, Mr. Goodfield.”

  “That’s ridiculous, you know it’s my money.”

  “How do I know? I got it from Dalloway.”

  “It’s mine,” Willett repeated like a child. “It’s my money.”

  “Would you be willing to tell a judge or jury just how you’re so sure that it’s yours?”

  “I—no. No. It’s a private matter between Miss Dallo­way and me.”

  Greer didn’t argue the point. “So you’re convinced that Miss Dalloway should be let off and any charges against her dismissed?”

  “What are the charges against her?”

  “So far, none. I merely held her for questioning.”

  “You’ve questioned her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then she may leave?” Willett said. “You’re letting her go?”

  “Sure. She can go.”

  “Well, well, I must say that’s very decent of you, Cap­tain, very civilized.”

  “I’m as civilized as hell,” Greer said.

  “Dear me, I’m quite overwhelmed. I didn’t expect such immediate cooperation.”

  “I am also as immediate and cooperative as hell.”

  “Ha, ha,” Willett said painfully. “I must tell that to Ethel. I—you’re not just fooling about releasing Miss Dal­loway?”

  “I’m not fooling, no, indeed. Of course, I’d like her to stay around town.”

  “Oh, she will. Right at my house.”

  “Good. I’ll go and tell Daley to get her things out of the safe.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.

  Willett glanced rather timidly at Frank. “He’s rather a decent chap for a policeman.”

  “Yes.”

  “His taking such a reasonable attitude was quite a sur­prise to me.”

  To me, too, Frank thought.

  “You don’t suppose he’s got something up his sleeve?”

  “Oh no, not at all.”

  Willett was silent for a time. Then he said in a resigned voice, “I’m sure things will work out somehow.”

  “What things?”

  “Oh, everything. Life is very difficult, problems leap­ing out at you from all sides. Take a man, an ordinary chap like myself, nothing special about him one way or another, what’s he going to do when he finds himself in a spot?”

  “Try to get out of it.”

  “Exactly. He must act. He must take the aggressive role. Within the law, naturally.”

  “Naturally.”

  “Even if some of the laws aren’t fair.”

  “Which laws, for instance?”

  Willett looked stubborn. “Never you mind.”

  At the switchboard in the receiving room Greer was talking to Daley. “Where’s his car?”

  “Half a block down on Garden Street, facing north, ’47 Lincoln, black sedan, plates 62X895.”

  “Two tails should be enough. Goodfield’s not very bright and the woman is cocksure. I’ll drive my own car and Shaeffer can use that souped-up jalopy of his. Right?”

  “Check.”

  “Okay, hand over her stuff. I’ll take it to her. Oh yes, and tell Clyde he can come along for the ride.”

  “Why?”

  “I like to have a psychiatrist around. Then if I go nuts, I’ll be the first to know.”

  “I should never have asked.”

  “Next time, don’t,” Greer said. He had a better reason for wanting Frank to come along, but he didn’t tell Daley or even Frank himself.r />
  Lora Dalloway was waiting to be released, her hands curled around the bars of the cell, her face peering out expectantly like a monkey’s. At some point in the past hour she had decided to switch roles, from the hard-boiled sophisticate to the sweet and wistful country girl.

  Greer unlocked the door and swung it open. “All right, you can leave.”

  “You mean I’m free?”

  “Like a bird.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful. Gee, I just can’t thank—”

  “Play it straight,” Greer said. “Here’s your stuff, wallet, key ring, wristwatch, and three dollars and eighty-seven cents in cash. Sign this receipt, please.”

  “What name shall I sign?”

  “How about Eleanor Roosevelt’s, just to make it more interesting?”

  “You know damned well what I meant. I’ve been going under the name of Ada Murphy so I thought—”

  “Sign your own name.”

  “You don’t have to be so grumpy about it.” She signed the receipt, Lora Eloise Frances Dalloway, and handed it back to him. “Now what?”

  “You can go through that door to my office where the faithful Willett awaits you.”

  “It sounds too easy. What’s the catch?”

  “No catch. I’d just like to know where you’re going, so I can get in touch with you if necessary.”

  “I’m going home—that is, to the Goodfields’.”

  “To resume your job?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Very magnanimous of Goodfield to take back a woman who just rooked him of three G’s.”

  “He knows I didn’t mean it. It was an impulse.”

  “A girlish impulse, in fact.”

  “In fact, yes.”

  “You’d better watch both the impulsiveness and the girlishness, Miss Dalloway. Neither is very becoming at your age.”

  “Your cracks don’t bother me.” She went into his office, slamming the door behind her so violently that the walls shook.