Ed McBain - The House That Jack Built

Billy was sitting on the other bed.

Helen kept sniffling and snuffling into a little handkerchief trimmed with lace.

“Please, baby, I hate to see you so forlorn this way,” Hurley said, and kissed her again.

“It’s just I think I may have blown it,” Helen said, and dabbed at her eyes with the lace-trimmed handkerchief. “I may have told him too much. I thought he was Grandma’s lawyer. He passed himself off as Grandma’s lawyer.”

“No, he didn’t,” Billy said. “The man never said he was your grandmother’s lawyer. It was you who jumped to that conclusion.”

“ Did the man say he was Sophie’s lawyer?” Hurley asked.

“I guess not, Art. Oh, Art, I’m so damn sorry,” she said, and burst into fresh tears. “I should’ve realized he was here snooping.”

“Now, now,” Hurley said, holding her in his arms, patting her. “Now, now, darling. What kind of questions did he ask?”

“Questions?”

“You said he was here snooping.”

“Well, he kept asking about you. Wanting to know when you were coming back.”

“That’s all? Then how do you figure he was snooping?”

“Well, he asked you…”

“I’m talking about before .”

“Asked if you knew Jonathan Parrish…”

“ Before I got here is what I’m talking about. What did he say before I got here?”

“I told you all he said, Art. Well, wait, he asked me if I was Billy’s wife.”

“Did you tell him you weren’t?”

“Well, Billy told him his name, and I told him my name…”

“Terrific, he has everybody’s name.”

“He had yours already , Art,” Billy said, and got up and walked to the television set. “Before he even came here, he had your name.”

“Leave that off,” Hurley said.

“Just ’cause you and me are married,” Billy said, smiling, “don’t mean you can give me orders. Art.”

“I said leave it off ,” Hurley said, and turned again to Helen. “What’d you tell him about your grandma?”

“I said I’d gone…”

“Yes?”

“To see her.”

“Did you tell him why you went to see her?”

“I’m sorry. Art. I know I should’ve been more careful. But I really thought he was Grandma’s…”

“Did you mention money , Helen?”

She looked at him. Her eyes were beginning to brim again.

“Did you?”

“I think I… I… may have mentioned something about… about her meeting my price.”

“You also mentioned her writing a check,” Billy said.

“No, I never said…”

“You said you wanted the check made out in your name.”

Hurley scowled.

“I’m sorry, Art,” Helen said.

“That’s all right, darling,” he said. He was silent for several moments, thinking. Billy stood near the television set, wondering if it was okay for him to turn it on now. Helen sat on the bed with her legs crossed Indian fashion, watching Hurley, wondering if he was mad at her. He used to hit her a lot whenever he got angry. She knew he was a violent man. But he hadn’t once touched her since she got pregnant.

“So,” he said, “as I understand it, this lawyer knows you went to see your grandmother, and he knows you want money from her.”

“Yes,” Helen said.

“Does he know why you want this money?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Billy?”

“I don’t think anything was said about the why of it.”

“Or the amount?”

“No numbers were mentioned.”

“Then he doesn’t know we’re looking for a million dollars, is that right?”

“Nothing would have given him that impression,” Helen said.

“So… all he really knows is you went to see her about money,” Hurley said. “And you’re expecting a check.”

“He also knows we’re expecting negotiation ,” Billy said.

“How the fuck does he know that ?” Hurley said.

“Because Helen…”

“Because I… I thought she sent him to negotiate with you. And I… I must’ve said something about it.”

“He also knows their names,” Billy said. “Which you gave him, hubby darling. Helen had nothing to do with that.”

“Who said Helen had anything to do with it?”

“Case you were thinking of blaming her,” Billy said. “You’re the one told him everything. Gave him the old lady’s name…”

“I thought he was her lawyer,” Hurley said. “Helen said he…”

“Gave him the name on a silver platter, Sophie Brechtmann. Gave him the daughter’s name, too.”

“No,” Hurley said, “I don’t recall telling him…”

“Elise, you said.”

“That’s true. Art,” Helen said. “You did tell him my mother’s name.”

“Practically drew a map for him,” Billy said sourly.

“Well, we all make mistakes,” Hurley said, and went to Helen and kissed the top of her head. “Who among us can cast the first stone?”

“ Me ,” Billy said. “ I didn’t tell him a fucking thing.”

“Who was it mentioned watching the house?” Hurley said. “Who was it mentioned the pictures?”

“Well, yeah, maybe I…”

“So, okay, we’re all to blame. But what’s done is done. The important thing now is to dope out our next move.”

“Our next move is to get the hell out of here,” Billy said.

“No, our next move is to find those pictures,” Hurley said.

“He’s right,” Helen said. “Nothing’s going to convince her till she sees those pictures of me and my mother.”

“We’re not even sure those pictures exist ,” Billy said.

“They exist, all right,” Hurley said.

“Only because a nigger up north thinks she remembers…”

“She does remember.”

“She’d remember the birth of Christ if you talked to her long enough.”

“She was there when the pictures were taken,” Helen said.

“We have to find those pictures,” Hurley said.

“Go back to the Parrish house,” Helen said.

“No way,” Billy said.

“Get in that house and find those pictures,” Hurley said.

“A murder was committed in that house!” Billy said. “Didn’t you hear him?”

“The pictures are in that house,” Helen said.

“Somewhere in that house,” Hurley said.

“We show her those pictures, she’ll see the beads,” Helen said.

The rain had stopped.

A rainbow arced over Calusa Bay.

“Make a wish,” Leona said.

They sat at a table for two near the plate-glass windows overlooking the marina dock and the bay. Sailboats alongside the dock clanged with the sound of the wind rushing through their shrouds. The sky was still gray, the clouds tearing off in long tattered sheets. Far beyond the rainbow, there was the faintest patch of blue in the western sky.

“Do people wish on rainbows?” Matthew said.

“I always do. Tell me what you’d like most in the world.”

“If I tell you, then it won’t come true,” he said.

“Who’s making the rules?” Leona asked.

“That’s a time-honored rule. If you tell your wish…”

“Time-honored rules are made to be broken,” Leona said. “Here’s my wish. Are you ready?”

“You’re tempting the fates.”

“Fuck the fates,” she said.

Matthew figured she’d already had too much to drink. Six o’clock and on her second martini. Here for the past hour and still not a word about why she’d wanted to see him.

“I wish… I wish I could be happy, ” she said, and nodded curtly, and looked down into her glass.

“I thought you were,” Matthew said.

“Happy? Did you?”