Isaac Asimov: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 77, No. 7. Whole No. 454, June 17, 1981

Smith said, “Well, yes, you’re right. It was in my shirt pocket as always. Either they missed it or decided they didn’t want it.”

“You didn’t say anything about that in the course of the tale you have just told us.”

“It never occurred to me.”

“Nor did you tell Vee about it, I suppose?” said Henry.

“Look here,” said Smith angrily. “I didn’t think of it. But even if I did, I wouldn’t voluntarily bring up the matter. They would use it to place a trumped-up charge of carrying dope against me and in that way justify an imprisonment.”

“You’d be right, if you thought of the pills only, sir,” said Henry.

“What else is there to think of?”

“The container,” said Henry mildly. “The pills were available only by prescription and you told us it was the original vial. May we see it, Mr. Smith.”

Smith withdrew it from his shirt pocket, glanced at it, and said vehemently, “Hell!”

“Exactly,” said Henry. “On the label pasted to the vial by the pharmacist, there should be printed the pharmacist’s name and address, probably in Fairfield, and your name should be typed in as well, together with directions for use.”

“You’re right.”

“And after you had denied having any identification whatever on you, even in the face of torture, Vee looked through your pockets while you were unconscious and found exactly what he had been asking you to give him.”

“No wonder he thought I was stupid,” said Smith, shaking his head. “I was stupid. Now I really feel rotten.”

“And yet,” said Henry, “you have an explanation of something that has puzzled you for a year. That should make you feel good.”

© 1981 by Clements Jordan

“Mama, how much longer before we get to Ohio to Aunt Molly’s house?”

She left him on the bed, went into the bathroom, and applied a heavy coat of grease paint to the rapidly blackening bruise under her eye. She brushed her hair smooth. She must appear neat and calm. She removed her gown, and taking the car keys from the dresser went swiftly and quietly into the children’s room, turning on only the night light. She dressed in jeans and dungarees and a long-sleeved T-shirt that hid the bruises on her arms. Dragging the already packed suitcase from the closet, she wrapped her gown in cleaner’s plastic and squeezed that carefully into it. In the far corner was a pocketbook filled thoughtfully with hoarded money, driver’s license, important papers, and odds and ends to amuse the children.

She went first to the boy’s bed and roused him gently. “Come along, Dicky, let’s play our game. Pleased and instantly awake, he put on his sneakers while she lifted the baby wrapped in her blanket. They left by the back door making no noise except the faint click as they closed the door behind them.”

They went out to the street where the car was parked. First they laid the baby on the floor in the back, Dicky getting in beside her and holding the door nearly shut. She got in under the wheel and started the car, blessing the quiet motor, carefully holding the door open. She drove two blocks, turned the comer, and finally closed the door. Dicky closed his door and climbed over beside her.

“We’re off!” she said gaily, switching on the lights.

Dicky laughed softly. “Won’t Daddy be surprised if he wakes up?”

“He sure will,” she answered, and added to herself, “So will I.”

In her mind’s eye she pictured having hit Ted with the plated candlestick just above the ear as he lay in drunken slumber. He hardly bled at all and only on the gown she had with her which she could dispose of easily miles away, maybe in pieces.

Peacefully they drove through the deserted streets. The baby slept in the back as though in her bed. Dicky amused himself counting stars, not minding that it was impossible to keep track. His head began to nod. She had to check to be sure he remembered. “Let me hear what you are going to say at the service station,” she said.

“Mama, how much longer before we get to Ohio to Aunt Molly’s house?”

“That’s exactly right,” she praised him, and allowed him to sag against her in sleep. Anyone looking for her would be seeking a woman with two children, not a woman with one child heading for Ohio which she was going nowhere near. She would drive to the airport where she would leave the car. In the bustling crowd she would dress the children in a restroom, then ride the airport bus to some bus station. She would somehow get the children to her folks in Oregon, hopefully before the body was found. She herself would depart for a place as yet unknown to herself. Maybe in a couple of years she could reclaim her children. Surely an experienced typist could find some job. She would take anything!

Tears blurred her vision as she thought how wonderful a friendly divorce would be, but the worst beating she had received was the time she had suggested that. “You just try to get me in court! Just try! I’ll tell you-know-what.”

She slowed up at one of the service stations she had found that stayed open day and night. She nudged Dicky to say his lines. As she handed the money through the window to the attendant, Dicky said, “Mama, how much longer before we get to Ohio to Aunt Molly’s house?”

“A long time, darling,” she answered for the attendant’s benefit.

At the airport she lifted out the bag and the baby. She glanced at her watch, then hurried into the restroom. While Dicky brushed his teeth and washed his face, she did the same. She renewed her makeup, getting no notice at all. Last of all, she changed the baby and gave Dicky clean shorts and a clean T-shirt.

She found by checking her watch that they were ready to travel in less than half an hour. The angel baby still slept. They went out and she asked the departure time for the next airport bus. Due in thirty-five minutes. At the cafeteria she bought orange juice and hamburgers for herself and Dicky. They ate them in twenty minutes, taking their time, and reached the airport bus before it pulled away.

“Isn’t this fun?” she demanded a little desperately.

Dicky, tired but cheerful, said it sure was.

They went back to the car and got in as before and started back home. Dicky cuddled up to her and went back to sleep. The baby had never actually awakened. She drove along, thinking and rethinking. She had been so trusting, so in love when she married Ted, and hadn’t known how badly he drank and how mean he became while drinking. Her greatest mistake, however, had been confiding to him that she had taken money during a bookkeeping job. She had never been discovered. He was the only one who knew.

Hitting Ted with the candlestick would probably not work. She must think of something else. She knew she would, and soon. She had learned a lot. After she got rid of him, she was going to buckle down, work hard, be a good person.

Before she got too close to the house, she stopped at another service station and filled the tank to its original level, this time at a self-service station. She got back in and awoke Dicky, cautioning him to be very quiet and warning him to secrecy, for if he told, they could never play the game again. Dicky was hurt. Had he told? His mother’s eyes were pleading, so thinking of the cool starry ride, the airport full of swooping planes, the delicious night feast, Dicky promised cross-his-heart.

They coasted the last half block, left the car silently, and closed the car doors quietly. They entered the back door, groped into the children’s room where she took her gown and Dickie’s pajamas out of the suitcase. They put them back on, repacking Dicky’s outfit. She pushed the suitcase and pocketbook to the back of the closet, placing all the empty luggage in front of them. Dicky and the baby were now deeply asleep.