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[ 1525] “OK, Teale,” I said. “But why do you assume I’m leaving?”

[ 1526] He came back smoothly. Not more than a tiny hesitation.

[ 1527] “I understood you were just passing through,” he said. “We have no hotel here in Margrave and I imagined you would find no opportunity to stay.”

[ 1528] “I’m staying,” I said. “I received a generous offer of hospitality. I understand that’s what the South is famous for, right? Hospitality?”

[ 1529] He beamed at me and grasped his embroidered lapel.

[ 1530] “Oh, undoubtedly that’s true, sir,” he said. “The South as a whole, and Georgia in particular, is indeed famous for the warmth of its welcome. However, as you know, just at the present time, we find ourselves in a most awkward predicament. In the circumstances, a motel in Atlanta or Macon would really suit you much better. Naturally, we would keep in close touch, and we would extend you every assistance in arranging your brother’s funeral, when that sad time comes. Here in Margrave, I’m afraid, we’re all going to be very busy. It’ll be boring for you. Officer Roscoe’s going to have a lot of work to do. She shouldn’t be distracted just at the moment, don’t you think?”

[ 1531] “I won’t distract her,” I said evenly. “I know she’s doing vital work.”

[ 1532] He looked at me. An expressionless gaze. Eye to eye, but he wasn’t really tall enough. He’d get a crick in his scrawny old neck. And if he kept on staring at me like that, he’d get his scrawny old neck broken. I gave him a wintry smile and stepped away to the Bentley. Unlocked it and got in. Gunned the big motor and whirred the window down.

[ 1533] “See you later, Teale,” I called as I drove away.

[ 1534] THE END OF THE SCHOOL DAY WAS THE BUSIEST I’D EVER seen the town. I passed two people on Main Street and saw another four in a knot near the church. Some kind of an afternoon club, maybe. Reading the Bible or bottling peaches for the winter. I drove past them and hustled the big car up the sumptuous mile of Beckman Drive. Turned in at the Hubbles’ white mailbox and spun the old Bakelite steering wheel through the driveway curves.

[ 1535] The problem with trying to warn Charlie was I didn’t know how much I wanted to tell her. Certainly I wasn’t about to give her the details. Didn’t even feel right to tell her Hubble was dead at all. We were stuck in some kind of a limbo. But I couldn’t keep her in the dark forever. She needed to know some context. Or else she wouldn’t listen to the warning.

[ 1536] I parked her car at her door and rang her bell. The children dashed around from somewhere as Charlie opened up and let me in. She was looking pretty tired and strained. The children looked happy enough. They hadn’t picked up on their mother’s worries. She chased them off and I followed her back to the kitchen. It was a big, modern room. I got her to make me some coffee. I could see she was anxious to talk, but she was having trouble getting started. I watched her fiddling with the filter machine.

[ 1537] “Don’t you have a maid?” I asked her.

[ 1538] She shook her head.

[ 1539] “I don’t want one,” she said. “I like to do things myself.”

[ 1540] “It’s a big house,” I said.

[ 1541] “I like to keep busy, I guess,” she said.

[ 1542] Then we were silent. Charlie switched on the coffee machine and it started with a faint hiss. I sat at a table in a window nook. It overlooked an acre of velvet lawn. She came and sat opposite me. Folded her hands in front of her.

[ 1543] “I heard about the Morrisons,” she said at last. “Is my husband involved in all of this?”

[ 1544] I tried to think exactly what I could say to her. She waited for an answer. The coffee machine burbled away in the big silent kitchen.

[ 1545] “Yes, Charlie,” I said. “I’m afraid he was. But he didn’t want to be involved, OK? Some kind of blackmail was going on.”

[ 1546] She took it well. She must have figured it out for herself, anyway. Must have run every possible speculation through her head. This explanation was the one which fit. That was why she didn’t look surprised or outraged. She just nodded. Then she relaxed. She looked like it had done her good to hear someone else say it. Now it was out in the open. It was acknowledged. It could be dealt with.

[ 1547] “I’m afraid that makes sense,” she said.

[ 1548] She got up to pour the coffee. Kept talking as she went.

[ 1549] “That’s the only way I can explain his behavior,” she said. “Is he in danger?”

[ 1550] “Charlie, I’m afraid I have no idea where he is,” I said.

[ 1551] She handed me a mug of coffee. Sat down again on the kitchen counter.

[ 1552] “Is he in danger?” she asked again.

[ 1553] I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t get any words out. She moved off the counter and came to sit opposite me again at the table in the window. She cradled her cup in front of her. She was a fine-looking woman. Blond and pretty. Perfect teeth, good bones, slim, athletic. A lot of spirit. I had seen her as a plantation type. What they call a belle. I had said to myself that a hundred and fifty years ago she would have been a slave owner. I began to change that opinion. I felt a crackle of toughness coming from her. She enjoyed being rich and idle, sure. Beauty parlors and lunch with the girls in Atlanta. The Bentley and the gold cards. The big kitchen which cost more than I ever made in a year. But if it came to it, here was a woman who might get down in the dirt and fight. Maybe a hundred and fifty years ago she would have been on a wagon train heading west. She had enough spirit. She looked hard at me across the table.

[ 1554] “I panicked this morning,” she said. “That’s not really like me at all. I must have given you a very bad impression, I’m afraid. After you left, I calmed down and thought things out. I came to the same conclusion you’ve just described. Hub’s blundered into something and he’s got all tangled up in it. So what am I going to do about it? Well, I’m going to stop panicking and start thinking. I’ve been a mess since Friday and I’m ashamed of it. That’s not the real me at all. So I did something, and I hope you’ll forgive me for it?”

[ 1555] “Go on,” I said.

[ 1556] “I called Dwight Stevenson,” she said. “He had mentioned he had seen a fax from the Pentagon about your service as a military policeman. I asked him to find it and read it to me. I thought it was an excellent record.”

[ 1557] She smiled at me. Hitched her chair in closer.

[ 1558] “So what I want to do is to hire you,” she said. “I want to hire you in a private capacity to solve my husband’s problem. Would you consider doing that for me?”

[ 1559] “No,” I said. “I can’t do that, Charlie.”

[ 1560] “Can’t or won’t?” she said.

[ 1561] “There would be a sort of a conflict of interest,” I said. “It might mean I couldn’t do a proper job for you.”

[ 1562] “A conflict?” she said. “In what way?”

[ 1563] I paused for a long moment. Tried to figure out how to explain it.

[ 1564] “Your husband felt bad, OK?” I said. “He got hold of some kind of an investigator, a government guy, and they were trying to fix the situation. But the government guy got killed. And I’m afraid my interest is in the government guy, more than your husband.”

[ 1565] She followed what I was saying and nodded.

[ 1566] “But why?” she asked. “You don’t work for the government.”

[ 1567] “The government guy was my brother,” I told her. “Just a crazy coincidence, I know, but I’m stuck with it.”

[ 1568] She went quiet. She saw where the conflict could lie.

[ 1569] “I’m very sorry,” she said. “You’re not saying Hub betrayed your brother?”