Sue Grafton - S is for Silence

He greeted Daisy and Tannie with familiarity, taking each by the hand. When all the air-kissing was over, Tannie introduced us. “This is Kinsey Millhone. Tom Padgett. He owns Padgett Construction and the A-Okay Heavy Equipment yard in Santa Maria. Daisy bought her old house from him.”

“Nice meeting you,” I said.

We made polite noises at each other and then he and Tannie chatted while Daisy excused herself.

Tannie gestured toward the empty chair. “Join us for a drink.”

“I don’t want to barge in.”

“Don’t be silly. I’ve been meaning to call you anyway to pick your brain.”

“What’s left of it,” he said.

He treated us to a round of after-dinner drinks, and the conversation moved from the general to the specific, that being the Tanner house and the debate about rehabilitation. Padgett’s expression was pained. “House hasn’t been lived in since 1948. You forget I did a lot of work for Hairl Tanner, and he showed me around. Plumbing and wiring were both a mess even back then. Recent fire aside, the house looks good from the outside, but once you go in, you got a real disaster on your hands. Hell, I don’t have to tell you. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Let a house like that sit empty and first the raccoons move in. Then the termites, then the bums. It was grand once upon a time, but try bringing it back and you’ll go broke. You’re looking at well over a million bucks.”

“So I take it you’re oppose,” she said, and then laughed. “I know it’s bad, but that’s a piece of my childhood. I can’t see knocking it down. Besides, we do make some money from the property, between the oil and gas leases.”

“Well, you asked and I’m giving you my opinion. You know the rumors about rezoning. You want to save the house, you’re better off selling to developers and letting them do the work. They could turn it into offices or a party center in the middle of a housing tract.”

“Steve’s point exactly. Don’t tell me you’re in league with him.”

“I got no stake in the matter one way or the other. You ought to get a contractor out there and have him take a look.”

“Why not you?”

“You already know what I think. You need to hear it from someone else. You’ll be happier that way. I’d be willing to meet with anyone you want and throw in my two cents.”

“You’d poison the well.”

“I wouldn’t open my mouth until you heard what he had to say.”

“Who do you recommend?”

“Billy Boynton or Dade Ray. Both are good men.”

“I guess I better do that. I know I’m only postponing the inevitable. I keep thinking, one step at a time, but who am I trying to kid? It’s like having to put a dog down. You know the mutt’s too sick to go on, but it’s just that you don’t want to do it today.”

“I understand. You have to do it in your own time.”

“Enough said. I got it and I appreciate your input.”

“Anytime,” he said. His attention shifted to me. “Pardon my bad manners. Jake was just telling me about you. You’ve got quite a job on your hands.”

“Well, it’s a challenge at any rate. At first the idea seemed absurd, but now I’m enjoying myself. Me against Violet. It’s like playing hide-and-seek.”

“So what’s your theory?”

“I don’t have a theory. Right now I’m talking to anyone and everyone, filling in the blanks. The questions don’t change, but sometimes I get an answer I don’t expect. One of these days, I’m going to pick up a thread and then I’ll see where it goes. From what I’ve heard about Violet, she might have been devious, but she wasn’t good at keeping secrets. Somebody knows where she is.”

“You really think so?”

“I do. Either the guy she ran off with or the guy who did her in. It’s really just a matter of tracking him down.”

He shook his head, his tone skeptical. “I have to hand it to you, you’re an optimist.”

“That’s what keeps me on my toes. What about you? Where do you weigh in on the debate?”

“What, whether she’s dead or alive? Personally, I think she ran off and I said it from the get-go. I spent more than one night listening to Violet bitch. I promise, it was only a matter of time before she found a way out.”

“But where would she have gone; have you ever asked yourself?”

“Sure, I’ve thought about that. She was young and in her own way she was innocent. A small-town kind of girl. She had experience with men, but she didn’t know anything about the world at large. I can’t picture her in a big town like San Francisco or LA. I can’t even picture her in the state. California’s as expensive now as it was back then, relative to income. Given the cash she had-which probably didn’t amount to much-I’m guessing she’d go someplace she could afford. Midwest, the South-someplace like that.”

“You heard about her money?”

“Half a dozen times. She’d get on a tear and threaten to pull out if Foley didn’t straighten up and fly right.”

“Like that was ever going to happen,” Tannie put in.

The subject shifted. There were only so many ideas you could bounce around with so little information. At 10:30, Padgett made his excuses and headed for the door.

Daisy, meanwhile, was feeling no pain. She’d had enough to drink that some merrier, more loquacious personality had taken over her ordinary self. She was flirting with some guy, laughing too loudly. From a distance, she appeared to be having fun. Up close, I was betting, she was out of control. It was the first indication I’d seen of the trouble she was capable of getting into. Tannie followed my gaze, and the two of us locked eyes briefly. “Once she reaches this point, it’s all over,” Tannie said. “He’ll end up in her bed and things will go downhill from there.”

“We can’t intervene?”

“This time, sure, but she’ll be in here again tomorrow night and the night after that. You want to take on that kind of responsibility? Because I sure don’t. After this round, at any rate. Tannie to the rescue. What an idiot. Wish me luck.”

She left the table and joined Daisy, who was dancing with her cowboy. She took some persuading, but she did return to the table without her new best friend. By the time we were ready to part company, it was 11:00 and I’d had one too many glasses of wine. I was fine for the short haul, but I didn’t like the idea of driving all the way home. “You know what, guys? It’s not such a hot idea my being on the road. Is there a motel around here, or maybe a B-and-B?”

The Sun Bonnet Motel was stuck out in the middle of nowhere, a one-story stucco building that was plain, shabby at the seams, but allegedly clean. My room was the kind you’d be wise to avoid examining with a black light after dark because the stains illuminated-bedding, carpeting, furniture, and walls-would suggest activities you wouldn’t want to know about. It was a family business, Mr. and Mrs. Bonnet having owned the place for the past forty years. Its single virtue was that Mrs. Bonnet-Maxi-owned and ran Maxi’s Coffee Shop, which was attached to one end. Oh happy day. In the morning, I could intercept BW within a hundred yards of my bed.

Daisy had been apologetic that she couldn’t put me up at her house, but that’s where Tannie was staying, and she had only the one spare room.

“Sorry ‘bout that, but I got dibs,” Tannie injected, clearly pleased with herself.

“You could sleep on my couch,” Daisy said.

“Oh no, not me. I’m too old for that stuff. Maybe some other time.”

After I checked in, I left the registration desk and returned to my car. Mrs. Bonnet had put me in 109, which was down at the end of the line, the second to last of ten rooms. All the other rooms were dark, but there was a car parked on each side of the slot for 109. I left my car in front of my door, only slightly worried by the sight of the drapery sagging off the hooks. I unlocked the door, went in, and flipped on the light. The room was small, the color scheme leaning toward cantaloupe and peach. A double bed was centered on the wall to my right. The pillows looked flat, and there was a trough down the middle of the mattress where my body would just fit, thus saving me needless tossing and turning. The bed tables and the chest of drawers were paint-grade wood with a wood-laminate veneer. The easy chair didn’t look that easy, but I didn’t plan to sit.