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table, and Jamie's briefcase gaped open, a manuscript set down
opened at page 191. Barbara, apprehensive with the letdown, called
out shakily, "Jamie? Jamie, are you home?"
Silence. Claire and MacLaren, stepping into the room behind her,
exchanged eyebrow-lifted glances.
"He was here," Barbara said, bending over to touch the briefcase. "He
had this with him this morning, and it's before his regular time to get
home& "
"It looks as if he'd left in a hurry," MacLaren said and picked up one
glass and sniffed at it. "Nothing in here but whiskey. The other glass
any way of telling who might have been here, Barbara?"
She shook her head. "Jamie's mother doesn't drink, but it could have
been anyone, somebody from the office& except that nobody from the
office has that kind of laugh " Her voice cracked again.
Claire's hand, hard and steady, closed on her wrist. She said, in a low
voice, "Steady. Don't borrow trouble."
MacLaren was standing very still. He said, "I don't get the impression
that there's anyone alive in the apartment. Just the three of us. But
let's check the other rooms, just to be sure." As they went into the
empty kitchen, he frowned faintly and said, almost to himself. "Not a
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good atmosphere here. It isn't likely this could have built up in the
three days or so since Cannon was killed. What do you get, Claire?"
"Something uncommonly nasty," said Claire, frowning a little, "but
not violence, exactly. Certainly not bloodshed, but still& something.
Try the bedrooms?"
Barbara led them to the room she shared with Jamie. On the
threshold she stopped short. She had left the beds unmade, but not in
this wild disorder: blankets flung off and twisted around, stains,
lipstick marks on the pillows& She went over to the bed, feeling dazed
and numb.
"I feel like one of the three bears," she said. "Someone's been sleeping
in my bed& "
Claire's face was wrinkled up in fastidious disgust. She said in a low
voice to MacLaren, "Hardly the act of a loving husband& "
MacLaren said, tight-lipped, "Certainly not casual adultery, Claire.
More of a deliberate, gratuitous insult another attempt to get under
Barbara's skin, that's all." He raised his voice slightly. "Don't jump to
conclusions, Barbara. Your husband impressed me as a man of
integrity."
She said dully, "Jamie and I always had an agreement that if either of
us ever wanted anyone else& but to do it like this, in my own bed& "
Claire shook her head. "No man alive would do it like this of his own
free will, unless he was trying very hard to alienate his wife, and we
have no evidence that your husband was. Don't make any hasty
judgments, Barbara; this might very well be a charade for its effect on
you."
"But where is Jamie?" Her voice cracked. She bent over and picked up
something on the pillow, let it drop again from limp fingers.
A calculated insult. As if Dana were saying to me, I always wanted
Jamie and now I've got him. And in case you've forgotten, I can get
pregnant by him if it happens to suit me, which it doesn't and you
can't!
MacLaren said quietly, recalling them both, "Let's try the other
rooms."
Barbara had not been a dozen times into Jamie's mother's room. She
led the way inside, but Claire stopped cold on the threshold, her
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hands going to her throat. She went pale. Barbara started to speak,
but MacLaren quieted her with a gesture. He said, "What is it,
Claire?"
"Horrible," Claire whispered. "This is the center of it& horrible."
"Quiet, Barbara," MacLaren said in an undertone, "don't disturb her.
Claire is a sensitive. It's one reason we work together." He raised his
voice slightly, although it was still low and even. "Can you tell me any
more?"
Claire pointed. "In there& something dreadful," she muttered.
MacLaren said, "I apologize in advance for trespassing if either of us
is wrong, Barbara," and opened the dressing-table drawer at which
Claire was pointing. Inside, lying prosaically next to a box that had
contained curlers, was an assortment of little bottles. MacLaren
glanced at them. "Either your mother-in-law is a hypochondriac, or
else no, these aren't legitimate prescription bottles," he said slowly.
"Evidently she has access to some illegal drug source, an
irresponsible or unethical doctor or pharmacist. There seems to be a
little of everything here, from aconite to ergot." He gave a mirthless
laugh. "The modern pill-peddler has taken the place of the old wise-
woman pounding out her herbs and simples, although I'm not sure
which one was worse& "
"But Jamie's mother is never sick," Barbara said, confused. "I've
never known her to spend a day in bed, and she doesn't even take
vitamin pills!"
MacLaren said dryly, "I doubt if she takes these herself. A harmless-
looking little old lady might keep the drug hoard for the whole gang of
them." He turned the bottles over in his hand. His face contracted and
he picked up a bottle three-quarters full of tiny orange pills.
"Barbara, did she ever give you any of these& for a headache,
maybe?"
"I've never seen them before. Besides for goodness sake, Mr.
MacLaren I know enough not to take other people's prescriptions!"
"I wonder how she got them into you," MacLaren said. "Recognize
them, Claire? Remember that poor devil in Berkeley, who was so glad
to be even halfway free of his migraines that he didn't even tell his
doctor about the side effects?"
"What are they?" Barbara asked.
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r r
"Methysergide," said MacLaren. "Also known as Sansert. First
marketed as a miracle drug for migraine.
A distant relative of LSD but LSD is positively good for you,
compared to this stuff! Nine-tenths of the people who were on it for
more than a few days developed high blood pressure, gastric
disturbances, menstrual irregularities and miscarriages in women,
impotence in men, and all kinds of psychotic freak-outs. Especially
the psychotic freak-outs. It was never much more than an
experimental drug, and it's not prescribed anymore -legally. Most
reputable doctors have given it up. A few crooked drug jobbers sell it
for the lysergic acid content: some of the college-kid chemists bought
it to break it down and make LSD out of it. It's also a nice thing to
poison somebody with, if that person has no idea he's getting it and no
medical supervision. Clever diabolically clever, and horrible."
"Are you trying to tell me Jamie's mother uses drugs?"
"I don't know if she uses them," MacLaren said dryly, "but she's
certainly got them enough to poison half the city. I'd telephone the
police, if I were sure it wouldn't hold us up just long enough to risk "
He bit Ms lip, thinking deeply. "No. Can't risk the delay. Wonder what
else is here? Benzedrine and metherdrine speed, the modern
witches' brew and sleeping pills. God knows what other devil's
stuff." He looked up at Claire. "I've a good notion just to flush the
whole lot down the toilet. She certainly can't complain to the police or
report them stolen!"
"Sounds like a great idea. I'll help," Claire said, but she frowned.
"Something els�& "
Colin MacLaren said, "Guide me, then," and began slowly circling the
room as Barbara watched in amazement. Claire said suddenly, "There.
Lower no, a little higher than that, not on the floor& "
MacLaren opened the closet, rummaged among the shoes there and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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