hair combed straight back. The ears were elfin and
close set. His facial features were regular but too
delicate to be handsome. His short-sleeved white
shirt was spotless and, despite the heat, free of
wrinkles. His khaki trousers seemed freshly laundered.
He wore rimless octagonal eyeglasses and
carried a clil>-on case for them in his breast pocket.
He looked like a man who r/ever perspired.
I stood up and he appraised me mildly.
“Ezra,” said Houten, “this is Dr. Delaware, a
201
202- Jmuu/um Kel/erm
Psychologist rom Los Angeles. Cune all the way
down to take back the one I told You about. Doctor,
meet Mr. Ezra Maimon, the best lawyer in town.”
The neat man laughed gently.
“The Sheris engaging in a bit of hyperbole,” he
said and held out a thin callused hand., “I’m the
only attorney in La Vista, and the cases I usually
work with are made of wood’.”
“Ezra owns a rare fxuit nursery just out of town,”
explained Houten. “Claims he’s retired but we still
get him to do a bit of lawyering from time to time.”
“Wills and small estates are comparatively simple
matters,” said Maimon. “If this turns into criminal
defense you’ll have to bring in a specialisti”
“That’s all right,,’ Houten twirled one of his mustaches.
‘”This is no criminal case. Yet. Just a little
problem, like I told you over the phone.”.
Maimon nodded.
“Tell mfi the details,” he said.
He listened quietly and impassively, turning once
or twice to smile at me. When Houten was through,
the attorney placed a finger to his lips and gazed
up at the ceiling, as if doing mental arithraetic.
After a minu etetetetetetetetetgof silent contemplation he said,
“Let me see my client.”
He spent half an hour in the cell. I tried to kill
the time by reading a magazine for highway patrolmen
until I found that it specialized in4graphic
photoessays of fatal road wrecks accompanied by
‘detailed descriptions of the vehicular horrors. I
couldn’t imagine why those who witnessed such
carnage as part of their daily routine would be
attracted to a photographic reprise. Perhaps it provided
distance–the true solace of the voyeur. ! put
the magazine aside and
watching W. Bragdon read
while he picked at his cuticles..
,Finally a buzzer rang.
“Go in and get him, Walt,” ordered Houten.
Bragdon said yessir, left, and came back with
Maimon.
-“I think,” said the attorney, “we may be able to
reach a compromise.”
“Run it by me, Ezra.”
The three of us sat around one of the desks.
“Dr. Melendez-Lynch is a very intelligent man,”
said Maimon. “Perhaps overly persistent. But not,
in my opinion, at all malicious.”
“He’s a pain in the butt, Ezra.”
“He’s been a little overzealous in his attempts at
fulfilling his medical obligations: But, as we all
know, Woody’s deathly ill. Dr. Melendez-Lynch feels
he has the means to cure him and he sees himself
as trying to save a life.”
Maimon spoke with quiet authority. He could
have acted as Houten’s mouthpiece but instead
seemed to be. functioning as a true advocate. I didn’t
think it was for my benefit and I was impressed.
Houten’s face darkened with anger.
“The boy’s not here. You know that as well as I
“My client is an empiricist. He wants to see .that
for himself.”
“No way is he going near that place, Ezra.”
“I agree with you. That would be inviting trouble.
However he did agree to Dr. Delaware’s conducting
a search of the Retreat. Promised to pay
his fines and leave without a fuss if the good doctor
finds nothing suspcou .
It was a simple solution. Bur neither Houten nor
I had come up with it. He, because his appetite for
concession wasn’t hearty in the first place and he’d
already had his fill. And I!d been too overwhelmed
by Raoul’s fanaticism to think straight.
The sheriff digested it.
“I can’t force Matthias to open the place up.”
“Of course not. He has every right to refuse. If he
does we’ll reapproach the problem.”
An eminently logical man.
Houten turned his attention to me.
“What about it? You up for it?”
“Sure. Whatever works.”
Houten went into his office and returned saying