watched.’
‘What happens when he’s on his own? I mean, I’ve known alcoholics; they can
slip away, often ingeniously.’
‘That’s no problem. He’ll get liquor – when he wants it; he’ll be ingenious
about that. But he doesn’t go outside by himself. He won’t go where there
are any people, if you know what I mean.
‘I’m not sure I do.’
‘He doesn’t talk. The best he can manage is a hoarse whisper; remember, his
throat was boiled out. He stays away from people. … Which is fine. When
he’s not drinking – which is most of the time – he’s reading and working.
He’ll spend days in a laboratory stone sober and never go outside. It’s
just fine.’
‘How does he communicate? In the lab? In a meeting?’
‘Pad and pencil, a few whispers, his hands. Mostly a pad and pencil. It’s
just numbers, equations, diagrams. That’s his language.’
‘His entire language?’
‘That’s right…. If you’re thinking about holding a conversation with him,
forget it. He hasn’t had a conversation with anyone in ten years.’
174
18
DECEMBER 31,1943 NEW YORK CITY
Spaulding hurried down Madison Avenue to the northeast comer of B. Altman’s.
There was a light snow falling; taxis rushed past the few pedestrians
signaling in the middle of the block. The better fares were at the
department store’s entrance, carrying last-minute purchases for New Year’s
Eve. People who shopped at Altman’s on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve were
prime passengers. Why waste gas on less?
David found himself walking faster than he had reason to; he wasn’t going
anywhere, to any specific place that required his presence at a specific
time; he was getting away from Walter Kendall as fast as he could.
Kendall had finished his briefing on Eugene Lyons with the statement that
‘two hulks’ would accompany the scientist to Buenos Aires. There’d be no
liquor for the hermit-mute with his throat burned out; the male nurses
carried ‘horse pills’ at all times. Eugene Lyons, with no drink available,
would spend hours over the work problems. Why not? He didn’t do anything
else. No conversations, David mused.
David turned down Kendall’s offer of lunch on the pretext of looking up
family friends. After all, it had been over three years. … He’d be in the
office on January 2.
The truth was that Spaulding just wanted to get away from the man. And
there was another reason: Leslie Jenner Hawkwood.
He didn’t know where he’d begin, but he had to begin quickly.
175
He had roughly a week to learn the story behind that incredible evening two
nights ago. The beginning would include a widow named Bonner, that much he
knew.
Perhaps Aaron Mandel could help him.
He took a dollar bill from his pocket and approached the doorman in front
of Altman’s. A taxi was found in less than a minute.
The ride uptown was made to the accompanying loquaciousness of the driver,
who seemed to have an opinion on most any subject. David found the man
annoying; he wanted to think and it was difficult. Then suddenly he was
grateful to him.
‘I was gonna catch the New Year’s Eve crowds, like up at the Plaza, you
know what I mean? There’s big tips over at those war relief things. But the
wife said no. She said come home, drink a little wine, pray to God our boy
gets through the year. Now, I gotta. I mean if anything happened, I’d
figure it was the tips 1. made New Year’s Eve. Superstitions! What the
hell, the kid’s a typist in Fort Dix.’
David had forgotten the obvious. No, not forgotten; he just hadn’t
considered the possibilities because they did not relate to him. Or he to
them. He was in New York. On New Year’s Eve. And that meant parties,
dances, charity balls and an infinite variety of war-created celebrations
in a dozen ballrooms and scores of townhouses.
Mrs. Paul Bonner would be at one of those places, at one of those parties.
It had been four months since her husband had been killed. It was
sufficient mourning under the circumstances, for the times. Friends – other
women like Leslie Jenner, but of course not Leslie Jenner – would make that
clear to her. It was the way social Manhattan behaved. And quite
reasonable, all things considered.
It shouldn’t be too difficult to find out where she was going. And if he
found her, he’d find others … it was a place to start.
He tipped the driver and walked rapidly into the Montgomery lobby.
‘Oh, Mr. Spaulding I’ The old desk clerk’s voice echoed in the marble
enclosure. ‘There’s a message for you.’
He crossed to the counter. ‘Thank you.’ He unfolded the paper; Mr. Fairfax
had telephoned. Would he return the call as soon as possible?
Ed Pace wanted to reach him.
176
The thread was intact under the door lock. He entered his room and went
directly to the telephone.
‘We got something in on the Hawkwood girl,’ Pace said. ‘Thought you’d want
to know.’
What is it?’ Why, oh why, did Pace always start conversations like that?
Did he expect him to say, no, I don’t want to know anything, and hang up?
‘It fits in, I’m afraid, with my opinion of the other night. Your antenna’s
been working overtime.’
‘For Christ’s sake, Ed, I’ll pin a medal on you whenever you like. What is
itT
‘She plays around. She’s got a wide sex life in the Los Angeles area.
Discreet but busy. A high-class whore, if I don’t offend you.
:You don’t offend me. What’s the source?’
Several brother officers to begin with; navy and air force. Then some of
the movie people, actors and a couple of studio executives. And the
social-industrial crowd: Lockheed, Sperry Rand. She’s not the most welcome
guest at the Santa Monica Yacht Club.’
‘Is there a G-2 pattern?’
‘First thing we looked for. Negative. No classified personnel in her bed.
Just rank: military and civilian. And she is in New York. Careful inquiry
says she went back to visit her parents for Christmas.’
‘There are no Jenners listed in the phone book who’ve ever heard of her.’
‘in Bernardsville, New Jersey?’
‘No,’ said David wearily. ‘Manhattan. You did say New York.’
‘Try Bernardsville. If you want to find her. But don’t hand in any expense
vouchers; you’re not on a courier run in the north country.’
‘No. Bernardsville is hunt country.’
‘What?’
‘Very social territory. Stables and stirrup cups…. Thanks, Ed. You just
saved me a lot of work.’
‘Think nothing of it. All you’ve had is the conduit center of Allied
Intelligence solving the problems of your sex life. We try to please our
employees.’
11 pron-Ase to re-enlist when it’s all over. Thanks again.’
177
‘Dave?’
‘Yes?’
.Tm not cleared for the Swanson job, so no specifics, but how does it
strike you?’
‘I’ll be damned if I know why you’re not cleared. It’s a simple purchase
being handled by some oddbaUs – at least one … no, two that I know about.
The one I’ve met is a winner. It seems to me they’ve complicated the deal,
but that’s because they’re new at it…. We could have done it better.’
‘Have you met Swanson?’
‘Not yet. After the holidays, I’m told. What the hell, we wouldn’t want to
interfere with the brigadier’s Christmas vacation. School doesn’t start
until the first week in January.’
Pace laughed on the other end of the line. ‘Happy New Year, Dave.’
‘The same, Ed. And thanks.’
Spaulding replaced the receiver. He looked at his watch, it was one
fifteen. He could requisition an army vehicle somewhere, he supposed, or
borrow a car from Aaron Mandel. Bernardsville was about an hour outside New
York, west of the Oranges, if he remembered correctly. It might be best to
take Leslie Jenner by surprise, giving her no chance to run. On the other
hand, on the premise he had considered before Pace’s call, Leslie was
probably in New York, preparing for the New Year’s Eve she’d promised him.
Somewhere, someplace. In an apartment or a brownstone or a hotel room like
his own.
Spaulding wondered for a moment whether Pace had a point. Was he trying to
find Leslie for reasons quite apart from his suspicions? The lies, the
search…. It was possible. Why not? But a two- to three-hour drive to west
Jersey and back would bring him no closer to either objective,
investigatory or Freudian. If she wasn’t there.
He asked the Montgomery switchboard to get him the number of the Jenner
residence in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Not to place the call, just get the
telephone number. And the address. Then he called Aaron Mandel.
He had postponed it for as long as he could; Aaron would be filled with
tears and questions and offers of anything under the Manhattan sun and
moon. Ed Pace told him he had interviewed the old” concert manager four