surprised.
IUes very thoughtful of Mr. Stockt0n, Isn’t it?-
Tm. glad you approve. Theres whisky, ice, and glasses on your bureau. Id
like a short drink. Unless yoere in a hurry.’,
Matlock walked slowly to the bureau. ‘rm in no hurry. What would you like?”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatevees there. just ice,
please.”
“I see.” Matlock poured the girl a drink and carried it over to her. “Won’t
you sit down?”
00n the bedr
The only other chair, besides the one on which the suitcase was placed, was
across the room by a French window.
“rm sorry.” He removed the suitcase and the girl sat down. Howard Stockton,
he thought, had good taste. The girl was adorable. “Whaes your name?”
“Jeannie.” She drank a great deal of her drink in several swallows. The
girl may not have perfected a selection in liquor, but she knew how to
drink. And
252 Robert Ludlum
then, as the girl took the glass from her mouth, Matlock noticed the ring on
her third right finger.
He knew that ring very well. It was sold in a campus bookstore several
blocks from John Holden~s apartment in Webster, Connecticut. It was the
ring of Madison University.
“What would you say if I told you I wasiA Interevted?- asked Matlock,
leaning against the thick pole of the bed’s anachronistic canopy.
“I’d be surprised. You don7t look like a fairy.’
‘Tm not.”
The girl looked up at Matlock. Her pale blue eyes were warm-but
professionally wann-meaning, yet not meaning at all. Her lips were young.
And full; and taut.
“Maybe you just need a little encouragement.”
“You can provide that?”
‘I’m good.” She made the statement with quiet arrogance.
She was so young, thought Matlock, yet there was age in her. And hate. The
hate was camouflaged, but the cosmetic was inadequate. She was performing-
the costume, the eyes, the lips. She may have detested the role, but she
accepted it.
Professionally.
“Suppose I just want to talk?”
‘Conversation~s something else. There are no rules about that. I’ve equal
rights in that department. Quid pro, Mister No-name.*
‘You’re facile with words. Should that tell me something?’
“I don’t know why.”
“‘Quid pro quo! iset the language of your eight to three hooker.~
THE MATLOCK PAPER 253
“Ilis place–in case you missed it-isn’t the Avenida de las Putas, either.”
‘Tennessee Williams?’
‘Who knows?”
“I think you do.”
Vine. All right. We can discuss Proust in bed. I mean, that is where you
want me, isn1 it?”
“Perhaps I’d settle for the conversation.”
The girl suddenly, in alarm, whispered hoarsely, ‘Are you a cop?”
“I’m the finthest thing from a cop,” laughed Matlock “You might say that
some of the most important policemen in the area would like to find me.
Although I’m no criminal…. Or a nut, by the way.”
“Now I’m not interested. May I have another drink?’
“Surely.” Matlock got it for her. Neither spoke until he returned with her
glass.
“Do you mind if I stay here awhile? just long enough for you to have balled
me.”
“You mean you don’t want to lose the fee?”
“It’s fifty dollars.”
‘Youll probably have to use part of it to bribe the dormitory bead. Madison
University’s a little oldfashioned. Some coed houses still have weekday
checkins. Youll be late.”
The shock on the girl’s face was complete. “You are a copl You~re a lousy
cop[” She started to get out of the chair, but Matlock quickly stood in
front of her, holding her shoulders. He eased her back into the chair.
“I’m not a cop, I told you that. And you’re not interested, remember? But
rm interested. I’m very interested, and you’re going to tell me what I want
to
IMOW.”
254 Robert Ludlum
The girl started to get up and Matlock grabbed her arms. She struggled; he
pushed her back violently. “Do you always get ‘balled’ with your ring on?
Is that to show whoever gets laid there’s a little class to Of”
“Oh, my Godl Oh, Jesus]” She grabbed her ring and twisted her finger as if
the pressure might make it disappear.
“Now, listen to mel You answer my questions or IT be down in Webster
tomorrow morning and I’ll start asking them down therel Would you like that
better?”
“Pleasel Pleasel” Tears came to the girrs eyes. Her hands shook and she
gasped for breath.
“How did you get here?l”
~Nol No…”
‘How?”
“I was recruited.
‘By whom?”
“Other … Others. We recruit each other.”
‘How many are there?”
“Not many. Not very many…. Ifs quiet. We have to keep it quiet… Let me
go, please. I want to go.”
“Oh, no. Not yet I want to know how many and whyr
“I told youl Only a few, maybe seven or eight girle
“There must be thirty downstairsl”
“I don1 know them. Theyre from other places. We don1 ask each other’s
nanzesf”
“But you know where they’re from, don~t you!”
“Some…. Yes.”
‘Other schools?”
wYes. . . .”
‘Why, Jeannie? For Chrisfs sake, whyP”
‘Why do you thinkP Moneyf”
The girrs dress had long sleeves. He grabbed her
TBE MATLOCK PAPM 255
right arm and ripped the fabric up past the elbow. She fought him back but
he overpowered her.
There were no marks. No signs.
She kicked at him and he slapped her face, hard enough to shock her into
momentary immobility. He took her left arm and tore the sleeve.
There they were. Faded. Not recent. But there.
The small purple dots of a needle.
‘Tm not on it nowl I haven’t been in monthsl*
“But you need the moneyl You need fifty or a hundred dollars every time you
come over berel . . . What is it now? Yellows? Reds? Acid? Speed? What the
hell is it nowP Grass isn’t that expensivel”
The girl sobbed. Tears fell down her cheeks. She covered her face and
spoke-moaned-through her sobs.
“There’s so much troublel So much … troublef Let me go, pleaser
Matlock knelt down and cradled the girls head in his arms, against his
chest
“What trouble? tell me, please. What trouble?”
“They nwke you do it…. You have to…. So many need help. They won’t help
anyone if you donI do it. Please, whatever your name is, let me alone. Let
me go. Doet say anything. Let me gol … Pleaser
‘I will, but you~ve got to clear something up for me. Then you can go and
I woet say anything. . . . Are you down here because they threatened you?
Threatened the other kids?”
The girl nodded her head, gasping quietly, breathing heavily. Matlock
continued. “Threatened you with what? Turning you in? … Exposing a habit?
Thaes not worth it.Not today. . . .”
‘Oh, yoxere outta sightl” The girl spoke through her
256 Robert Ludlum
tem. “ney can ruin you. For life. Ruin your family, your school, maybe
later. Maybe…. Some rotten prison. Somewherel Habit, pushing, supplying
… a boy you know’s in trouble and they can get him off. .
Some girrs in her third month, she needs a doctor
they can get one. No noise.”
‘You don~t need thend Where~ve you beenP1 Ilere are agencies, counselingl”
“Oh, Jesus Christ, misterl Where have you been?l … The drug courts, the
doctors, the judgesl They run them alU … Theres nothing you can do about
it Nothing I can do about it So leave me alone, leave us alonel Too many
people’ll get hurd”
“And yoii~re just going to keep doing what they sayl Frightened, spoiled
little bastards who keep on whiningi Afraid to wash your hands, or your
mouths, or your arnwr He pulled at her left elbow and yanked it viciously.
The girl looked up at him6 half in fear, half in contempt
rhaes right,” she said in a strangely calm voice. “I don1 think you’d
understand. You don1 know what it’s all about…. We’re different from you.
My friends are all I’ve got. All any of us have got We help each other….
I’m not interested in being a hero. rm only interested in my friends. I
don~t have a flag decal in my car window and I don’t like John Wayne. I
think he’s a shit I think you all are. All shits.”
Matlock released the girl’s arm. “Just how long do you think you can keep
it up?”
“Oh, rm one of the lucky ones. In a month r1l have that scroll my parents
paid for and I’m out of it. They hardly ever try to make contact with you
later. ‘Mey say they wilL but they rarely do…. Yotere just sup-
TM MATWCK PAMM 257
posed to live with the possibility.”
He understood the implications of her muted testimony and turned away. ‘I’m
sorry. I’m very, very sorry.”
“Don’t be. Im one of the lucky ones. Two weelm after I pick up that piece
of engraved crap my parents *ant so badly, IT be on a plane. I’m leaving
this goddamn country. And I’ll never come backl”