Area of Suspicion by John D. MacDonald Read Free Book Online

Niki.
    “I don’t know, Hildy. I just don’t know.”
    “Sometimes the love bug is a virus, and after a while you go dead inside.”
    “I know that,” I said softly.
    She studied me for a few moments, head tilted again, eyebrow raised. “Is your whole family messed up?”
    I saw then what Ken had seen in her: that capacity forwarmth and understanding which seems, always, to be the product of a very special kind of heartbreak. She said, “You’re a stronger one than he was. You’re not as much like him as I thought. Now I know why he missed having you around.”
    “Did he say that?”
    “Yes, he said that, Gevan. And said he didn’t blame you for not being around.”
    “Don’t kid me, Hildy. I should have been around and I wasn’t.”
    I wanted to believe what she said about Ken. I had to believe it.
    She looked at her small jeweled watch. “I’ve got to go sing for the people, Gev.”
    She stood up and I stood up too. She was a very small girl. She looked up at me, biting her lip, speculative. I said, “You’ll be back?”
    “We’ve said what we had to say about Ken. And all you can give me now is a load of some of your own trouble, Gev.”
    “I wouldn’t want to do that.”
    “You’d do it without trying to do it.”
    “You see a lot, don’t you?”
    “I guess. And this whole thing has made me feel older than hills. Old enough and tired enough so I don’t want any new trouble. Come back some time, Gev. When things are straightened out for you, and when we can have some laughs.”
    “I will, Hildy.”
    Her hand rested in mine for a moment and this time her smile was shy. I watched her walk toward the mike, her small back very straight, her brown hair bobbing against her shoulders with the cadence of her walk. I left while she was singing about a love that would not die, her eyes glistening in the subdued spotlight. Her voice followed me out the door.
    Dreams kept waking me up that night, and fading before I could grasp them. Each time I woke up I knew that Niki had been in the dream. But the words she had said were lost.

Chapter 4
    The nine-o’clock telephone call interrupted my morning shower. Lester Fitch greeted me in a mellow, oiled voice and informed me that he would be pleased to purchase my breakfast for me.
    I stood dripping, holding the phone. “Gevan?” he said.
    “I’m here.”
    “Oh, I thought we were cut off. I’ll wait right here in the lobby. I didn’t get much chance to brief you on the current status of things at the plant.”
    That was just a bit too much. I didn’t want my head patted by Lester Fitch, and I didn’t want to listen to his large editorial we. It’s odd how much of our lives we spend being polite to people in whom we have absolutely no interest. ‘No’ is a word which, if said at the right moment, is the greatest time-saving device in the world. I said it.
    “What was that?” he asked, shocked and plaintive.
    “No, Lester. Don’t wait.” I hung up.
    It was Wednesday morning. If Lester knew, then Niki would know, and Mottling would know, and they would be interested in finding out who I intended to back. I was interested in knowing that myself. I told myself it was the reason I had come up, to make an investigation on my own. Duty to the family firm and all that. Four years ofindifference, and then a sudden burst of dedication. But, last night, Joe and Hildy had given me another problem. Maybe there would be no answer to that one. Maybe it was locked forever in the dead brain of my brother. Sooner or later I would have to see Niki. But I wasn’t ready yet.
    Perversely, turning down Lester had improved my morning mood. I rode the elevator below the lobby floor just in case Lester might be hanging around in hopes of my changing my mind. I went out through the grill and up the steps onto Pernie Street. The rain had washed the air. The day sparkled. It felt good to be back where most of my life had happened. Even Pernie Street had a special