Muller, Marcia - [McCone 04] Games to Keep the Dark Away (v.1,shtml) Read Free Book Online Page A

shoulder at the receptionist, who had
been listening to our conversation. The woman quickly dropped her
eyes to a book on the desk. "I don't know what she meant by
'unpleasantness,'" Mrs. Bates said.
    "Neither do I, but she definitely alluded to it. Can you
think—"
    "Ms. McCone, I have no idea what Ms. Schaff could have been
thinking of. And, frankly, I'm going to have to cut this short. I
can't help you, and it's against The Tidepools' policy to discuss our
employees—or former employees—with anyone."
    "Surely you can make an exception in this case. Jane's been
missing for a week."
    "I thought you said she was here in the area. How can she be
missing if you know where she is?"
    "I only know approximately where. Please—"
    "At any rate, it's not in my power to make exceptions to our
rule."
    "Who can, then?"
    She looked puzzled.
    "You must have a supervisor."
    "The only person here with more authority than I is our
director, Dr. Allen Keller."
    "Then let me talk to him."
    "He's not available today."
    "When will he be?"
    She made an impatient gesture with one hand and glanced at the
receptionist, who still had her head bowed over the book. "Dr.
Keller is taking the week off."
    "Is he at home?"
    "He may be."
    "Then let me call him there. This is important."
    "To you, perhaps, but not to Dr. Keller. His telephone number
is unlisted, and I cannot give it out to anyone."
    "Shouldn't Dr. Keller be the one to judge what's important to
him?"
    Her face reddened. "In this instance, I am sure I can speak
for him." She stepped around me to the door and held it open.
"And now, Ms. McCone, I must ask you to leave.”
    "Thanks for being so helpful." Irritated, I stalked
outside. The door slammed behind me.
    "Officious bitch," I said aloud. There was no one to
hear me but a seagull on the lawn. I glared at it and went to my car.
Allen Keller might have an unlisted phone number, I thought, but
there were ways to get his address.

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6
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    Back
in my motel room, I thumbed through the Yellow Pages
and selected a few of the more exclusive-sounding men's doming
stores. Apparently Allen Keller didn't shop at the first two I
called, but the credit clerk at the third reacted with dismay when I
identified myself as Dr. Keller's secretary and asked why he hadn't
received his most recent monthly statement.
    She went to check her files and returned to the phone a few
minutes later. "That statement went out on the twenty-eighth,
ma'am."
    "That's odd. Was it sent to the Beach Walk address?"
Beach Walk was one of the few residential street names in Port San
Marco that I remembered. "No, it went to Sea View Drive."
    "Ninety-six Sea View?"
    "No, seventy-seven."
    "Now I understand." I scribbled down the address and
added, not without a twinge of conscience, "That should have
been changed. It's ninety-six Beach Walk now. You'll see it's
corrected?"
    "Of course, ma'am." Relief flooded her voice; I wasn't
going to yell at her.
    I wasn't familiar enough with Port San Marco to place Sea View
Drive. A map on the wall of the motel office showed it to be in a new
development southeast of downtown. I picked out what looked like the
easiest route and set off to talk to Dr. Keller.
    The development was a maze of newly paved streets spiraling up
toward the tops of the oak-dotted hills. I followed Sea View Drive
higher and higher until I had a view of the entire coast and the
channel islands in the distance. Keller's house was an arrangement of
shingle-and-glass boxes whose roofs slanted at various angles; the
shingles had barely had time to weather. The place reminded me of a
hastily assembled house of cards that might topple at any moment.
    The heavy blond man who answered the door wore a blue terrycloth
bathrobe and slippers. He was fortyish and at least thirty pounds
overweight. The puffiness of his face and his bloodshot eyes
suggested he liked his alcohol as much as his food. "What is
it?" he asked impatiently.
    "I'm looking for Dr.