It took quite a while because I had to prompt her with questions. It was a simple story but she"d buried it down deep.
She was a society deb on a continental tour with some friends when one of them dared her to model for an art cla.s.s. She took up the dare and so met Alex Adrian, a promising art student. Long after her friends returned to the States she was still living with him in a little hotel on the Left Bank. Things were idyllic, from her point of view at least. There had been talk of marriage for a time, but it had fallen through.
"He didn"t really want me," she sighed. "He didn"t. It was his art first, always his G.o.dd.a.m.ned art."
Their fights became more frequent as she demanded more attention from him, and he pulled away to concentrate on his studies. She finally left for home, returning to her own study of journalism. She was smart enough and good enough to work for any paper in the country, but preferred the style of her tabloid. She had a lot of venom in her system and it only increased when Adrian returned from New York with his new wife.
I shook my head, not liking my next question. "Do you think he killed her?"
"No..."
"Barb, tell me, did you kill her?"
"No."
"So it was suicide, after all?"
"Yes."
"And all those stories in the paper?"
"He deserved it. He hurt me. b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
From under her closed lids a tear slipped out and trickled down her heart-shaped face. I touched it away.
"You tired, Barb?"
"Yes."
"I don"t blame you. I want you to get up and get ready for bed as usual. All right?"
Her eyes opened and, still unaware of me, she walked into her bedroom and began removing her clothes. It took some effort on my part to remember I was a gentleman. I stayed out in the living room until she"d finished her bath and climbed into bed. The springs creaked as she settled into the sheets and pulled up the blanket.
She wore an ice white satin gown that left her shoulders bare and defined her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She didn"t see me standing in the doorway, but stared at something next to it. I came into the room. Hanging on the wall was an oil portrait of her. She was younger, her hair was different, but the artist had left no doubt to the world about her beauty. The signature at the bottom was Alex Adrian"s.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she whispered.
I walked around the big double bed and pulled back the covers from the empty spot next to her and climbed in, clothes and all. It was the only way I could think of to convincingly leave the impression we"d slept together.
"Barb-"
"Barbara. My full name is Barbara."
I put an arm around her and drew her close so she was leaning against me.
"Barbara."
"Yes?"
"You hide it very well, but you hurt a lot because of him."
"Yes."
"I think you should let go of the hurt, don"t you?"
Until she crumpled, I hadn"t been aware of the tension in her muscles. I murmured things to her, soft words meant to soothe, and they seemed to work.
When her eyes were dry again, she really was ready to sleep. I shifted position, sitting up and facing her and easing her back onto the pillow.
"You had a good evening, Barbara," I told her. "You don"t have to remember talking to me about Adrian, but thinking about him doesn"t hurt now. Understand?"
She nodded.
"Now you have a good night"s sleep. When you wake up in the morning you"ll feel a lot better about things."
The covers rustled as she turned over. I carefully got out of bed and studied the portrait a moment longer before shutting off the light. A minute later I locked her apartment door, slipped out into the hall, and walked quietly downstairs so as not to disturb the other tenants.
The car seemed to make more noise starting than usual, but only because I wanted it not to. I shifted gears gently and drifted down the dark and empty morning streets, my head full of complicated thoughts and feelings. Instead of the road I saw a heart-shaped young face in an expensive frame.
The sad part was that she"d been dead wrong about Adrian; no one could paint a portrait like that and not be in love.Chapter Six THE KITCHEN PHONE started jangling just as consciousness returned and my eyes popped open. Escott caught it on the third ring and I could tell by his end of the conversation that it was Bobbi. I threw on a bathrobe and decided to spare his nerves and walk up the bas.e.m.e.nt steps in the regular way. He handed over the earpiece and went back to the front room to finish listening to his radio program.
Bobbi was anything but calm. "That rat backed out!" she stated, her voice vibrating with fury. "He called me up this afternoon to call off the sittings."
She"d said enough for me to identify the rat in question. "What happened? Did he say why?"
"He just said he tried and couldn"t get into it, after all, some stuff about not being ready to get back to painting yet."
"That"s ridiculous, after the way he was last night?"
"I know. First he can"t wait to start, now he dumps the whole thing. What"s the matter with the man?"
The thought flashed through my head that Barb Steler had remembered our talk last night and somehow made trouble with Adrian. It was worry making, but extremely unlikely. I"d been very careful with her. "Give me time to dress and I"ll pick you up. We"ll go over for a little talk and try to straighten things out."
"Are you sure you want me along? I feel like strangling him."
"Fine, I"ll probably help."
Escott"s voice drifted in after I hung up. "Problem?" he asked casually.
I shoved my hands in the robe"s pockets and hunched into the front room. He was at his ease on the long sofa and stretched out a lazy arm to turn the radio down. I spent a minute or so explaining about the portrait commission and Adrian"s sudden refusal of it.
He c.o.c.ked a philosophical eyebrow. "Artistic temperament, perhaps? Perhaps not. He"s probably far too professional to indulge in such games."
"I don"t know. I"m taking Bobbi over to find out."
"A suggestion?"
"Yeah?"
"Take along your receipt-just in case you can"t change his mind." His hand swung back to the volume dial again.
With him it was a suggestion with double meaning, a nudge tor my conscience to kick in, as if it needed much help. I had been thinking of influencing Adrian, but recognized with some sourness that Escott had a point, at least for the moment.
Bobbi was dressed for war in a severe black suit with a slash of bloodred color on her compressed lips. She was already waiting in the lobby, and as soon as my car stopped she shot out and yanked the door open.
"I"m mad," she said, quite unnecessarily. Anyone in a fifty-yard radius could figure it out easily enough.
"We"ll see what"s going on."
"He chickened out, that"s what I think." She crossed her arms and glared out the front window. "And it"s just not fair."
I got the car rolling again and listened as she talked herself down from a long afternoon of anger and frustration. By the time we reached Adrian"s she"d calmed somewhat and was willing to hear his side of things, if he had one.
He took his time answering the door and there was a change in him. The relaxed face we"d seen last night had been replaced by the guarded go-to-h.e.l.l-and-so-what expression I"d noted at the party. It took Bobbi by surprise; she was all wound up to ask an obvious question or two, but one look and she knew it was a lost cause.
He let us into the entryway, but no farther. On a table rested the envelope with the money, which he handed to me, meeting my eyes, expecting a reproach and not caring.
"I can"t really explain it," he said. "I just know I can"t do the job, after all."
"Why not?"
He"d been ready for that question, and the answer came out easily enough. "Do you ever get a writer"s block, if that"s what you call it? I"ve the same thing, but for painting."
It wasn"t something I could argue with; you can"t force a person to create against their will. You also can"t ask them why when they don"t want to talk. I couldn"t, not with Bobbi looking on. I gave him his receipt without another word. He stared at it, something crossing his face as if it were the end of the world, then shoved the piece of paper into his pocket.
"I"m sorry to have put you both to so much trouble," he said tonelessly. He was saying what was expected of him; whether he meant it or not was anyone"s guess.
Bobbi shot me a brief look of alarm, her instincts were doing overtime. I nodded back, we"d talk later.
Adrian opened the door for us and we were back on the porch with it closing quietly behind. I heard his steps retreating deep into the house."We sure read him the riot act, didn"t we?" she said. "He looked positively sick."
"He was like that when I first met him, but he perked up when Sandra was around."
"You think they had a fight?"
"You think it"s really our business?"
"No, but I"d like to find out."
We got into the car and I drove half a block and parked by a small neighborhood grocery at the corner. "Would you mind waiting here for a little while? I want to go back and check on him?"
"Because he might do something?" Apparently, she had the same idea about suicide as I did.
"I just want to check." And make sure there were no dangling ropes or sleeping pills within reach. Bobbi said she"d be all right and I got out and walked back down the street, trying not to look conspicuous. It still felt as though every window had a face in it and that every barking dog was reacting to me alone. Pa.s.sing under an especially large tree, its trunk thick with shadow, I disappeared.
Adrian"s house was exactly on my left. I willed myself in that direction and pushed against the light wind until stopped by a wall of wood. I pressed harder and was through the wall, floating in the still air of his front room and drifting around to find a safe place to solidify. Invisibility is not as much fun as you"d think: with my sight gone and my hearing a joke, all I had was extended touch, which could be deceptive. After a minute of covering the four corners and not getting any sense of another presence, I decided to risk it and materialize.
The risk paid off, for the room was empty and dark. I listened hard and could just pick up the sound of his breathing elsewhere. Cautious and as silent as possible, I edged into the hall. The rooms that were in view were also dark, except for the kitchen, which had a small light burning wanly over the stove. Beyond the kitchen was his studio.
I vanished again and floated in. He seemed to be lying on the couch. By moving close I could tell which way he was facing and was able to get behind him and out of his line of sight. I solidified in a crouch, though, just in case I threw a shadow from the banks of windows behind me.
The only light came from a small work lamp caged from one of his tables. Its gooseneck was twisted so the illumination fell on a canvas clamped onto his easel. It was a portrait of Celia Adrian. The newspaper photo had been a decent likeness at least of how she looked-Adrian had recorded who she had been. The style was the same as Barb Steler"s portrait, but more mature and a.s.sured.
I saw guarded happiness in the blue eyes, a hint of selfishness around the mouth, and an unearthly beauty in every stroke of his brush. It was truth and idealization all at once. Her faults were there, but accepted as part of the whole. He"d loved her dearly, but not blindly.
The figure on the couch moved only a little. He was smoking slowly, thoughtfully, and I could spend all night speculating on those thoughts. For now he didn"t seem on the verge of doing away with himself or anyone else. My curiosity was satisfied to some extent, but with Bobbi waiting, there was no time for a more thorough investigation. Maybe later I could pay him a less hurried visit.
She"d left the car for the grocery. Through the sign-covered windows I could see her nodding and listening to the middle-aged woman behind the counter. After a few minutes Bobbi picked up her package and joined me.
"You"re not the only one who"s a detective," she said, sliding into the car.
"I"m only an a.s.sistant to a private agent. You call Charles a detective and he"ll come out in hives."
"Whatever. I got the lady inside talking about Alex and his wife"s death."
"So was it suicide or murder?"
"About half and half. She used to wait on his wife, "a tall, pretty lady who"d give you the time of day when you asked," and can"t imagine she would have done such a wicked thing. On the other hand, living with an artist can"t be all that easy."
"Did you ask her about the day when it happened?"
"She said she saw the ambulance and wondered what the fuss was about and was terribly shocked to learn Mrs. Adrian was dead. She"d read all the papers and when they started saying Alex murdered her she was ready to believe it. He came into her store about a week later and she was ready to throw him out until she saw his face."
"Like death warmed over?"
"You heard?"
"He had the same effect on us tonight, remember?"
"Vividly. I was ready to kill him and then it just seemed so useless, there was nothing there to argue with."
We both nodded in silent agreement. "What now?"
She looked surprised. "We go see Sandra and Evan. I didn"t buy this just for my voice, you know." She shifted the bag and I caught the subtle clink of beer bottles inside.
Our knock on Evan"s door got no answer, but I was sure I heard a voice and a soft thump."Think they"re out?" Bobbi asked.
"Someone"s there." I put an ear to the door but couldn"t really distinguish much through it. We knocked louder and got no answer. "Maybe Francis came back to try and beat him up again, after all."
She tried the k.n.o.b, but the door was locked. "The super might have a key-"
"You ever see my vanishing act?"
"Your what?"
"It makes Charles nervous and I didn"t want to give you heart failure."
"You mean you can just... ?" She made vague gestures. I"d done it once before in her presence, but it had been dark and rainy and she may have missed it, having other things on her mind at the time.