'What did become of Brandon?'
'He simply vanished. Several attempts were made to contact him at the time of your escape from Porter, but he could not be found. Then you had the accident, were brought here and treated. At that time, a woman named Evelyn Flaumel, who represented herself as your sister, contacted this place, told them you had been probated and that the family wanted you transferred to Greenwood. In the absence of Brandon, who had been appointed your guardian, her instructions were followed, as the only available next of kin. That was how it came about that you were sent to the other place. You escaped again, a couple of weeks later, and that is where my chronology ends.'
'Then what is my legal status right now?' I asked.
'Oh, you've been made whole,' he said. 'Dr. Rand went down after I talked with him and gave the court an affidavit reciting these facts. The order was vacated.'
'Then why is the doctor here acting as if I might be a psycho case?'
'Oh my! That is a thought. It hadn't occurred to me. All their records here would show is that one time you apparently were. I had better see him on the way out. I have a copy of the journal entry in here, too. I can show it to him.'
'How long was it after I left Greenwood that things were set right with the court?'
'The following month,' he said. 'It was several weeks before I could bring myself to get nosy.'
'You couldn't know how happy I am that you did,' I said. 'And you have given me several pieces of information I think are going to prove extremely important.'
'It is nice to be able to help a friend sometime,' he said, closing the folder and replacing it in his briefcase. 'One thing... When this is all over-whatever you are doing-if you are permitted to talk about it, I would like to hear the story.'
'I can't promise,' I said.
'I know. Just thought I'd mention it. By the way, what do you want to do about the house?'
'Mine? Do I still hold title to it?'
'Yes, but it will probably be sold this year for back taxes if you don't do anything about it.'
'I'm surprised that hasn't already happened.'
'You gave the bank power of attorney for paying your bills.'
'I never thought of that. I'd just set it up for utilities and my charge accounts. Stuff like that.'
'Well, the account is nearly empty now,' he said. 'I was talking to McNally over there the other day. That means the house will go next year if you don't do anything.'
'I've got no use for it now,' I said. 'They can do whatever they want with it.'
'Then you might as well sell it and realize what you can.'
'I won't be around that long.'
'I could handle it for you. Send the money wherever you want.'
'All right,' I said. 'I'll sign anything necessary. Pay my hospital bill out of it and keep the rest.'
'I couldn't do that.'
I shrugged.
'Do whatever you think best, but be sure and take a good fee.'
'I'll put the balance in your account.'
'All right. Thanks. By the way, before I forget, would you look in the drawer of that table and see if there is a deck of cards there? I can't reach it yet, and I'll be wanting them later.'
'Surely.'
He reached over, opened it.
'A big brown envelope,' he said. 'Kind of bulgy. They probably put whatever was in your pockets in it.'
'Open it.'
'Yes, here's a pack of cards,' he said, reaching inside.
'Say! That's a beautiful case! May I?'
'I-' What could I say?
He slipped the case.
'Lovely...' he murmured. 'Some kind of tarots... Are they antique?'
'Yes.'
'Cold as ice... I never saw anything like these. Say, that's you! Dressed up like some kind of knight! What's their purpose?'
'A very complicated game,' I said.
'How could that be you if they are antique?'
'I didn't say it was me. You did.'
'Yes, so I did. Ancestor?'
'Sort of.'
'Now that's a good-looking gal! But so is the redhead... .'
'I think...'
He squared the deck and replaced it in the case. He passed it to me.
'Nice unicorn, too,' he added. 'I shouldn't have looked at them, should I?'
'That's all right.'
He sighed and leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his head.
'I couldn't help it,' he said. 'It is just that there is something very strange about you, Carl, beyond any hush-hush work you may be doing-and mysteries intrigue me. I've never been this close to a real puzzler before.'
'Because you just slipped yourself a cold deck of tarots?' I asked.
'No, that just adds atmosphere,' he said. 'While what you have been doing all these years is admittedly none of my business, there is one recent incident I am unable to comprehend.'
'What is that?'
'After I brought you here and took Alice home last night, I went back to your place, hoping to get some sort of idea as to what had happened. The snow had let up by then, though it started in again later, and your track was still clearly visible, going around the house and down the front yard.' I nodded.
'But there were no tracks going in-nothing to indicate your arrival. And for that matter, there were no other tracks departing-nothing to show the flight of your assailant.'
I chuckled.
'You think the wound was self-inflicted?'
'No, of course not. There wasn't even a weapon in sight. I followed the bloodstains back to the bedroom, to your bed. I had only my flashlight to see by, of course, but what I saw gave me an eerie feeling. It seemed as if you had just suddenly appeared there on the bed, bleeding, and then gotten up and made your way out.'
'Impossible, of course.'
'I wonder about the lack of tracks, though.'
'The wind must have blown snow over them.'
'And not the others?' He shook his head. 'No, I don't think so. I just want to go on the record as interested in the answer to that one too, if you ever do want to tell me about things.'
'I will remember,' I said.
'Yes,' he said. 'But I wonder... I've a peculiar feeling that I may never see you again. It is as if I were one of those minor characters in a melodrama who gets shuffled offstage without ever learning how things turn out.'
'I can appreciate the feeling,' I said. 'My own role sometimes makes me want to strangle the author. But look at it this way: inside stories seldom live up to one's expectations. Usually they are grubby little things, reducing down to the basest of motives when all is known. Conjectures and illusions are often the better possessions.'
He smiled.
'You talk the same as always,' he said, 'yet I have known occasions when you have been tempted to virtue. Several of them...'
'How did we get from the footprints to me?' I said. 'I was about to tell you that I suddenly recalled having approached the house by exactly the same route as I left it. My departure obviously obliterated the signs of my arrival.'
