`I think so. He's also the baby that Ralph and Elaine Hillman adopted through Dr Weintraub. Did you get the impression that he was on his way to see Weintraub?'
`Yes. I did.'
She was getting excited, too. `It's like an ancient identity myth. He's searching for his lost parentage.'
`The hell of it is, both of his parents are dead. What time did you see him?'
`Around four o'clock.'
It was nearly six now. I went to the phone and called Weintraub's office. His answering service said it was closed for the night. The switchboard girl wouldn't give me Weintraub's home address or his unlisted number, and neither would the manager of the answering service. I had to settle for leaving my name and Susanna's number and waiting for Weintraub to call me, if he was willing.
An hour went by. Susanna broiled me a steak, and chewed un-hungrily on a piece of it. We sat at a marble table in the patio and she told me all about identity myths and how they grew. Oedipus. Hamlet. Stephen Dedalus. Her father had taught courses in such subjects. It passed the time, but it didn't relieve my anxiety for the boy. Hamlet came to a bloody end. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, and then blinded himself.
`Thomas Harley,' I said aloud. `Thomas Harley Hillman Jackman. He knew he wasn't the Hillmans' son. He thought he was a changeling.'
`You get that in the myths, too.'
`I'm talking about real life. He turned on his foster parents and went for his real parents. It's too bloody bad they had to be the Harleys.'
`You're very certain that he is the Harley child.'
`It fits in with everything I know about him. Incidentally, it explains why Ralph Hillman tried to hush up the fact that he'd taken an interest in Carol. He didn't want the facts of the adoption to come out.'
`Why, though?'
`He's kept it a secret all these years, even from Tom. He seems to be a little crazy on the subject.'
`I got that impression this morning.'
She leaned across the corner of the table and touched my fingers. 'Lew? You don't think he went off his rocker and murdered Carol himself'
`It's a possibility, but a remote one. What was on his mind at breakfast?'
`Him, mostly. He felt his life was collapsing around his ears. He thought I might be interested in helping him to pick up the pieces. After eighteen years he was offering me my second big break.'
Her scorn touched herself as well as Hillman.
`I don't quite understand.'
`He asked me to marry him, Lew. I suppose that's in line with contemporary mores. You get your future set up ahead of time, before you terminate your present marriage.'
`I don't like that word 'terminate.'
Did he say what he intended to do with Elaine?'
`No.'
She looked quite pale and haunted.
`I hope divorce was all he had in mind. What was your answer?'
`My answer?'
`Your response to his proposal.'
`Oh. I told him I was waiting for a better offer.'
Her dark meaningful eyes were on my face. I sat there trying to frame a balanced answer. The telephone rang inside before I had a chance to deliver it.
I went in through the door we had left open and picked up the receiver. `Archer speaking.'
`This is Dr Weintraub.'
His voice had lost its calmness. `I've just had a thoroughly upsetting experience-'
`Have you seen the Hillman boy?'
`Yes. He came to me just as I was leaving. He asked me essentially the same question you did.'
`What did you tell him, Doctor?'
`I told him the truth. He already knew it, anyway. He wanted to know if Mike and Carol Harley were his parents. They were.'
`How did he react to the information?'
`Violently, I'm afraid. He hit me and broke my glasses. I'm practically blind without them. He got away from me.'
`Have you told the police?'
`No.'
`Tell them, now. And tell them who he is.'
