Littlemore went to Secretary Houston's office first thing that morning. Denied permission to enter, he waited in the hallway, reading the newspapers, until, an hour later, Houston appeared.
'Can't you see I'm busy, Littlemore?' asked Houston as he hurried down the corridor, the detective in his wake.
'Is it the Mexican business, sir?'
'Mexican business?' Houston stopped. 'What do you know about it?'
'Been reading the papers.'
The Secretary set off again, followed by Littlemore. 'Well, what is it?' asked Houston.
'Just wondering who chose the date for the transfer of the gold.'
'What? Why?'
'I think it may unlock the whole puzzle, sir.'
'The date? I don't see why,' said Houston. 'Everyone inside the Department knew when the gold was going to be transferred. In any event, it was before my time. The move had been planned for years. The new Assay Office was designed specifically for the purpose. Long before my time.'
'You didn't have anybody advising you on the date, Mr Houston — making suggestions, reviewing the timing?'
'Advising me on the date? I had nothing to do with it.'
On checking in, Younger immediately had the hotel operator ring police headquarters. Informed that Captain Littlemore no longer worked there, he obtained a number for the detective in Washington. Some minutes later, he reached Littlemore in his Treasury office.
'What are you doing in Washington?' Younger asked.
'Long story,' said Littlemore. 'What were you doing in France?'
'Long story. Did they get the radium out of the McDonald girl?'
'Not exactly. I told her doctor what you said; he looked at me like I was nuts. He said she has syphilis, not radium. And I checked with the Post-Graduate Hospital. They've got no record of her.'
'She doesn't have syphilis. What's the doctor's name?'
'Lyme,' said Littlemore. 'Dr Frederick Lyme at the Sloane Hospital for Women. Listen, Doc — Drobac's out of prison.'
The line crackled; Younger said nothing.
'You still there?' asked Littlemore.
'I'm here,' said Younger. 'What is this, the Perils of Pauline? How can he be out of prison?'
'Because you jumped bail, for Pete's sake,' said Littlemore, 'and took the Miss and the boy with you. His lawyer told the court you fled the country. Whereabouts unknown. The Miss was the complainant. How are we supposed to prosecute a kidnapping when the victims have left the jurisdiction? I told them you'd be back, but the judge ruled we had to let him go.'
'So the murderer's on the street while I'm to stand trial?'
'It's not a trial. It's a bail revocation hearing. The judge ordered it after he heard you were out of the country. If you don't show, your bail gets revoked, a warrant issues for your arrest, and I have to pay up on your bail bond. You got to be there, Doc.'
'I'll be there.'
'Say — I'm catching the afternoon train back to town. Why don't you and the Miss come over for dinner?'
A bellboy rang, delivering to Younger and Colette a packet of telegrams that had arrived during the last week. 'From Freud,' said Younger. 'I let him know where we'd be staying.'
'Open them up,' said Colette eagerly.
The first of the telegrams was sent only a few days after they boarded their ship for New York:
7 Nov. 1920
BOY FINE. TWO BRITISH PUPILS HAVE TAKEN LIKING TO HIM.
VISITED ZOO. STRONGLY SUSPECT INVOLVEMENT OF FATHER IN
BOY'S SYMPTOMS. PLEASE CONSULT MISS ROUSSEAU AND ASK
AGAIN WHETHER SHE RECALLS ANY MISTREATMENT OF HER OR BROTHER
AT FATHERS HANDS.
FREUD
'Mistreatment of me?' said Colette. 'That's the second time he's asked. What does he mean?'
Younger, who knew exactly what Freud meant, didn't answer that question. 'What about Luc? Did your father ever — I don't know — beat him?'
'Father doted on Luc. He was the kindest man in the world. What does the next one say?'
Younger opened the second telegram:
11 NOV. 1920
IGNORE PREVIOUS WIRE. BOY HAS BEGUN SPEAKING TO ME. FOR NOW HE
WHISPERS, BUT I EXPECT COMPLETE CURE. WEEKS NOT MONTHS. MORE
SHORTLY.
FREUD
'Mon dieu,' said Colette excitedly 'Open the next one.'
Younger did so:
13 NOV. 1920
BOY HAS RECURRENT DREAM. HE IS BACK IN BEDROOM OF HOUSE WHERE BORN.
IT IS MIDDLE OF NIGHT. GOES TO A WINDOW. SEES WOLVES LURKING IN TREE
WATCHING HIM. DREAM IS REVERSAL OF LATENT CONTENT. BOY DREAMS OF
BEING LOOKED AT BECAUSE HE SAW SOMETHING HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO SEE.
UNDOUBTEDLY FATHER INVOLVED, BUT ALMOST CERTAINLY ALSO SISTER. FREUD
Colette was perplexed. 'Why am I involved?' she asked.
'There's one more,' said Younger. He read it:
17 NOV. 1920
SETBACK. LUC HAS STOPPED SPEAKING. WILL NOT COMMUNICATE
WITH ANYONE NOT IN WHISPER NOT IN WRITING NOT EVEN BY
GESTURE. PLEASE URGE MISS ROUSSEAU NOT TO BE ALARMED.
TEMPORARY REGRESSION NOT UNCOMMON IN ANALYSIS. POSSIBLY
POSITIVE SIGN.
FREUD
'How could it be a positive sign?' asked Colette.
'If it was brought on by their getting close to the source of the problem.'
'What does that mean?'
Younger ran a hand through his hair. 'I don't believe in psychoanalysis. I told you.'
'But if you did believe, what would it mean?' 'The way Freud would see it is this,' he said. 'Luc has a memory from early childhood — from a time when he saw something forbidden or wished for something so wrong he had to suppress all consciousness of it. This memory doesn't like to stay hidden; it tries to escape the repression, to force its way into consciousness. That's what produces a patient's symptoms.'
'What don't you believe?' she asked.
'I don't believe in the wishes that Freud attributes to children. And I don't believe in repressed childhood memories coming to light years later. It's like a — like a too-neatly-tied-up ending in a novel.'
