Johnny was up and took her shoulders. Nan said furiously, 'Let me go.' Her eyes were hard and bright. 'Now, I see what you're trying to do! Behind Dick's back! I despise you!' She shook away from his touch.
Johrmy felt sad. A great empty pit yawned open in the dark of his mind.
Dorothy was up, too. 'I'll go with her,' Dorothy said, catching his arm as if to hold him back. Johnny, who had not moved, looked down at her. 'They had their blood tests made yesterday,' she told him. Then Dorothy began to run after Nan.
Johnny followed to the door. Nan was down the block. He saw Dorothy catch up. He stood stiU. Blood tests! Yesterday!
Kate's voice said behind him, 'Say, who are they?'
'That's Dick Bartee's fiancee,' he told her painfully.
yeah? Who's the httle dark one?'
'His fiancee,' Johnny repeated impatiently.
'The little one? WeU! I'd have thought he'd go for the snazzy blonde.'
Johnny hardly heard. He didn't know whether to go after Nan or not. He decided not. Turning, took Kate's fat forearm in his fingers. 'Isn't there anybody who could swear you ever had that pin?' he demanded. 'Anybody?'
'A milhon years ago,' she said sadly. 'Nobody. See, I put it away. It didn't look like much. I never wore it. Wasn't my type of—' Kate grinned, 'junk. But it was mine. And I never got it back either,' she added. 'What are you trying to do, anyhow? You're no writer, my friend.'
'I'm trying to find some evidence.'
'Listen, there isn't any evidence.'
'Tell me this, will you? What makes you think the boy did it?'
'I don't know,' said Kate.
'You don't know!' Johnny felt despair.
'Them Bartees sure tried to get something on me,' Kate said plaintively. 'My stuff was searched.'
'Searched? What do you mean?'
'Christy was killed the Friday night. Sunday, well, I'm closed, see? In the evening, I go to church.' Kate's eyes didn't expect him to believe her. 'I sit in the back,' she added apologetically, (and Johnny behoved her). 'Somebody busted in here.'
'What forr
'I don't know,' Kate said. 'Nothing was taken. But whoever got in that night and looked around, it wasn't Nathaniel, I'll^ teU you that.'
'You think it was Dick Bartee?'
'Who else?' Kate shrugged. 'He had tlie crust, that kid.''
Johnny, thoroughly puzzled, chewed on his mouth.
'I guess you don't want her to marry him,' Kate said^ He^ looked at her a«d her eyes were kind.
'No,' said Johnny hoarsely, 'I don't want her to marry him.'
'Can't blame you,' she soothed. 'It's a shame. But you can't find no evidence, especially now. See, Clint's sister, she tried. Every way in the worlcJ, she tried. And that was seventeen years ago. So see, there ain't a lot you can do. With the time gone by and all. You don't want to blame yourself.'
Johnny could feel the steam leaking out of him.
'She's crazy about this Dick, eh? Well, she wouldn't listen. Look, for her, it is right to get mad like she did just now. You can see that.' (Understand, Kate soothed. Just understand). 'Come on back, have another beer. Listen, people bring things on themselves. Sometimes you just got to let them go.'
Johnny knew a sinking, softening feeling. Temptation. Sit in the back room; let it go. Give up and be comforted. You've done all you could. This was Kate's charm, he realized. Kate was on the side of the weak. Kate would sit with him in a sad and seamy world and comfort helplessness. McCauley's frustiation. Nathaniel's. Not mine, he thought grimly.
He said crisply, 'Do you know any of the servants at the Bartee place?'
'No. No, dear.'
'Anybody who worked there seventeen years ago?'
'Aw, no,' Kate soothed.
Johnny whirled around. He said to the men at the bar, 'Ally of you know anybody who worked for the Bartees seventeen years ago?'
'No,' they said. 'No,' and shifted weight.
Johnny stood thinking.
One man said suddenly, 'My uncle's best friend, I used to hear him say he seen the kid's car on the upper road that night.'
