patient is at his sanatorium out at Holland Heights. I’m afraid this will be an expensive business, Mr.
Halliday, but I have every confidence that if your wife went to Dr. Zimmerman’s place she would have the very best chance of recovery.’
‘Which is another way of saying if she remains here she doesn’t stand such a good chance.’
‘That is correct. Dr. Zimmerman…’
‘What will it cost?’
‘That’s something you will have to discuss with Dr. Zimmerman. At a guess about three hundred dollars a week. She would be under Dr. Zimmerman’s personal supervision.’
I lifted my hands despairingly. This thing seemed to be going on and on, making inroads into my money.
‘Okay, let Dr. Zimmerman see her,’ I said. ‘When he’s here I’ll talk to him.’
‘He’ll be here at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning.’
Before I returned home, I looked in on Sarita. She was still unconscious. I took away with me a picture of her that crushed me.
When I got home I made a check on my financial position. With more expense ahead of me, it would be impossible to pay Rima any more money. I had four weeks ahead of me to find and silence her. Even if it meant leaving Sarita for a few days, I would have to do it.
The next morning I met Dr. Zimmerman. He was a middle-aged man with a lean face and keen eyes and a quiet, confidential manner. I liked him on sight.
‘I’ve examined your wife, Mr. Halliday,’ he said. ‘There can be no question but she must come to my sanatorium. I am sure I can start good progress moving. The operation has been successful, but certain nerves have been damaged. However, these I think I can fix. In three or four months’ time, when she is stronger, I’m going to talk to Dr. Goodyear and I’m going to suggest another operation. I think between the two of us we can certainly save her memory and we might even get her walking again, but she must be moved to my place immediately.’
‘What’s it going to cost?’
‘Three hundred a week for a private room. There will be nursing fees: say three hundred and seventy a week?’
‘How about the second operation?’
‘I couldn’t say, Mr. Halliday. To be on the safe side, perhaps three thousand, possibly four.’
I was beyond caring now.
‘Go ahead,’ I said, paused and then went on, ‘I need to leave town for four or five days. When do you think my wife will be safe for me to leave?’
He looked a little surprised.
‘It’s too early for that. I’ll be better able to tell in a couple of weeks. She won’t he off the danger list until then.’
So I waited two weeks.
I went back to the office and slaved to get ahead with the work so when the all-clear came I would be free to go on my hunt for Rima.
Ted Weston, the new man Jack had found to work with me, was keen and reliable. I had no misgivings once I had set him a programme that he wouldn’t be able to carry it out.
Very slowly Sarita began to make progress. Each week I parted with three hundred and seventy dollars. My bank balance shrank. But I didn’t regret the money because I now felt if anyone could pull her through it would be Zimmerman.
Finally I got a telephone call.
Zimmerman himself came on the line.
‘You want to get off on business, Mr. Halliday? I think I can let you go now. There is a definite improvement in your wife’s condition. She is not conscious yet, but she is much stronger, and I think you can go without any need to worry. It would be wiser to let me know where I can contact you just in case of a setback. This I don’t anticipate, but it is well to be on the safe side.’
I said I would let him know how to reach me, then after a few more words I hung up.
I sat staring in front of me, my heart thumping, and there came a cold feeling of triumph rising in me.
At last after all these horrible, endless weeks, I could go after Rima.
I had thirteen days in which to find her before the thirty thousand had to be paid.
I was well ahead with my work. I could leave without throwing any extra work on Jack.
I caught a plane to Santa Barba the following morning.
CHAPTER FIVE
I
The fat woman at the hotel opposite the Pacific & Union Bank recognised me as I walked up to the reception desk.
She gave me her dismal smile of welcome, saying, ‘It’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Masters. If you want your old room, it’s free.’
I said I wanted it, passed a remark about the weather, added casually that I had a lot of work to do and wouldn’t be leaving my room all day during my three-day stay, and then humped my bag up to the room.
The time was twenty minutes past one. I had brought a pack of sandwiches with me and a half bottle of Scotch, and I settled down at the window.
This seemed the bank’s busiest time. Several people went in and out, but I didn’t see Rima. I knew I was gambling on a long chance. It might be that she only came to the bank once a week or even once a month, but there was just no other way I could think of to get at her.
When the bank closed, still without my seeing Rima, I went down to the lobby and put through a long distance call to Zimmerman’s sanatorium. I gave the receptionist there the telephone number of the hotel. I told her as I was almost certain to be out most of the time would she ask for Mr. Masters, who was a friend of mine, and who would pass on any message.
She said she would and then went on to say Sarita was still gaining strength although she was still unconscious.
It was a cold, blustery evening with a hint of rain in the air. I put on my raincoat, turned up the collar, pulled my hat down over my face and went out onto the streets.
I knew this was a risky thing to do, but the thought of spending the rest of the evening in this depressing hotel was more than my taut nerves could stand.
I hadn’t gone far before it began to rain. I went into a movie house and sat through a dreary, fourth rate Western before returning to the hotel for dinner. I then went up to bed.
The next day followed exactly the same pattern. I spent all day at the window, not seeing Rima; the evening in a movie house.
That night, when I returned to the hotel, I felt a prick of panic. Was the trip going to fail? Time was moving on. I now had only eleven more days to find her, and these days could easily be the same as the previous days.
Although I went to bed, I found it impossible to sleep, and around twenty to one in the morning, unable to lie any longer in this box of a room, I got up, dressed and went down into the dimly lit lobby.
The old negro night watchman blinked sleepily at me when I told him I was going for a walk in the rain.
Grumbling under his breath, he unlocked the door and let me out.
There were a few cafe bars still open, and one or two dance halls, their red and blue neon lights making
