mantel, 'but it goes easier when they know help is available.' He was calm now, and met Hawkin's eyes steadily. The interruption had firmly restored him to his position of mastery, and Hawkin reluctantly accepted that nothing would be gained by pressing on that day. Still, his main goal had been achieved; he'd have to settle for that. He started again on a different tack.
'Can you tell me who is not down here today?'
'Offhand I can name a half a dozen. Old Peterson, of course. He comes out of the hills once a year at Christmas, to visit his mother in Santa Barbara, and stays until the end of January. Never other than that.'
'His full name?' asked Kate, pen poised.
'Something like Bernie. I'd have to look it up, to tell you the truth.'
'That would be helpful. Who else?'
'Vaun Adams. Tommy would've told her, but she's probably busy painting. Ben Riddle is in San Francisco for a few days. I think Tony Dodson is off on a job somewhere, probably be back tonight or tomorrow. Susanna Canani is in Florida with her kids. Hari Bensen I haven't seen, or his lady Ursula.' He thought for a moment, then shrugged. 'There might be one or two others. If I think of them I'll let you know.'
'Do you keep close records of the residents?' Kate asked. He laughed.
'Are you kidding? Half of the kids here don't have birth certificates, and a few of the adults. A lot of them make a point of having no bank account, social security number, driver's license, voter's registration card—not all of them, by any means, but there's a handful of residents who are greater purists—fanatics, if you prefer—than I can afford to be.'
'Strikes me you've laid yourself right open for some not very nice people to come in.'
'I don't know that keeping track of people's past is any insurance against that. We don't let just anyone in, you see. It's the one place where everyone over the age of twelve has an equal say, whether or not to allow a specific individual in after a four-month trial period. Three-fourths of them have to approve a residency application, or the person goes. I can veto someone, but I can't override their negative. So far it's worked fine. In fact, one time we voted out a couple, and a few weeks later I found out that they'd been arrested for some knifing that had happened the year before in Arizona. There was something wrong with them, and after four months we knew it.'
'Don't you have problems with the county and the tax man and all?' asked Kate.
'I pay two full-time lawyers to keep my affairs sorted out. I tell them what I want to do, they tell me how to do it.'
'Their names, please,' asked Kate, and added them to the growing list.
Hawkin scowled at his glass for a moment.
'It remains to be seen if your method of weeding out the twisted ones has been one hundred percent effective, Mr. Tyler. Tell me, why do you think the bodies were brought here to your Road? Who do you think it is, this person who has 'brought his filth here'?'
'I wish to God I knew. It feels… I feel like someone is doing this to me personally. I know that's ridiculous, and I would certainly never say such a thing to the parents of those little girls, but it is how I feel. Like someone's got it in for me, laying dead children on my doorstep, and yes I'm aware of how absurd and egocentric it is, but I can't help it. And no, I can't think of anyone who would want to do that to me. God knows I've thought about it.'
'Mr. Tyler, there's something else that's been puzzling me. Maybe you can shed some light on it. If the murderer didn't want the bodies found, he could have chosen a thousand better places between here and the Bay Area. If he did want them found, his method seems a bit chancy. Any ideas?'
'Not so very chancy. Certainly this last one would have been found within a day or two. It's a relatively built- up part of the Road, and that patch of ground is pretty open. And the one they found along the creek, even that would have been discovered before too long. It's a public footpath, up from a public beach, and even at this time of year people use it regularly. I had to put in a fence along the creek to keep people out. She could have gone longer if the weather had been bad, I suppose.' His face twisted in a parody of humor and he gave a short bark of desperate laughter. 'Christ, what a macabre conversation.'
'Yes. You were having a meeting that night, the night Amanda Bloom was left here, weren't you?'
'Yes, from eight until about one in the morning. It was impromptu, or anyway it wasn't supposed to be here, but the place we were supposed to meet, one of their kids came down with the chicken pox, so we met here instead.'
'A political meeting, wasn't it?'
'Sort of. A group of us coastal landowners who oppose oil drilling off the coast. I gave their names to Trujillo at the time.'
'And nobody saw anything.'
'He must be invisible; nobody sees him anywhere.'
It was an opinion that Kate had heard before.
'And the first one? Tina Merrill? It was quite some time before Tommy Chesler happened across her.'
Tyler pushed himself abruptly away from the fireplace and went to pour a fresh glass of the smoky drink. Kate and Hawkin watched him patiently. It took two swallows and a circuit of the room before he spoke.
'I would have found her on the first of December if I'd been here. I always ride to the top of the Road on the first and then come back and put on a party for the residents, but I wasn't here. I had to fly to Seattle very suddenly on the thirtieth; my uncle was in an accident, and I didn't get back until the third.'
'You told me that, yes,' said Hawkin. 'And you drove up the following day, was it?' Kate saw he was puzzled— wondering why this should so trouble Tyler.
'Rode, on horseback. On the fourth. And she wasn't there. Not on the Road, anyway, though she must have been just over the edge. She didn't… it had been cold,' he ended, and took another swallow.
Hawkin's face took on a look of polite incredulity, and after a moment Kate realized that in spite of the weeks of evidence and despite Hawkin's fairly explicit words to the general assembly downstairs, the man Tyler was only now allowing himself to face the inevitable conclusion: that someone on his Road was responsible for the deaths of the three girls.
'And everyone on the road knew it was your habit to be on that stretch of the Road on the first of December. So there's a fairly good chance that whoever put her there meant for you to find her.'
'I… think so. Which means whoever is doing this didn't just pick the Road off a map.'
'No, Mr. Tyler, I think that is a pretty safe bet.' Hawkin drained the last drops from his glass into his mouth and set the glass lovingly on the table. It took just a few minutes to wrap up the interview, arrange for access keys and a room for Trujillo and one other for the night, and make a list from Kate's notebook of the information they needed. They walked down the stairs together, and Tyler left them on the second floor landing to survey his private obstetrical ward. Hawkin leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette.
'Give me your reactions so far.'
'To Tyler?'
'To everything.'
Kate thought for a moment.
'Did you notice that the only person here who wears a watch is Tyler's lady friend with the blond hausfrau braids?'
Hawkin looked surprised and then began softly to laugh. His face was transformed, and he looked considerably younger.
'Very good, Casey. No, I hadn't consciously seen it. The chatelaine with the watch and the keys to the storehouse, eh?'
'I only noticed it because I thought my watch was running slow, and when I went to check it I couldn't find anyone who had one. After that I began to study wrists. They may all have pocket watches, but no wristwatches.'
'Interesting.'
'About Tyler. He really was horrified that you connected him with the murders, but it didn't look like guilt or fear. His anger was real, too, though I wish I could have seen his face.'
'Mmm,' was Hawkin's only response. After a minute they descended from Tyler's ivory tower to rejoin the fray.
