were right. Too much time went by between Wilson’s being poisoned by gas and the explosion.”
“Daughter Amy is the only one who seems to have her father where she wants him. She’s told him if she doesn’t get what she wants, she’ll falsely accuse him of sexually abusing her as a child.”
“Nice.”
“It seems to be working. So she has no motive for knocking off her father. She has seven children she keeps here, and, has gotten Papa to pay off three husbands.”
“What some women will do to protect themselves from controlling men. In olden times, some became witches, for the same reason. Later, others bought bikes and got jobs.”
“He’s got more reason to kill her, than she him, to my mind. And Peppy says anybody could have poisoned the horse—if the horse was poisoned.”
“Poison is easy to get, especially on a farm. Any kind of poison could have been used, from a stimulant to a depressant.”
“Well, Mrs. Radliegh uses depressants. And stimulants, I guess. I emptied her rubbish this morning. But I don’t see her tiptoeing around a stable before dawn.”
“Lethal gas is something else. I would think that could be traced. It had to come from somewhere.”
“So,” Jack said. “It looks to me more than one person is making attempts on Radliegh’s life.”
“Me, too.” Fletch stood up. “You’ve eliminated very few people, if any. And that leaves a lot of suspects. Rather too many.” He patted his cumberbund. “A few days with your mother has made me uncommonly hungry.”
“She has that effect,” Jack said. “Did you enjoy your time with her at all?”
“Definitely I did. Your mother’s wise and witty,” Fletch said. “Always has been. I suppose at some point during the last twenty years I could have looked her up. Should have.”
“Do you feel badly about not having done so?”
Fletch looked at his son in the lamplight of the small room. “I do now.”
“You had no real reason to,” Jack said. “You didn’t know about me. She didn’t tell you. In fact, she was sort of hiding from you.”
“That’s not nice to think about.”
“And, people do drop from sight.”
“The question now is,” Fletch said, “what are we going to do about Radliegh? You called me here—”
“Thanks for coming, by the way.”
“I want to see that Bierstadt anyway. There appear to have been a number of attempts on his life; one succeeded in killing an innocent bystander. The methods of trying to kill him have been distinctly different, even maybe contradictory.”
“Lots of attempts,” Jack said. “Lots of suspects.”
“Different methods, from poisons to bombs. And one successful murderer. And, I don’t see that Chester Radliegh deserves being murdered in particular, do you?”
“He sat with me in a patch of woods this afternoon,” Jack said, “and talked to me. You sort of feel like you’re sitting next to a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, or something, but other than that, he’s a nice guy.”
“I mean, he hasn’t committed mass murder, raped his daughter, drugged his wife and son, ground the faces of the poor …”
“If anything, to the contrary.”
“Well.” Fletch glanced at his watch. “I’m meeting with Radliegh at ten o’clock.”
Jack said, “Maybe it’s that no one talks to him. I mean, really talks to him. It seemed to me this afternoon that, for him, people are a long reach, if you know what I mean.”
“You know, Jack,” Fletch said at the door. “Even King George the Third got the point, after a while.”
19
“Listen, dear lady,” Mortimer lectured gently. He sat by Crystal’s bed. “We have only two real sources of energy. One is sleep. The other is food.”
The telephone he had placed in the corner of the gymnasium for Crystal’s use rang.
“You must not spend all night every night reading. Man does not live by literature alone. You need sleep.”
“I get hungry. Too hungry to sleep,” Crystal said. “I mean, I used to think I was hungry.”
“That’s the good dear. You’re beginning to understand.”
Mortimer answered the phone. “Hello? Oh, my God, it’s that Fletcher bird. I thought we got rid of you, Fletcher. Please at least tell me you’ve left the state of Wyoming?”
“I’ve left the state,” Fletch said.
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard about Wyoming since I’ve been here—you’ve left.”
Talking on his personal communicator, Fletch was walking back through the twisting, landscaped walks to Vindemia’s main house. “Just want to know how you two are getting along.”
“Better without you,” Mortimer said.
“Either one of you killed the other yet?”
“I am enjoying Crystal’s company enormously.”
“You are?”
“Best company I’ve had in years. What a charming lady! She tells wonderful stories.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Nothing about the boxing world, of course. Those stories I tell,” Mortimer said. “To her, they’re news.”
“So you’re grateful I brought Crystal to you?”
“And then left.”
“I didn’t feel all that welcome this morning.”
“You weren’t.”
“I mean, we weren’t as well received at your place as we might have been. Under the circumstances.”
“Better than you deserved. We didn’t shoot you. Well, we did shoot at you, but we didn’t succeed in killing you, more’s the pity.”
“You couldn’t have hit me from more than arm’s length away even if you had succeeded in reloading the gun.”
“I seem to remember you on the ground, on your back.”
“I tripped.”
“That’s what Schmeling said.”
“What happened to gratitude?”
“It came in last in the last race at Hialeah. Hasn’t been heard from since.”
“Okay, I give up,” Fletch said. “Is Crystal within reach of the phone? I want to make sure she’s still among the living and breathing.”
“Here,” Mortimer said. “She lives. She breathes. With a friend like you, I don’t know why she bothers.”
“Fletch?” Crystal asked. “Where are you?”
“Vindemia.”
“How could you be? That’s in Georgia. You left here just this morning.”
“I was propelled by Mister Mortimer’s bad breath.”
“Have you seen Jack?”
“Just left him. He’s fine. How are you?”
“Having a wonderful time! Whatever convinced you Mister Mortimer is the solution to my problems?”
“At frequent great risk to myself, I am determined to see the best in people.”
“I’m even exercising!”
“How’s that?”
“He strapped wrist weights and ankle weights on me. I’ve been doing arm lifts and leg lifts in bed.”
“Lifting weights in bed? I’ve done that.”
“Earlier I did five sit-ups. Later three sit-ups. I’m scheduled to do one more. I feel the blood coursing through my veins vigorously.”
