Mr. X

    “It's about a week's worth of paperwork.'

    'Let's do it.' I thought about the details. 'Have Cobbie come into a quarter of the principal at twenty-one, another quarter at twenty-five, and the remainder at thirty. Give Mrs. Hatch two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year in expenses.'

    He nodded. 'Mrs. Hatch's payments will he made from the trust set up for her son. This arrangement, which is extremely generous, will require my involvement on an ongoing basis, you understand. I have the feeling that you would prefer that my services be billed to you rather than to Mrs. Hatch and her son.'

    'Would you please send Mrs. Hatch a letter outlining the terms we've discussed?'

    'Of course.' Creech unfolded his legs and placed his hands between his knees in what I thought was preparation for departure. Instead, he took a clutch of papers from his briefcase and placed them in my hands with a feathery glance of rebuke. 'These are the documents concerning Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Crothers's financial obligations in regard to Mount Baldwin Elder Care Facility. We agreed that you would sign them in my office the other day, but never mind, I brought them along. Mrs. Crothers will not be beggared.'

    Apologizing, I signed the papers and watched them disappear into the briefcase. Creech leaned back without bringing his spine into contact with the wall. 'Previous to last night, had you heard of the Knacker?' His voice made the question seem weightless.

    “I heard some kids in Hatchtown talking about it, but I didn't know what it was.'

    'Are you aware that the city once used it for garbage disposal?'

    I said that Captain Mullan had mentioned it.

    'A week after the city put the policy into effect, Hatchtown residents began falling ill at an unprecedented rate. Flu, intestinal disorders. In the first month, six people died of undiagnosed infections. By the end of the second month, birth defects increased noticeably. At the end of the third month, public opinion brought an end to the practice. When I was a boy growing up on Leather Lane, Mr. Dunstan, I knew children younger than I who had been born blind, deaf, severely retarded, with deformed or missing limbs, or with combinations of all the above. The original business had folded long before. The owners opened a fairground.'

    I said nothing.

    “I suppose the Hatches knew that whatever was in that pit, whether they put it there themselves or not, was eventually going to seep into Hatchtown's water supply. To this day, Hatchtown people never drink anything but bottled water.'

    'So I noticed,' I said.

    “If Cordwainer Hatch died in the Knacker, he had the honor of meeting several of my former clients.' Creech grasped the handle of his briefcase and stood up, uttering a raspy sound I understood was a Creech-chuckle only after he had gone across the cell and called for the guard.

 •A quarter of an hour later, an officer escorted us to the lobby. A few cops turned away when they saw Creech. We emerged into an overcast morning twenty degrees cooler than the day before. Wisps of fog meandered across Town Square. The tips of fingers lightly tapped my elbow, I thought in acknowledgment of my new freedom. On a bench near the fountain, Goat Gridwell's golden hair tumbled out from beneath a mound of blankets. 'Thank you, Mr. Creech,' I said, and discovered that he was gone.

 •130

 •Through coiling fog I went up the lanes, Dove, Leather, Mutton, Treacle, Wax, with each step anticipating the footfall, the low smear of laughter that would announce Robert's presence behind me. I knew what he had done, and I knew why he had done it. And Robert knew what Ihad done—there could be no more pretense between us. The threat posed by the being I had known as Mr. X had been forever eradicated. I haddone that, I hadcarried it off. Robert and I had come into equilibrium, I thought, and I wanted to tell him that I had given away half of the fortune he had schemed to get. Each of us had saved the other's life. We were finished. It wasover.

    I crossed Veal Yard and turned around to scan the narrow buildings and shadowy openings beyond the fountain. Robert was hovering; he was awaiting his moment. I went into the lobby and saw Laurie Hatch floating out of a leather armchair.

    She wrapped me in her arms and pressed her smooth cheek against my unshaven cheek. 'Thank goodness.' She tilted her head and looked into my eyes. 'How are you?'

    'Reports are still coming in,' I said.

    “I feel so. ... I don't how I feel. I had to see you. Last night, the world turned upside down, and everything went flying. I felt numb.

    Then the police barged in and asked all these questions. They even asked about the pictures. Did they talk to you?'

    'They talked to me all night long,' I said.

    'And let you go. You're not in trouble.'

    “I'm fine.'

    Laurie put her head on my chest. I glared over the top of her head at the bug-eyed day clerk, and he scuttled down the counter.

    “I'm sorry about what I did to you,' I said. “It was a mistake.'

    'No, Ned, please.' She placed her hand on my cheek. 'You didn't make a mistake, I did.God, I've been worried. I didn't know if I'd ruined everything, I just kept rolling over and over, wanting you next to me.'

    I held her hand as we went up the stairs.

    When I pushed the door shut behind us, Laurie brought her entire body into contact with mine.

    'How long have you known?' I asked.

    'Known what?' Her smile widened along my shoulder.

    'Did you know who I was the first time you saw me?'

    The top of her head nearly struck my chin. She moved a few inches away. 'How could I?'

    'Stewart pushed you off the committee because he didn't want you to see the pictures I showed you last night.'

    'Never mind Stewart. Do you think I recognized you?'

    “I'm trying to figure that out.'

    She took another exasperated step away. 'Stewart is about a hundred times more interested in his family than I ever was. I don't remember how much attention I paid to the Hatch stuff. I looked through it, if that's what you mean. Maybe your face looked familiar when you came up to me in the hospital, but I wouldn't have known why.'

    'Didn't you call Parker Gillespie two days later?'

    'Of course I did!' She raised her arms and held out her hands, palms up. 'Ashleigh was in town, remember? I was worried about what would happen to Cobbie if Stewart went to jail. The natural person to talk to was the lawyer for the estate. Ned, don't make both of us unhappy.'

    I took her hand in mine and kissed it. “I don't want to make anyone unhappy. I'm just looking for explanations. Tell me about this. A day after you did everything you could to help me find Edward Rinehart, you wanted me to forget the whole thing.'

    Laurie settled her hand on my hip. 'Honey, you toldme you thought you might be putting Cobbie and me in danger.'

    'You probably haven't heard about Grenville Milton,'

    Her eyes deepened.

    'Last night, Grennie charged two first-class tickets to Mexico City and took off for a motel in Cape Girardeau. He was carrying a hundred and thirty thousand dollars and a gun, and he begged his girlfriend to come with him. When she refused, he killed himself.'

    The shadow of a thought as precise as a Euclidean theorem moved across Laurie's eyes. She moved toward the table, tapping her lips with an index finger. 'Does Stewart know yet?'

    'That's probably why he called C. Clayton Creech.'