Looking at her hard, degenerate face, I could see nothing I could say would light any spark of mercy in her. For a brief moment I was tempted to tell her to go to hell, but that was only for a brief moment.
She was a junky. Her mind was unpredictable. I didn’t dare call her bluff. She might go to the police, and if she did, I was sure they would come for me within a few hours of her giving them the information. There was no way out of this situation. She had me over a barrel. I would have to pay her.
I wrote the cheque and pushed it across the table to her.
‘There it is,’ I said, and I was surprised how steady my voice sounded. ‘Now I’ll give you a warning.
You are right that I plan to kill you. One of these days I will find and kill you. Remember that.’
She giggled.
‘Stop talking like a movie script, and don’t forget I want thirty thousand on the first of the month. If I don’t get it, you won’t hear from me, but you will hear from the cops.’
I got to my feet. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her boy friend had also stood up.
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ I said, and turning I crossed the bar to a row of telephone booths. I called the hospital and told the receptionist I was now on my way home.
‘Oh, Mr. Halliday, will you hold on a moment…?’
I was feeling pretty flat, but the sharp note in her voice brought me alert.
I heard her say something as if talking in an undertone to someone near by, then she said, ‘Mr.
Halliday? Dr. Weinborg would like you to come in. There’s nothing to be alarmed about, but he would like to see you as soon as possible.’
‘I’m coming,’ I said, and hung up.
I left the bar and in the street I waved to a cruising taxi. I told the driver to take me to the hospital fast.
As the cab drew away from the kerb, I caught sight of Rima and her boy friend walking towards the car park. She was looking up at him and smiling and he was staring hungrily down at her.
I reached the hospital in under seven minutes and I was shown straight into Dr. Weinborg’s office.
He came around his desk and shook hands with me.
‘Mr. Halliday, I’m not too satisfied with your wife’s progress,’ he said. ‘She should be showing some improvement by now, but frankly, she isn’t. Don’t misunderstand me. Her condition hasn’t deteriorated, but it hasn’t improved, and in a case like this we look for improvement within three or four days of the operation.’
I began to say something but found my lips so dry I couldn’t get the words out. I just stared at him, waiting.
‘I’ve talked to Dr. Goodyear. He suggests that Dr. Zimmerman should see your wife.’
‘What makes him imagine Dr. Zimmerman whoever he is can do anything better than he has done?’ I asked.
Weinberg moved a letter opener around on his desk.
‘Dr. Zimmerman is the most able specialist to do with the nerves of the brain, Mr. Halliday. He…’
‘I thought Goodyear was that.’
‘Dr. Goodyear is a brain surgeon,’ Weinborg said patiently. ‘He doesn’t handle post-operative cases.
Dr. Zimmerman usually takes over from him in complicated cases.’
‘One clearing up the other’s messes?’
Dr. Weinborg frowned.
‘I understand how you must be feeling, but that is scarcely a fair thing to say.’
‘I suppose it isn’t.’ I sat down abruptly. I was suddenly deadly tired and felt defeated. ‘Well, all right, let’s get Dr. Zimmerman.’
‘It’s a little more involved than just that,’ Weinborg said. ‘Dr. Zimmerman will only treat a patient if the 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.
