`Where the hell have you been, Nancy?' Newman demanded. `I've sat here roasting in your Jag. for exactly forty-three minutes. At least I've got the smell of that place out of my system…'
`And how long were you with Rosen?' she flared. 'I might have sat here waiting forty-three minutes for you…'
`Three minutes,' snapped Newman.
`Well, how was I to know? I popped into another department to see an old friend and she had a lot to tell me. I've been away at St Thomas's for a year in case you've forgotten. And do you mind getting out of the driving seat?'
`I'm driving…'
He inserted the ignition keys and switched on the engine. She said something under her breath and her classic, pleated skirt swept high up her long legs as she sat in the passenger seat and slammed the door. She asked the question as he drove smoothly out of the Medical Center.
`What smell were you referring to – the one you got out of your system?'
`Disinfectant. Hospital disinfectant…'
`You hate anything medical, don't you? I can't imagine what you ever saw in me the night we first met in that place in Walton Street. Bewick's, wasn't it?'
`My favourite London restaurant. And I saw your lovely legs. You display them frequently..
`Bastard!' She thumped his shoulder. 'What did Rosen want to tell you that was too spicy for my delicate ears?'
`With my not being a doctor, being British, he wanted to emphasize the conversation had been strictly confidential. He's a careful type, very ethical and all that. Now, guide me to the mansion of Dr Frank Chase…'
Holding the slip of paper Rosen had given Newman in her hands and staring straight ahead, Nancy spoke only to give directions. Sabino Canyon Road starts in a well-populated area on the north-east outskirts of Tucson heading for the Catalina Mountains. It starts as a district for the well-off and progresses up the canyon into an oasis for the wealthy.
Newman noted the houses were getting bigger, the grounds more extensive, and again ahead the mountains danced in the heat dazzle. But the Tucson range was like a series of gigantic, broken-backed dinosaurs turned into rock. Like the Skyline Country Club, the Catalinas were opulent, welcoming and had vegetation.
He accelerated past the Wayne property in case Linda happened to be looking out of a window. Nancy glanced at him with a hint of amusement.
`Why the sudden burst of enthusiasm?'
`So Linda can't phone Chase and warn him we're coming.'
`Robert, you never miss a trick,' she needled him.
She always called him Robert when she was either annoyed or wanted to get under his skin, knowing he disliked his Christian name. He parried the thrust by grinning and not replying. The Jag. went on climbing and behind them the city of Tucson spread out in the bowl formed by three separate mountain ranges.
`Slow down, Bob,' she warned, 'we're close now. That place on the left must be Chase…'
A split rail fence enclosed the property, a large, L-shaped house with two storeys and a green pantile roof. Newman drove through the open gateway and along the drive which divided – one arm leading to the front porch, the second to the double garage at the side of the house. The wheels crunched as they pulled up.
In front of the house the 'garden' was a generous stretch of gravel out of which grew evil-looking saguaro cacti. Shaped like trees, they had a main trunk from which sprouted prickly branches stretching up towards the sky as though trying to claw it down. A man standing by the double garage pressed a button and Newman, who had switched off the engine, heard the purr of power-operated doors closing over the garage. In the the wing mirror he watched the man approaching with a wary tread.
Thirty-two, Rosen had said. The man wore tight blue jeans and an open-necked shirt with a large check design. His face was bony, the skin tanned under a mop of thick brown hair. Seeing only that much in the mirror, Newman took an instant dislike to him. He looked up as the man put a long-fingered hand on the door top. Manicured nails and a strong whiff of after-shave lotion.
`Dr Frank Chase?'
`Yes.'
The word hung in the hot air like a challenge and the brown eyes which stared down at Newman measured him for the operating table. Newman smiled amiably and said the one thing which he thought would throw Chase off balance.
`I don't think you've met Dr Nancy Kennedy. Sister of Linda Wayne. Grand-daughter of Jesse Kennedy. She's about to launch an investigation into why her grandfather was hustled off five-and-a-half thousand miles away without consulting her. This is a lovely place you've got here, Dr Chase.'
`Miss Kennedy, I'm afraid there was no question your grandfather was suffering from leukaemia..' Dr Chase laid a thin, bony hand on the arm of the reclining chair Nancy sat in at the rear of the house by the side of the oyster-shell-shaped swimming pool. His smile was sympathetic but Newman observed the smile did not reach the brown eyes which studied her. 'You see,' Chase continued, 'we had the top specialist in the state examine him. Dr Buhler…'
`Who conveniently died in a car accident,' Nancy interrupted him coldly. 'And even more conveniently had the records of those tests with him so they now no longer exist. The only real evidence, when you get to the bottom line, that he has this disease.'
`Conveniently?' Chase's smile became a little tight. 'I don't quite follow.' His hand clasped Nancy's gently. Here we go with the famous bedside manner, Newman thought as he stretched in his own chair and sipped his glass of bourbon. `Dr Kennedy,' Chase continued more formally, 'I do realize you must be overwrought. You were fond of your grandfather…'
'I am fond of my grandfather…'
She pulled her hand free and swallowed a large gulp of her own drink. Newman stood up and eased his shoulders as though stiff from sitting. He grinned as Chase glanced up at him sharply.
`Mind if I just wander round your place?' he suggested. 'I'll leave you and Nancy to talk this thing out alone.'
`That might be a very good idea,' Chase agreed. 'Feel free.
The obligatory swimming pool and its surrounding patio were tiled with marble. The walls of the house were plaster painted a dark sludge green. The picture windows looking down on Tucson were huge and triple plate glass doors slid open on to the patio. As he wandered towards the side of the house Newman peered inside.
The largest hi-fi system he had ever seen occupied the end wall of the sitting-room. The rest of the furniture reeked of money. He looked back before he disappeared round the garage end of the house and Chase had his back to him, crouched forward as he spoke earnestly to Nancy, whose expression was blank as she listened.
It intrigued Newman that Chase's first action on seeing them arrive had been to close the garage. He may well have recognized Nancy-the Wayne house was full of photographs of her with Linda. His shirt stuck to his back as he shuffled quietly over the gravel which had a gritty feel that seemed to compound the heat.
Holding his glass in one hand, he lifted the lid of the control box attached to the wall. Two buttons, one green, one red. He pressed green. The same purring sound of highly-efficient – and expensive – hydraulics as the doors elevated. He stood staring at the occupants. One red Ferrari. One red Maserati. Blood-red. Very new. A small fortune on eight wheels.
`You're interested in cars, Mr Newman?'
`I'm a car buff, Chase. So, apparently, are you,' Newman said easily.
The doctor had come after him silent as a cat. Even the sneakers he wore should have made some sound on the gravel. He stood looking at Newman and the smile was gone. His right hand held a refilled glass of bourbon. He swallowed half the contents in one gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of his other hand.
`You usually go creeping round people's homes, prying? That's the foreign correspondent coming out, I guess. Incidentally, I understood you and Nancy were engaged – but I notice no ring on the third finger of her left hand…'
Newman grinned amiably. He made a throwaway gesture with his hand. Chase did not respond. His mouth twisted in a faint sneer, he waited, his head tilted forward. Newman put a cigarette in his mouth before replying.
`Let's take that lot in sequence, shall we? You have something to hide because you can afford a couple of brand new sports jobs?'
`I don't like your tone…'
`I'm not crazy about yours, but as long as enough rich patients continue to love you what does it matter? As to Nancy, we have a trial engagement…'
`I'd just as soon you didn't light that cigarette, Newman. You should read the statistics…'
`You think I'll pollute the atmosphere out here?' Newman lit the cigarette. 'Did you know that in Britain a lot of doctors have given up smoking and preach the gospel? Did you also know that the graph showing the degree of alcoholism among British doctors shows a steady climb.' Newman glanced at Chase's glass. 'You should read the statistics.'
`I've heard of trial marriages…' Chase's sneer became more pronounced. 'But a trial engagement is a new sexual exercise…'
`So, I've broadened your experience. Hello, Nancy. I think we ought to leave now – unless you have more questions for your friendly family doctor…'
Tight-lipped, Nancy waited until they were driving back along Sabino Canyon Road before she spoke. Extracting the cigarette from Newman's mouth, she took a few puffs and handed it back to him. He knew then she was in a towering rage.
`The condescending bastard! God knows what Linda sees in a man like that. Our previous doctor, Bellman, is a nice man.'
`I've nothing against Frank Chase,' Newman remarked airily as he swung round a bend. 'He's a hyena – scooping up red meat wherever he can find it, holding rich old ladies by the hand as they tell him about their imaginary ailments. That doesn't make him a conspirator. Your sister's place next? I'd like to talk to her on her home ground rather than at the Smugglers Inn. In people's homes you see them as they really are. The other night when she brought Harvey over for dinner at my hotel she put on an act. Her public image.'
`Do you know the one thing Chase didn't suggest when we were out by the pool – the one thing he should have suggested if he had really wanted me reassured about Jesse?'
`Oddly enough, as I wasn't there all the time, I don't know.'
`He never suggested that we visit the Berne Clinic so I could see Jesse for myself. And yes, I think you should talk to Linda. I'll leave you alone. Mind she doesn't seduce you…'
`It all started when Jesse – we all called him that – had a bad fall from his horse, Bob…' The large dark eyes stared at Newman, the long lashes half-closed demurely over them. `You do prefer to be called Bob, don't you? Nancy calls you Robert when she wants to make you mad. My kid sister is full of little tricks like that. Is that the way you like your tea? Have I got it right?'
Linda Wayne sat beside Newman on the couch, her long legs sheathed in the sheerest black nylon and crossed with her skirt just above her shapely knees. She wore a high-necked cashmere sweater which emphasized her full figure. When she had shown him into the vast living-room her right breast had briefly touched his forearm. He had felt the firmness under the cashmere, a material quite unsuited to the temperature outside but perfect for the stark coolness of the air-conditioning.
Her hair was jet black, thick and shoulder-length like Nancy's. Thick, dark eyebrows made her slow-moving eyes seem even larger. Her voice was husky and she exuded sexuality like a heavy perfume. Newman stopped himself gazing at the sweep of her legs and tried to recall what she had just said.
`Your tea,' she repeated, 'is it the right colour?'
`Perfect…'
`It's Earl Grey. I bought it in San Francisco. I just love your English teas. We drink a lot of tea in the States now…'
`But you don't ride horses much down here any more.' He swallowed a gulp of the tea quickly. He hated Earl Grey. 'So what was Jesse doing on a horse?'
`He rode every day like they used to years ago, Bob. We put him to bed upstairs and called the doctor..
`Frank Chase?'
`That's right…' She had paused briefly before she replied. She began talking more quickly. `Bellman, our previous doctor, was getting out of touch with modern developments. I thought a younger man would be more likely to move with the times. It's a good job I took that decision – he gave Jesse a thorough examination, including blood tests. That's how we found out Jesse was suffering from leukaemia. You can imagine the shock…' She moved closer to him and clasped his free hand. She looked very soulful.
`It was a very big jump,' he said.
She looked puzzled, wary. 'Bob, I'm not following you.. `From Tucson, Arizona to Berne, Switzerland.'
`Oh, I see what you mean.' She relaxed, gave him a warm smile. 'Jesse was a mountaineer. He liked Switzerland. He discussed it with Frank – Dr Chase. He simply acceded to my grandfather's expressed wish, bearing in mind the patient's best interests…'
`Come again? No, forget it. No thanks, no more tea.'
He simply acceded to my grandfather's expressed wish, bearing in mind the patient's best interests.
Linda's dialogue had suddenly gone wrong – she would normally never talk like that. But Frank Chase would. It confirmed what Newman had expected to happen. During the time between driving away from Chase's place down Sabino Canyon Road to Linda's home the hyena had called Linda to report their visit – to instruct her.
She squeezed his hand gently to get his full attention and began talking again in her soft, soothing voice. 'Bob, I'd like you to do everything you can to settle my kid sister's mind. There's nothing she can do about Jesse except worry.
`The kid sister can fly to Berne to find out what the hell is really going on…' Nancy stood in the open doorway, her manner curt, her tone biting. 'And when you've finished with it you might give Bob back his hand – he's only got two of them…'
`Nancy, there's simply nothing to go on,' Newman said emphatically. 'As a professional newspaper man I look for facts when I'm after a story – evidence! There isn't any showing something's wrong…'
It was mid-afternoon and they were eating a late lunch at the Smugglers Inn where he had insisted on staying. It gave him independence and kept Linda Wayne at arm's length. Nancy slammed down her fork beside her half-eaten steak.
`Fact One. Nobody asked for a second opinion…'
`Buhler, who did the blood tests, was tops according to Rosen. I gather you respect Rosen?'
`Yes, I do. Let that one slide, for the moment. Fact Two. I never heard Jesse say a word about he wished he could live in Switzerland. Visit it, yes! But God, he was always so glad to get back home.'
`When a man is ill, he dreams, to blot out reality…'
`Fact Three!' Nancy drummed on. 'At the very moment Jesse is ill because he falls off his horse Linda calls in an entirely new doctor. Fact Four! The only man who can confirm this diagnosis of leukaemia, Buhler, is dead. And his records go up in smoke with him! So everything rests on Dr Chase's word, a man you called a hyena…'
`I didn't like him. That doesn't make him Genghis Khan. Look, I'm seeing Rosen this evening. If nothing comes of that, can we drop the subject? I have to decide whether to accept this pretty lucrative offer from CBS to act as their European correspondent. They won't wait forever for a decision…'
`You want the job?' she interjected.
`It's the only way we can get married – unless you agree that we both live in London or somewhere in Europe..
`I've given up years of my life to practise medicine and I want to live in the States. I'd feel lost and marooned anywhere else. And, Bob, I am going to Berne. The question is – are you coming with me? There might even be a big story in it…'
`Look, Nancy, I write about espionage, foreign affairs. Where in God's name is there that kind of story in this Berne business?'
`You've been there. You've done your job there. You speak all the languages – French, German, Italian, plus Spanish. You told me you have friends there. The bottom line is, are you going to help me?'
`I'll decide after I've seen Rosen.
`Bob, what does a woman take off first? Her earrings, isn't it?' She divested herself of each gold earring slowly, watching him with a certain expression. 'Let's go to your room…'
`I haven't finished my steak.' He pushed his plate away and grinned. 'It's underdone, anyway. I've just lost my appetite.'
`You ordered your steak rare. The experience I'm offering is rare too…'