Strange Highways (69 page)

“Hard to say.”

“Old? Young?”

“In between.”

“Accent?”

“No.”

“Speech impediment?”

“No. Just hoarse—apparently from the struggle we had.”

Wallace said, “Can you remember what he said, each time he called?”

“Approximately.”

“Tell me.” He slumped down in the only easy chair in the room and crossed his legs. He looked as if he had fallen asleep, though he was alert.

Chase told Wallace everything that he could remember about the strange conversations with Judge. The detective had a few questions that stirred a few additional details from Chase’s memory.

“He sounds like a religious psychotic,” Wallace said. “All this stuff about fornication and sin and passing judgments.”

“Maybe. But I wouldn’t look for him at tent meetings. I think it’s more of a moral excuse to kill than a genuine belief “

“Maybe,” Wallace said. “Then again, we get his sort every once in a while.”

Jim Tuppinger finished his work. He outlined the workings of his listening and recording equipment and further explained the trace equipment that the telephone company would use to seek Judge when he called.

“Well,” Wallace said, “tonight, for once, I intend to go home when my shift ends.” Just the thought of eight hours’ sleep made his lids droop over his weary, bloodshot eyes.

“One thing,” Chase said.

“Yeah?”

“If this leads to something—do you have to tell the press about my part in it?”

“Why?” Wallace asked.

“It’s just that I’m tired of being a celebrity, of having people bother me at all hours of the day and night.”

“It has to come out in the trial, if we nab him,” Wallace said.

“But not before?”

“I guess not.”

“I’d appreciate it,” Chase said. “In any case, I’ll have to appear at the trial, won’t I?”

“Probably.”

“If the press didn’t have to know until then, it would cut down on the news coverage by half.”

“You really
are
modest, aren’t you?” Wallace asked. Before Chase could respond to that, the detective smiled, clapped him on the shoulder, and left.

“Would you like a drink?” Chase asked Tuppinger.

“Not on duty.”

“Mind if I—?”

“No. Go ahead.”

Chase noticed that Tuppinger watched him with interest as he got new ice cubes and poured a large dose of whiskey. It wasn’t as large as usual. He supposed he’d have to restrain his thirst with the cop around.

When Chase sat on the bed, Tuppinger said, “I read all about your exploits over there.”

“Oh?”

“Really something,” Tuppinger said.

“Not really.”

“Oh, yes, really,” Tuppinger insisted. He was sitting in the easy chair, which he had moved close to his equipment. “It had to be hard over there, worse than anybody at home could ever know.”

Chase nodded.

“I’d imagine the medals don’t mean much. I mean, considering everything you had to go through to earn them, they must seem kind of insignificant.”

Chase looked up from his drink, surprised at the insight. “You’re right. They don’t mean anything.”

Tuppinger said, “And it must be hard to come back from a place like that and settle into a normal life. Memories couldn’t fade that quickly.”

Chase started to respond, then saw Tuppinger glance meaningfully at the glass of whiskey in his hand. He closed his mouth, bit off his response. Then, hating Tuppinger as badly as he hated Judge, he lifted the drink and took a large swallow.

He said, “I’ll have another, I think. Sure you don’t want one?”

“Positive,” Tuppinger said.

When Chase returned to the bed with another glassful, Tuppinger cautioned him against answering the phone without first waiting for the tape to be started. Then he went into the bathroom, where he remained almost ten minutes.

When the cop returned, Chase asked, “How late do we have to stay up?”

“Has he ever called this late—except that first night?”

“No,” Chase said.

“Then I’ll turn in now,” Tuppinger said, flopping in the easy chair. “See you in the morning.”

* * *

In the morning, the whispers of the dead men woke Chase, but they proved to be nothing more than the sound of water running in the bathroom sink. Having risen first, Tuppinger was shaving.

When the cop opened the door and came into the main room of the tiny efficiency apartment a few minutes later, he looked refreshed. “All yours!” He seemed remarkably energetic for having spent the night in the armchair.

Chase took his time bathing and shaving, because the longer he remained in the bathroom, the less he would have to talk to the cop. When he was finally finished, it was quarter to ten. Judge had not yet called.

“What have you got for breakfast?” Tuppinger asked.

“Sorry. There isn’t anything here.”

“Oh, you’ve got to have something. Doesn’t have to be breakfast food. I’m not particular in the morning. I’ll eat a cheese sandwich as happily as bacon and eggs.”

Chase opened the refrigerator and took out the bag of Winesap apples. “Only these.”

Tuppinger stared at the apples and into the empty refrigerator. He glanced at the whiskey bottle on the counter. He didn’t say anything.

“They’ll do fine,” Tuppinger said enthusiastically, taking the clear plastic bag of apples from Chase. “Want one?”

“No.”

“You ought to eat breakfast,” Tuppinger said. “Even something small. Gets the stomach working, sharpens you for the day ahead.”

“No, thanks.”

Tuppinger carefully peeled two apples, sectioned them, and ate them slowly, chewing well.

By ten-thirty Chase was worried. Suppose Judge did not call today? The idea of having Tuppinger here for the afternoon and the evening, of waking up again to the sound of Tuppinger in the bathroom shaving, was all but intolerable.

“Do you have a relief man?” Chase asked.

“Unless it gets too protracted,” Tuppinger said, “I’ll stick with it myself.”

“How long might that be?”

“Oh,” Tuppinger said, “if we don’t have it wrapped up in forty-eight hours, I’ll call in my relief.”

Though another forty-eight hours with Tuppinger was in no way an attractive prospect, it was probably no worse—perhaps better than it would have been with another cop. Tuppinger was too observant for comfort, but he didn’t talk much. Let him look. And let him think whatever he wanted to think. As long as he could keep his mouth shut, they wouldn’t have any problems.

At noon Tuppinger ate two more apples and cajoled Chase into eating most of one. They decided that Chase would go for take-out fried chicken, fries, and slaw at dinnertime.

At twelve-thirty Chase had his first Jack Daniel’s of the day.

Tuppinger watched, but he didn’t say anything.

Chase didn’t offer him a drink this time.

At three in the afternoon the telephone rang. Although this was what they had been waiting for since the night before, Chase didn’t want to answer it. Because Tuppinger was there, urging him to pick it up while he adjusted his own earphones, he finally lifted the receiver.

“Hello?” His voice sounded cracked, strained.

“Mr. Chase?”

“Yes,” he said, immediately recognizing the voice. It was not Judge.

“This is Miss Pringle, calling for Dr. Fauvel, to remind you of your appointment tomorrow at three. You have a fifty-minute session scheduled, as usual.”

“Thank you.” This double check was a strict routine with Miss Pringle, although Chase had forgotten about it.

“Tomorrow at three,” she repeated, then hung up.

* * *

At ten minutes before five, Tuppinger complained of hunger and of a deep reluctance to consume a fifth Winesap apple.

Chase didn’t object to an early dinner, accepted Tuppinger’s money, and went out to buy the chicken, French fries, and slaw. He purchased a large Coca-Cola for Tuppinger but nothing for himself. He would drink his usual.

They ate at a quarter past five, without dinner conversation, watching an old movie on television.

Less than two hours later Wallace arrived, looking thoroughly weary although he had only come on duty at six. He said, “Mr. Chase, do you think I might have a word alone with Jim?”

“Sure,” Chase said.

He stepped into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned on the water in the sink, which made a sound like dead men whispering. The noise put him on edge.

He lowered the lid of the commode and sat facing the empty tub, realizing that it needed to be scrubbed. He wondered if Tuppinger had noticed.

Less than five minutes passed before Wallace knocked on the door. “Sorry to push you out of your own place like that. Police business.”

“We haven’t been lucky, as Mr. Tuppinger probably told you.”

Wallace nodded. He looked peculiarly sheepish, and for the first time he could not meet Chase’s gaze. “I’ve heard.”

“It’s the longest he’s gone without calling.”

Wallace nodded. “It’s possible, you know, that he won’t be calling at all, any more.”

“You mean, since he passed judgment on me?”

Chase saw that Tuppinger was disconnecting wires and packing his equipment into the suitcase.

Wallace said, “I’m afraid you’re right, Mr. Chase. The killer has passed his judgment—or lost interest in you, one or the other—and he isn’t going to try to contact you again. We don’t want to keep a man tied up here.”

“You’re leaving?” Chase asked.

“Well, yeah, it seems best.”

“But another few hours might-“

“Might produce nothing,” Wallace said. “What we’re going to do, Mr. Chase, is we’re going to rely on you to tell us what Judge says if, as seems unlikely now, he should call again.” He smiled at Chase.

In that smile was all the explanation that Chase required. He said, “When Tuppinger sent me out for dinner, he called you, didn’t he?” Not waiting for a response, he went on: “And he told you about the call from Dr. Fauvel’s secretary—the word ‘session’ probably alarmed him. And now you’ve talked to the good doctor.”

Tuppinger finished packing the equipment. He hefted the case and looked quickly around the room to be sure that he had not left anything behind.

“Judge is real,” Chase told Wallace.

“I’m sure that he is,” Wallace said. “That’s why I want you to report any calls he might make to you.” But his tone was that of an adult humoring a child.

“You stupid bastard, he
is
real!”

Wallace flushed with anger. When he spoke, there was tension in his voice, and his controlled tone was achieved with obvious effort. “Mr. Chase, you saved the girl. You deserve to be praised for that. But the fact remains, no one has called here in nearly twenty-four hours. And if you believed such a man as Judge existed, you surely would’ve contacted us before this, when he first called. It would’ve been natural for you to rush to us—especially a duty—conscious young man like yourself. All these things, examined in the light of your psychiatric record and Dr. Fauvel’s explanations, make it clear that the expenditure of one of our best men isn’t required. Tuppinger has other duties.”

Chase saw how overwhelmingly the evidence seemed to point to Fauvel’s thesis, just as he saw how his own behavior hadn’t helped him. His fondness for whiskey in front of Tuppinger. His inability to carry on a simple conversation. Worst of all, his anxiety about publicity might have appeared to be the insincere protestations of a man who, in fact, wanted attention. Still, with his fists balled at his sides, he said, “Get out.”

“Take it easy, son,” Wallace said.

“Get out right now.”

Wallace looked around the room and let his attention come to rest on the bottle of whiskey. “Tuppinger tells me you haven’t any food on hand, but that there are five bottles in that cupboard.” He did not look at Chase. He seemed to be embarrassed by Tuppinger’s obvious spying. “You look thirty pounds underweight, son.”

“Get out,” Chase repeated.

Wallace was not ready to leave yet. He was searching for some way to soften the accusation implicit in their departure. But then he sighed and said, “Son, no matter what happened to you over there in Vietnam, you aren’t going to forget about it with whiskey.”

Before Chase, infuriated at the homespun psychoanalysis, could order him out again, Wallace finally left with Jim Tuppinger at his heels.

Chase closed the door after them. Quietly.

He locked it.

He poured a drink.

He was alone again. But he was accustomed to being alone.

6

THURSDAY EVENING AT SEVEN-THIRTY, HAVING SUCCESSFULLY EVADED Mrs. Fielding on his way out of the house, Chase drove his Mustang to Kanackaway Ridge Road, aware and yet unaware of his destination. He stayed within the speed limits through Ashside and the outlying districts, but floored the accelerator at the bottom of the mountain road, taking the wide curves on the far outside. The white guardrails slipped past so quickly and so close on the right that they blurred into a continuous wall of pale planking, the cables between them like black scrawls on the phantom boards.

On the top of the ridge, he parked where he had pulled off the road Monday night, killed the engine. He slouched in his seat, listening to the whispering breeze.

He should never have stopped, should have kept moving at all costs. As long as he was moving, he did not have to wonder what to do next. Stopped, he was perplexed, frustrated, restless.

He got out of the car, uncertain of what he expected to find here that would be of any help to him. A good hour of daylight remained in which to search the area where the Chevy had been parked. But, of course, the police would have combed and recombed it far more thoroughly than he ever could.

He strolled along the edge of the park to the bramble row where the Chevy had been. The sod was well trampled, littered with half-smoked cigarette butts, candy wrappers, and balled-up pages from a reporter’s notepad. He kicked at the debris and scanned the mashed grass, feeling ridiculous. Too many morbid curiosity seekers had been here. He wouldn’t find a clue in all this mess.

Next he went to the railing at the edge of the cliff, leaned against it, and stared down the wall of rock to the tangled patch of brambles and locust trees far below. When he raised his head, he could see the entire city spread along the valley. In the late-afternoon light, the green copper dome of the courthouse was like a structure out of a fairy tale.