Authors: John R. Maxim
Tags: #Horror, #General, #Psychological, #Suspense, #Memory, #Thrillers, #Fiction, #Time Travel
Time Out of Mind (11 page)
of 1944. That's when he was conceiving a son of his own. Our own Jonathan T Corbin the second. Captain Whitney
Corbin must have come home for a double funeral, following which he found consolation in the bed of young Agnes
Haywood. Then he went back to England. The dates all fit.
Corbin, the present Corbin, is a Christmas baby. That
means conception was around March 25 or 26. So Whitney
was home for at least a week. Let's just suppose that some
body really was knocking off all the Corbins. How'd they
miss Whitney? There were two funerals and that meant a
lot of friends around. Too many. And old Charlotte's death
probably had some press coverage. Maybe they couldn't
get at him, maybe they didn't want to risk going for a triple,
or maybe when they looked for Whitney he was shacked
up someplace with Agnes. Then when he comes home in
June to marry pregnant Agnes, he's got half the Air Corps with him because of this war bond thing. They can't touch
him. Maybe they sit and wait for the war to end unless
Hitler does them a favor in the meantime.
Mr. Lesko.” Dancer tapped a gold pen, which he'd
been nervously fingering, against the side of his glass.
As Lesko lowered his notebook to the table, he watched
Dancer's eyes. He watched them fall to the page he'd been
reading, the page with the dates. Then Lesko slowly peeled
the pages forward to those covering the activities of the
living. The relief he saw in Dancer's tight little face was
unmistakable.
‘
The subject,” he began reading, “was transferred last
September from station WLAD-TV in Chicago to network headquarters in New York. Before that he'd been living for
eight years in an apartment at 1500 North State Street. For
at least two of those years he played house with a female
street reporter from the same station. Her name is Gwendolyn Fiona Leamas. Gwen Leamas for short. English girl.
She preceded the subject to New York by about six months.
Her own transfer may or may not have affected Corbin's
‘decision to move east. I'm inclined to think it didn't be
cause except for a short-term live-in at her place when he
first got here and an occasional night out since then, the
word is that they‘re. pretty much drifting apart.”
“
Why, then, did he come here? Any information on
that?”
“
Bigger job.” Lesko shrugged. “Headquarters. It hap
pens.”
“
No pattern of nonbusiness visits to New York? No ev
idence of sudden interest?”
“
Nope,” Lesko answered. But he would remember the
intensity behind those questions. “The job opened up when the guy who had it before got sick. The Leamas girl recommended Corbin but he was probably in line for the spot
anyway.”
“
The Leamas woman's address?”
“
One forty-five East Seventy-seventh Street. Second-
floor apartment facing front. Corbin's there now, probably
for the weekend.”
“
You said they'd drifted apart.”
Lesko shrugged again. “They're on and off.”
“
Continue, please.” Dancer wet his lips. “I'm interested
in Corbin's personal activities since he arrived.”
Lesko told of Corbin's finding an expensive apartment
in the East Sixties, putting down a large deposit, and then
forfeiting it because he decided instead to buy some old dump in Greenwich.
“
The broker up there gave me some real estate bullshit
about the place being a handyman's dream, but I could tell
even she thought he was a little bit crazy. And Corbin, as
far as I know, never nailed two boards together in his whole
life. But there he is, happy as a pig in shit to spend every
night and weekend up there cutting back trees, painting,
and prowling through junk shops to make it look like it did
a hundred years ago. You talk to the neighbors, they don't
know whether he's a weirdo or a fag, no offense, so they
try to pretend he isn't there.”
“
Conclusion?”
”
I don't have one.
You see evidence of unstable behavior and you don't
conclude instability?”
Raymond Lesko sipped his beer. “What instability?” he
asked. “The guy found something he likes doing. Other
people up there spend all their time putzing around in sail
boats or collecting fake ducks.”
“
But Corbin, you said, had no history of an interest in
restoring old homes. Such a consuming hobby, to the extent
of researching authentic paints and wallpapers, usually de
velops over time.”
”
I said, as far as I know. It's possible he was into it
before.”
“
But you don't think so.”
“
No, I don't.” Lesko didn't recall saying anything about
Corbin researching wallpaper. Someone else must be
watching the guy's progress on that house.
“
You did, however, mention a history of instability go
ing back to his college years.”
”
I didn't say that either. I said he had some counseling.
One time.”
”
A history of confusion then.”
The ex-cop shrugged again. Confusion. It was as good a
word as any for people who go to a shrink to help them
sort out their worries. As for Corbin, the counseling episode
in college could have been anything. Maybe the pressure
of living up to his jock, war-hero father got to him. Maybe
he got whacked out over some girl. On the other hand,
maybe he didn't like snow in South Bend, either. Which,
Raymond Lesko thought, brings us to this afternoon.
“
The guy doesn't like snow.”
”
I beg your pardon?”
“
The subject, Jonathan Corbin, hates snow. If you're
looking for emotional problems, there's at least one with handles on it. When it snows he won't even step out of his
door if he can help it. I heard this a couple of weeks ago
from a guy he works with. A lot of them hang out in the Warwick Bar after work and I made out like I knew
Corbin
from Chicago. I bought the guy a couple of drinks and he
tells me that everyone likes Corbin just fine but they're
starting to worry about the way he freaks out over snow
flakes. If it snows even an inch, they don't see him for two
days. Over a winter it adds up.”
Lesko was disappointed.
“
Anyway, when the radio said we might get snow today, I got a room at the Warwick where I could watch Corbin
through his window. It turns out it was true. The guy goes
off the wall and tries to hide from it. He'd still be there
now if the Leamas girl didn't drag him home with her.”
“
Significance?”
significance was, he'd hoped for a clue in Dancer's reac
tion. But Dancer was a blank. He was, Lesko felt sure, not pretending. It meant little to him. The message in Dancer's
eyes changed slowly from incomprehension to a minor ir
ritation, as if this latest intelligence was only one more sign
of Corbin's troublesomeness.
more to your report, Mr. Lesko?”
That's it through today. Except I finally got some decent straight-on shots of Corbin's face through that window.” Lesko placed the roll of film on the table. Dancer
snatched
it
eagerly and slipped it into his pocket.
“
Beginning tomorrow, I'd like you to concentrate on his
actions in Connecticut. I want to know what he's doing
there and why. If he remains in the city with Miss Leamas,
as you seem to expect, you'll have an opportunity for a
thorough search of his house. Look for photographs, note
books, anything that provides evidence of his intentions.”
“
That's called breaking and entering, Mr. Dancer.”
“
It's called investigation. I rather imagine you've done
this sort of thing before.”
“
It's also called idiocy, Mr. Dancer. You're asking me
to leave tracks through two feet of virgin snow while I find
a window to climb through.”
”
A bonus, perhaps,” Dancer replied, drawing two brown envelopes from his inside pocket. “An additional five hun
dred dollars may help you rise to the challenge. Which
brings us to the matter of your fee and expenses. Have you
brought the accounting I require?”
listed his out-of-pocket expenses for the preceding two
weeks plus an invoice for his next two weeks' fee in ad
vance. Receipts were attached by paper clip. These Dancer examined individually and carefully before leaning his lips
closer to the attache case.
Expenses,” he read aloud, “less a five-hundred-dollar travel advance, total four hundred eighty dollars and
seventy-four cents which I will round off to four hundred eighty. These include a hotel room which Mr. Lesko will
either vacate in the morning or retain at his own expense.
Other receipted items include meals in amounts that are
borderline reasonable, plus the rental of a telescopic camera
lens. Unreceipted items include phone calls and cab fares. We also have an invoice for the agreed-upon fee of three hundred dollars per day in advance for fourteen days. The
accounting is satisfactory.”
Dancer did not keep the receipts. He handed the sheet
back to Lesko and next withdrew several bills from the first
of his two envelopes. He slid the envelope and its remain
ing contents across the table to the ex-cop.
“
There's forty-seven hundred dollars, Mr. Lesko. Count
it if you wish, but please do so under the table. You've
been overpaid by almost twenty dollars, which I intend to
recover at a later meeting.”
“
Would you like to hold my watch?” Lesko asked
bioodlessly.
lost on him, and placed his hand over the second envelope.
“This envelope, Mr. Lesko, contains the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in cash.” He paused and watched with
satisfaction as the bigger man's lips parted.
“
Go on, Mr. Dancer.”
”
I expect to employ you for the next two weeks at the most. Your maximum income potential from this assign
ment is the amount of money I've just handed you. Aside,
that is, from the contents of this envelope.”
“
Yes?”
There is also the prospect of the five-hundred-dollar bonus I've already mentioned. However, you might possi
bly earn a much more substantial bonus if you were to bring
this investigation to some dramatic conclusion.”
“
Get to the point, Mr. Dancer,” Lesko said, although he
fully realized that his client had no intention of being more
specific. Not while that little tape recorder was spinning in
his briefcase. “How dramatic would that be?”
I'm sure I have no idea, Mr. Lesko. Something irrev
ocable, I'd imagine. Would you care to hold on to this
envelope while you reflect upon the matter?”