Mr. X. Peter Straub

Чтение книги онлайн.

       21

      Star’s address book was a palimpsest of the comings and goings of herself and her acquaintances over what looked like a great many years. I stood beside the bank of telephones on the ground floor and leafed through the chaos, looking for the Edgerton area code. I came up with three names, one of them that of a person in deep disfavor with Nettie and May.

      I dialed his number first. A sandpaper voice said, ‘Pawnshop.’ When I spoke his name, he said, ‘Who were you expecting, Harry Truman?’ The impression that Nettie and May were right to despise their late sister’s husband vanished as soon as I had explained myself. ‘Ned, that’s terrible news. How is she doing?’

      I told him what I could.

      ‘Look,’ Toby Kraft said, ‘I got some people in from out of town on a big estate deal, and I’m trying to expand my business, understand? I’ll be there quick as I can. Hey, I want to get a look at you, too, kid, it’s been a long time.’

      Before he could hang up, I said, ‘Toby, Star wanted us to call her old friends, and I wondered if you knew two people who were in her book.’

      ‘Make it fast,’ he said.

      I turned to the first of the Edgerton names. ‘Rachel Milton?’

      ‘Forget it. Way back when, she used to be Rachel Newborn. Used to go to Albertus. Nice knockers. Rachel was okay until she married this prick, Grennie Milton, and moved out to Ellendale.’ He put his hand over the mouthpiece and said something I could not hear. ‘Kid, I have to go.’

      ‘One more. Suki Teeter.’

      ‘Yeah, call Suki. Talk about jugs, she was the champ. She and your mom, they liked each other. Bye.’

      The former jug champ’s telephone rang six times, then twice more without the intervention of an answering machine. I was about to hang up when she answered on the tenth ring. Suki Teeter was no more given to conventional greetings than Toby Kraft.

      ‘Sweetheart, if you’re looking for money, too bad, this is the wrong number.’ The underlying buoyancy in her voice made a little self-contained comedy of the time she had taken to answer, the unknown caller, her financial condition, and anyone straitlaced enough to take offense.

      I told her who I was.

      ‘Ned Dunstan? I can’t believe it. Where are you, in town? Did Star give you my number?’

      ‘In a way,’ I said. ‘I’m calling from St Ann’s Community.’

      ‘Star’s in the hospital.’

      I described what had happened that morning. ‘Before the stroke, she said to call her friends and let them know if there was an emergency. Maybe you’d like to come here. It might do her some good.’ Without warning, sorrow blasted through my defenses and clutched my chest. ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to do this to you.’

      ‘I don’t mind if you cry,’ she said. ‘Is she conscious?’

      The question helped me climb back into control. ‘When she isn’t asleep.’

      ‘I’ll be there as soon as I put myself together. Who else did you call?’

      ‘Toby Kraft. And I have one other name. Rachel Milton.’

      ‘Really? I’m surprised. Maybe they stayed friends, I don’t know. Rachel sure as hell dropped everybody else. Ned? I hope we can spend some time together.’

      In a voice made of honey and molasses, the woman who answered the Miltons’ telephone told me that she would inform Mrs Rachel she had a call, and who was it from? I gave her my name and added that I was the son of an old friend. The line went dead for a couple of minutes. When Rachel Milton finally picked up, she sounded nervous, impatient, and bored.

      ‘Please let me apologize for the time you’ve been waiting. Lulu went wandering all around the house trying to find me when all she had to do was use the intercom.’

      I was almost certain that she had spent two minutes deciding whether or not to take my call.

      ‘Is there something I should know?’

      After I explained, Rachel Milton clicked her tongue against her teeth. I could practically see the wheels going around in her head. ‘I hope you won’t think I’m terrible, but I won’t be able to get there today. I’m due at the Sesquicentennial Committee in about five minutes, but please give your mother my love. Tell her I’ll see her just as soon as I can.’ The wish not to be unnecessarily brusque led her to say, ‘Thank you for calling, and I hope Star has a speedy recovery. The way I’m going, I’ll probably wind up in the hospital, too!’

      ‘I could reserve you a room at St Ann’s,’ I said.

      ‘Grenville, my husband, would kill me. He’s on the board of Lawndale. You ought to hear him get going on the federal funds pouring into St Ann’s Community. They should be able to raise King Tut from his tomb, СКАЧАТЬ