May I speak with you for a second?" "Come on in here," said the dentist, ushering Scofield into a small workroom, the shelves lined with impressions of teeth mounted on moveable clamps. He lit a cigarette from a pack on the counter. "I don't mind telling you it's been one hell of a day. What's the matter?" "The laws, actually." Bray smiled, opening his attach6 case and taking out the two envelopes. "HR SevenFour-Eight-Five." "What the hell is that?" "A new congressional regulation, part of the post-Watergate morality.
Whenever a government employee borrows property from any source, for whatever purpose, a full description of said property must be accompanied by a signed authorization." "Oh, for Christ's sake." "I'm sorry, doctor. The Senator's a stickler for these things." Scofield took the X-rays from the envelopes. "If you'll re-examine these, call in your nurse and give her a description, she can type the authorization on your letterhead and I'll get out of here." "I suppose anything for the next President of the United States," said the dentist, taking the shortened X-ray sheets and reaching for his telephone. "Tell Appleton to lower my taxes." He pressed the intercom button. "Bring in your pad, pIease." "Do you mind?" Bray took out his cigarettes.
"Are you nuts? Carcinoma loves company." The nurse came through the door, steno pad and pencil in hand. "How do I start this?" asked the doctor, looking at Scofield.
"'To Whom It May Concern' is fine." "Okay." The dentist glanced at his nurse. "We're keeping the government honest." He snapped on a scanning lamp and held both X-ray sheets against the glass. "'To Whom It May Concern. Mister'...." The doctor stopped, looking at Bray again. "What's your first name?" "B.A. will do." "'Mister B. A. Vickery of Senator Appleton's office in Washington, D.C., had requested and received from me two sets of X-rays dated November 11, 1943, for patients identified as Joshua Appleton and... Julian Guiderone."' The dentist paused. "Anything else?" "A description, doctor. Thafs what HR Seven-FourEight-Five calls for." The dentist sighed, the cigarette protruding from his lips. " 'Said identical sets include'... one, two, three, four across... 'twelve negatives.' " The doctor stopped, squinting through his half glasses. "You know," he interjected. "My uncle wasn't only primitive, he was downright careless." "What do you mean?" asked Scofield, watching the dentist closely.
"The right and left bicuspids are missing in both of these. I was so rushed I didn't notice before." "They're the cards you gave me this morning." "I'm sure they are; there are the labels. I think I matched the upper and lower incisors. He held out the X-rays for Scofield and turned to the nurse. "Put what I said into English and type it up, will you? I'll sign it outside." He crushed out his cigarette and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Vickery. I've really got to get back in there." "Just one more thing, doctor. Would you mind initialing these sheets and dating them?" Bray separated the X-rays and placed them on the counter.
"Not at all," said the dentist
Scofield drove back to Salem. A great deal was still to be clarified, new decisions to be made as events shaped them, but he had his overall plan; he had a place to begin. It was almost time for Mr. B. A. Vickery to arrive at the Ritz Carlton, but not yet.
He had stopped earlier at the Shopping Plaza in Salem where he had found small red-bordered labels almost iden- tical to those used more than thirty-five years ago, and a store selling typewriters where he had typed in the names and the dates, rubbing them lightly to give the labels an appearance of age. And while walking to his car he had looked briefly around at the shops, again seeing what he had hoped to see.
CoPrEs MADE WHILE You WAIT EQUIPMENT BOUGHT, SOLD, LEASED EXPERT SERVICE
It was conveniently two doors away frotyi a liquor store, three from a supermarket. He would stop there now and have copies made of his bill-of-particulars, and afterward pick up something to drink and eat.
He would be in his room for a long time; he had phone calls to make. They would take five to seven hours to complete. They had to be routed on a very precise schedule through Lisbon.
Bray watched as the manager of the Plaza Duplicating Service extracted the collated sheets of his indictment from the levels of gray trays that protruded from the machine. He had chatted briefly with