teeth. “Howdy,” he said.
“Good morning, Jake.” I handed him a twenty. “Run over to the nearest grocery store or market, will you, and bring me a case of baking soda.”
He stared. “A case? You sure must have a king-size indigestion.”
“Yeah,” I said. When I offered no explanation, he took off, still looking at me as if I’d gone mad.
There’d probably be very little chance of tracing the acid, I thought. We were dealing with a sharper mind than that: he’d know better than to buy it, and if he could break into that garage to lift my number plates he could certainly do the same to some battery shop to steal it.
I glanced at my watch with sudden impatience. What the hell was keeping them? It had been ten minutes since I’d called. I went back inside. Josie had come out and was standing by the desk in doleful and anxious suspension as if she couldn’t figure out which way to turn to pick up the broken thread of her day. The doctor came out through the curtains and set his bag on the desk. He was carrying a prescription pad.
“What do you think?” I asked.
He glanced at me, frowning. “You’re not a relative by any chance?”
“No,” I said.
He nodded. “I didn’t think she had any here—”
“Listen, Doctor,” I said, “somebody’s got to take charge here. I don’t know what friends she has in town, or where you could run down her next of kin, so you might as well tell me. I’m a friend of hers.”
“Very well.” He put down the prescription pad, undipped his pen, and started writing. “Get these made up right away and start giving them as soon as she wakes up. I gave her a sedative, so it’ll be late this afternoon or tonight. But what she needs more than anything is rest--”
He stopped then and glanced up at me. “And what I mean by rest is exactly that. Absolute rest, in bed. Quiet. With as few worries as possible and no more emotional upheavals if you can help it.”
“You name it,” I said. “She gets it.”
“Try to get some food into her. I’d say off-hand she was twenty pounds underweight. I can’t tell until we can run lab tests, of course, but I don’t think it’s anemia or anything organic at all. It looks like overwork, lack of sleep, and emotional strain.”
“What about nervous breakdown?”
He shook his head. “That’s always unpredictable; it varies too much with individual temperament and nervous reserve. We’ll just have to wait and see what she’s like in the next few days. Off-hand, I’d say she’s dangerously close to it. I don’t know how long she’s been over-drawing her account, and I’m no psychiatrist, anyway, but I do think she’s been under too much pressure too long—”
His voice trailed off. Then he shrugged, and said crisply, “Well, to get back to more familiar ground. This is a tranquillizer. And this one’s vitamins. And here’s Phenobarbital.” He glanced up at me as he shoved the prescriptions across the desk. “Keep the phenobarbs yourself and give it to her by individual dose, as directed.”
“That bad?” I asked.
“No. Probably not. But why take chances?”
“Had I better round up a nurse?”
He glanced at Josie. “Do you stay here nights?”
“No, suh,” she replied. “I ain’t been, but I could.”
“Fine. There should be somebody around. For the next few nights, anyway.”
“You do that,” I told her. “Let the rest of the place go and just take care of her. I’m going to close it for the time being, anyway.”
Dr. Graham gathered up his bag. “Call me when she wakes up. I won’t come out unless it’s necessary, but you can tell when you talk to her.”
“Sure,” I said. “Thanks a lot.”
He drove off. Just as he was going out onto the highway, Jake turned in. I set the case of bicarbonate on the porch, took the change, paid him, and gave him a large tip. He departed towards town, shaking his head.
I found a long garden hose that would reach up to No. 5, and coupled it to the tap outside the office. But I couldn’t touch a thing until they’d been over it. I glanced up the highway; there was no Sheriff’s car in sight. I looked at my watch, threw the hose savagely onto the gravel, strode into the office, and picked up the phone.
The same Deputy answered. “Sheriff’s office. Redfield.”
“This is Chatham, at the Magnolia Lodge motel—”
“Yes, yes,” he cut me off brusquely.