There is always love (14 page)

"She can make it." Linda glanced at Greg Merton, who at the shallow end of the pool was teaching Billy Colton to swim. Why wasn't he watching Hester? The ghild pointed and Greg turned.

"Look, look, Greggy." The boy's eyes were like azure stars; his pearly teeth shone between vivid, parted lips. "She's going to yump. Oool O-o—oT' he squealed as the water closed over Hester's head. "I wan' to do dat, Greggy."

"Learn to swim first and then you can, kiddo." His uncle swung him to the grass. "Sit there and dry while I dive. Everybody up," he called and raced to the springboard with the others in hot pursuit.

For ten minutes they dived, so close after one another that they seemed like flying fishes. Janet green as a mermaid, Ruth and Linda in white, Hester with scarlet scales, the men in navy or brown trunks and Skid in blinding stripes.

Linda smiled at her host as he pulled himself from the pool to the grass beside her. She liked his face, liked his high forehead which suggested intellect plus, wondered if his fine mouth would have had that discontented droop, if the brain behind his brilliant hazel eyes would have made its mark in the world, if he had had to use it to its limit to earn a living.

"Nice here, isn't it?" he asked.

"Nice is too colorless a word for your home. It's perfect. I'm so glad to meet you. Ever since I met your wife I've been wondering what her husband would be hke. Now I know."

His laugh was boyish.

"Would it be intruding in the secret places of your mind were I to ask the verdict?"

Head on one side she pretended critical appraisal.

"Personality plus. Life of the party—when you like the party. Generous mouth. But I wonder if you're good enough for your lovely wife?" 78

"I'm not; who would be? Don't look so embarrassed. You've only said aloud what everyone thinks. Janet prophesied I would like you and—if it will make you feel happier— Janet is always right."

He sprang to his feet. His face was puckish with mischief.

"I may not be much as a husband but I'm a knockout as a host. I've invited your boss for the week end. Thought he was entitled to see his smart and beautiful secretary at play."

He laughed and dove. Linda's cheeks burned with annoyance. Keith Sanders coming here. Dam! Would she have to tell him that she had secured another position? Why worry? He had given her notice, hadn't he? Noticel That was too tame a word. He had fired her.

"A penny for your thoughts." Janet Colton sank down beside her. Before Linda could answer the gay challenge Billy snuggled his head against his mother's wet knee. She bent and kissed him swiftly.

"You ought to be napping, young Mr. Colton."

"Not yet, Muwer," he pleaded. "It's so nice here."

"It is nice; heavenly, I call it." She turned to Linda. **I let him escape from his nurse as often as possible, both for her sake and his. He's a strenuous lad." Her fingers gently smoothed the gold curls. "I'm thankful Greg shanghaied you yesterday. I wanted your sister and your friend to come but I especially wanted you."

"I knew I would be late getting back to the city and feared the delay would inconvenience you. I hate to drag a serpent into this paradise but I hope you'll believe me when I tell you that I did not repeat your conversation with your brother at the Inn to Mr. Sanders. It's my word against his, I realize. I don't know why he lied about it, but he did."

"I believe you. The man has charm, my husband is fascinated by him; he has invited him for this week end. I hope you won't mind too much; you can't like him after that lie. He's due in time for lunch. I detest him. I think he's a bad influence." There was a betraying tension about her mouth. As Linda was silent she added:

"I shouldn't have said that. After all, he's your boss. Where are you going, Billy Boy?'*

"Jus', jus' movin'," the child replied and began to roll over and over on the velvet turf.

"Don't move far. Nurse will be looking for you. Almost your luncheon time."

His mother turned back to Linda, who sat hugging her knees as she looked across the pool at Ruth and Hester. Bill Colton was sprawled at her sister's feet. She was laughing as she looked down at him , though she sat so near

Greg Merton that her bare, wet arm touched his. Skid Grant was talking to Ruth. Janet's eyes followed hers.

"Your sister is one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen, but I can tell from her mouth that she lacks the sense of humor which pulls you through any situation, never lets you down. Am I right?"

"About my sense of humor, yes; about it's never letting me down—^that's another thing again," On a sudden impulse she added:

"I'm getting through at Keith Sanders* next week. I—^I have taken a position as social secretary, companion, what have you, with—with Madam Steele."

"With Aunt Jane! Oh, my dear. Why did you do it without asking me? Have you told Greg?"

"No. Why should I? Why bring up that unpleasant subject again just as we'd tacitly, if not verbally, signed an appeasement pact? Any special reason why I shouldn't work for Madam Steele?" Linda was instantly ashamed of her aggressive voice.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean that as it sounded. I do appreciate your interest. I've been thinking of little else but making a change for the last week and the mental strain has begun to wear down my manners. Ever have a question start merry-go-rounding in your mind?"

"Have I? You're asking mel As for the reason why you shouldn't go to Madam Steele's to live, ask Greg. There's the dressing gong for lunch. I must scram. Don't hurry. Plenty of time. Billyl Billy! He must have gone to the house," she said as no answer came to her call.

Linda's eyes followed her as she walked lightly along the margin of the pool, balancing a little with her arms as she went, her slender, graceful figure, in its brief green suit, reflected in the blue mirror of water. She stopped to speak to the others. Her husband put his arm about her shoulders and they went on together.

Linda's thoughts returned to her own problems. Why had Janet Colton been so shocked to hear that her Aunt Jane had engaged a new secretary? What argument could Gregory Merton offer against her working for Madam Steele, if she asked him—^which she would not do? She had decided to take the position. She would stick to that decision no matter what he said.

What was that queer little sound in the air? A bird? Laughter? She looked up. Her heart stopped. On the very edge of the highest diving platform balanced Billy Colton. He was laughing. The breeze lifted his gold curls. He stuck up his arms, laid his hands together;

"See me gol" he shouted. 80

If she made a sound he might be frightened. Why, oh why hadn't the others heard him? What to do? She couldn't mount to the springboard in time to stop him. She slid into the pool. If she could only catch him as he came down. She must. He might break his neck if he hit the water flat

"Watch me yump," he called again.

A splash behind her. A frantic "Good God!" She was pushed aside. Greg Merton held out his arms as he trod water.

"Come on, Billy Boy, I'll catch you."

With a laugh, absolutely fearless, the child jumped. Greg caught him, the impact carried them both under. Linda waited only long enough to see two heads, one dark, the other golden, one face tensely white, the other laughing, rosy, come to the surface before she pulled herself from the pool and dashed toward the house.

She was dizzy; there was a yawning cavern where her stomach should be. She'd lived years from the instant she had seen the boy on the springboard till she heard Greg Merton behind her.

She stopped as she entered the cool, dark hall and clutched the top of a chair. Something inside her was churning. Could she get upstairs before she was sick? She dimly saw a figure outlined against the light from the open front door. The man's shoulders were familiar. Someone she knew. He would help. She tried to call.

He had gone. The hall was alive with red-and-green fuzzy-wuzzies. She drove her teeth into her lips and forced herself to the stairs. She must get to her room.

"I've been looking for you," said a voice behind her.

She saw Greg Merton through a purple haze. Tried to laugh.

"I—^I—^I've never done it before. I—^I—^think I'm going

She struggled up from the dark. Someone was rubbing her arms. Someone held a glass to her lips.

"Drink this and don't try to talk. You're on the chaise longue in your room, if that answers the question you're trying to ask." The voice was gruff but she recognized it.

"Not that. It's BiUy? Billy? Is he aH right, Greg?"

"Sure, he's all right. The rascal. You saved him. I saw you slide into the pool and then—"

"No. No. I couldn't have held—" She shuddered.

"Take it easy." He sopped more water on her already dripping head. "The kid's all right."

She pushed away his hand and swung her feet to the floor.

"So am I. Please go. I'm all right, really I am. My R.Q.—

recovery quotient to you— is one hundred per cent efficient. I'U dress and—'*

"What happened to Lindy?" Janet Colton demanded breathlessly from the doorway. "Oscar said she was carried upstairs."

"Oh that husky son of yours decided he'd dive from the springboard, the highest one at that."

"Gregl The springboard?" Janet's eyes were wide with horror.

"But your brother caught him before he struck the water so he's perfectly all ri^t, Mrs. Colton," Linda assured eagerly.

Janet sat down suddenly.

"I thought the burglary had turned my knees to gelatin but this—"

"Burglaryl What burglary?'* Linda and Greg demanded in unison.

*The jewel case on my dresser was forced open and a bracelet and my pearls are missing. Never mind that. Where is Billy Boy. Are you sure he's all right, Greg?"

XVI

THE ROOM was mellow, dignified, restful. Wood paneling blended with the leather of the bookbindings and the exposed ceiling beams. The heavy velvet hangings drawn across the long windows were the same shade of blue as the coat of the ruddy-faced admiral in the portrait set in above the mantel. Lamp bases were choice porcelains; light glowed through opaline shades. An old globe on a stand. Red roses in a tall silver vase on the grand piano. Deep, inviting chairs with arm tables. All this and no sense of crowding.

The red-faced man, with baggy jowls and sparse brown hair, in the black suit with fine white stripes, seated at the flat desk, had been presented to the company assembled as Jim Shaw, detective. A gray-haired man in sombre black, who had been introduced as "My print expert. Cox," guarded the door.

Bill Colton, Keith Sanders and Skid Grant in white dinner jackets and black trousers stood before the mantel like a line of defense. Greg Merton sat astride the bench at the piano; Hester in a shimmering orchid frock rested an elbow on its polished rosewood. Janet, in filmy white, leaned eagerly forward from the divan at right angle to the fireplace; Linda in a black net, the billowing skirt patched with pink and blue Uke the suit of a Harlequin, perched on the arm of it The 82

glow from a softly shaded lamp above the chair in which Ruth Brewster sat threw a lovely light on her violet crepe frock and the mass of rose-color wool in her lap. The detective trotted one tan-leather-shod foot and scowled at his notebook.

"You discovered the theft this noon, Mrs. Colton, and yet Mr. Merton didn't notify me until an hour ago. How come?"

"After the first shock of finding the jewel case open, I thought I might discover that I had put that particular bracelet and my pearl necklace somewhere else. Sometimes I do that. I wanted to be sure they were not in the house before my brother called you. I have looked in every possible place and haven't found them."

"You trust the servants?'*

"Absolutely. They have been in my employ since I came to this house a bride five years ago. I know they wouldn't steal."

"I've questioned them. I believe you're right." His greenish ferret eyes touched Ruth, Linda, Hester; passed over Bill Colton, squinted at Keith Sanders, rested on Skid Grant.

"Haven't known these guests of yours as long as you have the servants, have you?" he asked with sarcastic emphasis on the word guests.

His tone brought Merton to his feet in protest. Bill Colton took a step forward.

"Look here, Shaw, I don't like your intimation. Our guests are our friends, no matter how long we have known them. Sanders, here beside me, has week-ended with us many times during the last year."

"You're lauding but your eyes are cold as blue ice," Linda thought as Keith Sanders tossed a cigarette into the fireplace and answered his host.

"You might clarify the situation by telling him. Bill, that I wasn't in the house at the time of the theft. I was expected for lunch. Couldn't make it. Arrived only in time to dress for dinner. Oscar and the man who brou^t in my bags will verify that."

Shaw trotted his foot. Consulted his notes. Nodded agreement.

"That tallies. You're out of the picture, Mr. Sanders. So are you, Mr. Merton; I've worked for you in real-estate cases for years. You wouldn't steal your sister's jewels." He fixed accusing eyes on Skid Grant. "I happened to be at a night club a short time ago when your friend with the spectacles and the young lady in the black dress with patchwork were put out."

"We weren't put outl" Linda denied furiously. "We—^we went ourselves."

"We won't quibble over how you went. You called the

young man Tom,' there. He gives his name here as Skid-more Grant. Somids fishy to me."

"But Jim—" The detective held up his hand to silence Greg Merton's protest

"Search my bags, Mr. Shaw," Skid Grant invited cordially. "I haven't been off the place since I arrived and as, apparently, you are convinced of the honesty of the servants I couldn't very well pass the loot to them. I suggest you leave Miss Bourne out of that incident at the night club. It isn't a girl's fault if her escort gets tanked and gives an assumed name, is it?"

"Oh, Madam! MadamI May I speak to you?"

A white-faced maid, whose bang of coarse hair was as black as her silk frock, dashed into the room. Janet sprang to her feet.