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this time and tried to warn you with my painting, but if he's made her pregnant, then it's too late.
He'll feed on her goodness, suck the life from her like a vampire sucks blood. You've got to find a
way to kill him. Kill him," she demanded, her teeth clenched, her hands balled into fists.
"Otherwise you'll be left with the same two choices Richard Jaffee had. Thank God he had too
much conscience to do anything else... only Richard had a conscience." Her lips began to tremble.
"They're all his. Paul's become the worst. He's Beelzebub," she added, leaning into him, the madness
in her eyes making his heart pound.
"Helen, let me help you back..."
"No!" She backed away. "It's too late for you, isn't it? You've won one of his cases. You're his,
too, now... his. Damn you. Damn you all!"
"Mrs. Scholefield!" Mrs. Longchamp cried from the apartment doorway. "Oh my!" She rushed into
the hallway. "Now you come back inside, please."
"Get away from me." Helen lifted her arms over her head, threatening to pound the nurse.
"Now just calm down, Mrs. Scholefield. Everything will be all right."
"Should I get some help?" Kevin asked. "Call her doctor?"
"No, no. It's going to be fine. Just fine," Mrs. Longchamp said, holding her smile. "Won't it, Mrs.
Scholefield? You know it will," she added in a soothing voice.
Helen's arms began to shake. She lowered them slowly and began to cry.
"Here, here, now. It's going to be all right," Mrs. Longchamp said. "I'll take you back and you'll
rest." She embraced Helen Scholefield around the waist firmly and turned her. Then she looked
back at Kevin. "It's okay," she mouthed and nodded, moving Helen down the corridor toward the
apartment door. Kevin watched until they reentered and the door closed. He wiped his face with
his handkerchief before going to his own apartment.
The instant he closed the door, Miriam came running to him. She threw her arms around his
neck and kissed him.
"Oh, Kev, I'm so excited. It was just on the early evening news. And I saw them talking to you as
you were coming out of the courtroom! Your parents called just a minute ago. They saw it,
too! And my parents. We'll go out; we'll celebrate. I've already made us a reservation at
Renzo's. You'll love it. Norma and Jean said that's where they and their husbands always go to
celebrate by themselves."
He just stood there, staring at her.
"What's wrong? You look... pale."
"A terrible thing just happened in the hallway. Helen Scholefield was out there in her nightgown.
She had run away from her nurse."
"Oh no. What happened?"
"She said some wild things, but..."
"What kind of things?"
"About us, about John Milton and Associates."
"Oh, Kevin, don't let it get you down. Not now. Not when we have so much to be happy
about," she pleaded. "You know she's been very ill, mentally sick."
"I don't know, I... how did you get that black and blue mark on your neck?"
"It's not a black and blue mark, Kevin." She turned and looked in the hallway mirror. "I guess I'll
have to add some more body powder."
"What do you mean, it's not a black and blue mark?"
"It's a hickey, Kev." She blushed. "You vampire. Don't worry about it; it's nothing. Come on,
shower and change. I'm ravishingly hungry."
He didn't move.
"Kevin? Are you just going to stand here in the hallway all night?"
"We've got to talk, Miriam. I don't know what's going on, what's happening, but I swear I
don't remember doing that to you."
"Nothing's going on, silly. You've been distracted by the pressure of this case and worried!
It's understandable. The girls told me something like this would happen to you in the
beginning. You'd go around in a daze, forgetting this, forgetting that. They've been through it
with Ted and Dave, too. It'll pass once you gain confidence in yourself and grow as an
attorney. And what a start, huh? My big New York lawyer," she added and hugged him.
"Now, come on. Let's get the show on the road." She started away. "I'll fix my makeup."
He watched her go and then followed slowly. He paused at the living room, thinking once
again about the scene with Helen Scholefield in the hallway. Then he went into the living
room to look at her painting.
But it wasn't hanging there, nor was it on the floor.
"Miriam." She didn't reply. He hurried to the bedroom to find her by her vanity table.
"Miriam, what happened to Helen's painting?"
"Happened?" She turned from the mirror. "I just couldn't stand looking at it anymore, Kevin.
It was the only depressing note in this apartment. The girls agreed we had been very kind to
have kept it up this long."
"So where is it? In a closet?"
"No, it's gone," she said, turning to look at herself again.
"Gone? What do you mean? Gone where? You threw it out?"
"No. I wouldn't do that. It's still a work of art, and, believe it or not, there are people who like
that sort of thing. Norma knew a gallery in the Village that would take it on. We thought we'd
put it there, and if it got sold we'd surprise Helen with the good news. We thought it might
cheer her up."
"What gallery?"
"I don't know the name of it, Kevin. Norma knows it," she said, annoyance slipping into her
voice. "What are you so concerned about? Both my mother and your mother thought it was a
horrible thing to have on our living-room wall."
"When did she take it?" he asked insistently.
Miriam turned back again. "Just shows how observant you've been these last few days. Two
days ago, Kevin. The painting's been gone for two days."
"It has?"
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Are you going to shower and get dressed
already?"
"What? Oh, yeah... yeah." He started to undress.
"It's so exciting, isn't it? You'll be in all the newspapers and on television stations throughout
the country. I bet Mr. Rothberg's grateful, huh?"
"Rothberg?"
"Rothberg, Kevin. The man you defended?" She laughed. "Talk about your absentminded
professors..."
"No, Miriam. You don't understand," he said, approaching her. "I won because a witness
made a complete reversal of her original story, and I don't know why she did. I didn't know
until it happened right there in court. Mr. Milton sent me a note to ask the right questions. He
knew she would change. He knew!"
"So?" She smiled. "That's why he's Mr. Milton."
"What?"
"That's why he's the boss and you, Ted, and Paul are only associates."
He simply stared at her. She sounded like a little girl.
"Don't worry," she said, turning back to the mirror. "Someday you will be just like him. Won't
that be wonderful?" She paused, her eyes growing smaller as if she were gazing into a crystal
ball instead of a mirror. "Your own firm... Kevin Taylor and Associates. You'll send an
associate around to find new, promising talent just the way Mr. Milton sent Paul to find you,
because by then you'll know who to look for."
"Who to look for? Who put such an idea into your head?"
"No one, silly. Well, Jean and Norma said something like that at lunch the other day. They [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]