Shield for Murder

18

It was late in the afternoon when Mark was allowed to see Linda for the second time. She was much better, he saw at once. There was a touch of color in her cheeks and her eyes were clear. Her arms were outside the covers now but they looked very limp and white. She turned her head toward him as he sat down in a chair beside the bed.

“You’re looking fine,” he said.

“You look just ghastly,” she said, and smiled faintly. “So solemn, Mark. Did they tell you I’m going to die?”

“No, and for Heaven’s sake stop talking that way.”

“I wouldn’t, you know, unless I was sure I was going to be all right. You’ve been here since last night, haven’t you?”

“Yes. I’m a great little vigil-keeper. Do you remember this morning at all?”

“Only vaguely. I was pretty dopey. But I knew you were here and that made me feel better.”

“I talked quite a lot for a normally shy young man,” Mark said, with an attempt at lightness. “Do you remember any of that?”

Linda tried to laugh, but the effort made her wince.

“Are you trying to retract it now?”

“No, not at all.”

“I remember you said some very extravagant things,” Linda said. “They were very pleasant things to hear, Mark.”

“I felt I had an unfair advantage. You were all doped up and susceptible to suggestion.”

“I wasn’t that dopey, Mark,” she said, and moved her hand toward the edge of the bed. “At least I don’t think I was. You did say you loved me, I believe.”

Mark took her hand and patted it gently. “Yes, that’s right.”

They were silent a moment; and then Linda’s faint smile faded from her lips.

“Have they caught him yet, Mark?”

“No, not yet.”

“Why did he do it? Why did he do all of it, Mark?”

Mark sighed. “At the risk of sounding glib, I’d say it had something to do with that ‘Each man kills the thing he loves’ business.”

“But that doesn’t explain all of it, Mark.”

“I suppose not. Nolan was caught in a problem that was complicated by several factors. The big thing was that his capacities were far short of his ambitions. He wanted something that he just couldn’t have, and that’s what drove him to murder and eventually drove him crazy. Lots of people meet that problem, of course, but Nolan had a background of violence and instability, and so he reacted violently to it. He could have gone along indefinitely as a mediocre human being, but when he went on the make, when he got ambitious for something he couldn’t handle, he was through. He couldn’t go up, so he had to go down. And when he realized that, he wanted to take you with him. I think that’s all there is to it. Or maybe I’m completely wrong.”

“Yes, that’s all there is to it,” Linda said. “It’s not even tragic, is it, Mark?”

“Not quite, which is rather tragic, I think. Supposing we talk about it when you’re better. Okay?”

“All right, Mark. Will you hold my hand tighter?”

A moment later she said: “I’m so sleepy, Mark. Is that normal, do you suppose?”

“Absolutely. Girls are always sleepy when I unleash my passionate temperament. The barbiturate people pay me millions to keep myself off the market.”

Mark sat holding her hand until the nurse came in a few minutes later. She put a finger to her Bps and pointed firmly to the door. Mark sighed and disengaged his hand from Linda’s. Bending, he kissed her on the forehead and then tiptoed outside.

Ramussen was waiting for him in the corridor.

“What the hell are you grinning about?” he said.

“Nothing, nothing at all. What about Nolan?”

Ramussen sighed. “We’ve got him pinned down in Camden, anyway. He stayed at a rooming house there last night. The landlady got suspicious and called the police this afternoon. Her description fits, all right, but he’s still loose. I’m afraid he’s made a contact. Now why in the devil don’t you go home and get some sleep?”

Mark stretched comfortably and grinned at Ramussen. “I think I might at that,” he said.

“You can always come back later,” Ramussen said dryly.

“That’s a good idea,” Mark said, and slapped the Lieutenant on the back.