Killing Cousins by Fletcher Flora Page B

it probably wouldn’t be so difficult after all, for she should have in tomorrow’s mail, or Tuesday’s at the latest, the letter from Dallas that Quincy had gone to send. As a matter of fact, Quincy was certainly in Dallas at this moment, if he wasn’t actually on his way back, and it was a comfort to think of Quincy and how clever and helpful he was. It was the practice of some people to consider Quincy a kind of failure, if not a joke, but it was certain that some of them who thought they were most superior, someone like Evan Spooner or others she could mention, would have been no help at all in a critical situation like this, and in fact they couldn’t even have been trusted to try.
    There were quite a few members sitting at round tables on the terrace of the Club, and there were a great many others out on the golf course playing golf, but there didn’t appear to be so many out there as actually were, because they were so widely dispersed. In the pool were mostly kids, jumping off the high and low boards and floating about on little inflated rafts and things, but there were a few women stretched out in the sun around the sides on bright enormous towels, and one of the women stretched out was Gwen Festerwauld. She was stretched out on her belly with her face buried in the crook of an arm, and Willie, who did not at the moment care to talk with Gwen, went past her and dived into the blue water that was not really blue at all but only looked so because that was the color the tank was painted. The water was warm and deliciously sensuous on Willie’s skin. She swam slowly across the pool and back a few times, avoiding the kids, and then lay floating on her back with her eyes closed, and the warm, sensuous water was like a poultice, drawing the soreness from her arms and back and thighs. After a while she rolled over and swam to the side and crawled out and spread her towel beside Gwen’s and lay down. Gwen lifted her head, screwing up her eyes in the bright light.
    “Hello, Willie,” Gwen said. “Is it you?”
    “Yes,” Willie said, “it’s me.”
    “Would you mind telling me where you’ve been all day?”
    “I’ve been at home, that’s where. Why?”
    “Because I was over at your house three times this morning, no less, and every time I rang and rang the bell but couldn’t get an answer. Are you quite sure you were at home?”
    “It isn’t likely, Gwen, that I’d forget where I was no longer ago than this morning. I was in bed and asleep all the time and didn’t get up until this afternoon, only a little while ago. I couldn’t get to sleep last night, because of being upset about Howard and all, and so I finally took some pills, and I guess I took more than I should have or something, since I slept so long and couldn’t be wakened. Did you want to see me about something special?”
    “I wanted to see if Howard had come back, that’s all.”
    “Well, he hasn’t. Mother Hogan has been after me and after me to find out where he went, but I don’t know and I don’t care. He can come back or not. It’s all the same to me.”
    “Do you suppose anything could have happened to him?”
    “Oh, nonsense, Gwen. If anything had happened to him, an accident or anything like that, I would have heard about it long ago. Men carry all sorts of identification about with them in their wallets and places.”
    “That’s true. It isn’t likely anything has happened to him, I guess. You’re probably right in refusing to get excited and behave foolishly. I told Marv about it, and he only laughed. He said Howard is sure to come back pretty soon.” Gwen rolled over onto her back and shuddered. “God, what a head! It’s simply bursting.”
    “Aren’t you rid of your hangover yet? I must say it’s the longest one I’ve ever heard of.”
    “Oh, I’m rid of the one I had yesterday. This is a new one. As I predicted, Marv came home about five and was feeling chipper as you please and acting so positively