The Naked Face (10 page)

The phone rang. It was his answering service. They had been able to reach all bis patients except Anne Blake. Judd thanked the operator and hung up. So Anne was coming here today. He was disturbed at how unreasonably happy he was at the thought of seeing her. He must remember that she was only coming by because he had asked her to, as her doctor. He sat there thinking about Anne. How much he knew about her... and how little. He put Anne's tape on the tape recorder and listened to it. It was one of her first visits. 'Comfortable, Mrs. Blake?' 'Yes, thank you.' 'Relaxed?' 'Yes.' “You're clenching your fists.' 'Perhaps I am a little tense.' 'About what?' A long silence. Tell me about your home life. You've been married six months.' Yes.' 'Go on.' 'I'm married to a wonderful man. We live in a beautiful house.' 'What kind of a house is it?' 'Country French... It's a lovely old place. There's a long, winding driveway leading to it. High up on the roof there's a funny old bronze rooster with its ail missing. I think some hunter shot it off a long time ago. We have about five acres, mostly wooded. I go for long walks. It's like living in the country.' 'Do you like the country?' 'Very much.' ”Does your husband?' 'I think so.' 'A man doesn't usually buy five acres in the country unless he loves it.' 'He loves me. He would have bought it for me. He's very generous.' 'Let's talk about him.' Silence. 'Is be good-looking?' 'Anthony's very handsome.' Judd felt a pang of unreasonable, unprofessional jealousy. 'You're compatible physically?' It was like a tongue probing at a sore tooth. 'Yes.' He knew what she would be like in bed: exciting and feminine and giving. Christ, he thought, get off the subject. 'Do you want children?' 'Oh, yes.' 'Does your husband?' 'Yes, of course.' A long silence except for the silky rustling of the tape. Then: 'Mrs. Blake, you came to me because you said you had a desperate problem. It concerns your husband, doesn't it?' Silence. 'Well, I'm assuming it does. From what you told me earlier, you love each other, you're both faithful, you both want children, you live in a beautiful home, your husband is successful, handsome, and he spoils you. And you've only been married six months. I'm afraid it's a little like the old joke: “What's my problem, Doctor?”' There was silence again except for the impersonal whirring o� the tape. Finally she spoke. 'It's ... it's difficult for me to talk about. I thought I could discuss it with a stranger, but' - he remembered vividly how she had twisted around on the couch to look up at him with those large, enigmatic eyes - 'it's harder. You see' - she was speaking more rapidly now, trying to overcome the barriers that had kept her silent - 'I overheard something and I -I could easily have jumped to the wrong conclusion.'

�'Something to do with your husband's personal life? Some woman?' 'No.' 'His business?' 'Yes...' 'You thought he lied about something? Tried to get the better of someone in a deal?' 'Something like that.' Judd was on surer ground now. 'And it upset your confidence in him. It showed you a side of him that you had never seen before.' 'I -I can't discuss it. I feel disloyal to him even being here. Please don't ask me anything more today, Dr. Stevens.' And that had ended that session. Judd switched off the tape. So Anne's husband had pulled a sharp business deal. He could have cheated on his taxes. Or forced someone into bankruptcy. Anne, naturally, would be upset. She was a sensitive woman. Her faith in her husband would be shaken. He thought about Anne's husband as a possible suspect He was in the construction business. Judd had never met him, but whatever business problem he was involved in could not, by any stretch of the imagination, have included John Hanson, Carol Roberts, or Judd. But what about Anne herself? Could she be a psychopath? A homicidal maniac? Judd leaned back in his chair and tried to think about her objectively. He knew nothing about her except what she had told him. Her background could have been fictitious, she could have made it all up, but what would she have to gain? If this was some elaborate charade as a cover to murder, there had to be a motivation. The memory of her face and her voice flooded his mind, and he knew that she could have nothing to do with any of this. He would stake his life on it. The irony of the phrase made him grin. He went over to get the tapes of Teri Washburn. Perhaps there was something there that he might have missed. Teri had been having extra sessions lately at her own request Was she under some new pressure that she had not yet confided to him? Because of her incessant preoccupation with sex, it was difficult to determine accurately her current progress. Still - why had she suddenly, urgently asked for more time with him? Judd picked up one of her tapes at random and put it on. 'Let's talk about your marriages, Teri. You've been married five times.' 'Six, but who's counting?' 'Were you faithful to your husbands?' Laughter. 'You're putting toe on. There isn't a man in the world who can satisfy me. If s a physical thing.' 'What do you mean by “a physical thing”?' 'I mean that's the way I'm built. I just got a hot hole and it's gotta be kept filled all the time' 'Do you believe that?' 'That it's gotta be kept filled?' 'That you're different, physically, from any other woman.' 'Certainly. The studio doctor told me. It's a glandular thing or something.' A pause. 'He was a lousy lay.' 'I've seen all your charts. Physiologically your body is normal in every respect.' 'Fuck the charts, Charley. Why don't you find out for yourself?' 'Have you ever been in love, Teri?' 'I could be in love with you.' Silence. 'Get that look off your face. I can't help it I told you. It's the way I'm built. I'm always hungry.' 'I believe you. But it's not your body that's hungry. It's your emotions.' 'I've never been fucked in my emotions. Do you want to give it a whirl?' 'No.' 'What do you want?' 'To help you.' 'Why don't you come over here and sit down next to me?' 'That will be all for today.' Judd switched off the tape. He remembered a dialogue they had had when Teri was talking about her career as a big star and he had asked her why she had left Hollywood. 'I slapped some obnoxious jerk at a drunken party,' she had said. 'And he turned out to be Mr Big. He had me thrown out of Hollywood on my Polack ass.' Judd had not probed any farther because at that time he was more interested in her home background, and the subject had never come up again. Now he felt a small nagging doubt He should have explored it farther. He had never had any interest in Hollywood except in the way Dr. Louis Leakey or Margaret Mead might be interested in the natives of Patagonia. Who would know about Teri Washburn, the glamour star? Norah Hadley was a movie buff. Judd had seen a collection o� movie magazines at their house and had kidded Peter about them. Norah had spent the entire evening defending Hollywood. He picked up the receiver and dialled. Norah answered the phone. 'Hello,' said Judd. 'Judd!' Her voice was warm and friendly. 'You called to tell me when you're coming to dinner.' 'We'll do it soon.' 'You'd better,' she said. 'I promised Ingrid. She's beautiful.' Judd was sure she was. But not in the way Anne was beautiful. 'You break another date with her and we'll be at war with Sweden.' 'It won't happen again.' 'Are you all over your accident?' 'Oh, yes.' “What a horrible thing that was.' There was a hesitant note in Norah'a voice. 'Judd... about Christmas Day. Peter and I would like you to share it with us. Please.' He felt the old familiar tightening hi his chest. They went through this every year. Peter and Norah were his dearest friends, and they hated it that he spent every Christmas alone, walking among strangers, losing himself in alien crowds, driving his body to keep moving until he was too exhausted to think. It was as though he were celebrating some terrible black mass for the dead, letting his grief take possession of him and tear him apart, lacerating and shriving him in some ancient ritual over which he had no control. You're dramatizing it, he told himself wearily. 'Judd...' He cleared his throat 'I'm sorry, Norah.' He knew how much she cared. 'Perhaps next Christmas.' She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. 'Sure. I'll tell Pete.' Thanks.' He suddenly remembered why he had called. *Norah - do you know who Teri Washburn is?' 'The Teri Washburn? The star? Why do you ask?' 'I -I saw her on Madison Avenue this morning.' 'In person? Honestly?' She was like an eager child. 'How did she look? Old? Young? Thin? Fat?' 'She looked fine. She used to be a pretty big star, didn't she?' 'Pretty big? Teri Washburn was the biggest - and in every way, if you know what I mean.' 'Whatever made a girl like that leave Hollywood?' 'She didn't exactly leave. She was booted out.' So Teri had told him the truth. Judd felt better. 'You doctors keep your heads buried In the sand, don't you? Teri Washburn was involved in one of the hottest scandals Hollywood ever had.' 'Really?' said Judd. ”What happened?' 'She murdered her boyfriend.'

Unknown

It had started to snow again. From the street fifteen floors below, the sounds of traffic floated up, muted by the white, cottony flakes in the arctic wind. In a lighted office across the street he saw the blurred face of a secretary streaming down the window. 'Norah - are you certain?' 'When it comes to Hollywood, you're talking to a walking encyclopaedia, love. Teri was living with the head of Continental Studios but she was keeping an assistant director on the side. She caught him cheating on her one night and she stabbed him to death. The head of the studio pulled a lot of strings and paid off a lot of people and it was hushed up and called an accident. Part of the arrangement was that she get out of Hollywood and never come back And she never has.' Judd stared at the phone numbly. 'Judd, are you there?' 'I'm here,' 'You sound funny.' 'Where did you hear all this?' 'Hear it? It was in all the newspapers and fan magazines. Everybody knew about it.' Except him. 'Thanks, Norah,' he said. 'Say hello to Peter.' He hung up. So that was the 'casual incident'. Teri Washburn had murdered a man and had never mentioned it to him. And if she had murdered once... Thoughtfully he picked up a pad and wrote down Teri Washburn'. The phone rang. Judd picked it up. 'Dr. Stevens...' 'Just checking to see if you're all right' It was Detective Angeli. His voice was still hoarse with a cold. A feeling of gratitude filled Judd. Someone was on his side. 'Anything new?' Judd hesitated. He could see no point in keeping quiet about the bomb. 'They tried again.' Judd told Angeli about Moody and the bomb that had been planted in his car. That should convince McGreavy,' he concluded. 'Where's the bomb?' Angeli's voice was excited. Judd hesitated. It's been dismantled.' 'It's been what?' Angeli asked incredulously. 'Who did that?' 'Moody. He didn't think it mattered.' 'Didn't matter! What does he think the Police Department is for? We might have been able to tell who planted that bomb just by looking at it. We keep a file of MOs.' 'MOs?' 'Modus operandi. People fall into habit patterns. H they do something one way the first time, chances are they'll keep doing it the same - I don't have to tell you.' 'No,' said Judd thoughtfully. Surely Moody had known that. Had he some reason for not wanting to show the bomb to McGreavy? 'Dr. Stevens - how did you hire Moody?' 'I found him in the yellow pages.' It sounded ridiculous even as he said it He could hear Angeli swallow. 'Oh. Then you really don't know a damn thing about him.' 'I know I trust him. Why?' 'Right now,' Angeli said, 'I don't think you should trust anybody.' “But Moody couldn't possibly be connected with any of this. My God! I picked him out of the phone book, at random.' 'I don't care where you got him. Something smells fishy. Moody says he set a trap to catch whoever's after you, but he doesn't close the trap until the bait's already been taken, so we can't pin it on anyone Then he shows you a bomb in your car that he could have put there himself. And wins your confidence. Right?' 'I suppose you could look at it that way,' Judd said. 'But�' 'Maybe your friend Moody is cm the level, and maybe he's setting you up. I want you to play it nice and cool until we find out' Moody against him? It was difficult to believe. And yet, he remembered his earlier doubts when he had thought Moody was sending him into an ambush. 'What do you want me to do?' asked Judd. ”How would you feel about leaving town? I mean really leaving town.' 'I can't leave my patients.' 'Dr. Stevens�' 'Besides,' Judd added, 'it really wouldn't solve anything, would it? I wouldn't even know what I'm running away from. When I came back, it would just start all over again.' There was a moment's silence. “You have a point.' Angeli gave a sigh, and it turned into a wheeze. He sounded terrible. ”When do you expect to hear from Moody again?' 'I don't know. He thinks he has some idea of who's behind all this.' 'Has it occurred to you that whoever's behind this can pay Moody a lot more than you can?' There was an urgency in Angeli's voice. 'If he asks you to meet him, call me. I'll be home in bed for the next day or two. Whatever you do, Doctor, don't meet him alone!' “You're building up a case out of nothing,' countered Judd. 'Just because Moody removed the bomb from my car�' There's more to it than that,' said Angeli 'I have a hunch you picked the wrong man.' 'I'l call you if I hear from him,' promised Judd. He hung up, shaken. Was Angeli being overly suspicious? It was true that Moody could have been lying about the bomb in order to win Judd's confidence. Then the next step would be easy. All he would have to do would be to call Judd and ask him to meet him in some deserted place on the pretext of having some evidence for him. Then ... Judd shuddered. Could he have been wrong about Moody's character? He remembered his reaction when he had first met Moody. He had thought that the man was ineffectual and not very bright. Then he had realized that his homespun cover was a facade that concealed a quick, sharp brain. But that didn't mean that Moody could be trusted. And yet... He heard someone at the outer reception door and looked at his watch. Anne! He quickly locked the tapes away, walked over to the private corridor door, and opened it. Anne was standing in the corridor. She was wearing a smartly tailored navy blue suit and a small hat that framed her face. She was dreamily lost in thought, unaware that Judd was watching her. He studied her, filling himself with her beauty, trying to find some imperfection, some reason for him to tell himself that she would be wrong for him, that he would one day find someone else better suited to him. The fox and the grapes. Freud was not the father of psychiatry. Aesop was. 'Hello,' he said. She looked up, startled for an instant. Then she smiled. Hello.' 'Come in, Mrs. Blake.' She moved past him into the office, her firm body brushing his. She turned and looked at him with those incredible violet eyes. ”Did they find the hit-and-run driver?' There was concern on her face, a worried, genuine interest. He felt again the insane urge to tell her everything. But he knew he could not At best, it would be a cheap trick to win her sympathy. At worst, it might involve her hi some unknown danger. 'Not yet.' He indicated a chair. Anne was watching his face. *You look tired. Should you be back at work so soon?' Oh, God. He didn't think he could stand any sympathy. Not just now. And not from her. He said, 'I'm fine. I cancelled my appointments for today. My exchange wasn't able to reach you.' An anxious expression crossed her face. She was afraid she was intruding. Anne � intruding. I'm so sorry. If you'd rather I left...' 'Please, no,' he said quickly. Tm glad they couldn't reach you.' This would be the last time he saw her. 'How are you feeling?' he asked. She hesitated, started to say something, then changed her mind. 'A little confused.' She was looking at him oddly, and there was something in her look that touched a faint, long-lost chord that he could almost, but not quite, remember. He felt a warmth flowing from her, an overpowering physical longing - and he suddenly realized what he was doing. He was attributing his own emotions to her. And for an instant he had been fooled, like any first-year psychiatry student. 'When do you leave for Europe?' he asked. 'On Christmas morning.' 'Just you and your husband?' He felt like a gibbering idiot, reduced to banalities. Babbitt, on an off day. 'Where will you go?' 'Stockholm - Paris - London - Rome.' I'd lave to show you Rome, thought Judd. He had spent a year there interning at the American hospital. There was a fantastic old restaurant called Cybele near the Tivoli Gardens, high on a mountaintop by an ancient pagan shrine, where you could sit in die sun and watch the hundreds of wild pigeons darken the sky over the dappled cliffs. And Anne was on her way to Rome with her husband. 'It will be a second honeymoon,' she said. There was strain in her voice, so faint that he might almost have imagined it An untrained ear would not have caught it. Judd looked at her more closely. On the surface she seemed calm, normal, but underneath he sensed a tension. If this was the picture of a young girl in love going to Europe on a second honeymoon, then a piece of the picture was missing. And he suddenly realized what it was. There was no excitement in Anne. Or if there was, it was overshadowed by a patina of some stronger emotion. Sadness? Regret? He realized that he was staring at her. 'How � how long will you be away ?' Babbitt strikes again. A small smile crossed her lips, as though she knew what he was doing. Tm not certain,' she answered gravely. 'Anthony's plans are indefinite.' 'I see.' He looked down at the rug, miserable. He had to put an end to this. He couldn't let Anne leave, feeling that he was a complete fool. Send her away now. 'Mrs Blake...' he began. "Yes'' He tried to keep his voice light. 'I really got you back here under false pretences. It wasn't necessary for you to see me again. I just wanted to - to say goodbye.' Oddly, puzzlingly, some of the tension seemed to drain out of her. 'I know,' she said quietly. 'I wanted to say goodbye, too.' There was something in her voice that caught at him again. She was getting to her feet. 'Judd ...' She looked up at him, holding his eyes with hers, and he saw in her eyes what she must have seen in his. It was a mirrored reflection of a current so strong that it was almost physical. He started to move towards her, then stopped. He could not let her become involved in the danger that surrounded him. When he finally spoke, his voice was almost under control. 'Drop me a card from Rome.' She looked ac him for a long moment. 'Please take care of yourself, Judd.' He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. And she was gone.