S Is for Silence

time, but try bringing it back and you’ll go broke. You’re looking at well over a million bucks.”
    “So I take it you’re opposed,” she said, and then laughed. “I know it’s bad, but that’s a piece of my childhood. I can’t see knocking it down. Besides, we do make some money from the property, between the oil and gas leases.”
    “Well, you asked and I’m giving you my opinion. You know the rumors about rezoning. You want to save the house, you’re better off selling to developers and letting them do the work. They could turn it into offices or a party center in the middle of a housing tract.”
    “Steve’s point exactly. Don’t tell me you’re in league with him.”
    “I got no stake in the matter one way or the other. You ought to get a contractor out there and have him take a look.”
    “Why not you?”
    “You already know what I think. You need to hear it from someone else. You’ll be happier that way. I’d be willing to meet with anyone you want and throw in my two cents.”
    “You’d poison the well.”
    “I wouldn’t open my mouth until you heard what he had to say.”
    “Who do you recommend?”
    “Billy Boynton or Dade Ray. Both are good men.”
    “I guess I better do that. I know I’m only postponing the inevitable. I keep thinking, one step at a time, but who am I trying to kid? It’s like having to put a dog down. You know the mutt’s too sick to go on, but it’s just that you don’t want to do it today. ”
    “I understand. You have to do it in your own time.”
    “Enough said. I got it and I appreciate your input.”
    “Anytime,” he said. His attention shifted to me. “Pardon my bad manners. Jake was just telling me about you. You’ve got quite a job on your hands.”
    “Well, it’s a challenge at any rate. At first the idea seemed absurd, but now I’m enjoying myself. Me against Violet. It’s like playing hide-and-seek.”
    “So what’s your theory?”
    “I don’t have a theory. Right now I’m talking to anyone and everyone, filling in the blanks. The questions don’t change, but sometimes I get an answer I don’t expect. One of these days, I’m going to pick up a thread and then I’ll see where it goes. From what I’ve heard about Violet, she might have been devious, but she wasn’t good at keeping secrets. Somebody knows where she is.”
    “You really think so?”
    “I do. Either the guy she ran off with or the guy who did her in. It’s really just a matter of tracking him down.”
    He shook his head, his tone skeptical. “I have to hand it to you, you’re an optimist.”
    “That’s what keeps me on my toes. What about you? Where do you weigh in on the debate?”
    “What, whether she’s dead or alive? Personally, I think she ran off and I said it from the get-go. I spent more than one night listening to Violet bitch. I promise, it was only a matter of time before she found a way out.”
    “But where would she have gone; have you ever asked yourself?”
    “Sure, I’ve thought about that. She was young and in her own way she was innocent. A small-town kind of girl. She had experience with men, but she didn’t know anything about the world at large. I can’t picture her in a big town like San Francisco or L.A. I can’t even picture her in the state. California’s as expensive now as it was back then, relative to income. Given the cash she had—which probably didn’t amount to much—I’m guessing she’d go someplace she could afford. Midwest, the South—someplace like that.”
    “You heard about her money?”
    “Half a dozen times. She’d get on a tear and threaten to pull out if Foley didn’t straighten up and fly right.”
    “Like that was ever going to happen,” Tannie put in.
    The subject shifted. There were only so many ideas you could bounce around with so little information. At 10:30, Padgett made his excuses and headed for the door.
    Daisy, meanwhile, was feeling no pain. She’d had enough to drink that some merrier, more loquacious personality had taken over her ordinary self. She was flirting with some guy, laughing too loudly. From a distance, she appeared to be having fun. Up close, I was betting, she was out of control. It was the first indication I’d seen of the trouble she was capable of getting into. Tannie followed my gaze, and the two of us locked eyes briefly. “Once she reaches this point, it’s all over,” Tannie said. “He’ll end up in her bed and things will go downhill from