The Referral Game

in order to share with her a portion of an inheritance you’ve recently received.”
    That was all he needed.
    “Yes that’s it exactly,” he said with relief. “ When Paula left I felt awful that I had nothing of my own to give her.”
    “Is she hiding from you?”
    “What?” he said startled. “What are you implying Mr. Randall?”
    “It’s a question that must be asked Mr. Pomeroy. While it’s true you don’t strike me as the type, if she is afraid of you I cannot accept you as a client. It would make me an accessory if I were to lead you to her and then she then came to harm."
    “Oh, I see now,” he said as if that mollified him. It usually just made men more upset.
    “If that is what you are concerned about how about this? When you find her if she doesn’t want to meet with me then fine, we’ll consider the matter closed and you can keep her location a secret. In addition, if she consents to my invitation, we can meet right here in this office with you present. Is that acceptable?” he challenged.
    I thought about it for a moment. He had said it fast and I had had a couple of drinks, but it sounded ideal so I nodded my assent.
    “Paula didn’t leave because of violence or any action on my part. To put it bluntly she left because of my inaction, my failure to defend her from my family.
    “Paula and I married on a whim. I was so intoxicated by her openness and vitality that I was blinded to how unworkable it all was in my circumstances. You see Mr. Randall, I’m a doormat.”
    I raised an eyebrow.
    “It’s true, I’m a weakling. It’s taken me a lifetime to face it and now that I have I’m promised myself that I would change. And this is my first step, making things right with Paula.”
    “Did you break an agreement with her?” I asked.
    “No, Paula knew I had nothing in my own name when we married. She accepted that. However, she made a personal investment in me and when she needed me to be there for her, to stand up for her to my family I did not. Mr. Randall I loved my mother, but she was a demanding and domineering woman. Looking back I wonder if she ever really loved me or if she merely enjoyed manipulating me. And because my brother was older I never stood up to him either. It was the life I was used to and I never questioned it. The three of us lived in that house for years with no real contact outside the family and the servants.
    “Then I met Paula. I knew Mother would never consent beforehand, so I decided to present her with a fait accompli and brought Paula home as my wife.
    “A child could have foreseen how it would turn out, but I thought that they would accept her. Of course I was tragically mistaken. Paula was miserable from the start. She tried not to let it show and I was so happy to have her that I was blinded to her feelings at first. Then something happened that made the situation practically intolerable. Silas found out something in Paula’s past that cast her in a bad light.”
    He paused, groping for the right words.
    “That she had been a dancer?” I suggested.
    “Yes, that was it. How did you know? Oh, of course, I told Det. Vinson.”
    I nodded.
    “When Mother found that out she became impossible. She hadn’t approved of my marriage in the first place and you can imagine her reaction at this news. To make matters worse, Silas made it sound as if she had been a stripper or maybe even something worse. I can assure you that there was no truth to anything beyond being a dancer in respectable clubs.
    “But Paula refused to defend herself so Mother chose to believe the worst. Things reached a breaking point and Paula issued me an ultimatum. Move into a place of our own or she would leave me. I should have done as she proposed. I know that now, but the simple truth was that I was frightened. I had lived my entire life in that lovely mansion with no bills, no money worries and servants to take care of my needs. The idea of living in a tiny apartment and starting over in life at my age was terrifying. All I had was a small pension from the college, no savings and no prospects. My chosen field is not a lucrative one. Can you understand my mental state at the time?”
    “I think I can see how you might have felt that way,” I said. “It’s no simple task to change a lifetime of habits and custom.”
    “Then Mother played her trump card. She said that if I left she would not permit me to come back and she would cut me out of the will. She said that if I