the olive-green telephone. What did Lauren Payne want, want anxiously, to talk to her about? AtâPam looked at the watch on her wristâfive minutes before nine?
Pam went to the bedroom, followed by cats. Pam spread up both bedsâand had to reopen one of them to extricate Stilts, who had got herself spread in. Pam changed from housecoat to a gray-blue dress and had just finished lipstick when the door chimes sounded. Stilts rushed to answer the door. Shadow went under one of the beds.
Lauren Payne wore a woolen sheath, and was a woman who could wear a sheath. She wore mink over it, and Pam, admiringly, thought âPhew.â She was a slender, graceful woman, a little taller than Pam herself. The color of the sheath was a little deeper than the copper of Lauren Payneâs hair, the flickering copper in her greenish eyes. Very lovely, as Pam remembered her. Her low-pitched voice very steady, as it had been on the telephone. She was afraid she was being a nuisance. Her lips smiled. Her eyes did not. There was strain in her eyes.
Seated in a deep chair in the living room, Lauren Payne hardly knew where to begin. It would seem to Mrs. NorthââWhat a pretty cat. A Siamese, isnât she? Such very blue eyes. A really beautiful cat.â
âWe think so,â Pam said, giving all the time needed. âSome people like them fluffy, of course. We feel that fluff hides cat. And there are the knots andââ
Lauren Payne was not listening. Pam North let cats drift away.
âWhen you came to tell me Anthony wasâhad been shot,â Lauren said without looking at Pam, and then did look at her. âIt was kind of you. Itâs a hard thing to do.â She paused. âWhat did I say, Mrs. North?â
âWhyââ Pam said, and paused to remember.
âIâd taken something,â Lauren said. âA sedative. I wasâgroggy, I guess. And then, afterward, the doctor gave me something else. The thing isâin between itâs rather like a dream. A dream I half remember.â
âWhyââ Pam said again. âYou were lying down. You said to come in andââ
âJust you. There wasnât anybody else?â
âNot right away. Then the doctor came. I said I was afraid I had bad newsâI said something dreadful had happened. I donât know the precise words. Thenâwell, then I merely told you. That Mr. Payne had been shot and that he was dead. And youââ
Lauren leaned forward in the deep chair. It seemed to Pam that her eyes said, âHurry. Hurry! â
âFor a moment,â Pam said, âI thought you hadnât heard me. Then you saidâIâm not sure I remember it precisely. You said, âAnthony? Not Anthony? â and I said something meaninglessâthat I was sorry. Something like that. You looked at me for a momentâyou donât remember this?â
âNo. Go on. Please go on.â
âBut,â Pam said, âthere wasnât anythingânot really anything. I think you said, âNo. Ohâ no! â Something like that. And put your hands up to your forehead. Youâd been lying down. You were sitting up by then. I donât remember that I said anything. I think I put my arm around your shoulders. Then you said, âShot? You said he was shot?â It was something like that. Not really as if you expected me to say it again. Then you saidâasked if weâno, âtheyâââknew.â I supposed, who had shot Mr. Payne, and I said, âNo. Nobody knows yet,â and then that the shot seemed to have come from above somewhere. I think I said it was probably a sniper. One of those insaneââ
âI know,â Lauren said. âThat was all I said? Nothing aboutâanybody?â
âWhy,â Pam said, âyou said his nameâyour husbandâs. As if you couldnât believe it. I donât know
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