geraldine miller was not hard to find. she lived in alexanderville, about twenty miles from jamestown, in a big house on a high hill.
she had buried one rich husband, and married an even richer one. she was geraldine hopkins now.
it was agreed between jonathon jones and maria that maria would not depend on jonathon for introductions to anyone she wanted to meet in her investigation. maria assured jonathon that she preferred to operate that way, and jonathon was happy to hear it.
what she did not come right out and say to him was that she almost always used some sort of subterfuge or outright lying in her proceedings. who was going to tell anything to a young woman “investigator” who did not even have any kind of license?
and she was a natural born liar and enjoyed being one.
maria found geraldine in the county phone book. she dialed the number, expecting it to be answered by a servant or secretary.
it was answered on the third ring.
“hello?” a woman’s voice, husky, with more than a hint of booze.
“i would like to speak to mrs geraldine hopkins, please.”
“this is she.”
“hello, mrs hopkins. my name is patricia willis, and i am a professional research assistant.”
“that doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“right now i am working for a man named charles conover - “
“charles conniver?”
“ha ha. no charles conover. mr conover wants to write a book about mysterious disappearances.”
“oh?” gerealdine’s voice got a little less friendly. “i haven’t disappeared. mysteriously or otherwise. i’m sitting right here, on my comfy well-upholstered sofa.”
“mr conover wants to write about the disappearance of ted tenner.”
“ted tenner! goodness gracious, i haven’t thought about ted tenner for twenty-five years. i don’t think i can help you out.”
“oh, please, mrs hopkins, if you could just give me a few minutes of your time!” maria pleaded. “ i would really like to tell mr conover that i left no stone unturned, and all that sort of thing .”
a pause. then geraldine laughed. “all right, honey, i got nothing better to do. if you can find the place.”
“thank you so much, mrs hopkins. i have your address as 10 hillside drive, is that correct?”
“that’s it. i’ll tell the butler to let you in.”
“thank you so much!” maria exclaimed, but geraldine had already hung up.
maria put her own phone down. it could not have gone better, she thought. but she was not surprised. she had found that the easiest thing about being an “investigator” was getting people to talk. people liked to talk. they liked it more than anything else, and as long as they dd not feel threatened, they liked to do it all day long.
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