“yes, that’s good,” jonathon intoned, rocking gently in the swivel chair behind his desk , as maria gave him her account of her meeting with geraldine hopkins. “very good indeed.” better than i would have expected, he thought, but did not say aloud.
“it’s not that good,” said maria. “it’s not really much at all. the stuff about the cleaning lady - what good is that? if it was thirty years ago, or if we had thirty years to look for her, maybe. but even then - what? the cleaning lady might tell us something about ted tenner - or she might not. but we are not looking for ted tenner, we are looking for information about jonah james, right?”
“which ted tenner might or might not even have,” jonathon agreed.
“exactly. if we think ted is worth looking for, we need something better than that.”
“i guess so.”
“what do you think of the idea that ted was jonah’s son?’ maria asked.
“well - i suppose it’s possible.”
“i don’t suppose you want to ask your client if she knows anything about it?”
“i would prefer not to,” jonathon replied quickly. “unless, of course, something else comes up that might make it relevant.”
“that's what i thought. even if ted was jonah’s son, it probably has nothing to do with the grays. so we are just going in circles. looking for information that probably means nothing to your purpose.”
jonathon sighed. “i suppose you are right, but, in that case, do you have any other ideas?”
“yes, i do.” maria leaned forward. “i could keep trying to find ted - or find out what happened to him - go to kansas city to try to pick up some trace of him - with better ways than chasing after the old cleaning lady. or i could try to get in to see taffy in the asylum. i could try either or both of those things.”
“you could,” jonah agreed, without enthusiasm. “trying to talk to taffy might be a better bet than chasing after ted. at least we know where she is.”
“but if taffy knew anything - would we be sitting here? the whole thing starts because taffy suspects things, but doesn’t really know anything .”
“true.” jonathon’s head started to hurt. he looked out the window at another blue afternoon which he was not spending fishing. “are those the only ideas you have?”
“no, i have another one. one i think is much better.”
jonathon turned back to maria. “and that is?”
“i think we should look at the grays - at buck gray’s family who are now mostly in new york, like you said. i think i should go to new york and see what i can find there.”
jonathon looked startled. “you want to go to new york?”
“ha, ha! i know what you are thinking,. no, i am not asking you to pay my way. i told you i don’t charge expenses, and i meant it. but give me a week, at the three fifty a day we agreed to, just a week, and we will see what happens.”
“but could it be worth your while? how are you going to get there?”
“i have my ways. i have a friend who is a bus driver, goes to new york once or twice a week. and when i get there i have a friend i can stay with. so my expenses won’t be anything really except food . and i won’t be buying gas.”
jonathon still looked unconvinced. “how long will it take you to get there on the bus? won’t you spend the whole time getting there and back?”
“two days each way, gives me three days to investigate. i tell you what, give me eight days, that way i can spend four whole days there. what do you say?”
“all right. eight days.“ jonathon laughed. “you are a good saleslady anyway. i hope you can sell yourself to the grays as well as you can to me.”
“i will leave tomorrow morning. i already checked with my bus driver friend.”
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