Lay Her Among The Lilies

“That’s right,” I said. “The last time we met we didn’t have the time to get matey. Who are

you?”

She chewed for a moment, turned the stone out into her cupped hand and transferred it to

the paper sack.

“Why, I’m Mrs. Salzer,” she said.

I should have guessed that. She really couldn’t have been anyone else.

“I don’t want to seem personal,” I said, “but do you like your husband, Mrs. Salzer?”

The vague look was chased away by surprise which in turn gave way to a look of weak

pride.

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“Dr. Salzer is a very fine man. There is no one in the world like him,” she said, and pointed

her soft, round chin at me.

“That’s a pity. You’ll miss him. Even in our enlightened jails they still separate husbands

and wives.”

The vague look came back again.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, you should do. If they don’t sit your husband in the gas chamber, they’ll give him

twenty years. Kidnapping and murder earn a sentence like that.”

“What murder?”

“A woman named Eudora Drew was murdered on your husband’s instructions. I have been

kidnapped, and there’s a girl across the way who I think has been kidnapped, too: Anona

Freedlander. And then there’s Nurse Gurney.”

A sly little smile lit up the woman’s fat face.

“He has nothing to do with any of that. He thinks Miss Freedlander is a friend of mine who

has lost her memory.”

“And I suppose he thinks I’m a friend of yours, too?” I said sarcasticallv.

“Not exactly a friend, but a friend of a friend of mine.”

“And how about Eudora Drew?”

Mrs. Salzer shrugged her shoulders.

“That was unfortunate. She wanted money. I sent Benny to reason with her. He got too

rough.”

I scratched my jaw with my thumb-nail and stared at her. I sensed more than believed she

was telling the truth.

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“Where’s Nurse Gurney?” I asked.

“Oh, she met with an accident,” Mrs. Salzer said, and peered into the sack again. She

brought out a plum, offered it to me. “Will you have one? They are good for you when you

are in bed.”

“No. Never mind the plums. What happened to her?”

The face went vague again.

“Oh, she was going down the fire-escape when she slipped. I put her in the car, but I think

she must have broken her neck. I don’t know why, but she seemed very frightened of me.”

I said in a tight voice: “What did you do with her?”

“I left her in some bushes out in the sand.” She bit into the plum, waved vaguely towards

the window. “Out there in the desert. There wasn’t anything else I could do with her.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. Maybe she was crazy, I thought, or else I was.

“Was it you who arranged for me to come here?”

“Oh. yes,” she said, leaning against the doorway. “You see, Dr. Salzer has no knowledge of

medicine or of mental illness. But I have. I used to have a very big practice, but something

happened. I don’t remember what it was. Dr. Salzer bought this place for me. He pretends to

run it, but I do all the work really. He is just a figure head.”

“No, he’s not,” I said. “He signed Macdonald Crosby’s death certificate. He had no right to.

He’s not qualified.”

“You are quire wrong,” she said calmly. “I signed it. We happen to have the same initials.”

“But he was treating Janet Crosby for malignant endocarditis,” I said. “Dr. Bewley told me

so.”

“Dr. Bewley was mistaken. Dr. Salzer happened to be at the Crosby house on business for

me when the girl died. He told Dr. Bewley I had been treating her. Dr. Bewley is an old man

and a little deaf. He misunderstood.”

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“Why was he called in at all?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you sign the certificate if you

were treating her?”

“I was away at the time. My husband did the correct thing to call Dr. Bewley. He always

does the correct thing.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Then he better let me out of here.”

“He thinks you are dangerous,” Mrs. Salzer said, and peered into the sack again. “And you

are, Mr. Malloy. You know too much. I’m sorry for you, but you really shouldn’t have

interfered.” She looked up to smile in a goofy sort of way. “I’m afraid you will have to stay

here, and before very long your mind will begin to deteriorate. You see, people who are

continually drugged often become feeble-minded. Have you noticed that?”

“Is that what’s going to happen to me?”

She nodded.

“I’m afraid so, but I didn’t want you to think unkindly of Dr. Salzer. He is such a fine man.

That’s why I have told you so much. More than I should, really, but it won’t matter. You

won’t get away.”

She began to drift away as quietly as she had come.

“Hey! Don’t go away,” I said, sitting forward. “How much is Maureen Crosby paying you

to keep me here?”

Her vague eyes popped a little.

“But she doesn’t know,” she said. “It’s nothing to do with her. I thought you knew,” and

she went away rather like a tired ghost after a long and exhausting spell of haunting.

IV

Hopper was better tempered after his bath, and while we were having breakfast I asked him

if he had ever tried to escape.

“I haven’t anywhere to go,” he said, shrugging. “Besides, I have a handcuff on my ankle

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