Chapter 12
Joe watched Matt Landon go up the stairs, a tired and beaten man. Still, he carried himself with a strange kind of pride. Joe felt no triumph about Angela Harmon. There had been no pleasure in showing Cory's father how he had been taken in by a chiseling little tramp, nor in bringing up his guilt about the accident in which he had been involved.
Well, it was done now, and best forgotten. He had plans to make and carry out before this would all be settled.
The next thing he had to do was likely to be extremely unpleasant, but it was necessary. He had to go see the last person in the world that he wanted to. Paula Smith, his widow.
Early the next morning he was on a train, a train that was taking him back to the place he had never intended to go near again. His old home town.
It didn't look much different. It was just a typical medium-sized town.
He walked down the street with a confidence he didn't really feel. It had been many months since anyone here had seen him, but each time he met someone he knew, even casually, he cringed inside waiting for them to recognize him. He knew that he looked different, and he felt different. Still, he was afraid that it might not be enough.
No one even noticed him. He went to the apartment house where he and Paula had lived. He rang the front doorbell, half hoping no one would answer. The door opened, and he found himself face to face with Mrs. Barth, his former landlady. There was no recognition in her eyes.
"Yes?" she said impersonally.
"I'm looking for a Mrs. Paula Smith," he said casually, and waited for the light to dawn.
It didn't.
"Mrs. Smith hasn't lived here for some time," she said coolly.
"Do you have any idea where I could find her?"
The old bitch always had been the nosy type. And from the sly emphasis she put on 'friend', he didn't think Paula had changed much.
"No, ma'am," he said politely. "I knew her husband. I'm just passing through and I thought I should stop and see her."
"A sympathy call? I wouldn't bother if I were no one ever checked on her father?"
"I suppose no one ever thought about it. I suppose they circulated the story about their wealth themselves. I'm ashamed of myself for being taken in so easily by common con artists."
"I wouldn't exactly call her common," Joe said reminiscently. "He wasn't really her father, I would imagine. My guess is that they planned to marry after she had collected a settlement. The guy has my sympathy. She won't be easy to keep up with."
Matt smiled ruefully. "I know. I've suspected for some time that I couldn't keep up with her. I just didn't want to admit it."
"It might have worked if she hadn't been so greedy. She probably thought blackmail would pay even better. She would have drained you dry."
"You knew about this all along, then. You have the real pictures?" His voice was sad.
"I have the pictures, but I did find them by accident. I didn't know anything about them except for the obvious. I don't know how I came by them, or why I kept them."
"What are you going to do with them now?"
"Whatever happened, I think you have suffered enough, everyone makes mistakes."
Matt Landon looked at him oddly.
"Maybe you're right. God knows, I did what I could. The boy died, nothing could change that. There was only his mother left and I paid the funeral expenses, saw that she had money enough to make a new start. Everyone praised me for being so generous," he finished bitterly.
"Where is she now?"
"She died a few month ago. There was nothing more I could do, nothing except think about it. That I will do for the rest of my life."
"And if you had refused to pay blackmail?"
"If this were turned over to the proper authorities I could go to prison."
"Which would serve no useful purpose, if this boy and his mother are dead. There were no other relatives?"
"None."
"Then it is done."
Joe took out the pictures and negatives and tore them into small pieces. He put them in an ashtray and set fire to them. The smell of burning film and paper filled the room. They were both silent as the fire burned brightly and then gradually died. Joe watched them burn to ashes and thought about Cory Landon who had blackmailed his own father. It was almost as thought he were destroying something of the man himself. Or maybe just his memory.
He looked up and met the eyes of Cory's father.
"We won't speak of this again," he said quietly. "The past is over and done with."
Again Matt's eyes looked at him oddly. It seemed to Joe that he looked very sad, and yet there was a kind of happiness, too. It troubled him, but then there were many things about this man that puzzled him.
"All right, son," he said at last. "We won't speak of it again. And thank you."
"I can't imagine what we could possible have to talk about," she said icily.
"Couldn't we call a truce? This is about Dad, and since you're going to marry him it concerns you, doesn't it?"
"What is it?" she said warily.
"Well, I ran across something that worries me. I found it in my room." He took out a manila envelope. "It has some clippings and pictures in it. It's about an accident of some kind, and I don't quite understand. Is Dad in some kind of trouble?"
He made himself look worried and watched her without seeming to. He saw her eyes become calculating, and then she quickly disguised it. She came and took the envelope from his hand and he let her have it.
"It isn't important, Cory," she said sweetly. "I'll take care of it."
She put the envelope in her purse and she couldn't disguise the triumph in her eyes. He could almost see her mind working, and he felt rather sorry for Matt Landon.
"Give your father a message for me, Cory, darling," she said gaily. "Tell him I have decided not to marry him, after all. He'll hear from me, though. Quite soon."
She was almost to the door when Joe stopped her.
"I wouldn't be too hasty, Angela, darling," he said mockingly. "Why don't you look in the envelope?"
She stared at him unbelievingly.
"Why don't you do that, Angela?" It was Matt Landon, and he looked old and defeated.
"Matt! Don't look at me like that, darling. I was just going along with Cory's stupid little joke."
"Don't bother, Angel," Joe said coolly. "There's only blank paper in the envelope."
She knew she was finished, but still she tried to brazen it out.
"Surely you aren't going to listen to him, darling," she pleaded huskily. She started toward Matt, but the cold look in his eyes stopped her.
"No, Angela. I know the truth, all of it. I suggest that you and your father, or whoever he is, get out of town while you still can."
"He's lying about me," she said desperately. "He doesn't want you to marry me. If he can't have me he doesn't want you to, either."
"Neither of us want you," Matt said. "Detective reports don't lie."
"All right!" she screamed suddenly. "Keep your damned money and your precious name. Did you think I really wanted to marry you, you silly old man? I don't need you, you're old, old, old!"
She ran out, slamming the door so hard it shook. Matt stared at the door and then sat down wearily.
"So you were right, after all, Cory. When did you first suspect that she wasn't what she pretended?"
Joe grinned crookedly. "When I saw how determined she was to land a Landon. How come wondered how long it would be before he would be able to. Or if he ever would.
He wondered if what he was going to do was right. It seemed to him that it was, and once having decided to live right he was going to work at it as hard as he had worked at being bad.
"Cory," Matt said, "I've decided to marry Angela. I'm sure you must be wrong about her. I know she seems rather hard and willful at times, but I can't believe that she is really only interested in money."
"If you knew that she were would you marry her anyway?"
"I don't think so. I'm not foolish enough to believe that I could hold her if she doesn't really care for me. I've lived long enough to know I couldn't settle for having her for only a short time before she demanded a divorce and a large settlement, only to trade me for a younger man. I have too much foolish pride."
"And if I can prove to you that it really is money she wants?"
"Then I shall be a sad but wiser man. If you can prove it."
"I think I can."
"Why, Cory? For the money you will eventually inherit from me? I assure you, it isn't necessary. The trust fund you will receive when you marry is most substantial. It was set up by your grandfather, incidentally."
"I don't care about the money," Joe said, and it was true, although it was for a different reason than Matt could imagine. "I just want to do what's right."
Cory's father looked at Joe and smiled.
"Sometimes, Cory," he said wistfully, "I hope you never recover your memory. Now tell me, how do you propose to prove this claim of yours?"
"Call her and get her to come over to the house. Then stay out of sight and let me talk to her. All you have to do is listen."
Matt frowned. "That doesn't seem quite fair," he said.
"Would you rather take a chance and marry her?"
"No, I suppose not. It wouldn't be pleasant, wondering. All right, Cory. I'll try it your way on condition that if you are wrong you'll not leave, at least not until you give it a chance."
"It's a deal," Joe said.
He wasn't worried about being wrong.
He never knew exactly what Matt said to Angela, but she came to the house, apparently thinking she had won.
He had never seen her looking more beautiful. She wore a dress of some kind of shimmering gray material, deceptively simple and devastatingly revealing. Her blonde hair was pulled back and caught with a diamond clip and her eyes were as clear and sparkling as emeralds. Emeralds that turned to green ice when she saw Joe.
"Where's Matt?" she demanded. "Was this some kind of trick to try to keep me from marrying him? Well, it won't work."
"No trick, Angela. Dad was delayed, but he'll be along soon. I did want to talk to you, though."
Matt didn't look convinced, but Joe had a hunch' he had planted enough doubt to make him try it. He and Angela left, and Angela flashed him an icy look as she went past. He hoped Matt wasn't as tired as he looked. He was going to need all the energy he had.
Joe spent the evening quietly, playing records, trying to read. Mostly he was waiting for Matt to come back.
It was quite late when he finally came. Joe needed only one look to know he had been right. He waited for Matt to tell him. He didn't have long to wait. Matt went to the bar and poured himself a drink.
"Well, Cory, you were right," he said wearily. "Does that make you happy?"
"Not particularly. It doesn't surprise me, though."
"I told her I didn't think we should rush into marriage, that we should take time so that I could work things out with you. She gave me until tomorrow. Either I fly to Las Vegas with her and get married or we don't get married at all."
"What did you tell her?"
"I didn't. I told her I would talk with you tonight and let her know tomorrow. Somehow I got the feeling that it was partly to hurt you."
"It's possible. A woman scorned and all that jazz."
"Maybe that's the only reason," Matt said, but Joe knew he didn't believe it.
"Maybe. But I doubt it. Are you going to marry her?"
"I don't know, Cory. How do you feel about it? Would you stay here if I did?"
"It might be a little awkward. No, I don't suppose I could. Don't let that stop you, though."
"A year ago it wouldn't have. Our lives have been pretty independent of each other until now. I guess I've never understood you. Maybe I didn't even try. But since you came home from the hospital it's been different. I find it hard to put into words, but I feel differently toward you than I did before."
Joe didn't know exactly what to say. It made him feel uncomfortable, but he wasn't ready to tell Matt Landon that he wasn't his son. There were still some loose ends to tie. He stood up and stretched.
"It's late, and my brain is dusty. Could we talk about it tomorrow?"
"All right. Cory. I find that I am very tired, too."
They said good-night and Joe went to his room. It was a long time before he went to sleep, and when he finally did he knew what he was going to do.
Joe got up early and left the house before Matt was up. He left a message with the maid that Matt should meet him for lunch, then he took a cab to the largest town nearby and went in search of a detective agency. He found one that specialized in fast service and he was back in Landon Mills by noon with the information he wanted.
Matt looked like he hadn't slept well and Joe she's hot to marry you? Why? Does she just want to marry a Landon? She doesn't need social position. Does she need money? And if she does, why me? I haven't anything of my own."
Matt was looking at him strangely.
"Cory, I don't understand what you're driving at, and I don't believe it for one minute. But didn't you know that you have a trust fund, a considerable one, that you are to receive when you marry?"
It was Joe's turn to stare.
"No," he said slowly, "I didn't know. And that could be it. Angela knows about this, of course?"
Matt nodded slowly. "But-she always seems to have all she needs, and with her father having so much, I naturally assumed-"
"Never make the mistake of assuming anything. And there is something else."
"I don't think I care to hear about it."
"I'm sorry, but you have to. The other night when I got slightly potted, Angela brought me home and put me to bed. She waited until she thought I was asleep and then she searched my room. What was she looking for?"
All of a sudden Matt Landon looked his age. His eyes had a defeated look, and a deep hurt. Still, he managed to keep up the front a little longer.
"I really can't imagine, Cory," he said. "Can't you?" Joe said evenly. The doorbell rang and they both jumped. Joe went to answer it. It was Angela.