Who Killed Mr. Garland's Mistress? by Richard; Forrest Page B

Tavie. It would be foolish. You know how small this city is. Things get out. The affair I had, your reaction, we’d both be ruined.”
    â€œThen you won’t?”
    â€œCan’t. There is one thing, though.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHelen’s disappeared.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    Rob stood on the small platform below the stern of the dry-docked boat, addressing an unseen audience. He held a microphone and spoke in the loud singsong of a carnival barker. They had tied her hands and feet across a blade of the boat’s propeller.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen,” Rob said. “You see tied securely before you a perfectly normal, middle-class housewife. Can this normal housewife survive the terrible ordeal she is about to undergo?”
    A woman, wearing large sunglasses covering most of her face, began to climb the ladder into the cockpit. “I’ll do it,” she said.
    â€œI see we have a volunteer from the audience,” Rob continued. “Madam, will you test this housewife?”
    â€œAbsolutely,” the muffled voice replied.
    â€œIf you are ready,” Rob said. “Start her up.”
    The engine coughed, and Tavie felt the slow motion of the propeller as she turned over and over. The blade gathered momentum as the engine caught. Rob turned into an indistinct blur as she whirled into blackness.
    The engine stopped and the propeller slowly swung to a halt. Rob grasped the edge of the blade and held her in an upright position. His hands poked her body and slapped her face until she opened her eyes.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen, our housewife is alive. Isn’t that marvelous, she is still alive.”
    She began to scream without sound.
    The side of her face ached as she awoke. Rob wasn’t next to her. It seemed that he never was anymore, and then she remembered that he was sleeping on the couch. Last night’s argument came back.
    â€œHelen’s disappeared,” he had said.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œShe never came into work this morning, and when I noticed that her personal things were gone from her desk, I called her apartment. The phone had been disconnected. I called an acquaintance or two that I knew she had, but they didn’t know anything either. Finally, I drove to the apartment and talked to the super. She just moved out—no forwarding address, no information—just gone. Maybe that makes you feel a little better.”
    â€œWhat do you suppose she’s up to?”
    â€œI don’t know. She never liked working for the company anyway. She had a little money, she doesn’t have to work.”
    Tavie felt empty. The research of the past few days had been orderly, progressing from point to point. She had always counted on knowing Helen’s whereabouts. She looked at Rob a moment. “You say you phoned and then went to her apartment.”
    â€œShe could have been ill, or the phone turned off by the phone company.”
    â€œYou went after her.”
    â€œNot after—to find her and tell her what happened.”
    â€œYou told me you would arrange her transfer. You obviously didn’t or you wouldn’t have known her things were gone.”
    â€œIt takes time. You know how fine the wheels grind at the company.”
    â€œWhat are you doing?” She vainly tried to hold down a rising panic. “Rob, what are you up to?”
    â€œGood Lord, nothing.”
    â€œYou’re probably still sleeping with her.”
    â€œNo, I swear to you.”
    â€œWhy bother with the super, you still have a key to her place.”
    â€œI threw it away.”
    â€œBut you’ve seen her.”
    â€œJust once. I had to tell her that it was off, that we were giving up the project.”
    â€œSince when is having an affair a project?”
    â€œThe book. Now stop it, Tavie. You’re reading too much into this.”
    â€œWhat else did you tell her?”
    â€œThat you knew about the affair