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."Thorn could not tell whether she was fantasizing or not He felt sure she was not simply lying.He asked, in curiosity: "What would you have done with the painting, Mary? If it had actually come to you?"Her laugh was surprisingly gentle."Why, hung it over Robby's Salvation Army sofa.No, I'd have sold it, of course.I would have hoped to be able to sell it to some museum, where everybody would be able to see it for a change… Del didn't care for museums, you know, he thought they were more arrogant and greedy than anybody else.The people who run them… did you get a chance to look at the painting closely? It's really so beautiful.""I agree.""I certainly wouldn't have sold it to that creep who's got it now.I'd have made sure he never got his hands on it, and I'm sure he knew I felt that way."file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,.d%20-%20Dracula%2004%20-%20Thorn%20[v1].html (25 of 263) [2/5/2004 12:19:40 AM]Saberhagen, Fred - Dracula 04 - Thorn (v1.0) (html) There was a little silence."May I refresh your drinks?" Thorn offered."You see," Mary explained suddenly, "I got to know Del because I helped out his niece when she was a runaway.I met Helen in Chicago, when she was ready to give up being on the road.I was a kind of official social worker then.""You were a nun," her lawyer interjected.Mary gave him a glance."I hadn't taken my final vows.Anyway, I was able to help Helen get her head together somewhat.Delaunay appreciated that, and at his request I wound up living with them here in Phoenix for a couple of months.Helen's parents came along too, at his urging.The old man was grateful to me for helping Helen, that's all there ever was between us.""I see." Mr.Thorn considered Mary's lush figure, the full veins in her throat.He was unsure whether he ought to envy the young lawyer with whom she was apparently living now, and/or feel regret on behalf of the dead old man who had been only grateful.There wandered into his mind the image, thin and dark, of the other attractive woman who had been at the.auction room.Stephanie Seabright, mother and sister-in-law respectively of the two victims.A woman desperately wanting to be young, to start over, perhaps, somehow…Mary had paused for a full breath."Excuse me, Mr.Thorn, but you're not an American, are you?""I am not.Though I have made my home in America for the past year.I like your—""You see, we have in this country a very serious and tragic problem, of teenagers, some kids even younger, who find their homes, if you can call some of them homes, just completely unendurable.So the kids take off, hitchhiking or what have you, and quite a number of them, more than you'd think, wind up as murder victims.Nobody's done a really good study yet to demonstrate how many." Mary smiled eagerly, giving the impression she enjoyed either the lack of that crucial study or the prospect of reading what it would someday reveal."The others, the relatively lucky ones, are sexually abused, robbed, molested.They wind up in file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,.d%20-%20Dracula%2004%20-%20Thorn%20[v1].html (26 of 263) [2/5/2004 12:19:40 AM]Saberhagen, Fred - Dracula 04 - Thorn (v1.0) (html) jail, on dope, in prostitution." Mary continued to smile.No doubt it was unconscious.Mr.Thorn said: "I see the problem.It is not a new one." Several floors below his suite, a radio was softly playing a lament that concerned, if his old ears were to be trusted, the fate of a limestone cowboy.Very little surprised him any more."There are official means of attempting to deal with the problem, of course.Courts, agencies, juvenile homes.They all can do some good but it's not enough.I intended to sell that painting and use the money to show what can be done.I intended to set up a halfway house for runaways.""Ah." Mr.Thorn appeared to be giving the suggestion his most thoughtful consideration.Then he nodded."That sounds like a most worthy plan."Mary, who had perhaps not expected such quick and unqualified agreement, blinked at him and slowed down."I really can't think of anything that's needed more.""Amen," said Robinson Miller.Thorn asked: "This plan of yours, I hope, has not been abandoned?""No.Not at all.We've had to postpone things, of course, but—""Then you would be willing to accept a contribution?"The sudden, innocent joy in Mary's eyes realized some of the potential beauty that her habitual fierce smiling tended to obscure.She looked at Miller."We could at least start an account, Robby… I'm very grateful, Mr.Thorn."Only grateful."I was wondering," asked Mr.Thorn, meanwhile slowly drawing out a checkbook, "if you intended to return to the Sea-bright house for any reason? I assume you have moved out."file:///G|/rah/Fred%20Saberhagen/Saberhagen,.d%20-%20Dracula%2004%20-%20Thorn%20[v1].html (27 of 263) [2/5/2004 12:19:40 AM]Saberhagen, Fred - Dracula 04 - Thorn (v1.0) (html)"I haven't been back since that night.Except once for a police re-enactment.But I do still have a few things there, if Ellison hasn't had them burned [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]