Missing Person Read Online Free PDF Page B

about? Behind him, a fat, red-faced man stroked a blonde's thigh and an embalmed Japanese had been sitting in his chair in the Hilton bar for several days. I was sure he was thinking about nothing. He was enveloped in a fog of indifference that grew thicker and thicker. Did I have the right to rouse him from it, to force him to think of something painful?
    The fat, red-faced man and the blonde left the bar, no doubt to take a room. The man was pulling her by the arm and she almost stumbled. The Japanese and I were the only ones left.
    Blunt again turned to us and said in his cold voice:
    "Would you like me to play something else?"
    The Japanese made no movement.
    "' Que reste-t-il de nos amours,' please," I said.
    He played the tune in a strangely slow manner, and the melody seemed drawn out, trapped in a swamp from which the notes had trouble freeing themselves. From time to time he paused, like an exhausted walker who staggers a little. He looked at his watch, rose abruptly, and inclined his head for our benefit:
    "Gentlemen, it is 9 o'clock. Good night."
    He left. I fell into step behind him, leaving the embalmed Japanese in the crypt of the bar.
    He walked down the corridor and crossed the deserted lounge.
    I caught up with him.
    "Mr. Waldo Blunt?... I would like to speak to you."
    "What about?"
    He threw me a hunted look.
    "About someone you used to know ... A woman called Gay. Gay Orlov..."
    He stopped short in the middle of the lounge.
    "Gay..."
    He stared as though the light of a projector had been turned on his face.
    "You ... you knew... Gay?"
    "No."
    We had left the Hôtel. There was a line of men and women in gaudy evening attire - long, green or pale-blue, satin dresses, and garnet-colored dinner-jackets - waiting for taxis.
    "I don t want to trouble you ..."
    "You're not troubling me," he said in a preoccupied tone. "It's such a long time since I've heard Gay mentioned . . . But who are you?"
    "A cousin of hers. I ... I'd like to find out a few things about her ..."
    "A few things?"
    He rubbed his temple with his forefinger.
    "What do you want to know?"
    We had turned into a narrow street which ran alongside the Hôtel and led to the Seine.
    "I must be getting home," he said.
    "I'll walk with you."
    "So, you're Gay's cousin, really?"
    "Yes. The family would like some information about her."
    "She's been dead a long time."
    "I know."
    He was walking at a rapid pace and I had trouble following him. I hurried to keep up with him. We had reached the Quai Branly.
    "I live over there," he said, pointing to the other bank of the Seine.
    We stepped out on to the Pont Bir-Hakeim.
    "I won't be able to give you much information" he said. "I knew Gay a very long time ago."
    He had slowed down, as if he felt safe. Perhaps he had been walking quickly until then because he thought he was being followed. Or to shake me off.
    "I didn't know Gay had any family," he said.
    "Yes ... she did ... on the Giorgiadze side ..."
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "The Giorgiadze family ... Her grandfather was called Giorgiadze..."
    "Oh, I see ..."
    He stopped and leaned against the stone parapet of the bridge. I could not do likewise, as it made me dizzy. So, I stayed upright, standing in front of him. He seemed reluctant to speak.
    "You know... I was married to her?..."
    "I know."
    "How do you know?"
    "It was in some old papers."
    "We were both working in a night club, in New York... I played the piano . . . She asked me to marry her only because she wanted to stay in America, and not have any problems with the immigration people ..."
    He shook his head at this memory.
    "She was a strange girl. After that, she went with Lucky Luciano ... She'd known him when she was working in the Palm Island Casino..."
    "Luciano?"
    "Yes, yes, Luciano . . . She was with him when he was arrested, in Arkansas ... After that, she met a Frenchman and I heard she left for France with him ..."
    His gaze lightened. He smiled at me.
    "It's nice to be able to talk about Gay,