Free Out of the Sun by Robert Goddard Page A

their separate ways, Harry. People do."
    "When? When did they go?"
    "I don't know. They didn't notify me. Why should they?"
    "But they arrived within a week of David being taken ill and left again a few days later?"
    "Well, yes, I suppose so. But what '
    "Have you heard from them since?"
    "No."
    "Are they still all right, do you think?"
    "All right? Well, of course. Why shouldn't they be?"
    "For the same reason Kersey and Mermillod aren't, I should have thought."
    That's nonsense. Kersey's death was accidental. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills hundreds of people every year. Probably thousands worldwide."
    "And throwing yourself under a train is a common method of suicide."
    "Well, so it is."
    "But within a fortnight of each other? Among a small group of scientists sacked from the same company at the same time for '
    "David wasn't sacked!" Iris glanced round at her son, as if afraid she might have disturbed him. But she need not have worried. His rest was impenetrable. "He resigned. Of his own accord."
    That's not how Hope tells it."
    "What would she know? They were divorced by then."
    "She implied there could have been something between David and Donna Trangam."
    "Well, what if there was? They're both adults."
    "You agree there may have been, then?"
    "I suppose it's possible. They're both attractive people. They have a lot in common. It would certainly explain why he telephoned her that night." She tensed. That is ... I mean .. ."
    "He telephoned her from the Skyway Hotel?"
    Iris looked solemnly across at Harry. "Yes. He did."
    "How do you know?"
    "Because the hotel had the effrontery to send me David's bill for settlement. It showed a phone call he made just after eleven o'clock that night. I dialled the number and it turned out to be the university switchboard at Berkeley. San Francisco's eight hours behind us, so '
    "What did Donna say when you asked her about it?"
    "I never had the chance to ask. She'd gone by the time the bill came through."
    "But you must have spoken to her since."
    "No. I haven't."
    "Why the hell not?"
    "Because she isn't there any more."
    "Not there? What do you mean?"
    "She's not been seen at Berkeley since taking leave on the fifteenth of September. That must have been when she heard about David."
    "And she's not been back since?"
    "Apparently not. They gave me her home number, but it's just an answering machine. She's not responded to any of my messages."
    "Could she be with Hammelgaard?"
    "Possibly."
    "Have you tried to contact him?"
    "Yes."
    "At Princeton?"
    "Yes."
    "And?"
    "Same story. Absent without leave."
    "You mean missing?"
    "Well, yes, I suppose I do."
    "For God's sake!" Harry jumped up and strode to the window, where he took a few calming breaths before turning to look back at Iris. His anger drained away at the sight of her crushed expression. She seemed suddenly old and fallible and in need of help. She was not going to ask for it, of course. But that did not mean she would refuse it. Even from him. "A few moments ago, you said there was no reason to think they were in any danger."
    There isn't."
    "You don't believe that."
    "Ken advised me to drop it. He said there was no point pursuing the matter. He said it couldn't help David to antagonize his former employer."
    "Well, good old Ken."
    "But he's right, isn't he?"
    "I don't know. Maybe. I do know one thing, though. The least the very least we owe David is to find out how this happened to him. And why. Did Donna say anything when you met her to give us a clue?"
    "Not that I can remember. We discussed David's condition. Nothing else."
    "But she didn't mention the telephone call?"
    "No."
    "Which means either he didn't get through to her or '
    "The call cost more than ten pounds, Harry. I should think he must have got through to somebody. Miss Trangam's the obvious candidate."
    Then she can't have wanted you to know what he said, can she?"
    "No. It seems not."
    The thought clearly hurt Iris. But in her sidelong glance at David Harry detected