Psycho by Robert Bloch Page B

try to shield her by pretending you never remembered that she had come here?"
    "I didn't try! I just forgot, I tell you." Norman knew he'd walked into a trap, but he wasn't going any further. "What are you trying to insinuate--do you think I _helped_ her steal the car?"
    "Nobody's accusing you of anything, Mr. Bates. It's just that I need all the facts I can get. You say she came alone?"
    "She came alone, she took a room, she left the next morning. She's probably a thousand miles away by now--"
    "Probably." Mr. Arbogast smiled. "But let's take it a little slower, shall we? Maybe you can remember something. She left alone, is that it? About what time would you say?"
    "I don't know. I was asleep up at the house Sunday morning."
    "Then you don't actually know she was _alone_ when she left?"
    "I can't prove it, if that's what you mean."
    "How about during the evening? Did she have any visitors?"
    "No."
    "You're positive?"
    "Quite positive."
    "Did anyone else happen to see her here that night?"
    "She was the only customer."
    "And you were on duty alone?"
    "That's right."
    "She stayed in her room?"
    "Yes."
    "All evening? Didn't even make a phone call?"
    "Of course not."
    "So you're the only one who knew she was here at all?"
    "I've already told you that."
    "What about the old lady--did _she_ see her?"
    "What old lady?"
    "The one up at the house, in back of here."
    Norman could feel the pounding now; his heart was going to beat its way right through his chest. He started to say, "There is no old lady," but Mr. Arbogast was still talking.
    "I noticed her staring out of the window when I drove in. Who is she?"
    "That's my mother." He had to admit it, there was no way out. No way out. He could explain. "She's pretty feeble, she never comes down here any more.
    "Then she didn't see the girl?"
    "No. She's sick. She stayed in her room when we ate supp --"
    It slipped out, just like that. Because Mr. Arbogast had asked the questions too fast, he'd done it on purpose just to confuse him, and when he mentioned Mother, it caught Norman off guard. He'd thought only about protecting _her_, and now --
    Mr. Arbogast wasn't casual any more. "You had supper with Mary Crane, up at your house?"
    "Just coffee and sandwiches. I--I thought I told you. It wasn't anything. You see, she asked where she could eat, and I said Fairvale, but that's almost twenty miles away, and it was raining, so I took her up to the house with me. That's all there was to it."
    "What did you talk about?"
    "We didn't talk about anything. I told you Mother's sick, and I didn't want to disturb her. She's been sick all week. I guess that's what's been upsetting me, making me forget things. Like this girl, and having supper. It just slipped my mind."
    "Is there anything else that might have slipped your mind? Like say you and this girl coming back here and having a little party --"
    "No! Nothing like that! How can you say such a thing, what right have you got to say such a thing? I--I won't even talk to you any more. I've told you all you wanted to know. Now, get out of here!"
    "All right." Mr. Arbogast pulled down the brim of his Stetson. "I'll be on my way. But first I'd like to have a word with your mother. Maybe she might have noticed something you've forgotten."
    "I tell you she didn't even _see_ the girl!" Norman, came around the counter. "Besides, you can't talk to her. She's very ill." He could hear his heart pounding and he had to shout above it. "I forbid you to see her."
    "In that case, I'll come back with a search warrant."
    He was bluffing, Norman knew it now. "That's ridiculous! Nobody'd issue one. Who'd believe I'd steal an old car?"
    Mr. Arbogast lit another cigarette and threw the match into the ash tray. "I'm afraid you don't understand," he said, almost gently. "It isn't really the car at all. You might as well have the whole story. This girl--Mary Crane--stole forty thousand dollars in cash from a real estate firm in Fort Worth."
    "Forty thousand --"
    "That's