I said, ‘Miss Kavanaugh…’

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she said before I could get the rest of it out. ‘The prospective bridegroom has serious second thoughts and departs for points unknown. That’s it, isn’t it?’

I did not say anything.

‘Well, you’re wrong,’ she said with conviction. ‘I’ve known Roy for a long time- over two years now-and his marriage proposal wasn’t one of those meaningless things made in a moment of… Well, we talked about it very carefully before we decided to marry, we were very sure of one another.’

‘I see.’

‘He wouldn’t just run off, not this way.’

‘And what way is that?’

‘Without telling me,’ she said. ‘Just… vanishing. His last letter from Germany, just a week before he came home, was very explicit about our plans. He wanted me to use part of our money for a down payment on this house I had written about in Fresno. That’s where I live, you see, in Fresno.’

‘Our money, Miss Kavanaugh?’

‘Yes, that’s right. Roy and I have more than fifteen thousand dollars in our joint checking and savings accounts.’

I sat up a little straighter and put my cigarette out in the ashtray; the smoke from it was like a screen between us. When the screen faded into nothingness, I said, ‘How much of that amount is legally your fiancé’s?’

‘Almost nine thousand.’

‘These accounts are in Fresno?’

‘Yes.’

‘And they haven’t been touched since he disappeared?’

‘No, certainly not. I have the savings bankbook, and the checkbook.’

I said, ‘Have you been to the police yet, Miss Kavanaugh?’

‘Yes. They were very nice, but they said there wasn’t much they could do and not to expect anything if he didn’t… come back of his own volition.’