The Vanishing Point Read Free Page A

behind her, and walked across the room, feeling as if she was about to hand Harrison a birthday cake made out of dust and paper and hide. He was given to subtle displays. His eyes widened slightly and he dropped the paper clip he’d been fiddling with, making Claire wish all over again that his predecessor was sitting in the director’s chair.
    â€œWhat’s that?” he asked.
    â€œI believe it’s Jonathan Vail’s missing journal.”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œYes. A graduate student just brought it to me. He said he found it in a cave near Slickrock Canyon.”
    â€œWhich graduate student?”
    â€œTim Sansevera.”
    â€œNever heard of him.” Harrison’s long, pale hands reached across his desk. “Let me see. I have some familiarity with Vail’s handwriting.”
    â€œYou should wear white gloves to look at the original, Harrison.”
    â€œI don’t have a pair.”
    â€œThen let me show it to you. In addition to being one of the literary finds of this half of the century, the journal could be evidence in a criminal investigation.”
    Claire stood beside Harrison’s desk and opened the notebook to the first page.
    â€œWhat an incredible coup,” Harrison said. “We’ll be the envy of every center in the Southwest.” He read the first entry. “The paper and ink appear old enough, and the writing could be Vail’s. What do you think?” he asked, acknowledging rather tardily, Claire thought, that she was an expert.
    She turned to the last page. “I think it’s his, but the writing changes now and then. We will have to have it authenticated.”
    â€œThe press will want to publish it, if it is Vail’s.”
    â€œWe’ll need the family’s permission.”
    â€œThey’ve been generous and cooperative so far. Otto doesn’t speak since he had his stroke. I know Ada well. She’s a member of Friends of the Library. I’ll talk to her. We should keep this discovery quiet until I do.”
    â€œWe need to contact the rangers at Grand Gulch. Jonathan’s disappearance is not an active investigation, but it’s a case that was never solved.”
    â€œWould you take care of that?”
    â€œAll right.”
    â€œWhat do you think of this Tim…?”
    â€œSansevera.”
    â€œCan we trust him? Could this be a theft or a hoax?”
    â€œI’ve given Tim the Vail papers several times. He’s doing his dissertation on Jonathan. I don’t know him well, but I doubt he’s a thief. What motive could he have for a hoax?”
    Harrison’s impatient shrug implied that that was all too obvious. “Career advancement,” he said.
    Claire hated to part with the original and the dusty briefcase, but Harrison insisted on locking them up in his office. She left one copy with him, took the others back to her office, and did what she had been wanting to do ever since Tim Sansevera showed up—hole up and read the journal. It resembled eating at a five-star restaurant for the first time or seeing a movie of a book she loved. Reality would have a hard time living up to anticipation.
    Claire’s inclination was to read for style first, then for content. The handwriting seemed to be Jonathan’s under normal conditions, and occasionally Jonathan’s under duress. It was his elliptical style with flashes of dazzling description. But there were fewer of these passages than she would have expected and more than she cared to know about the beans and rice he had eaten for dinner. Sometimes the writing seemed rushed, sometimes it seemed pedestrian, sometimes it seemed self-indulgent—but Jonathan had often seemed self-indulgent to Claire. There was nothing about Jennie Dell or about Jonathan’s plans, although he did explain what he was doing in Slickrock Canyon. “Hiding out in the canyonlands. Trying to get my head together. Hoping they’ll