by Gene Wolfe
Aaberg grinned. “Got a gun in there?”
“No, I don’t. Honest Injun.”
“Then go ahead. I like to watch your bracelet move, anyway.”
“Gee. I thought it was me.”
He nodded, although it was not clear to what he was agreeing. “Go on.”
“Gil Corby sat in the luggage space behind the backseat.”
“Tell me about Corby.”
“He’s a tenor. That’s what Ebony says. He was supposed to sing the duets with me when we recorded.”
“What else?”
“Nothing else. I’d never seen him until today. India picked him to sing with me, so I assume he’s pretty good.”
Aaberg grunted. “I should have made him sing while I had him in here. I fell down on that. Maybe later. You’d never seen him until today?”
“Right.”
“But you — never mind, I’m getting ahead of myself. Zelda’s hopper landed here, at the airport.”
Cassie nodded.
“Couldn’t she have landed on top of the building that houses Sy-More Studios?”
“What?” Her eyebrows rose. “Can they do that?”
“I’m asking the questions. Could she?”
“I don’t know. I never even thought of it.”
“I see.” Aaberg leaned back, his fingers forming a steeple. “For your information, Miss Casey, a hopper can land just about anywhere. They don’t do it because it’s against the law. The law says they’ve got to land at airports. That’s because there can be midair collisions with other hoppers. With planes, too. For safety’s sake, the law wants them to land and take off where they’ll be under air-traffic controllers.”
“Makes sense.”
“Criminals don’t obey the law. If the men who took Margaret Briggs had a hopper, they wouldn’t have to take her to the airport, and they could be anywhere by now.”
“I see. I didn’t realize it was so — hopeless.”
“I don’t think it is. Just tough. Where were you the first time you saw Corby?”
“In the airport lounge. That was where we met. Gil and Ebony came separately, I don’t know how but probably in a cab. Margaret and I rode out with Zelda. She had a rented car. Avis? I think that was it.”
“Sweet. You said he had to ride in back.”
Cassie nodded.
“Did he argue about it? Object?”
“No. He’s not a big man, of course, so it was pretty easy for him. You’ve seen him. He’s not nearly as big as you are.”
“You like him?”
“Are you asking if I’m in love with him? No.”
“I meant nothing more than what I said. Would you say he’s likable?”
“Yes, very much so. He’s nice-looking, friendly, and polite. Knowledgeable, too.”
“Knowledgeable about what?”
“Hoppers, actually. I didn’t know a thing about them. Zelda’s the first person I’ve ever known who owned one. He explained a lot of stuff to me.”
“The first person you’ve known who owned one? You’re sure of that?”
“Why... ?” For a second Cassie froze, her mouth open. “No. You’re right. I don’t know this man very well, but I’m sure he must own one. Maybe several.”
Aaberg grunted. “What’s his name?”
“Wallace Rosenquist. He’s backing our show.”
“So I’ve heard. Read, too. You don’t know him well?”
Cassie shook her head. “I’ve dated him a few times. I’ve accepted gifts from him. But that’s all.”
“I’m going to ask you a very frank question.” Aaberg paused to clear his throat. “Before I do I want to remind you that you promised to cooperate fully.”
“You’re right, I did. Besides, I’ve been asked a bunch of rude questions.”
“I suppose you have. Try to understand that I’ve got a good reason for asking it. Have you ever gotten into bed with Rosenquist?”
“This is the bracelet, isn’t it?” Cassie raised her arm and watched it sparkle in the light streaming through Aaberg’s windows. “All right, I can see how you might think that. No, I’ve never had sex with Wally.”
“Would you?”
“I don’t understand how this can help you find Margaret.”
“It may not. Are you going to answer?”
“I can’t. Not really. But probably not.”
“It isn’t out of the question?”
Cassie took in air. “I’m going to tell you more than you want to know. It won’t help you, but it may help me.”
“Shoot.”
“He’s older than I am, he’s kind of fat, and he’s big. I told you once that you look like my ex, Scott. Scott was big, and I’ve had it with big men. Wally’s bossy, too — the in-charge guy. But...”
“Go on.” Aaberg had leaned back in his chair. “I’m interested.”
“People say money’s an aphrodisiac, and maybe they’re right. Wally’s been very successful. Everybody says so. He’s a tough businessman, but that’s not such a bad thing. Scott was an awful businessman — so bad that even I could see he was simply awful, and I don’t know anything about business.”
“And... ?”
“Wally’s strong, really strong. We’re not supposed to like strong men, but we do. Or most of us do. I do. I know too many wimps already. Wally says he loves me, and he means it. I can tell. It’s hard not to like somebody who loves you.”
Aaberg nodded. “It is. You see, Miss Casey, I’m trying to find out why these men wanted Margaret Briggs. You saw them. How many were there?”
“Four, I think. It could’ve been three, but I think four. Of course one could have been out of sight.”
“How were they dressed?”
Cassie paused to think. “One had on a suit, I think it was a birch suit with those black stripes. I don’t know about the rest.”
“Might you recognize them if you saw them again?”
She shook her head.
“Not would you. Might you.”
“No. I barely saw them. I don’t know how long it was, but it couldn’t have been more than half a second. Probably less.”
“I’ve got it. Corby said pretty much the same thing.”
“Another detective — I’ve forgotten her name — told me Zelda and Ebony were all right. She said you had them and they hadn’t been hurt.”
Aaberg glanced at his cigarette and ground it out. “I wasn’t going to get into this now, but I will.”
Another telephone rang. He listened for perhaps two minutes, then said, “Tell them to go to hell. She’s not under arrest, and she’s not going to be. She’s cooperating voluntarily, and I’m going to send her back to Springfield in ten or fifteen minutes.” He hung up.
“That was about me, wasn’t it?”
He nodded. “Corby’s back with a lawyer. They seem to think we’ve got you in a cell.”
“You said you weren’t going to do that.”
“I’m not. I’m going to explain a few things, ask a few more questions, and let you go. You may not think you can trust me, Miss Casey, but you can.”
“That’s nice.”
“About Miss Youmans and Miss White. You’re right — they got a good look at those four men. They talked to them and heard their voices. I told them I was going to put them in protective custody unless they promised to stay in town and agree to bodyguards for as long as I felt it was necessary. Youmans agreed. She’s been released with a policewoman to look after her. White won’t agree, so we’ve got her in custody.”
“But not me?”
“No, Miss Casey. Not you. I’m sending you and Corby back to Springfield.” Aaberg paused to get out a fresh cigarette. “Corby bothers me. Why were you in that cab with him? Why not Youmans’s car?”
“Zelda must have told you.”
“I want to hear you tell me.”
“All right. It was going to be jammed with all of us in it, and Gil said he and I would take a cab. I see what you mean.
It looks like he knew what was coming. I don’t believe that, but that’s how it looks.”
Aaberg nodded as he flicked his lighter. “It does. It looks like he was tipped. He says he wasn’t.”
“I believe him.”
“What did they want, Miss Casey? We know what they got. They got a sixty-year-old woman nobody ever heard of. A woman with just enough money to feed herself and rent a hall bedroom. I can’t believe that’s what they were after, so what were they?”
“You’re the detective.”
“Right, and I’ve been thinking a lot about this one. What was it? I’ve got two answers, and it seems to me it has to be one of the two. They were after your bracelet or they were after you. It’s real?”
“I don’t know,” Cassie said. “I think so...”
“So do I. I’ve been looking at it every time you hold your arm so I can see it. After the third look — ”
“Yes?”
“It wasn’t important. You thought of something just now. What was it?”
“Am I that transparent, Scott?”
Aaberg grinned. “Not to most people, Bubbles.”
“He called me Cassie.”
“Fine. So will I. What was it?”
“I told you Wally gave me this. Well, he’d given me another bracelet earlier. A big gold bracelet. I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep it, so I gave it to Margaret. Gave it to her to take care of, I mean. To hold for me.”
“So they might have thought Margaret had the one you’re wearing?”
“Yes... yes, that could be it.”
“I’ll keep it in mind. Would she know where you kept it when you weren’t wearing it?”
Cassie shook her head. “I hadn’t decided — wait, she would, sort of. Last night I put it in the little safe in my hotel room.”
“And she knew that?”
“Yes, she... Yes, she did.”
“Sweet. The other possibility is that they were after you. You think Rosenquist loves you, and maybe he does. What’s for damned sure is you’re the star of a show he’s backing. Would he pay to get you back? Hell, yes! This Margaret who works for you could tell them a lot about you, things they’d like to know. You weren’t in the car, so why not take her?”
Aaberg rose. “You live here, so you must bank here. You and I are going to your bank. You’re going to rent a box in the vault and put that damned bracelet in it while I watch, understand? They’ll give you a retinal scan and two keys. After that, a police hopper will take you and Corby back to Springfield.”
“WHERE’S Dean?” Cassie asked.
“Dean’s history.” India looked as though she might kill Dean and eat him afterward. “He found out I was thinking of replacing him and quit, effective immediately. I said what about the show tonight, and he slammed down the phone. So history. He’ll never work for me again.”
“We’re canceling?”
“Hell, no! We’re going to do the show with Gil here as the mate.”
“What about the one-legged guy?”
“Gil is the one-legged guy. Didn’t he tell you?”
“It’s a prosthesis, Cassie. They have wonderful prosthetic limbs, and I’m wearing one.”
Cassie reached down to touch his leg.
“Not there. Below the knee. The doctors were able to save my knee. Of course I’ll wear the wooden leg Mitch and I made onstage.”
Nodding mostly to herself, Cassie glanced at her watch. “Have we got time to go over the big dance number?”
“Just barely,” India said. “I’ll get Pfeiffer while Gil’s changing legs.”
There had been time for the most difficult passages and nothing more, yet her trepidation vanished as soon as Corby took her in his arms and they glided toward center stage.
“Ever waltzed with a cripple before, Mariah?”
“I’ve never waltzed with anyone,” she told him, “and I’m not waltzing now, Mr. Sharpy. I’m just walking in time to music.”
“What music?”
“The wind and the waves. You know. These lovely trees, the birds in them, and the sand beneath my feet. The moon.”
Their spotlight took a bluish cast.
“I thought the moon was in charge of lighting.”
“She sings her way through the sky.” They whirled, and Mariah spun alone across the stage, followed by the blue spot.
Sharpy pursued her in a series of leaps, at once incredible and clearly painful. When he held her again, she whispered, “Wally’s in the audience.”
WHEN she had taken her last bow and accepted a huge bouquet of orchids, India was waiting in her dressing room. “You were terrific, both of you.”
“Were we?”
“Yeah. You’re always terrific, and Gil’s a big improvement. Got a vase for those?”
Cassie shook her head.
“I’ll send somebody. Dammit, I miss Ebony.”
Cassie nodded.
“Don’t cry! Why’d I have to shoot my mouth off? You miss Margaret. I’ve got it. Oh, Cassie! Cassie!”
Suddenly the orchids were on the floor, and India (bigger than most men but far less rough) was hugging her. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see. Don’t cry, baby!”
“I’m sorry...” There was a box of tissues on her dressing table. When India released her she got it, and sat in the black-wire chair in front of the mirror mopping tears.
“Hey, I’ve got big news. That’s why I’m here. We’re going home.”
The telephone rang, and when Cassie did not pick it up, India did. After two soft blowings of Cassie’s nose, India covered the speaker. “Some doctor. You want to talk to him?”
Cassie nodded, and the phone changed hands.
“Miss Casey? This is Dr. Chase.”
“Gid? Oh, my God! It’s so good to hear from you. How are you?”
“Fit as a new fender. You don’t have to worry about me. You must be worried about Mrs. Briggs, though.”
“Oh, yes! Have you — did you... ?”
“I haven’t spoken to her, if that’s what you mean. Or seen her, either. But I know who has her, and I know she’s all right. She’ll be released in a few days.”
“They’ll let her go? That’s wonderful!”
“It is. This phone is being monitored, by the way, so both of us have to be careful not to say too much. The one in your hotel room, too.”
“Is it... our friend?”
“No. The people who’ve got Margaret. By the way, you’ve probably forgotten, but once I told you our friend had someone watching me. I’ve found out who it was.”
“So have I, or I think I have.”
“Really? Eventually we can compare notes, but not on this line. What I want to say now, before I forget, is that you’d better not go outside late at night for a while. If you have to, take somebody with you. Two people, if you can.”
Cassie felt a thrill of fear. “You mean they might take me, too?”
“No, this is something else — some things else. I don’t want you to see them. Just your seeing them would be bad, and it might even be the worst part. Don’t leave your windows open.”
“In the hotel? They don’t open. Tell me!”
“Face-to-face, later. Now here’s the big one. You haven’t forgotten you’re in for a cut of the money? One hundred thousand, minus the twenty thousand I’ve given you already.”
“I remember.” A slight sound made Cassie look behind her. A stagehand was picking up the orchids and putting them, one by one, into a blue vase encircled by sinuous yellow dragons. An envelope lay among them. She tapped his shoulder, pointed, and held out her hand.
“. . . the big one. The reason I called. Our friend is going to ask you to go somewhere with him. This could be it, our best chance to wrap this up. Will you go, Cassie?”
“I don’t know.” She accepted the envelope and laid it on her dressing table.
“You’ve taken some major risks already. You may not know it, but you have. This will be no worse. Will you? Please?”
<
br /> She kept her voice down. “I’m going to have to know more, and I can’t even ask you questions. There are people in here.”
“Ask our friend,” the voice from the other end of the line advised her, and hung up.
DEATH AND DEATH’S VISITORS
“What was all that about?” India inquired when the stagehand had gone.
“A man I know has heard rumors about Wally. He wanted to know if I’d heard anything. I said I hadn’t.”
“You said you couldn’t ask him questions. I remember that.”
“About what he’d told me. He said this was what he knew and he didn’t have time for questions. Then he began quizzing me.”
“What was this about somebody taking you, too?” The chair squealed a soft complaint as India leaned forward.
“Wally. He’d heard that Wally and some of his people — I suppose a secretary and maybe his lawyer, people like that — that Wally and these staff people were going on a big trip, out of the country. He thought maybe Wally would want me along.”
“Wow!”
“Right. I’d be paying for the bracelet, I guess. Did I show it to you?”
India shook her head. “You didn’t, but I saw it. I was there when he gave it to you.”
Cassie let the misunderstanding pass. “Anyway, I don’t know. That’s what I told the doctor on the phone, and that’s the truth.” She hesitated, seeking to measure her own courage. “I — I’m no virgin.”
“I never thought you were.”
“Not for a long, long time. But I’m not a whore, either...” She fell silent.
“Penny for thoughts?”
Cassie heaved a sigh. “I was just thinking that I’ve slept with some awful losers, and it might be nice to sleep with a winner for a change.”
“That’s the spirit! Your friends will be counting on you.”
“Yes, there’s that.” Cassie smiled. “I won’t forget you. What’s your news? You said you had big news. We’re going home?”
“Bet your ass! Everybody knows that Wally’s got a major hit here, and that includes Wally. So we’re getting new costumes, bigger and better scenery, and a bigger cast. It’s too late to take Volcano to Broadway this season, so we’re going home to work the kinks out of the new stuff at the Tiara.”