Reprisal

by Wilson, F. Paul

  The man stopped abruptly and stared at him.

  “Yes?” His voice was cool, dry—like the desert at night.

  “Would you be Professor Sanders?”

  Please say no.

  “Why, yes. Who are you?”

  Damn!

  “I’m Detective Sergeant Augustino with the State Police”—a quick flash of his metal in mid sentence—“and I’m investigating an incident at Doctor Lisl Whitman’s party last month.”

  “Party? Incident?” The man’s expression was genuinely confused for a moment, then it cleared. “Oh, you mean the Christmas party. Why would you be investigating her party?”

  “There was a sort of obscene phone call and—”

  “Oh, yes. I remember her mentioning that. It seemed to have upset her terribly. But I’m sorry—I can’t help you.”

  Renny put on a smile. “You may be able to help more than you know. You see, lots of times—”

  “I wasn’t there, Sergeant.”

  Automatically, Renny looked down at the slip of paper in his hand.

  “But your name’s on the list.”

  “I was invited but I didn’t go. I don’t go to parties.”

  Renny gave Dr. Sanders’s prim, fastidious exterior another quick up-and-down.

  No, I guess you don’t.

  “Well then, maybe you can help this way.” He pulled the Father Ryan photo from his inner pocket and held it out to Sanders. “Ever seen this guy before? Anywhere?”

  Sanders started to shake his head, then stopped. He took the picture from Renny and stared at it, cocking his head this way and that.

  “Strange…”

  Renny felt his heart pick up its tempo.

  “Strange? What’s strange? You’ve seen him?”

  “I’m not sure. He looks vaguely familiar but I can’t quite place him.”

  “Try.”

  He glanced at Renny through the upper half of his glasses.

  “I’m doing just that, I assure you.”

  “Sorry.”

  Twit.

  Finally Sanders shook his head and handed the picture back.

  “No. It won’t come. I’m quite sure I’ve seen him somewhere but just when and just where I can’t say.”

  Renny bit down on his impatience and pushed the picture back at him.

  “Take your time. Take another look.”

  “I’ve looked quite enough, thank you. Never fear. I never forget a face. It will come to me. Give me your number and I’ll call you when it does.”

  Out of habit, Renny reached for his wallet where he kept a supply of cards—New York City cards. He diverted his hand to his breast pocket for his pen and notebook.

  “I’m right here in town for the moment.” He wrote down the number of the motel where he was staying. “If I’m not in, leave your number and I’ll get back to you.”

  “Very well.”

  He took the slip of notepaper and started up the steps toward the front door.

  “Sure you don’t want to take another look?”

  “I’ve committed it to memory. I’ll be in touch. Good day, Sergeant.”

  “Good day, Professor Sanders.”

  What a tight-ass.

  But Renny didn’t care if Sanders farted in C above high C, as long as he remembered the guy who reminded him of Father Ryan.

  He felt a new lightness to his step as he hopped down to the sidewalk and headed for the last name on his list—Professor Calvin Rogers. A wasted trip, probably, but Renny wasn’t leaving anything to chance. After all, look what a five-minute conversation with this Professor Sanders had turned up.

  Yeah. Renny had a gut feeling Sanders was going to turn this trip around.

  4

  “I don’t believe we’re doing this,” Lisl said in a low voice as she followed Rafe into the vestibule of Ev’s apartment building.

  “Nothing to it.”

  He handed her a shiny new key, fresh cut from Ev’s own this afternoon.

  Reluctantly she took it. She had the jitters.

  “I don’t like this, Rafe.”

  “It’s not as if we’re going to steal anything. We’re just going to look around. So let’s get going. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we’ll be out.”

  Unable to argue with the logic of that, and wanting very much to have this over and done with, Lisl unlocked the vestibule door. With Rafe in the lead, half dragging her up the narrow stairs, they climbed to the third floor. Outside apartment 3B, Rafe handed her another key. Her fingers were slippery with perspiration now.

  “What if he’s in there?”

  “Put your ear to the door.”

  Lisl did. “The phone’s ringing.”

  Rafe nodded, smiling. “Remember that call I made before we left?”

  “When you left the phone off the hook?”

  “Right. This is the number I called. There was no answer then, and if it’s still ringing, it means he hasn’t come back while we were in transit.”

  Wondering at the deviousness of Rafe’s mind, Lisl checked the hall to make sure no one was watching, then unlocked Ev’s apartment door and hurried inside. When the door was closed behind them, she allowed herself to relax—just a little.

  Rafe found the light switch, then the phone; he lifted the receiver long enough to stop the ring, then replaced it.

  Silence.

  “Now,” he said. “Where do we begin?”

  Lisl looked around. Her immediate impression was that nobody lived here. The only personal item was the PC. Remove that and the apartment was like a hotel room after the cleaning crew had passed through—freshly spruced up and waiting for someone to rent it. It wasn’t decorated like a hotel room, not with this motley collection of furniture, but it had that just-cleaned, everything-in-its-place look and feel. She wondered idly if the toilet sported a paper ribbon across the seat.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  “We just got here.” He strolled from the front living room to the study at the rear, into the bedroom, and back again. “The man lives like a monk—a neatnik monk with vows of cleanliness and orderliness.”

  “Nothing unPrime about that.”

  “Yes, there is. It shows an obsessive-compulsive personality. A Prime would be able to overcome it.”

  “Maybe he’s a damaged Prime, like me.”

  Rafe gave her a long look. “Maybe. But I’ll reserve judgment until after we’ve made our search.”

  “All right, but let’s hurry. I don’t want him coming back and finding us here.”

  “He won’t. But be careful to put everything back just the way you found it. And let me know when you come across anything that looks like a bank book. We both have a pretty good idea what Darnell is paying him and we know he can live better than this. Where’s his money going?” His grin became wolfish. “Maybe somebody’s blackmailing him.”

  Lisl opened the refrigerator. Pitiful. Non-fat yogurt, orange juice, fruit, corn oil margarine, some lettuce, a red pepper, and some low-fat Swiss cheese.

  Rafe glanced in over her shoulder.

  “He eats like you do.”

  “Maybe he’s a health nut—or he’s got a cholesterol problem.”

  They began going through drawers. There weren’t many in the apartment, so it wasn’t long before Rafe came across Ev’s financial records. He shook his head and whistled as he paged through them.

  “Rent, utilities, and food … rent, utilities, and food … that’s all he uses his money for. The rest is all in CDs and bonds in IRAs and Keoghs. He’s loaded.”

  Lisl couldn’t repress a smile of satisfaction.

  “There. I told you. He’s a Prime. He’ll be able to retire in another ten years.”

  “We’re missing something.”

  “Like what?” She was getting annoyed now. “What could we be missing? No drugs or alcohol here, not so much as a bottle of sherry; no gay magazines, no child porn, no notes from a blackmailer. Give it up, Rafe. The man’s cle
an. And he’s a Prime.”

  “We still don’t know where he is tonight, or every other Wednesday night for that matter. Once we know that, I’ll rest my case … or bow to yours.”

  “How are we supposed to find that out?”

  “Simple. Next Wednesday night we’ll follow him.”

  Games … Rafe loved games. But at least following Ev wasn’t illegal—not like snooping through his apartment.

  “All right. We’ll do that. But let’s get out of here. Back to my place.” A fiery desire was growing within her. “I know something we can do that’s a lot more fun. And legal too.”

  They made sure everything was just as they had found it, then they hurried back to Rafe’s car. Lisl took the lead on the way out.

  5

  Bill edged his old Impala out of the parking lot and into the flow along Conway Street. Traffic was light and he was in no hurry. He’d just seen a revival of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for the third time and was in a great mood. Each time he found something new to marvel at. He’d tried watching it at home once on a DVD but it wasn’t the same. When he’d read that The Strand was running a big-screen revival, he’d jumped at the chance for another look.

  As he pulled to a stop at a light, he noticed a familiar-looking sports car to his right on the side street, waiting to make a left turn. A Maserati. In the bright, diffused peach glow of the mercury vapor lamps that lined Conway, Bill recognized Rafe Losmara at the wheel, speaking animatedly to someone next to him. Once again Bill was struck by the feeling that they’d met before. Something tantalizingly familiar about his face.

  He wondered who Rafe was with. He almost hoped it wasn’t Lisl. He was convinced that Rafe was no good for her, that his twisted values were behind the appalling deterioration in Lisl’s character.

  Maybe Rafe was out with somebody else tonight. If so, perhaps Bill could find a way to use that as a wedge between Lisl and him.

  All the standard objections rolled through his mind—it’s none of your business, she’s a big girl, a grown woman, you’re not her father, not even her uncle, and even if you were, she has a right to choose her lovers and her values—and he let them roll right out again.

  All valid, but his feelings for Lisl overruled them. She was heading for a fall—Bill knew it as sure as he knew his real name—and he wanted to catch her before she did. Because she might not come back from this crash. And if Bill couldn’t save the one friend he had left in the world, he might not come back either.

  As the Maserati made the turn and swung around the front of Bill’s car, he recognized Lisl in the passenger seat. He cursed in disappointment and shot one last glance at Rafe.

  A wordless cry escaped Bill as the street seemed to tilt under his car. Close-up, in the strange mercury glow that gelled the air, Rafe’s mustache seemed to fade away, and his face … it looked … just like …

  Sara!

  And then he was past, gone, out of sight, his car a receding blob of red. But the vision remained, floating before Bill’s eyes.

  Sara!

  Why hadn’t he seen it before? The resemblance was unmistakable. He could be her brother!

  What if he was her brother?

  But how could that be? And why would he be here? What possible purpose—?

  Lisl! Was he going to hurt Lisl like his sister had hurt Danny?

  The blare of a horn from behind startled Bill and he looked up. The light was green. His slick palms slipped on the wheel as he pulled over to the curb and shut off the engine.

  He sat behind the wheel, trembling, sweating, trying to get a grip as the wild thoughts raced through his head.

  Wait. Stop. This was crazy.

  Rafe had looked like Sara for an instant. So what? That was scary, but he wasn’t Sara, and the odds of someone related to Sara showing up as a graduate student at the same university where Bill was working under an assumed identity were astronomical.

  And yet …

  Bill couldn’t shake the feeling that a veil had parted for an instant and allowed him a peek at a deadly secret. He couldn’t ignore it. He had to follow it up. Now. But he couldn’t do it himself. He couldn’t raise his profile. He needed help. But who? How? He searched for a way, a name. And he knew: Nick.

  He headed for home and along the way he searched his memory for everything Lisl had ever told him about Rafe. He had it all arranged in his mind by the time he reached his computer.

  He sent an email to Nick’s anonymous address.

  EL COMEDO—

  NEED BACKGROUND CHECK ON ONE RAFE LOSMARA …

  He gave as much background as he could, Rafe’s undergraduate school, year of graduation, anything he could remember from Lisl’s glowing rambles about him, but he scrupulously avoided any mention of Rafe’s present circumstances or whereabouts.

  Bill closed with a circumspect note that he hoped would spur Nick to dig as deeply and quickly as he could:

  … CHECK FOR POSSIBLE RELATION TO THE MISSING MYSTERY WOMAN WE WERE LOOKING FOR LAST TIME WE WERE TOGETHER. CHECK WITH OUR AUGUST FRIEND. MAYBE HE CAN HELP. PLEASE HURRY. URGENT, URGENT, URGENT!

  IGNATIUS

  Bill signed off and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t have to leave it all to Nick. At lunch break tomorrow he could hit the university library and see if he could get hold of a copy of the Arizona State yearbook from last year.

  Probably all a wild goose chase. No way Rafe and Sara could be related. Just a freak combination of light and shadow, nothing more.

  Bill couldn’t repress a shudder at the memory of how much Rafe had looked like Sara in that instant.

  He picked up his Breviary and tried to concentrate on his daily office.

  6

  This isn’t working.

  Straddling Rafe in the dark of her bedroom, Lisl coiled her arms around his neck and thrust her pelvis down against his. She’d wanted tonight to be different. Insisted, in fact. No belt, no symbolic beating, no taunts, no shouting, no catharsis—just lovemaking, pure and simple. So that was what they had done: strip, turn the lights off, and meet under the sheets.

  But it wasn’t working. Rafe had only half his usual tumescence, had even had difficulty penetrating her. Even now, sliding within her, she sensed his softness, his listlessness.

  Suddenly she was angry. He wasn’t going to cooperate. Was that how it was going to be? If they didn’t approach sex his way, he’d participate, but just barely? In a sudden burst of fury, she bit him on the shoulder.

  Rafe started and groaned in her ear; she felt him harden within her as he began moving more ardently against her. She bit him again, deeper, tasting blood this time. Lisl couldn’t help laughing as she felt him harden further, becoming stiff and straight as a broom handle. And like a witch, she rode him into the night.

  FEBRUARY

  TWENTY-TWO

  1

  Everett Sanders stood at the curb along the lower rim of the south parking lot and pretended to be a casual bystander watching three members of the grounds crew replace a section of hose in the underground sprinkler system. But his interest wasn’t casual and he really wasn’t watching the work.

  He tried not to be obvious about it, but he wanted to get a close-up look at one of the workers. The one with the beard and the short ponytail. Lisl’s friend.

  Ever since that state policeman had shown him the photo, Ev had been plagued by a tantalizing sense of familiarity. He’d always been good with faces—terrible with names, but he never forgot a face. He could run into a student he’d taught for a single semester and hadn’t seen for years and immediately remember the course, the student’s usual seat, and his or her final grade. But he’d be lost as to the name.

  So when the policeman had shown him the photo, he’d been positive he’d seen that face before. It had taken him a whole week, but he was now ninety percent sure that the young priest in the photo and Lisl’s groundskeeper friend were one and the same. Lisl and the fellow had lunched together outside last Friday and again yesterday. Ev
had used his binoculars to watch him while they sat together under the bare elm but it hadn’t been enough. The man’s end of the conversation had been animated, with much head movement and many hand gestures and Ev hadn’t been able to get a good look.

  He had decided yesterday that he would have to get closer to obtain that final ten percent of certainty. For he insisted on being completely sure before he pointed his finger at a man. A little disconcerting to break out of his usual daily routine—especially on a Wednesday afternoon when his time was always tightly budgeted—and wander the grounds looking for a mysterious stranger, but he reminded himself he was doing this to protect Lisl.

  He had found him and now little bursts of excitement twitched in his nerve endings as he edged closer. This was almost like private detective work, like being Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe for a day.

  He noticed that although the man in question worked well with the others, he didn’t seem completely a part of them. He talked with them, laughed at their jokes, but didn’t seem to truly belong. Ev had the feeling that something within the man kept him one step removed.

  Like me.

  “You get any closer, mister, you gon’ fall in.”

  The voice startled Ev. As the other groundsmen laughed he glanced up and smiled at the big shovel-wielding redhead who had spoken.

  “I don’t mean to disturb your work.”

  “Oh, you ain’t disturbin’ nothin’. But you sure ain’t helpin’, neither.”

  Ev wasn’t sure if there was an undercurrent of hostility in the man’s voice, or if he was just pulling his leg.

  “I was just curious as to how deep in the ground you had to lay the hosing.”

  “Shoot! Ah don’ know ’bout you, man, but Ah ain’t abouta lay mah hose in the ground, Ah kin tell you that! Nossir!”

  Amid renewed laughter, Lisl’s groundsman looked up at Ev with his clear blue eyes. He was down on his knees, adjusting a coupling.

  “Aren’t you Professor Sanders?”

  Ev was somewhat taken aback at being recognized.