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Image of the Beast / Blown

Page 9

by Philip José Farmer


  said. "Or the mailman may have skipped town with every-

  one and his brother."

  He hung up the telephone. Heepish, who had stepped

  out of the room but not out of hearing range, raised his

  eyebrows. Childe did not feel that he had to justify him-

  self, but, since he was using Heepish's phone, he did owe

  him some explanation.

  "The forces of good must use corruption to fight corrup-

  tion," he said. "I occasionally have to find a number, and

  I send a ten to my informant, or used to; now it's a twenty,

  what with inflation. In this case, I suspect I've wasted my

  money."

  Heepish harrumphed. Childe got out quickly; he felt as

  if he could no longer stand this shadowy, musky place

  with its monsters frozen in various attitudes of attack and

  their horrified paralyzed victims. Nor could he endure the

  custodian of the museum any longer.

  Yet, when he stood at the door to say good-bye and to

  thank his host, he felt ashamed. Certainly, the man's

  hobby—passion, rather—was harmless enough and even

  entertaining—even emotionally purgative—for millions of

  children and adults who had never quite ceased being

  children. Though dedicated to archetypal horror and its

  Hollywood sophisticated developments, the house had

  defeated itself, hence, had a therapeutic value. Where

  there is a surfeit of horrors, horror becomes ho-hum.

  And this man had helped him to the best of his ability.

  He thanked Heepish and shook his hand, and perhaps

  Heepish felt the change in his guest, because he smiled

  broadly and radiated warmth and asked Childe to come

  back—any time.

  The door swung shut with the Inner-Sanctum creakings,

  but it did not propel Childe and Jeremiah into the acid-

  droplet mist. A breeze ruffled them, and sunshine was

  bright, and the sky was blue.

  Childe had not known until then how depressed and

  miserable he had been. Now, he blinked eyes that did not

  burn or weep and sucked in the precious clean air. He

  chortled and did a little jig arm in arm with Jeremiah. The

  walk back to his apartment was the most delightful walk

  in his life. Its delight exceeded even that of his first walk

  with Sybil when he was courting her. The yards and side-

  walks held a surprising number of people, all enjoying the

  air and sun. Apparently, fewer than he—and the radio

  and TV experts—had thought had fled the area.

  There were, however, few cars on the streets. Wilshire

  Boulevard held only one auto between La Cienega and

  Robertson, and when they crossed Burton Way on Willa-

  man, they could see no cars.

  However, there were great green-gray clouds piled

  against the mountains. Pasadena and Glendale and other

  inland cities were still in the fist of the smog.

  By the time he had said good-bye to Jeremiah, who

  turned off toward Mt. Sinai Hospital, the wind had slid to

  a halt, and the air was as still as a dead jellyfish again.

  There was a peculiar glow on the western horizon; a hush

  descended as if a finger had been placed against the lips of

  the world.

  He still felt happy as he went into the apartment build-

  ing. The phone lines were busy, but he stuck it out, and,

  within three hundred seconds by his wristwatch, the phone

  rang. The voice that answered was female, low, and lovely.

  Magda Holyani was Mr. Igescu's secretary, she stressed

  the "Mister."

  No, Mr. Igescu could not talk to him. Mr. Igescu never

  talked to anybody without an appointment. No, he would

  not grant an interview to Mr. Herold Wellston, no matter

  how far Mr. Wellston had traveled for it nor how impor-

  tant the magazine Mr. Wellston represented. Mr. Igescu

  never gave interviews, and if Mr. Wellston was thinking

  of that silly vampire and ghost story in the Times, he had

  better forget it—as far as talking to Mr. Igescu about it.

  Or about anything.

  And how had Mr. Wellston gotten this unlisted number?

  Childe did not answer the last. He asked that his re-

  quest be forwarded to her employer. She said that he

  would be informed of it as soon as possible. Childe gave

  her his number—he said he was staying with a friend—

  and told her that if Igescu should change his mind, he

  should call him at that number. He thanked her and hung

  up. Throughout the conversation, neither had said a word

  about the smog.

  Childe decided to do some thinking, and, while he was

  doing that, he had better attend to some immediate mat-

  ters—such as his survival. He drove to the supermarket

  and found that it had just been reopened. Apparently, the

  manager was staying on the premises, and several of the

  checkout women and the liquor store clerk lived nearby.

  Cars were beginning to fill the parking lot, and people on

  foot were numerous. Childe was glad that he had thought

  of this, because the shelves were beginning to look bare.

  He stocked up on canned goods and powdered milk and

  purchased a five-gallon bottle of distilled water.

  On the way back, he heard six sirens and saw two am-

  bulances. Hospitals were not about to complain of lack of

  business.

  By the time he had put away the groceries, he had made

  up his mind. He would drive out and scout around the

  Igescu estate. He had no rational cause to do so. There

  was not the thinnest of threads to connect Igescu with Col-

  ben. Nevertheless, he meant to investigate. He had no-

  where else to go and nothing to do. He could spend the

  rest of the day with this doubtless unrewarding lead, and

  tomorrow, if the city began to return to normal, he would

  start on a definite and profitable case, if one showed up.

  And one should. There were bound to be many missing

  persons, gone somewhere with the smog.

  8

  The drive out was pleasant. He saw only ten cars moving

  on the streets; two were police. The black-and-whites, red

  lights flashing but sirens quiet, raced past him.

  Childe went west on Santa Monica Boulevard, turned

  right at Rexford Drive, and began the safari through the

  ever wealthier and more exclusive houses and mansions

  (northward was the hierarchical goal). He went up

  Coldwater Canyon and into the hills, which are labeled on

  the map as the Santa Monica Mountains. He swung left

  onto Mariconado Lane, drove for a mile and a half on the

  narrow, winding, macadam road, almost solidly walled

  with great oaks, firs, and high thick bushes and hedges,

  turned right on Daimon Drive, drove for a mile past sev-

  eral high-walled estates, and came finally to Igescu's (if

  Heepish had given him correct directions).

  At the end of the high brick mortared-with-white wall,

  three hundred yards past the gateway, the road ended.

  There were no walls to keep anybody from walking past

  the end of the drive. Whoever owned the land next to the

  Baron's f
elt no need for enforcing privacy. Childe drove to

  the end of the pavement, and after some maneuvering,

  turned the car around. He left it with its rear against a

  bush and facing down the road. After locking the doors, he

  put an extra key in the earth under a bush (always pre-

  pare for emergencies) and then walked to the gateway.

  The wall was ten feet high and topped by iron spikes

  between which were from four to six strands of barbed

  wire. The gateway was a single heavy iron grill-work

  which swung out when electrically actuated. He could see

  no keyholes. A tongue of metal must insert into a slot in a

  metal fitting in the side of the gateway. The grill-work was

  painted dull black and separated into eight squares by

  thick iron bars. Each square held a sheet of iron formed

  into the profile of a griffin with the wings of a bat. This

  was a grade-B movie touch, but, of course, only coinci-

  dence. The bat wings probably had some heraldic sig-

  nificance.

  A metal box six feet up on the right post could be a

  voice transceiver. Beyond the gate was a narrow tar-

  topped road which curved and disappeared into the thick

  woods. The only sign of life was a listless black squirrel.

  (The radio had reported that all wild land birds had fled

  the area.)

  Childe walked into the woods at the end of the road.

  He ignored the TRESPASSERS WILL BE VIGOR-

  OUSLY PROSECUTED sign—he liked the VIGOR-

  OUSLY—to walk along the wall. The going was not easy.

  The bushes and thorns seemed determined to hold him

  back. He shoved against them and wriggled a few times

  and then the wall curved to the right and went up a steep

  hill. Panting, he scrambled up on all fours to the top. He

  wondered if he were that much out of shape or if the

  smog had cut down his ability to take in enough oxygen.

  The wall still barred his way. After resting, he climbed

  a big oak. Near the top, he looked around, but he could

  see only more trees beyond the wall. No branches offered

  passage over the walls.

  He climbed down slowly and carefully. When he was a

  child, he had at times thought that he might prefer to be

  Tarzan instead of Sherlock Holmes. He had grown up to

  be neither, but he was much closer to Holmes than to Tar-

  zan. He wouldn't even make a good Jane. Sweat ran down

  his face and soaked his undershirt below the armpits.

  His pants were torn in two places, a small scratch on the

  back of his left hand was bleeding, his hands were sore on

  the palms and dirty all over, and his shoes were badly

  scuffed. The sun, in sympathetic altitude with his spirits,

  was low. It was just about to touch the ridge of the western

  hills he could see through a break. He would have to go

  back now and conduct a tour of the wall some other time

  —if ever. To ram and bumble through the woods in the

  dark would be more than exasperating.

  He hastened back to the car, tearing a button off his

  shirt this time, and got to it just at dusk. The silence was

  like that in a deep cave. No birds twittered or chirped.

  Even the buzz and hum of insects were absent. Perhaps

  the smog had killed them off. Or, at least, thinned their

  ranks or discouraged them. There were no sounds of

  airplanes or cars, sounds which it had been difficult to es-

  cape anywhere in Los Angeles County night or day.

  The atmosphere seemed heavy with a spirit of—what?—

  of waiting. Whether it was waiting for him or someone

  else, and what it was waiting for, was dubious. And, after

  he considered the feeling, he found it ridiculous.

  He got into the car behind the wheel, remembered that

  he had left a key in the dirt under a bush, started to get

  out to retrieve it, then thought better of it, and closed the

  door again. He drummed his fingers, wished he had not

  quit smoking, and chewed some gum. He almost turned

  the radio on but decided that, in this stillness, its sound

  would go too far.

  The suncast fell away from the sky at last. The darkness

  around him became thicker, as if it were the sediment of

  night. The glow thrown by the million lights of the city

  and reflected back onto the earth was missing tonight.

  There were no clouds to act as mirrors, and the surround-

  ing hills and trees barred the horizon-shine. Stars began

  to thrust through the black. After a while, the almost full

  moon, edged in black, like a card announcing a death, rose

  above the trees.

  Childe waited. He got out after a while and went to the

  gate and looked through, but he could not even see a faint

  nimbus which might have revealed that, somewhere in that

  dense blackness, was a large house with many lights and

  at least two people. He returned to the car, sat for perhaps

  fifteen minutes longer, and then reached for the ignition

  key. His hand stopped an inch from the key.

  He heard a sound which turned his scalp cold.

  He had hunted enough in Montana and the Yukon to

  recognize the sound. It was the howling of wolves. It rose

  from somewhere in the trees behind the walls of Igescu's

  estate.

  9

  He was tired when he returned to his apartment. It was

  only ten p.m. but he had been through much. Besides, the

  poisoned air had burned away his vitality. The respite of

  the breeze had not helped much. The air was still dead,

  and it seemed to him that it was getting gray again. That

  must be one of the tricks his imagination was playing him,

  because there were not enough cars on the streets to ac-

  count for another build-up of smog.

  He called the LAPD and asked for Sergeant Bruin. He

  did not expect Bruin to be there, but he was lucky. Bruin

  bad much to say about his troubles with traffic that day.

  Not to mention that his wife had suddenly decided to get

  out of town. For Christ's sake! The smog was gone! For a

  while, anyway. No telling what would happen if this crazy

  weather continued. He had to get to bed now, because

  tomorrow looked even worse. Not the traffic. Most of the

  refugees should be past the state line by now. But they'd be

  back. That wasn't what was worrying him. The crazy

  weather and the smog, the sudden departure of the smog,

  rather, had resulted in a soaring upward of murders

  and suicides. He'd talk to Childe tomorrow, if he had

  time.

  "You sound as if you're out on your feet, Bruin," Childe

  said. "Don't you want to hear about what I've been doing

  on the Colben case?"

  "You found out anything definite?" Bruin said.

  "I'm on to something. I got a hunch ..."

  "A hunch! A hunch! For God's sake, Childe, I'm tired!

  See you!"

  The phone clicked.

  Childe cursed, but after a while he had to admit that

  Bruin's reaction was justified. He decided to go to bed.

  He checked his automatic-answer device. There was one

  call. At 9:45, just before he had
gotten home. Magda

  Holyani had phoned to inform him that Mr. Igescu had

  changed his mind and would grant him an interview. He

  should call back if he got in before ten. If he didn't, he

  was not to phone until after three the following after-

  noon.

  Childe could not go to sleep for a long time because

  of wondering what could have made the Baron change

  his mind. Could he have seen Childe outside the walls

  and decided to invite him within for some sinister rea-

  son?

  He awoke suddenly, sitting up, his heart racing. The

  phone was ringing on the stand beside him. He knocked

  it over and had to climb down out of bed to get it off the

  floor. Sergeant Bruin's voice answered him.

  The crooked hands of the clock on the stand touched

  the Gothic style 12 and 8.

  "Childe? Childe. OK! I'd feel bad about getting you

  up, but I been up since six myself. Listen, Budler's car

  was found this morning! In the same lot Colben's car was

  found in, how you like that? The lab boys, what're

  available, are going over it now."

  "What time in the morning?" Childe said.

  "About six, why, what difference does that make? You

  got something?"

  "No. Listen, if you got time," and Childe outlined what

  he had done. "I just wanted you to know that I was going

  there tonight in case I didn't …"

  He stopped. He suddenly felt foolish, and Bruin's

  chuckle deepened the feeling.

  "In case you don't report back? Haw! Haw!"

  Bruin's laughter was loud. Finally, he said, "OK, Childe.

  I'll watch out you check in. But this deal about this

  vampire—a baron, no shit? A real live Transylvanian

  vampire-type Rumanian baron, what runs a line of super-

  markets, right? Haw! Haw! Childe, you sure the smog

  ain't been eating away your brain cells?"

  "Have your fun," Childe said dignifiedly. "Have you

  got any leads, by the way?"

  "How the hell could we? You know we've had no

  time!"

  "What about the wolves, then?" Childe said. "Isn't

  there some sort of law about having wild animals, dan-

  gerous animals, on the premises? These sounded as if

  they were running loose."

 

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