Home Fires (32 page)

Skip nodded.

“When Rick blew up, he was damn near in Trinity’s face. She got burned. Her clothes were on fire a little bit. Remember?”

“No,” Skip said. “I’d forgotten that.”

“They were, smoking and a little flame. Mother and I had to slap them out. So Trinity was hurt pretty bad, and we were worried about her.” Chelle hesitated. “Trinity was on that elevator going to the doctor.”

“So were you. On the elevator, I mean.”

“Yeah, I was. I’m her daughter and those spies had been holding me. Did you know they were spies?”

“I guessed it.”

“Good for you. Someday you’re going to have to tell me how. But they’d been holding me, her daughter, and she’d been helping you look for me. Is that right? Or were you helping her?”

“I enlisted her help.”

“So why wasn’t she with me? And Trinity? Why wasn’t she there with us?”

“Because she didn’t want to be, obviously.”

Chelle put down her glass. “You’re going to have to explain that. I think somebody grabbed her.”

Skip sighed. “And I think that’s rubbish. Shall we quarrel?”

“No. I’d win, but what good would that do? Why wasn’t she grabbed?”

“Who was in that room with you before we came? Name them.”

“I don’t know the blonde’s name. Maybe somebody told me once, but I’ve forgotten.”

“Susan.”

“Okay, she was there. Rick, of course, and the guy with the white whiskers.”

“Now it’s my turn. When our party started up to A Deck, it consisted of Achille, Oberdorf, Jerry, your mother, and me. Rick shot me as soon as the door opened. Achille was gone when I recovered consciousness. Do you know anything about that?”

“I don’t think I even saw him.”

“Then I have another question, one I think you can answer. Why is this a table for four?”

“The captain?”

Skip shook his head. “Your mother talked to me on your phone in our stateroom. Remember? She asked me, quite specifically, not to mention the captain during dinner.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No. I named the people who came with me. When the stateroom door opened, who was in there? I remember nothing after that, but you had been in there for some time. Who were they?”

“Susan. I said that.”

Skip nodded.

“Plus Rick, the old man, and me.”

“That was what I had assumed; all four of you were present when I returned to consciousness. When we left to take Trinity to the doctor, Jerry and Gary Oberdorf went with us. Rick was dead. Susan was in the lavatory slicing her arms with broken glass.”

Chelle winced.

“Exactly. But who could have grabbed your mother? Only the old man, and even then she would have had to linger. I think he must have said something that made her remain behind. Something I didn’t hear.”

“I didn’t either. I wasn’t paying attention to them. What was it?”

“I think I know,” Skip said, “but we may be able to ask them in a minute or two. Or we may learn it without asking.” He nodded slightly in the direction of the couple threading their way through the tables toward them, and stood up.

REFLECTION 16

Couples

Here they come, he tall and very straight despite his age, she a full head shorter in the highest of high heels. Her arm’s through his; she is in possession. In her free hand, a tiny bag bright with synthetic gems, a little gold bag that speaks loud for her, telling the world she won’t have to pay, that a handkerchief, a lipstick, and a mirror are all she’ll need tonight.

There’s a bond between them stronger than Vanessa’s frail arm, or stronger (as I should say) than the arm that she has been loaned by the woman named Edith Eckhart. In this world, it is the invisible things that are strongest.

What forges that bond?

Not intercourse, though it is tempting to say it is. It forms, sometimes, between couples who have not so much as kissed, and once formed is stronger than steel, a bond that cannot be broken, though it can rust away.

There was, God knows, such a bond between Susan and me. I doubt that there was a person in our office who failed to sense it. I was Skip—when I was alone. Alone, she was Susan. Put us in the same room, be it as big as a banquet hall, and we became SkipandSusan.

Sometimes SusanandSkip. I should not forget that because it is as true as a human thought can be. In that infirmary room we were SusanandSkip, though Dr. Ueda was not there long enough to sense it—or I don’t think she did.

Look! Here in the air between us, Dr. Ueda. That is the bond, still bright, though others are brighter. Not yet red with rust, though it is rusting. It had begun to rust last year, in fact.

And now I know, or think I know, why Susan joined the suicide ring.

Can I have meant more than life to her? It seems incredible, but without me what did she have? No daughter and no son, because I never gave her any.

Virginia waves, and Chelle waves back. Do they sense the bond between Chelle and me?

Is there any bond there to sense?

17

THE DOUBLE AGENT

Vanessa waved. “We’re late, and it’s all my fault. I was silly as a girl, trying on dresses and shoes. I wanted to wear this, but my shoes didn’t match. Charles took them away from me—why are you staring, Chelle dear?”

“I—I didn’t recognize Charlie. All the time we were in that room…”

The white-bearded man pulled out a chair for Vanessa. “It’s the beard, of course. The beard and the simple fact that you haven’t seen me for almost three years that have been nearer twenty-three for me.” He sat. “I’m a great deal older, even if you’re not. A great deal older and a good deal thinner.”

Vanessa said, “I wanted to make it a big surprise, darling, but Charles thought it might be unpleasant and fall ever so flat. So we didn’t.”

The white-bearded man said, “Is it unpleasant, honey? You divorced me, so I’m no longer your father. Will you accept me as a friend of your mother’s?”

“She isn’t. I divorced her, too. You—you’re just a couple I know now. You’re her date.”

The white mustache twitched.

“I’m trying to get used to that, I guess. I—I’ve been calling her Mother, and she was waiting for me when I came dirtside. Her and Skip. We—we’re contracted, Skip and me. But…”

“But she was there,” the white-bearded man prompted. “She was there waiting for you.”

“Yeah. She was and we hugged and all that. I … Oh, dammit! I was glad to see her. It was wonderful.”

Vanessa smiled at Skip. “You see? I know I was a nuisance.”

“To whom I was rude,” Skip said. “I apologize.” He turned to the white-bearded man. “You were with your daughter when she was captured. Captured on your order?”

“I was not, and she was not.” The white-bearded man picked up his menu. “I was in the room with her after she was captured, but I did not order her capture. Will this cross-examination survive the arrival of our food?”

“It isn’t a cross-examination,” Skip said. “I’m just curious. Rick Johnson was plainly a spy. Do you know who he was spying for?”

“Certainly. The Os. I suppose you’ll need to prove that in court if I’m put on trial. The roast beef’s good here—”

“I haven’t said I’ll take your case.”

Vanessa surprised everyone by asking, “What about the hijackers, Charles? Can you tell us who they were working for?”

“With certainty?” The white-bearded man shook his head. “The EU, probably, but I’m not sure of it. I was about to say that the roast beef’s good. My doctor tells me I’ve got to eat fish, but I tried the roast beef last night and found it delicious.”

Chelle said, “Have you had the yam and macadamia crusted red snapper?”

The white-bearded man appeared to study her over the top of his menu. “No, I haven’t, honey. I might try it tonight, though.”

“You two were contracted. You and Mother.” Chelle glanced at Skip.

The white-bearded man’s nod was barely perceptible.

“Yes, we were,” Vanessa put in.

“Only you broke up, didn’t you?”

The white-bearded man glanced at Vanessa. “That was none of my doing. Ask your mother.”

Vanessa smiled. “He means your biological mother, Chelle darling. The woman who carried you in her womb. He’s aware that you and I are divorced.” She turned the smile on Skip. “That was none of
my
doing, Counselor. She sicced the Army’s lawyers on me.”

Chelle said, “You voided your contract with Charlie, though.”

“I did. We’re still married, however.”

Chelle looked puzzled.

“It’s religious, darling. Not law. They separated the two, oh, a long time ago. If I’d divorced Charles, we’d no longer be married. But it seemed like such a bother. Just voiding our contract cost a lot.”

The white-bearded man muttered, “You hoped I’d do it.”

“I did not!”

A waiter arrived to take their orders. Vanessa asked for roast lamb, and the white-bearded man for filet mignon. Chelle said, “What are you having, Skip?”

“A hard time imagining what went on in Jerry Brice’s room.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about it in private?”

“The part that you mean, yes. The part that I mean, no.”

The waiter cleared his throat.

Chelle asked him, “What’s good tonight?”

“I’d try the filet of sole, ma’am.”

“Fine. I’ll have that. Rice pilaf and spinach. Tossed salad, vinegar and oil.”

The waiter wrote.

Skip told him, “Lamb and mint jelly.”

When the waiter had gone, the white-bearded man said, “What puzzles you, young man? I feel quite certain I can put all your doubts to rest.”

“A great many things. And thank you for that ‘young man.’ ”

“My pleasure. You may not credit my answers, of course. You’re of a skeptical turn of mind.”

“We’ll see. I believe you implied that you were not there at the time Chelle was brought in.”

“He wasn’t,” Chelle said, “and I was scared to death. Then he came in, and he was probably hoping I’d recognize him, but I didn’t.”

“That you would recognize me,” the white-bearded man told her, “and keep your knowledge to yourself.”

“I didn’t recognize you either, Charles,” Vanessa said.

“Now you will demand that I establish my identity,” the white-bearded man told Skip. “Let’s get that out of the way at once. I cannot.”

“You’re asking me to take you on faith?”

“No, sir. On the testimony of my wife and my former daughter. Do you recall the Old College Inn? You and I had dinner there one evening.”

Chelle said, “I was there, too, Charlie. You told us about firing Marcia.”

“Indeed you were.” The white-bearded man nodded. “I talked about it for Skip’s sake, though. You’ll never have a secretary, honey. Or if you do, it will be some kind of dodge. The blonde was Skip’s secretary.”

“The one with the wheelgun? Not anymore. Skip fired her.”

Skip cleared his throat. “I think I’d better set the record straight, Chelle. I didn’t fire her, she quit. Now she’s my secretary again, because I hired her back.” He turned to the white-bearded man. “You told us Marcia had been doing a poor job. That was why you let her go.”

The white-bearded man nodded.

“Susan was an excellent secretary. I was stunned when she resigned. And I’d be delighted to have her back in my office, although that wasn’t the reason I rehired her.”

“What was?” Chelle asked.

“She’ll be charged when we reach port, probably with first-degree murder. I intend to defend her pro bono—to have Mick or whoever do it, nominally. It’s liable to be an expensive undertaking, one that may drag on for the better part of a year. If she’s no longer an employee, there will be questions. Chet Burton’s not active in the firm these days, but he keeps an eye on things. Ibarra’s junior to me, but he’s just as much a partner as I am. If Susan’s still working for us, that could be the difference. We try to take care of our own.”

Chelle nodded. “She was lost. I could see that even when she was holding a gun on me.”

Vanessa reached across the table to touch her hand. “You mustn’t sympathize with them, Chelle darling. It’s an emotional trap.”

“Well, she was. She was loyal to Rick, but she hated what they were doing.”

Skip spoke to the white-bearded man. “You came in after they had taken Chelle from the infirmary. Why?”

He chuckled. “Because I wanted to see Chelle, that’s all. I’d heard she was on board.” He paused, blinking. “She divorced me. You know that. It had been a long time for me, but only a couple of years for her. Frankly, I thought she might hang up on me if I phoned your stateroom, or slam the door in my face if I went there. Then I found out she’d been hurt by the hijackers.” The white-bearded man paused. “You fought them, Mr. Grison. I heard about that, too.”

Skip nodded.

“I didn’t. I offered my services and was herded into the second-class dining room with the women and children, and the other old men. I’ve never been a soldier. Neither have you, I dare say.”