Order of the Air Omnibus: Books 1-3 (3 page)

Chapter Two

L
ewis rinsed out the shaving brush under cold water, and ran his hand over his newly smooth chin. Some guys could do two days between shaves, but not him. By the middle of the afternoon he’d look like he hadn’t bothered, something that used to be a point of contention in the Air Corps. “Somebody get that Segura to shave,” the CO would say, six hours after he had. Fortunately, most of the time they’d had more things to worry about than the state of his chin. Or maybe that was unfortunately.

He’d managed to get more sleep than he’d expected, and actually felt almost human as he headed down the hall toward the kitchen. He could hear the coffee perking, smelled it and the hot grease in the frying pan. He was kind of hoping it would be Alma at the stove, even if that meant grounds in the coffee and taking over the eggs so nothing burned too badly, but instead it was Jerry, leaning hard on his cane, spatula in the other hand as he stared at the pan: Lewis took a breath and a step, the floorboards creaking underfoot, and Jerry pivoted on the cane and his good leg.

“Oh. Good morning.”

“Morning,” Lewis said. Jerry’s hair was damp, and he had the pinched look that meant he’d been putting up with being handled. Mitch had probably helped him get into the bath before Lewis was awake, which was always kind of a sore subject, even though Jerry and Mitch were old friends.

“Coffee’s ready, I think,” he said.

Lewis nodded, and went to the cabinet to fetch a cup for each of them. He was careful not to touch the blue-banded lusterware that stood in neat forlorn stacks next to the chipped everyday plates. That had been Gil and Alma’s, a wedding present, if he’d put the clues together right, and like the big armchair in the living room, it hadn’t been used since Gil died. It was mustard gas that killed him, gas and TB: a bad way to die, and from the few things Al had said, she hadn’t been spared any of it.

Jerry had turned the gas under the coffee down to a bare simmer. For a second, Lewis thought he was going to insist on pouring, but then he gave a wry smile, and turned his attention back to the frying pan. The bacon was smoking, Lewis saw without surprise — unlike Alma, Jerry could actually cook, but could rarely be brought to give it his full attention — and Jerry swore and snatched it off the fire.

Lewis controlled the desire to help, and the back door swung open. Mitchell Sorley was tall, good-looking, built like an athlete, the sort who made all-State and maybe all-American; he’d been a junior lieutenant at the start of the war, made Captain by the end, and walked away from the Army anyway. It would have been easy to be jealous, Lewis thought, except the man was basically such a good guy. A good guy with seven confirmed kills….

“So,” Mitch said, coming in and putting the newspaper on the table. “What the hell was so important that you got me up early?”

Jerry leaned his cane against the stove and scraped burnt eggs and bacon onto a plate. “You said you were going to be back. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

“I was,” Mitch said. “And it wasn’t. What are you up to, Jerry?”

“I’m not up to anything.”

“The hell,” Mitch began, and Alma spoke from the hall door.

“Jerry.”

“I….” Jerry made a face. “There might be a phone call for me. That’s all.”

And if that was all, he wouldn’t be making a fuss about it. “I’ll cook,” he said, and Alma gave him a quick smile. It was thanks enough, and he busied himself with the eggs and the slab of bacon, got the pan filled again while Jerry limped back to the table.

“It may not come to anything — he may not even call. I just don’t know.”

“Is this about Henry’s translation?” Alma asked, and Jerry sighed.

“Yes.”

“I thought you said you weren’t going to take the job,” Mitch said.

“He offered me two hundred and fifty dollars,” Jerry said.

“Well, Henry’s got it,” Alma said. “But I thought you said he didn’t need you.”

“Well, he oughtn’t. Not from what he said in his first letter. But —” Jerry added sugar to his coffee, avoiding her eyes. “I told him I had to see the original to do it.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Mitch began, and the telephone’s bell cut him short.

For a second, everyone stood frozen, and then Alma moved, caught the phone out of its niche and lifted the receiver to her ear. “Hillcrest 6-2912. Hi, Maggie. Yes, he’s here.”

Lewis looked up from the stove, caught a glimpse of an unexpected eagerness on Jerry’s face. It was gone in an instant, ruthlessly controlled, and Mitch shook his head.

“This is Henry we’re talking about —”

“It’s for you,” Alma said, and set the telephone in front of Jerry, who shoved his plate out of the way to make room. The cord was stretched tight, so that he had to lean forward a little to reach the stick. “Long distance from Los Angeles.”

“Thanks,” Jerry said. “This is Ballard.”

There was a moment of stillness, the bacon loud in the pan. Jerry had the receiver cupped to his ear, the other hand curled around the candlestick base. His long face was suddenly alive, intent, as though he were listening with his entire being. Behind him, Mitch’s face was set in stone, and Lewis wondered what ever made him think the man was easy-going. He looked at Alma, trying to read what was going on, and was startled by her worried frown.

“I need to see the original,” Jerry said. “You know that. The difference between a chip in the tablet and a worn letter — it’s all in how you look at the object. Well, the original or a good set of photographs — and I mean good photographs, you’ll need to get someone who’s used to photographing artifacts.”

Mitch breathed a curse, and Lewis glanced hastily back at the pan, swung it away just in time to keep the bacon from turning black.

“Then, really, I have to work from the original,” Jerry said again. “And if you can’t get photos, I’ll have to come there.”

“Oh, goddammit,” Mitch said. Alma waved a hand at him, made shushing noises.

“Yes,” Jerry said. “All right. I’ll be there tomorrow — noon? Good. Thank you.” He set the receiver back on its hook, looked around the kitchen. “So. Would one of you be willing to fly me to Los Angeles today?”

“God damn,” Mitch said, more in disbelief than anger. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all,” Jerry said.

“Jerry,” Alma said, but he wouldn’t look at her, and added another spoonful of sugar to his already treacle-sweet coffee.

Lewis looked from her to Mitch and back again, and decided to keep his mouth shut.

“What exactly does Henry want?” Alma asked, and this time Jerry darted a glance at her.

“I told you. He wants me to translate the inscription on what sounds like a curse tablet. He doesn’t want to give me a transcription, why I don’t know — though, really, I do need to see the tablet, you can’t be sure of a transcription unless you’ve done it yourself or you know the person —”

“What’s wrong with it?” Alma said.

Jerry grimaced. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing.”

“Jerry….”

“It may, and I stress may, have some issues of provenance,” Jerry said stiffly.

Mitch laughed. “Of course it does.”

“Look,” Jerry said, and shoved his glasses further up onto his nose. “This is what I do, damn it. All I want is to be in Los Angeles tomorrow for this meeting. I’m willing to pay —”

“Don’t you dare say that,” Alma said. For the first time, she sounded angry. “We’ll fly you there. You’ve agreed to it, so we’re committed. Fine. But don’t you dare offer to pay me.”

Jerry ducked his head a little. “It’s a lot of money, Al. Two hundred fifty.”

“Too much,” Mitch muttered. He shook his head. “Joey’s already said he’d handle the Allen job, and I think that’s the only thing on the books. I’ll get the Terrier checked out for you, Al, and if I can clear the books, I’ll come along. If you don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” Alma said. “If you can’t, Lewis can take it.”

Mitch looked sideways at him. “Are you sure?”

Lewis scowled, and Alma shook her head. “It’ll be fine, Mitch.”

“All right.” Mitch paused, staring at Jerry as though he wanted to say something else, but then he shrugged, and pushed his way out the back door again.

“We need to pack,” Jerry said, and shoved himself to his feet. The kitchen door swung closed behind him.

I
t didn’t take long to pull together underwear and some clean shirts and, after a moment’s thought, his one good suit. Lewis was knotting his tie in front of the dresser mirror when he saw Alma appear in the doorway behind him. She’d changed for the flight, slacks and a white shirt buttoned like a man’s, her bobbed blonde hair sleek and smooth. She gave him a tentative smile, and, when he smiled back, came to stand behind him. “So,” she said. “Are you up for Los Angeles in the Terrier?”

“You checked me out on her yourself,” Lewis said. “But if you’d rather Mitch took the job — well, you’re the boss.”

“It’s a long flight, and I’d rather have both of you along,” Alma answered. “Mitch —”

She paused, groping for words, and Lewis made himself smile in turn. “Mitch doesn’t want me on the flight. And I don’t want to be a problem.”

“It’s nothing to do with you,” Alma said. “Not you personally. It’s this job of Jerry’s he doesn’t like.”

“You don’t sound real happy either.”

“I’m not. I’ve known Henry Kershaw for years, and if he’s found something he needs Jerry to look at, when he can afford any expert at the University in Los Angeles — there’s probably something fishy somewhere.”

“You mean like art theft?” Lewis asked.

“We should be so lucky,” Alma said. “Henry — Henry’s a big man, and he likes to play around with big things, and sometimes they’re even too big for him. I don’t want to get involved with any of his schemes. I sincerely hope this is nothing more than a stolen artifact that Henry doesn’t think he can get translated through more official channels. It could be. He buys antiquities on the black market sometimes.”

“Expensive hobby,” Lewis began, and then the name hit him. “Henry Kershaw? The owner of Republic?”

“Yes. That Henry Kershaw.” Alma smiled thinly. “Henry knew Gil before the war, and right after the war Gil did some test piloting for him.” Before he was too sick. The words hung in the air between them.

“He’s a big fish,” Lewis said. Republic was one of the largest aviation companies in the country; they had a dozen mail routes and a regular passenger service. Republic also built planes — the Terrier was a Kershaw design — and just this month they were supposed to launch a zeppelin-style airship built for the New York to Paris route. Henry Kershaw was smart and lucky and rich, one of the few men who’d managed to make millions off airplanes.

“I hope it’s just that he’s got something stolen from the Vatican Museum or something,” Alma said. “I hope.” She pursed her lips.

“Ok,” Lewis said. There was something wrong here, something more than met the eye. After all, they didn’t know the thing was stolen, and even if it was, it was hardly their fault. Lewis met her eyes in the mirror. “What’s going on around here? Something’s not normal.”

Alma smiled ruefully. “Does it have to be?”

“No.” To his own surprise, he meant that. “What’s normal, anyway?”

“That depends on where you’re standing.”

“I’m trying to stand with you,” Lewis said. That was a little too honest, and he winced. He hadn’t meant to be. They hadn’t said things like that, not even in passion. Too soon for both of them, he thought. Gil had only been dead two years, and Victoria…. Victoria was another story.

Alma lifted her head, her expression oddly naked. “Lewis.”

“I’m sorry,” he said in turn. “This isn’t the time.”

“It’s just that it’s complicated,” Alma said. “And I’m not sure you’ll believe me. Or that you won’t be frightened.”

“I’m not that easy to scare,” he said, and managed a smile. “You know, I did survive the Western Front.”

To his relief, she smiled back. “I know. And I promise I’ll tell you. But it’s a long story, and we have to take Jerry to Los Angeles. That’s going to take all day.”

He nodded, turned his attention to finishing his tie. Alma came closer, rested her chin on his shoulder. It was different being with a woman tall enough to do that, but Lewis had decided he liked it. Lewis tucked the ends of his tie between the buttons of his shirt and turned to face her, his hands going to her waist. “Everything feels wrong today. I had a really weird dream last night.”

Alma waited, warm and solid under his touch, and the words spilled out of him, the water and the creature and the dog in the woods, and the women who waited with it. “Three of her. Three identical women, or the same one three times, all in white. One was carrying a bow, and one had a poppy, and the third one had a long scarf over her hair.” Alma was frowning, and he shook his head. “In Flanders’ fields the poppies grow…. I don’t know.”

“All the same age?” Alma asked, and he blinked. “Not different ages?”

“All the same age,” Lewis said. “Like in a three-way mirror at a tailor’s shop, you know, the ones so you can see how the suit looks from the back, but if you stand right in front you see yourself three times? Like that. Only one had a bow, and one had a poppy, and the third one a veil —”

“The middle one?”

“Yes.” Lewis frowned. There was something about Alma in that moment that reminded him of the dream-women, for all that they had been a decade younger, and more beautiful than she had ever been, a keenness, an intensity in her gaze. “Why?”

“Let me show you something.” Alma pulled away, crossing the hall to her bedroom, and he trailed behind.

Her room was cool and quiet, the bed neatly made, or at least the covers were pulled up decently to the pillows. Her suitcase stood ready, closed and latched at the foot of the bed. Alma opened the top drawer of the chest, releasing a whiff of verbena. Two pairs of rolled silk stockings, a couple of big men’s handkerchiefs that must have been Gil’s, and an old striped blue tie. Some boxes, one of them the blue velvet box that assuredly had held Alma’s wedding ring. But that was the one she picked up, and turned to face him.