Stone Junction

  Keyes laughed nervously. ‘Did you make him yourself or rent him from Hollywood?’

  The director said quickly, ‘Hell, he looks real sharp to me.’

  Dredneau smiled. ‘I’m sure you appreciate the relativity of intelligence’ – again glancing at Keyes.

  Keyes said, ‘Perhaps we could discuss your friend’s infirmities sometime later and turn our attention to the investigation, which is already solidly underway.’

  Igor began slapping his buttocks with his massive hands.

  ‘No!’ Dredneau commanded.

  Igor immediately quit.

  ‘Jesus, what was that all about?’ the director said.

  ‘I’ve taught Igor to communicate his feelings to me through the use of gesture. He thinks Mr Keyes here is a rectum.’ Dredneau smiled at the director. ‘I believe you were sharing a similar perception as we arrived.’

  Keyes took a step toward Dredneau and Igor took a step toward Keyes.

  ‘Stop!’ Dredneau ordered. They did. ‘Enough playful banter, even if it does mitigate a serious situation. To work, gentlemen, and my work is information and deduction. First, some information. Besides its obvious value as a gem, what is this diamond’s importance?’

  ‘The fact is,’ the director said, ‘we don’t know. We brought it here for tests. The diamond is perfectly spherical but, as far as we could determine, uncut or unworked in any way. And our scientists say the probability of natural occurrence is infinitesimal.’

  Gazing upward as if into space, Dredneau said, ‘Have you entertained the possibility it might be from another part of the universe?’

  ‘Of course,’ Keyes said derisively. ‘Only an inhuman intelligence could have circumvented the security.’

  Dredneau, still gazing upward, said softly, ‘You’re wrong of course, Mr Keyes.’ He pointed at a faint circle on the vault ceiling. ‘A member of an alien species with an advanced technology would not have found it necessary to hang from the ceiling on what appears to have been a common toilet plunger.’

  ‘Horseshit,’ Keyes said.

  Dredneau ignored him. ‘Only two elements of this case truly interest me. The first, obviously, is the practical question of how our thief managed to open the vault door without sounding an alarm.’

  ‘We’re waiting,’ Keyes interrupted.

  Dredneau continued to ignore him. ‘The second question is philosophical.’ Dredneau swept his arm grandly around the vault walls stacked with gold bars. ‘What sort of man, upon entering a vault full of gold, would have the presence to see beyond it?’

  ‘Yes indeed,’ Keyes said with mocking joviality, ‘that sure is some fascinating speculation, but we’re more concerned with things like who is the thief.’

  Dredneau said wearily, ‘I’ve already deduced that.’

  ‘Good God, man,’ the director said, ‘tell us!’

  ‘He’s jacking us off, sir,’ Keyes said.

  ‘The thief ’s name’ – Dredneau paused – ‘is Isaiah Kharome. He was, and perhaps still is, driving a camper truck of some sort, posing as an itinerant preacher and the publisher of obscure religious tracts, but apparently affiliated with some ancient magical cult.’

  Keyes said, ‘Just prestoed it right out of here, huh?’

  ‘Send it,’ the director ordered Keyes.

  ‘Sir,’ Keyes appealed, ‘you’re kidding?’

  ‘Now.’

  Keyes turned to Dredneau. ‘How can you look at some dim circle on the ceiling here and not only detect it was left by a toilet plunger, but deduce the identity and disguise of the thief?’

  ‘Because I’m a genius,’ Dredneau said. ‘And now, I must refresh my faculties. If you find him, please notify me immediately at the Turquoise Hilton in Albuquerque, the only decent accommodations in miles. In the meantime, please send me a detailed outline of the security arrangements, as well as the vault blueprints. I’ll be available for further consultation. Good day, gentlemen.’ He turned on his heel and headed out the door, pausing to collect Igor.

  Keyes said to the director, ‘You don’t really want me to put that Isaiah Kharome camper-truck bullshit on the wire, do you? Everybody looking for a phantom of Dredneau’s vanity?’

  The director exploded, ‘Goddammit, yes! Send it. I’m not going to tangle assholes with the president over this. If you don’t like it, Mr Keyes – well, you fucked it up, you fix it.’

  Melvin Keyes made three calls. The first was to issue the agency-only bulletin on Isaiah Kharome. Then he rang his staff assistant for complete record checks on Isaiah Kharome and Paul-Paul Dredneau, further instructing him to deliver the security system schematics to Dredneau, and to tell Dredneau a Seabrooke representative would be arriving within the day. The third call was to Gurry Debritto in California.

  ‘Yes?’ Debritto answered.

  ‘Keyes. Are you available? It’s for me only.’

  ‘If it’s interesting.’

  ‘It’s an interrogation. Somebody either knows more than he’s telling or I’m getting jerked around.’

  ‘That’s not interesting.’

  ‘A quarter of a million, with the possibility of more – say ten million – if you recover a certain object associated with the inquiry.’

  ‘What sort of object?’

  ‘I can’t discuss it until you agree.’

  ‘Two-five for an interrogation? He must be extremely reluctant, well protected, or dangerous.’

  ‘We can talk tonight at 8 p.m. in Albuquerque. Mama’s Cafe.’

  ‘Half in front, as usual. The Cayman account. You have the number.’

  Keyes chuckled. ‘I’m always glad to see a man save for his retirement.’

  ‘I don’t save anything,’ Debritto said. He hung up.

  The phone booth was freezing cold in the desert sunrise. By the time Daniel finished dialing, his breath had fogged the glass.

  Volta answered after three rings.

  ‘Allied Furnace Repair.’

  ‘Hello,’ Daniel said, teeth nearly chattering.

  Volta didn’t reply.

  ‘I got it,’ Daniel said.

  ‘Yes, so we heard,’ Volta said softly. ‘Good.’

  ‘There were complications.’

  ‘You knew there could be complications. There usually are.’

  ‘There still are,’ Daniel said. His voice sounded tight, jerky.

  ‘So I’d surmised,’ Volta said. ‘Their existence, not the specifics. What are they?’ Soft. Patient.

  ‘How did I do it?’ Daniel blurted. ‘You must know.’

  ‘No doubt you imagined it.’

  ‘No doubt? None? No, I have doubts. That should please you.’

  Volta didn’t respond.

  Daniel said, ‘I don’t know whether I imagined it or it imagined me.’

  ‘Come visit. Perhaps I could be of help in understanding the distinction.’

  Daniel shuddered. ‘No. You don’t even understand what I’m saying. You don’t need to see it. I do. I need to see it. It’s my responsibility now. I’ve seen inside it and I need to see more because it wants me to.’

  ‘I never considered the Diamond my responsibility,’ Volta said. ‘I considered it my due. We have both earned rights in this matter. I only ask that you honor mine.’

  ‘That’s what I’m trying to do, don’t you understand?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ Volta said.

  ‘You’d have to vanish with it to see inside, to see what you want to see, to even know if you want to see it.’

  ‘I respect your judgment, Daniel, and I truly thank you for your concern, but I have to reserve that decision for myself.’

  With his fingertip Daniel drew ragged circles on the fogged glass.

  ‘Come see me,’ Volta said gently. ‘Take your time. They just discovered it’s missing. As far as we know, you’re clear. If it’s too complicated, I can always come to you. Tell me where and when.’

  Daniel said quickly, ‘I can’t think now. I’m freezing. I’ll call
again later.’ He hung up.

  Volta eased the receiver back into the cradle. He shut his eyes and inhaled slowly. ‘You lost him,’ he said. THE THERAPEUTIC JOURNALS OF JENNIFER RAINE APRIL 2 (EVENING)

  My name is Jennifer Raine, Malinche Cortez Rainbow, Sandra Dee, Emily X, Desiree Knott. Still crazy after all these years, huh girls?

  This afternoon Doc Putney tried to be more aggressive with me. Wasn’t surprised. Men have one of two responses to me – flight or fight. I was telling him about the lightning-strike scar I got when my father was killed. It’s right at the base of my spine, shaped just like a lightning bolt. I was telling him I wasn’t killed too because when the lightning hit my brain and shot down my spine, the small of my back was touching the boat, and pulled out just enough juice to save me. I mean, I don’t blame the lightning. It just wants to get to the bottom of the lake. If it doesn’t connect, it can’t go home.

  Anyway, Doc Putney challenged me about the scar, but he did it all wrong. He said, ‘You don’t have a scar, Jennifer.’

  So I stood up and turned around and lifted the grey smock over my head. I wasn’t wearing anything else. I like my body close. Nakedness is one of my highest powers. I don’t mean the foxy chick-trick of turning slowly, arms crossed, lifting with a little wriggle and then dropping a dress on the floor. I’m not good at being sexy. But I know how to be naked, so naked you can’t even see my body.

  Doc Putney must have almost swallowed the pencil he’s always chewing on because he kind of croaked, ‘Jennifer, put on your clothes.’

  I told him, ‘Look at my scar.’ I reached back with my right hand and touched it so he’d know where to look.

  The Doc got agitated. ‘There is no scar,’ he said, hitting every word like he was talking to a child. I don’t even talk to Mia like that.

  I stood there so naked I could feel the scar begin to glow. Finally he came around his desk and picked up my smock and handed it to me. He looked in my eyes – with more courage than I thought he had – and said with real gentleness, ‘There is no scar. Put on your dress now. Please.’

  The ‘please’ intimated what a glance at his crotch confirmed – he had a serious hard-on.

  ‘I showed my scar,’ I told him. ‘Let me see your cock. Let’s play, Doctor.’

  I couldn’t resist. Scared him though – reminded him he was a doctor. Compromising Situation with a Female Patient.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘This session is over.’ And he walked out. It was more of a controlled bolt. At the door he turned and said, ‘You should write about your feelings toward men.’

  Depends on the man, Doc. And me.

  Before he even opened his eyes, Volta could tell by the ring that the call was the inside line. Probably Smiling Jack or Ellison. He picked up the receiver without enthusiasm. ‘Allied Furnace Repair.’

  ‘Glad you gave it up and got some sleep.’ It was Jack.

  ‘I didn’t give it up. He called.’

  Smiling Jack waited. ‘And?’

  ‘I don’t know. More exactly, he doesn’t know. I think the Diamond overwhelmed him. He said he’d call back.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘He didn’t say. Sounded like a phone booth, so I’m assuming he’s on the road and moving.’

  Smiling Jack said nothing for a moment. ‘Since you didn’t call, I guess we’re playing him loose. Or letting him loose.’

  ‘I think it’s fair for now,’ Volta said. ‘Not that we have much choice.’

  Jack sighed. He hated to deliver bad news. ‘We have a choice now. They’ve got his cover, everything but the truck’s make and license plate number.’

  Volta sat up in the chair. ‘How?’

  ‘You’re not going to believe it.’

  ‘I believe everything that happens.’

  ‘The president himself – though rumor has it the pressure came from his wife, through her astrologer – insisted they call in that weirdo Dredneau. According to a reliable source, he fucking deduced it from the plunger mark on the ceiling.’

  ‘That’s an astonishing deduction.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jack agreed, ‘I thought so. Of course, I don’t have much skinny on this Dredneau, except he dresses out of the nineteenth century, has a certain dramatic flair, and evidently knows his shit. Sounds like your kind of guy.’

  Volta was thinking. ‘That’s an impossible deduction. Change the code right now. Damn – I should have done it a month ago. Keep the frequency rotation, though.’

  ‘If we’re piped, might as well pour shit in their ear, huh?’

  ‘And I think we should have a go-between ready with Daniel. He hasn’t said so directly, but he doesn’t trust me.’

  ‘Wild Bill.’

  ‘He’d be my choice, too, if we’d heard from him in the last five months.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Jack said. ‘Or Dolly.’

  ‘Thanks, Jack, but we need you for Dredneau, and Dolly for Shamus, though he seems to have broken contact. Let’s gamble. How about Charmaine? She has a hook in him somewhere.’

  ‘I thought you said a go-between, not a persuader.’

  ‘A go-between can take many roles. Not knowing which may prove appropriate, why not provide for diverse possibilities?’

  ‘Hey,’ Jack said, noting Volta’s testiness, ‘I’m convinced.’

  ‘I think I’m too old for this, Jack. And I think I’m glad.’

  ‘I second them emotions. Take me with you.’

  ‘Sure, if there’s anything left of us when this one’s done. Till then, I’ll wait for another phone call, you and whoever you need can surround our cryptographic Canadian, keep Jean open for assignment, and let Ellison handle the rest. I’m assuming the code was blown, but it might have been a hole in the cover. Run it backwards just in case. Put Ashley Bennington on that. And Lyle.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Not that I can think of. You?’

  ‘Nothing to do,’ Jack said, ‘but there is something I’m curious about.’

  Volta knew what it was. ‘Jack, you don’t have to be coy.’

  ‘Did Daniel happen to mention how he pulled it off?’

  ‘I inquired. He said, and I quote entirely, “I used my imagination.”’

  ‘I’m really looking forward to retiring with you. Just drifting in a boat on a good trout lake while I listen to you tell me all about magic and the secrets of the art.’

  ‘I’ll tell you everything I can.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Jack said. ‘And after that I’ll have to use my imagination?’

  ‘I’ll ask Daniel when he calls,’ Volta said.

  Roshi Igor, whose real name was Roger Kingman, was eating pizza – a Navajo Jumbo, the specialty of the hotel: salami, pepperoni, anchovies, and sausage, smothered with thinly sliced garlic under a half-pound of blue cheese. Roshi Igor was enjoying it immensely. Dredneau, on the other side of the table, was not. He looked up from the security diagrams. ‘Really, Roger; my eyes are beginning to water.’

  ‘Sorry, boss,’ Igor grunted. He moved over to the couch.

  Dredneau sipped his claret. He’d figured out how Isaiah Kharome had gotten by the guards. The nerve gas had evidently caused total amnesia as well as paralysis. He didn’t know how he’d negotiated the alarms, but Dredneau’s electronic specialists had assured him any alarm could be bypassed. That left the vault, and for that he needed more information. Keyes had said the Seabrooke designer would arrive by midnight. It was already nine minutes past. And his radio monitors hadn’t called, which meant dead air. If the code or frequencies had been rotated he’d need a compelling explanation for his sudden loss of deductive powers. He didn’t like that prospect. Irritably, he opened his gold-and-ivory snuffbox and inhaled a delicate pinch. The phone rang just as he sneezed into his pale silk handkerchief. He let it ring again before he answered, ‘Paul-Paul Dredneau.’

  It was the desk clerk. The Seabrooke man was downstairs.

  ‘Indeed,’ Dredneau said. ‘He may ascend.’

&nbs
p; ‘The vault guy?’ Igor asked. He licked the last bit of sauce from his fingers.

  ‘He’ll be up in a moment. And Roger – do keep in mind there’s no reason to overplay your part.’

  ‘It’s boring being dumb.’

  ‘I’m sure. But persevere.’

  Igor jerked his head at the knock. ‘You want me to get it?’

  ‘No. Intimidation serves no purpose here. Sit and listen.’

  ‘Paul-Paul Dredneau?’ Gurry Debritto smiled uncertainly, blinking behind his horn-rimmed glasses.

  ‘I am,’ Dredneau bowed. ‘And you must be the long-awaited Mr Sahlin.’

  ‘Yes sir. From Seabrooke.’ He lifted the black attaché case in his hand a few inches, as if offering proof.

  Dredneau introduced Igor, offered refreshments, and suggested they work at the table. As he sat down, Dredneau said, ‘I assume you’ve examined the vault?’

  ‘Yes sir, a few hours ago.’ Debritto, still standing, set the attaché case on the table and worked the combination.

  ‘Any preliminary conclusions?’

  ‘I have my notes and some photographs, but it might be useful to match them with the blueprints you requested.’

  ‘Of course. Excuse my impatience, but the president expressed some urgency.’

  Debritto opened the case lid, removed a thin folder, and handed it to Dredneau, explaining, ‘These are the bare structural blueprints and these’ – he reached into the case – ‘include the alarms.’

  Dredneau flipped open the folder. Before he could react to the blank page, Debritto knocked him unconscious with a sharp chop to the neck.

  Igor was still uncoiling from the couch when the slug from the silenced .357 shattered his skull. He swayed uncertainly for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to sit back down, then toppled backward onto the couch as another bullet tore into his chest. He was still trying to rise when Debritto quickly crossed the room and finished him off.

  When Dredneau opened his eyes ten minutes later the first thing he saw was the attaché case turned to face him. Neatly strapped on the upraised lid was a gleaming row of instruments – scalpels, pliers, scissors, and long stainless-steel acupuncture needles. In the bottom of the case, beside an assortment of vials and syringes, was a small, compact meter with a wire running from it. Still dazed, he traced the wire to the electrode taped to the inside of his thigh. He was naked, he realized, his hands tied behind him on the chair, his feet pulled back and bound to the chair’s braces. He moaned, ‘Roger…’