Firefly. Part 14

"Oh. Yeah. Well, I'd better talk with him, because it's my a.s.s on the line-excuse me, ma'am-if that thing dissolves any more men. We've got to get rid of it, then maybe we can patch over what's happened."

"I don't know where he is," Geode said. "May Flowers asked for him, and Mid sent him."

"Then maybe I better talk to Flowers."

"Yes."

"Will do." Tishner nodded to each and departed.

none turned and walked up the stairs. She would not approach Geode until she knew the sheriff's deputy was well clear.

* 17 - FRANK SHOOK HIS head slowly as he drove away from the house. Neither the man nor the woman seemed to appreciate just how awkward his position was! That monster-a firefly?-was killing folk right and left, and he had to keep a lid on it, and when the s.h.i.+t finally hit the fan, as seemed inevitable, he was the one standing square behind it.

He was, incidentally, surprised at the change in the woman. She had been such a homely mouse; now she was pet.i.te and not unattractive. It had to be the clothing; the Flowers woman had bought it for her, and evidently had known what she was doing. And that man Demerit didn't even notice! He had been off taking a shower while Jade Brown was turning pretty. Well, it was really none of Frank's business. He had his own job to do, and as long as the Brown woman stayed hidden so she couldn't be interrogated, his job was that much easier. What a mess this thing was becoming!

First, he'd have to get the Brown alibi straight. That disappearance could blow the thing wide open.

He returned to the office. Some quick research on the phone got him the ident.i.ty of Jade Brown's brother, George Faulk. He lived in Georgia, which was just far enough away to make any direct contact unfeasible. Good. Frank didn't know what Jade Brown had on him to make him cover for her; maybe he was just a loyal family man.

He called the number. He got a woman. "This is Deputy Sheriff Frank Tishner calling from Citrus County, Florida," he said. "I have a question relating to Jade Brown, who I understand is George Faulk's sister. Is Mr. Faulk in?"

It turned out he was. A gruff masculine voice came on the line. "What do you want?"

"Mrs. Brown and her husband are missing," Frank said. "We are trying to determine whether there has been foul play. We understand their son is staying with you."

There was a pause. "That's right."

"Are the Browns joining you too?"

"Not exactly. Something came up."

"Something like what, Mr. Faulk?"

"A family situation. Frankly, sheriff, I don't think it's any of your business."

Frank was momentarily set back by the use of a word so similar to his name. "Only if there has been foul play, Mr. Faulk. Are you telling me that the Browns have gone elsewhere? That there has been no foul play?"

"Yeah. Satisfied?"

"I'll have to be. Thank you, Mr. Faulk." He broke the connection-and looked up to see the sheriff.

"That Brown disappearance?" the sheriff inquired.

Frank grimaced. "Yes. I located the woman's brother in Georgia. Man has a bad att.i.tude. He says their boy is staying with him, but won't say where the Browns have gone. It seems to be some family thing."

"Not our concern, then. Probably some skeleton fell out of a closet, and they had to hotfoot it over to hide it."

Skeleton... "Maybe so," Frank agreed. "Want me to investigate further?"

"No, as long as there's no evidence. Just keep an eye on their house until they get back. We've got enough to do without looking for trouble."

Which was exactly the answer Frank wanted. He had made a token investigation, been balked, and for the time being had no further responsibility.

"Anything more on those shrunken animals?" the sheriff asked.

Frank shook his head. "There seems to have been a number of them. Just skin and bones, nothing else except maybe a bit of fur. I'd really like to make a more organized search for-"

"No way! We don't want to stir up a big commotion about what's probably some kind of anthill eating out wild animals."

"No commotion," Frank agreed, having received the second answer he wanted. He was following the spirit of that directive far more faithfully than the sheriff realized. The lab report on the racc.o.o.n had been inconclusive; they admitted that they couldn't determine the cause of death, and asked for a fresher specimen next time. Ha-ha!

He watched the sheriff amble off. The man was quite a character. He was a rancher and a hunter, but he enforced the laws relating to both. There had been the case of repeated vandalism on an isolated property; kids were breaking down the gate to a lot and partying there, stealing the lock and leaving the gate hanging open. Almost impossible to catch them in the act. But it happened that some of the sheriffs steer were grazing in an adjacent property. Periodically they would find a way through or around the restraining fence and graze on the vandalized lot. So the sheriff had simply let it be known whose cattle would be let out on the street if that gate wasn't tight... and the vandalism had abruptly stopped. No unpleasantness, no threats-but the kids in question knew exactly who would be on their tails if a steer got killed because of a certain open gate. The sheriff got his fence patched, of course, but he didn't bruit that about. Law enforcement of the indirect persuasion-and it worked.

Then there had been the matter of the deer. That one had happened near the Middle Kingdom Ranch, actually, where the sheriff had a few horses. A wild deer had befriended the horses, and took to grazing with them out in the open, visible from a nearby highway. The sheriff saw that and acted immediately. He went to the neighborhood tavern where the hunters hung out, and made an announcement: "Now, I'm a hunter myself, and I've bagged my share of deer, in season. There's a deer grazing in plain sight beside the highway, with several horses. Those horses just happen to belong to me. I want folks to know that any friend of my horse is a friend of mine, and if anything should happen to that deer I'd be a mite perturbed." Then he departed. Thereafter the deer led a charmed life. People came with cameras to take pictures of it, and hunters rode by with rifles in their cars, but nothing happened to that deer. Hunters understood indirect persuasion just about as well as teenagers did. Not one of them wanted a perturbed sheriff on his tail.

Frank smiled, remembering. The sheriff had told him to let the Brown case slide until something else developed, and to do the same for the animal bones. The sheriff didn't like a commotion. There would be no commotion if Frank could possibly help it. He had more than his job on the line now.

In due course he was back in his car, on other business. In the course of that business he stopped to make a call at a pay phone. He was in luck; he caught the Flowers woman in her hotel room. "Got your man's report?"

"Preliminary," she said. "Can you talk now?"

"Yes."

"He has confirmed my suspicion of pheromones, but he believes they serve as a pacifier, not as an attractant. In open air they dissipate and break down rapidly."

"Pacifier? You mean those victims think they're having one big f.u.c.k?" He was trying to jostle her, because despite their deal he didn't much like her, but it didn't work.

"That is his conjecture. The bones have been partially dissolved by some type of acid he hasn't been able to place, probably the same that dissolved the soft tissues. He is sending samples off to our employer's laboratory, but it will be a few days before those reports return."

"Our lab threw up its hands on the racc.o.o.n."

"Mid's lab will be more competent," she said coldly. "The exterminator doesn't want to move until he knows what he's up against; he never botches a job. But he says that as far as he can tell, this monster is something alien to his experience."

"You mean a monster from outer s.p.a.ce?"

"More likely from under the sea. A true alien would find our flesh poisonous, I think, and this one obviously likes it very well and knows how to get it. So it is bound to be a creature of our planet, but one we have not before encountered."

"I'd like to see that monster!" Frank exclaimed.

"I suspect that if you did, you would shortly be dead. There is no evidence that any of its victims had any power against it."

"I'd like to see it dead," Frank amended. "And if it looks like a gigantic firefly-"

She made one of her cold laughs. "To be sure. At any rate, he thinks there should not be any more people taken for two days. He believes that the monster requires three days to properly digest a meal the size of a man, based on the frequency of past episodes, unless it is feeding on large animals like cattle in the interim. You had better check on that, just in case."

"Right. Missing cows."

"What is the status of Jade Brown?"

"Covered. Her brother in Georgia says her son is with him, and that a sudden family matter called her and her husband out of town. Take that for what it's worth."

"It is worth an alibi for you; you cannot be expected to know when a person on the phone is lying."

"Right. I have been instructed to let it and the animal bones ride until further developments. The woman herself seems to be doing just fine; she looks human in that dress you bought."

"I thought she might. Any evidence of a.s.sociation with Demerit?"

"No, not that it matters. He's a cold fish. He was in the shower while she was in the dress; he met me wet, in a towel-" He paused. "But I just remembered. Her hair was wet."

"Wet?"

"Combed out, but wet. She must have just washed it."

"At the same time as his shower?"

"Why not? So she wanted her hair clean."

"If I understand the layout of that house correctly, and I believe I do, the bathroom with a shower at that end of the house is the one she uses. I doubt very much that he would trek to a shower at the far side of the house. He seems most diffident about not using the main house; he saves it for his employer."

"Well, there's a bathroom with a sink downstairs at that end. She could've used that."

"So when you came to the door-it was the side door?-he dashed down from the upstairs shower while she dashed up from the downstairs bathroom?"

"What are you getting at, woman?"

"I suspect they are getting along better than they care to advertise."

He pursed his lips. "Could be, now you mention it. What do we care? It's their business, isn't it?"

"It is better that they get along together," she said. "If the woman cares for Demerit's opinion, she will not expose him to embarra.s.sment. That facilitates our effort to keep her disappearance, and the reason for it, quiet."

"Yeah, I guess so," he agreed. "Well, keep me posted, and I'll keep you posted. I want to know everything about that firefly."

"Don't we all," she said, and hung up.

* 18 - MAY SET DOWN the phone. She regretted having to give full information to the deputy, but she had made the deal, and the man was essential to the preservation of secrecy. He was useful too, in his fas.h.i.+on; he had established the alibi provided by Jade Brown's brother. He had also indicated that Jade and Demerit were, after all, getting together. She had given Tishner a practical reason for that, but she had an impractical one too. She had suffered a foolish sentiment, a feeling of camaraderie with Jade Brown, because of the evident abuse. Jade had suffered it in childhood, and suffered a different sort now. From bad childhood to bad marriage-how could May let that pa.s.s unchallenged, knowing how unpleasant a marriage could be? The woman deserved a bit of happiness in her life, and since she had to hide anyway, it made sense to combine the two. This might be the only unprovoked good deed May did this year, but she wanted it to be effective. Perhaps she was succeeding.

She checked her notebook of listings. She had pretty much caught up on the monster investigation, in part because she knew a great deal more about the monster's last attack than she could allow to be known beyond Mid. She could relax until Cyrano got a handle on the nature of the monster.

She smiled without humor. He had called it a firefly. What a contrasting image! Imagine saddling the pretty and harmless firefly with such a concept. Still, it did fit, in its fas.h.i.+on. A creature who hunted by night, flas.h.i.+ng s.e.xual signals.

It was good to take it easy, for a change. She seemed to have been on the go since this a.s.signment began. Maybe now she could take a midday nap.

She kicked off her shoes and lay on the hotel bed. At times like this she regretted not being married. Well, technically she remained married, but that hardly counted. She wasn't turned off marriage, just marriage to the wrong man. With the right man, there would be pleasures to be had, ranging from conversation to the comfort of a warm body adjacent during the night. She was alone by necessity, not by choice.

But she was forty, and beyond the stage that appealed to men. Her figure was now solid, and so was her att.i.tude. She was no man's doormat, now, and planned never to be so again. So even if she were available, she wouldn't find anyone suitable. Independence was certainly better than being locked to the wrong man.

Before long she was asleep, enjoying her interlude.

A harsh knocking woke her sometime later. May got up, feeling a bit dizzy, and went in her stocking feet to open the door. What on earth could this be-a fire alarm?

It was worse. She stared, appalled.

"Surprised to see me, April?" the man asked, smiling. "Well, everything's fine now that we're together again." He pushed into the room. She gave way before him, for the moment tongue-tied.

It was her husband, Bull Shauer. After three years, he had found her.

What was she to do? She knew this was disaster. It was as though her pa.s.sing thought of him had summoned him, in the fas.h.i.+on of the devil.

He closed the door and set the lock. "We have a lot of catching up to do, April," He remarked conversationally. At age forty-two he remained a handsome man, literate and fair spoken. He had fooled her long ago, and she had never had much of a taste for handsome men since.

He pulled an easy chair before the door and sat in it, stretching out his long legs. She would not be able to get past him, and it was the only exit other than the window. He had her trapped, and it would be h.e.l.l to escape, if she could manage it at all.

"You're looking good, April," he said, smiling in the manner that once had charmed her. His wavy light brown hair bobbed gently as he moved his head. "Or should I call you May now? That was clever: April Shauer to May Flowers. I wish I had imagination like that."

May coughed, trying to get her throat clear, but panic constricted it. "How-how did you find me?" she wheezed.

He flicked a hand negligently. "Does it matter, my dear? Surely you should be relieved that your long sojourn in isolation is over. I am here to take care of you."

"I don't need-" she started.

"I am sure it has all been a misunderstanding. But I am a forgiving person. I harbor no grudge against you. Come home with me, April, and all will be forgotten."

"No!" she choked.

"Ah, but there's yes-yes in your eyes, my dear. Come, sit on my lap, as you did of yore. I'm sure you'll remember how much our marriage has to offer, if you will just relax a bit." He gestured her toward him with four fingers, his eyes as mild and gray as summer clouds. But such clouds could turn into violent storms without notice. How well she knew!

Her glance fell on the phone. If she could call out, summon the police, anything- "But if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain," he said, rising easily and coming toward her.

She could try to get out the door, but he would catch her before she got it unlocked. It was better to maintain her poise. "You know it wasn't working between us, Bull," she said, managing to achieve a normal voice.

"There may have been misunderstandings, but I'm sure those are over," he said. "Here-I have brought wherewithal for a libation." He reached behind him and brought out a hip flask.

He had always been worst when he drank. How well she knew the pattern! Three years had vanished as if a mere blink, and everything was horribly fresh. The python had made eye contact with its prey.

"Fetch gla.s.ses, my dear," he said. "We shall celebrate our reunion."

She moved to the bathroom, where there were water gla.s.ses, feeling partly like a zombie and partly like a trapped animal. She had to win free! But how? Nothing seemed to offer. She looked at the window, but found it barred against possible opening by children. The hotel wanted no family accidents! No escape there.

She brought the gla.s.ses to him. Maybe someone would come! Or call. Anything to interrupt this dread pattern. She would flee to the end of the earth the very moment she had the chance.

As if in answer to her prayer, the phone did ring. She jumped toward it, transferring the second gla.s.s to her left hand.

Bull moved smoothly but swiftly. His hand came down on hers, on the phone. "April, we don't need that interruption. Let it ring; they will a.s.sume you are out."

Indeed they would! Helplessly, May let go of the phone. It rang four more times and died along with her hope.