Shiver on the Sky

by David Haywood Young

  * * *

  She came back in a flannel robe. By that time Owen had relocated to the couch and was leafing through a magazine dedicated to desktop publishing. She settled in across from him in an easy chair, gulped coffee, and nodded firmly. “Time, Owen. Talk.”

  He decided to go through the day in chronological order. She was attentive, nodding as he made points. Several times she seemed on the verge of interrupting, such as when he mentioned being threatened with a gun and when he described Andrea’s strange final speech, but each time she waved for him to continue. When he finished, she sat quietly for a moment. Owen waited, giving her time to think.

  “This guy Carl,” she said. “He’s a good friend? That’s his car you’re driving?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do you think of his eco-terrorist theory?”

  Owen thought about it. It had a surface plausibility. But…“Let me tell you about Carl. Last summer I bought a new Zodiac inflatable to use as a dinghy for my houseboat. I didn’t really need it, because I don’t take the big boat out much. But it was a good deal. And it was a new toy, which was maybe the most important point.” He checked to see if she was listening. She watched him gravely, sipping her coffee.

  “So Carl and I decided to go play with it. We anchored the houseboat in fairly deep water on a calm day, and got the Zodiac over the side. It came with an outboard motor, which we wanted to test while we fished from the little boat. It was sort of our excuse for being out there. Anyway, I climbed into the dinghy so Carl could hand down the outboard. I was busy putting stuff in a cooler when Carl stepped in, with the outboard in his hands.” He grinned briefly. “He actually had pretty good balance. But I’d only tied one end of the dinghy, and he stepped down at the other end. So the little boat moved away from the big boat,” he said, demonstrating with his hands, “and Carl teetered on the side for a bit, then fell into the water.”

  She laughed. “With the outboard?”

  “Yep. Sank it into the briny deep. Fortunately he did let go of it, so he managed to escape drowning.” He shook his head. “We never did see if it would have worked.” He paused. “I eventually decided to let Carl back in the boat, in spite of his sins. Turned out he knew how to row, too.”

  She laughed again. He smiled at her. “I got another outboard later on, though. And it was also a really good deal.”

  “So, the point about Carl?”

  “Sometimes he’s a little enthusiastic. He means well, but he’s not careful.”

  She nodded. “Okay, eco-terrorists taken with a grain of salt. But it is odd that the FBI would be there.”

  “Sure it is. But I’d swear Stanley had no idea what Carl was talking about.”

  “That doesn’t mean Carl was wrong,” she pointed out.

  “No, it doesn’t. At least not about terrorists. But on the other hand, if Stanley hadn’t heard of eco-terrorist involvement, he must have had some other reason for being there before Carl sprang his theory on us. So I’d have to say Stanley’s presence is still a mystery.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. What was the bit about Andrea at the end of your conversation with her? You sounded like you thought she was nuts or something. You know, there are lots of different religions and not everybody—”

  “Whoa,” Owen said gently. “It wasn’t that. Well, maybe I do think she’s a little nuts,” he conceded. “But the interesting part happened earlier.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That kid I almost ran into on the stairs. He was carrying groceries.”

  “So?”

  “So he had to be carrying them to somewhere. And there were grocery bags on the table in Andrea’s apartment. And a picture of the kid on the wall.”

  “So he came from the apartment. So what? It’s quite a leap to assume he took the groceries to Shawna. That is where you’re going with this, right?”

  Owen grinned at her. “Gimme a little credit here, lady. I gots my reasons.”

  She gave him a sour look. Owen figured she wanted to believe him. Probably why she was fighting so hard.

  “Okay,” she said. “Tell me, oh Great One. What are you leaving out?”

  “A pronoun.” He continued quickly when he saw her brows drawing together. “Andrea said her friend had just left when she opened the door. But she said she had just left. The kid was a boy. Why would she lie about something like that? She must’ve been worried I’d seen him. But what if I had? What difference would it make?”

  “Tell me.”

  “The only thing I can think of is that he was carrying groceries. So if she didn’t want me to associate him and his groceries with her, there had to be a reason.”

  Martina nodded. “Got it. She might have recognized you, from pictures maybe, and even if she didn’t she was staying home and not answering the phone because of what happened with Shawna. So you figure if she lied, it was probably about Shawna.” She eyed him skeptically. “So that’s it? I follow you, but there are holes in it. What if she just misspoke? Or had some other reason to dissociate herself from that teenager? This is pretty weak, Owen.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. I was telling myself not to jump for joy the whole time I was there. But then she made that speech at the end about Shawna’s ‘resources,‘” he said, making quotation marks in the air. He stopped, realizing he was imitating Gordon, then shrugged and went on. “It just seemed ridiculous. And the initial lie, if it was a lie, was pretty clumsy. Basically I think she’s just not very good at deceiving people.”

  Martina cocked her head to the left, reaching up to push hair out of her eyes. “Okay, it all fits. Which doesn’t mean you’re right, but I’ll agree it’s grounds for optimism, and we could use some of that.” She paused, looking directly at Owen. “But all that happened before you found out the keys to your Jeep were missing. You were all messed up when you called earlier, thinking it was your fault the cops hadn’t found the Jeep, and you sounded as if you thought something had happened to Shawna. Nothing’s happened since then to cheer you up, as far as I know. So why are you happy again?”

  Owen shrugged. “Time passed, I guess. I realized, while I was eating, that being wrong about part of what happened didn’t mean I was wrong about the rest.” He stood up and began pacing between the dining area and the kitchen. “I was convinced Shawna had taken the Jeep. I still don’t understand about the keys, because she didn’t need them. But the cops did find her fingerprints, so maybe she’d lost her keys somewhere.”

  “But doesn’t that mean—”

  “The point here is that Andrea’s behavior is reason enough by itself to think she’s helping Shawna hide someplace. Never mind the Jeep and the keys, that’s a separate question. And since I flat don’t believe that Andrea and Shawna are both homicidal lunatics,” he spread his hands, “I’d say they probably have what they think are good reasons for whatever they’re doing.”

  “Great,” Martina said. “Now what?”

  “Sleep, I guess. It’s not all that late, but I’m tired. Tomorrow I want to go by CyberLook and then maybe see what Andrea gets up to when she’s not in the office.”

  “Okay,” she said, “but I meant now what about telling the police all this? You can tell that Gordon guy you were talking about what you think is going on with Andrea.”

  He looked at her. “No. I can’t, for two reasons. Andrea says she’s an illegal from Mexico—though I did notice all her books were in English, and she’s pretty tall for a Mexican. But it’s possible she’s telling the truth. Maybe Gordon could use that to pressure her, or maybe he’d let it slide, but I don’t know what would happen and it’s not something I’m willing to risk on her behalf.”

  Martina nodded, unsmiling but with a glint in her eye Owen suspected was humor. “Yeah, it’s funny about that illegal immigrant thing. I mean, we didn’t ask many questions when we hired her, but she has no accent at all. But never mind that—what was your second reason?”

  “I guess it’s really
just an exercise in logic. If I’m right that Andrea’s helping Shawna, with both of them involved—well, maybe they have a good reason for what they’re doing. It’s not up to me to decide they should talk to the police. And if I’m wrong, there’s no reason for Andrea to take the risk of talking to the police anyway.”

  “Uh huh.” She put her cup down on the coffee table. “Owen…you do know you can’t save the whole world, don’t you?”

  “Huh?”

  “You started off trying to rescue Shawna, or protect her from the police. Now you’re protecting Andrea.”

  Oh. Maybe he was. But so what? “I’m just trying to do what I can.” He pointed at her. “And so are you. You’re trying to take care of me. You’re worried about me.”

  She blushed.

  “Hah!” he said, grinning. “Caught you!”

  She smiled slowly and looked into his eyes. “You’re tired. So I won’t hold your behavior against you. Would you like to stay here tonight?”

  “Uh . . .”

  She batted her eyes at him, then snorted. “Oh come on, Owen. I have a spare room. It has a bed in it. You can sleep there. Unless you need something from your hotel?”

  He shook his head, telling himself he was relieved. “No, actually I have more stuff in the car than I do back there. So yes, I’d like that very much. I hate hotels anyway. Just one thing I’d like to ask you, though.”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s about your car. Can I borrow it tomorrow?”