Metal Sky

by Jay Caselberg

  “No, Jack, believe me,” she said. “It wasn’t like that.” She turned her face away from him. “Yes, it may have been like that at first, but it changed. Back in that apartment when you said my name, my real name, I knew you were smarter than you were letting on. I feel something for you, Jack. You’ve impressed me. At first, yes, but then I saw what you were, what we could do together.” She turned back to look at him. “We could be so good together, Jack. Think about it. We can have such fun together, and get rich in the process.”

  He held her gaze for a couple of moments, and despite himself, despite everything he knew about her, there was the briefest inner debate; then he sighed.

  “Yeah, until you decide it’d be more worth your while to have me out of the picture. Would five hundred thousand be enough for you? A million? What then? Would you kill me like you killed Talbot? It all fell into place when you pulled that weapon. That’s a big gun for a little woman.”

  She stood then, her fists bunched by her sides. “He betrayed me, Jack. He betrayed me. After all we’d been through, he betrayed me. Me. What did you expect me to do? I had no choice.”

  Jack straightened. “There’s always a choice.”

  “No, there isn’t. You’re wrong. Look at where you are, what sort of life you have.” Suddenly the coy, girlish demeanor dropped away. She fixed him with a steady gaze. “Sure, I’ve been trying to play you, Jack. The dumb private investigator, everything that goes with it. He always needs some vamp to play along, act as his foil. Isn’t that the way it works? I’ve seen the vids too. Okay, in the beginning I might have misread you, I admit it. That was my mistake. Just stop for a minute and think though. Think of what we could have made. You, me, together. And that’s just one deal. The universe is full of fools like Landerman. Rich fools with far more money than sense. Together we could have had a great future together, Jack. And the rewards . . . With your abilities and what I know, we could have a lot of fun and do pretty damned nicely out of it too. Forget all that playacting.”

  Jack shook his head. “I’m sorry. I value my own life a little more than that. I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Danuta. And now,” he said, “I think it’s time to put this to rest. No more games. Not even this one. You’re not quite as good as you think you are, Ms. Galvin.”

  He turned to the wall. “Morrish, you there?”

  The wallscreen blossomed into life and Morrish’s big pasty features took shape. “Yeah, Jack, we’re here.”

  “Did you get Landerman?”

  Morrish nodded. “Yes. We had some of our boys waiting for him when he left your place.”

  “And have you got enough?”

  Morrish grinned. “Yeah, we’ve got plenty. We’ll be over in a while. And I think there’s someone here who’ll be pleased to see you and get out of this place. She’s one smart little lady, Jack.”

  “Yeah, she is. Okay, good. See you soon.”

  The display faded and Jack turned to see Danuta Galvin staring at him, her mouth open, her pale face aghast.

  Jack simply smiled.

  She slowly closed her mouth. “Damn you, Stein,” she hissed. “You’ll be sorry.”

  “Oh, I doubt that very much, Ms. Galvin,” he said.

  Twenty-Five

  Once or twice Danuta Galvin sat forward, moistening her lips as if about to say something.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jack told her. “You’ve said all you have to say.”

  She looked aggrieved, then averted her gaze. A couple of times she glanced around the office, obviously looking for something she could make use of, seeking some avenue of escape, but there was clearly none.

  Jack cleared his throat, just to break the silence.

  He was about to stand up and start pacing, when the system announced an arrival.

  “Who is it?” he said.

  An image of Morrish and Laduce standing outside the front door appeared on the wall. Billie stood behind them.

  “Wait here,” said Jack. “And don’t even think about moving. There’s nowhere to go, Ms. Galvin.”

  He left the office and went to the door to let the two policemen in. As he opened the door, he was met by a big grin on Morrish’s face. Laduce looked uncomfortable, but the edge seemed to have been taken off his normal hostility.

  Billie pushed between the two of them and went straight in. She also pushed past Jack, heading for the living room. Who knew what was upsetting her this time?

  “So, where is she?” asked Morrish.

  “Or maybe she’s already gone,” said Laduce.

  “Sorry to disappoint you, Laduce,” said Jack. “Come in.” He shook his head. So Laduce was still going to push it despite everything. “Through this way.”

  Laduce leaned in close as they stepped inside. “I tell you, Stein. You’re not out of this yet. Not if I’ve got anything to do with it.”

  “Yeah, right,” said Jack with a sigh and a little shake of his head. He didn’t have the energy for this crap now. He was already starting to feel the effects of the adrenaline starting to fade.

  He led them through to the office. Opening the door, he stood back to let them pass and followed them in. Danuta Galvin was standing by the window, her hands feeling around the edges. She quickly turned as they entered, her face becoming a mask of innocence.

  “Never mind the act,” said Jack. “They saw the whole thing. Every word you said, Ms. Galvin, went straight into their system.”

  Morrish stepped forward. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Carl Talbot,” he said.

  She stood where she was. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You may as well drop it,” said Laduce. He turned to Jack. “Have you got the guns?”

  Jack nodded and dug them out of his pocket, handing them with one hand to Laduce, who took them and turned them over one at a time, inspecting them. Laduce nodded in turn, facing back to look at Danuta.

  “Yeah, with these, we’ve got plenty.”

  Laduce stepped forward and took Danuta by her upper arm. With a sour expression she shook his hand free. “It’s all right,” she said. “I’m coming.”

  Morrish stepped forward to flank her. “Well, we’d better be going then, Ms. Galvin.” He turned to wink at Jack and together, he and Laduce started escorting her to the door.

  “We still might want to talk to you, Stein,” said Laduce. “In fact, I’d count on it.”

  “Well, you know where I am,” Jack responded, not even having the energy to hit him with a snappy response, and followed them to the door. He saw them out, standing waiting while they walked toward the elevator. As Morrish pressed to call it, he turned back to look at Jack.

  “Thanks again,” he said.

  Jack gave a quick nod and touched his finger to his forehead, then closed the door. That was it. Done. Well, almost. There was still something he wanted to do, but that would keep. First he had to work out what was eating Billie and try to smooth the waters. He stood in the hallway, thinking, his hands shoved into his pockets.

  Summoning his energy, he wandered into the living room, but Billie was nowhere to be seen.

  “Billie?” he called.

  She appeared at her door. “What?”

  “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  She shrugged, but her face was set with a surly expression.

  “Dammit, Billie. Will you cut it out?”

  She gave a heavy sigh. “It’s just the same, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?” he said with a frown.

  She wandered out into the living room shaking her head. “You still treat me like a little kid.” She propped herself up on one of the chairs and looked at him with her jaw thrust out.

  Jack turned slowly. “I’m sorry, Billie, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never treated you like a kid. Not really. Jesus, I wouldn’t know how to treat someone like a kid.”

  The hostility still radiated from her face, her posture. �
�You just don’t know, do you?”

  He crossed to a chair and sat. It was time they had this out. “No, dammit. I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “You keep saying we’re partners, that we work together.”

  “And . . .”

  “You sent me to the police. You know I don’t like them.” She gave a half shrug.

  “Yeah, and what, Billie? You knew it was the only way we could do things. What did you expect me to do? It was the only chance we had of making the whole thing work. I rely on you. So, you went to the police building. What else do you want?”

  She glared at him. “For you to tell me what was going on,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  Billie stood and wandered over to one of the shelves, trailing her finger across the edge, her head tilted slightly down so her hair obscured her expression. “You knew that woman killed Carl Talbot.”

  “Well, I suspected, yeah . . .”

  “And you didn’t tell me.”

  “Oh, come on, Billie. I had to make her admit to it. I couldn’t just run with the supposition until I was sure. She was the one who had to confirm it to me.”

  “So, why didn’t you tell me?” The voice was petulant.

  “I don’t know. In case you let anything slip to the police. I don’t know. With Laduce convinced I was in on it, I couldn’t afford to let anyone know what I was thinking. You might have said something.” He knew it was a mistake as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Billie whirled on him, pale fury on her face.

  “Is that what you think? What am I, stupid?”

  Jack held up his hands. “No, no. That’s not what I was saying at all. Jesus, Billie. Of course you’re not stupid. Think about it. What was I supposed to do?”

  She stalked over and stood in front of him. “Tell me what was going on, that’s what!”

  She had a point. He sighed heavily. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you out of things. I just wasn’t sure. This whole case has been different, Billie. I’ve had less to work with, less that I was sure about.”

  She was still standing glaring at him.

  “Listen, go and sit down, will you?” She turned and walked stiffly over to one of the other chairs.

  “Look, there’s been a whole lot of stuff going on, with the case, with this place, with everything. I was beginning to doubt my abilities, you know? I wasn’t getting any flashes, no prompts, nothing.”

  “But you had the dreams,” she said, voice still petulant.

  “Yeah, I had a few dreams, but they weren’t exactly like dreams I had to work with before. They weren’t giving me a hell of a lot. I had to use my head, actually think about things more. That’s different, Billie. I didn’t want to be wrong. You’ve got to understand that.”

  “Uh-huh. I do. That still doesn’t change things.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You still treat me like a kid. You have to tell me stuff, Jack. You have to tell me what’s going on in your head.” She tapped her temple with one finger.

  Jack sighed again. “It doesn’t work like that, Billie,” he said. “You know, I’d like to tell you what’s going on, what I’m thinking about, but I want to be sure first. I talk to you about things once I’ve thought them through. I need to process stuff before I start talking about it.”

  She blinked a couple of times, processing herself. He continued.

  “Look, I tell you about as much as I can. Before you came along, I didn’t talk to anyone. I worked solo. That was it. You’ve made a really big difference to the way I do things. You know that. But give me a break, okay? I can only do so much.”

  He watched her as she sat across from him, one leg jiggling up and down, her eyes narrowed.

  “Look, I understand, and okay,” he said. “Maybe now is not the best time to talk about all this. We will though. Right now I’m tired, and I think you’re probably tired too. We’ve done some good things here today. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without you. And really, we have some big things to talk about too. Like about what we do now. And yeah, maybe we have to set some ground rules between us as well.”

  She was chewing at her bottom lip, looking down into her lap.

  He didn’t really feel enthusiastic about what he was about to suggest, but he could see no other option right then. “So, what do you say,” he said. “You hungry?”

  She looked up at him slowly, breaking into a grudging smile.

  Twenty-Six

  Billie, of course, pushed for Molly’s, but Jack had other ideas. It was time for a serious discussion, an adult discussion. Molly’s wasn’t the right venue for what he wanted to talk about. There were decisions that had to be made, but he needed to explore the boundaries of what lay between them. He suggested a restaurant uptown. Billie frowned at him.

  “Why there?”

  “I don’t know, I thought it would be good for a change. We’re sort of celebrating, don’t you think? The successful conclusion of the case. Let’s eat something nice. Some good, proper food. Sit in some nice surroundings. We can talk about things and take our time.”

  “I guess,” she said grudgingly.

  Jack couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to a proper restaurant. Mandala didn’t count. That was working. Besides, the whole country club resort thing had been so alien that it was hard to have a full appreciation of it. That was another life, somebody else’s life.

  “Okay, so Alexis it is.” He’d seen the place, passed it a couple of times, and remembered reading something about it once. He glanced down at his clothes and then at Billie’s. No, they’d be fine. Anyway, they had the funds now to do just about anything they wanted, for a while. They headed up to the shuttle stop together in silence. Jack didn’t want to talk about anything till they were comfortable, had had some time to relax.

  It took about half an hour to get to their destination. Standing outside Alexis, Billie looked dubious. Jack ushered her in.

  “Have you a booking, sir?” A cool look down the nose, and a distinct narrowing of the eyes as he looked at Billie. This guy looked like he’d purchased a gilded sneer. Jack ignored it.

  “No, but we’d like a table anyway. Somewhere quiet, thanks. And not near the kitchen, or the bathroom.”

  The maitre d’ adjusted his collar and cleared his throat. “I can assure you, sir—”

  “Save it,” said Jack. “Just find us our table.” He glanced at Billie, who wore a half grin. He narrowed his eyes at her and she bit her lip, still grinning.

  The guy behind the desk fussed around making a show of checking reservations, but Jack could see the place was three-quarters empty. Finally, nodding, pursed lips in place, the maitre d’ led them toward a table in a fairly secluded area, but well away from the window, and as per Jack’s request, they were nowhere near the kitchen or the bathrooms.

  The maitre d’ disappeared, and a moment later a young guy came across and cleared the extra place settings. Jack looked around while the glasses and plates and cutlery were removed. The walls were done in a deep green. Proper pieces of art hung on the walls, instead of programmed displays. Over near the entrance, the maitre d’ looked over in their direction, gave a visible sniff, then looked away.

  Jack turned back to Billie. “So, what do you think?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, looking around. She leaned back as the waiter shook out her napkin and laid it across her lap. There was no confusion; she’d definitely done this sort of thing before.

  The waiter did the same for Jack. “Your serving program will be with you shortly,” he said. “Enjoy.” With a brief tilt of his head, he withdrew. Jack considered. It was funny how the mix of technology and tradition prevailed. The more toward the upper end of the scale you got, the more tradition overtook what was available. He guessed, not that he’d ever been in one, that in the high-end restaurants, it was all people.

  Moments later, giving them a reasonable time to settle, a serving holo appeared above the table’
s center.

  “Welcome to Alexis,” it said. “I am Carla. I will be your server for this evening.”

  The woman’s face was replaced by a menu board, but her voice continued. “While you are looking over the choices, can I get you something to drink? Or perhaps you would like to see the wine list.”

  “Yeah, beer for me,” said Jack. “I’ll think about the wine in a while. Billie?”

  She ordered a cola and turned her attention back to the menu, jiggling and occasionally frowning as she scanned the options. After a suitable pause, Carla asked if they had any questions. The waiter appeared, carrying their drinks, and quickly disappeared.

  They made their meal choices and Jack leaned forward, positioning his elbows on the table.

  “Billie, it’s time we had a serious discussion,” he said finally.

  She narrowed her eyes across the table, still jiggling.

  “What?” she said.

  “Well, we need to discuss some of the things that have been happening with us and what we’re going to do about it. Don’t think I’m an idiot, Billie. Something’s going on and you’re not telling me.”

  She pressed her lips together, saying nothing. Her hands were out of sight, under the table.

  Jack took a sip of his drink, placed the glass down carefully, then continued. “I can’t go around all the time feeling as if I’ve done something wrong and if you don’t tell me what it is, I can’t do anything about it, can I?”

  She worked her jaw.

  “Well?” he said.

  “I said it before. You don’t tell me enough. You treat me like a kid.”

  The waiter appeared bearing their first course, forestalling further conversation. Jack waited till he retired before answering.