A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark

by Harry Connolly

  Marley looked down at her Lexus with reluctance. “Let’s go to the waterfront, shall we? I feel like looking out over the dragon’s lair.”

  Albert opened the door to let her in, then climbed behind the wheel. “Any place in particular?” he asked, and tapped the GPS.

  “Not this time. Let’s just drive and see what we find.”

  He pulled into traffic. There were no SUVs evident in front or behind him, but he was feeling more vigilant than he had since he’d returned to the U.S., even more so than after the home invasion.

  “They could have killed us,” Marley said. “The driver and whoever he was working for, he had us right against the wall.”

  “Yeah, he did.”

  “Do you think he was only trying to frighten us?”

  “I wish he was; he could call it a success and go home. No, I think he was trying to run us down. But if he’d crushed us against the building, he’d have disabled his vehicle, too. Whoever he is, he wasn’t on a suicide run.”

  “Well! I’m going to consider that reassuring.”

  They drove in silence for a block or two. Finally, Albert said, “I felt bad for Inez.”

  “So did I, to be honest. I hated to truth to her like that, but lawyers can cause an awful lot of trouble when they set their minds to it. I couldn’t have her suing me.”

  “We tricked her,” Albert said, “and she took the blame. It felt sketchy and I feel a little ashamed.”

  “Thank you for saying ‘we,’ dear, even though it was me and only me that tricked her. And yes, it was sketchy. I do sketchy things sometimes, but always for a good cause. At least, I tell myself it’s a good cause, the same way we all do. Even George Salkin, with his awful smoothies, thought he had a good cause.”

  “But that guy was ripping people off to make himself rich, so screw him. Your good cause is the real thing.”

  “Thank you, dear. Let me know if your assessment changes.”

  Albert pulled onto Broad Street, heading toward the water. It bothered him that his aunt was taking all the blame on herself, as though he wasn’t right there with her, making his own choices. “Another thing: Aunt Marley, I said ‘we’ because I’m working for you and with you, and you’re getting my one-hundred-percent commitment. And if that means we are going to deceive two women who are grieving harder for my dead half-brother than I ever will, then I’m going to have to own that.”

  Smiling, Marley said, “How about right here, Albert?”

  They’d just turned onto Alaskan Way, and Marley pointed to a spot between Pier 70 and the Victoria Clipper building. A “For Lease” sign was hung in the nearest darkened window. Glancing back at the sign for the Clipper, Albert saw a long line of people filing in to board. He’d always wanted to visit Canada. If that’s where they were headed, it was okay with him.

  He pulled in, let Marley out of the back seat, then bought a parking meter sticker for the car. At Marley’s instruction, he took a thick brown towel from the trunk. Then he and Marley turned north, strolling toward Myrtle Edwards Park.

  Albert nodded up the hill. “We keep ending up here.” Just across the street—and the train tracks—was the cheap seafood restaurant where they’d eaten after meeting Amos Quigley; it had since been closed for health code violations. He could see the sign from here.

  “Indeed we do. I keep feeling we’ll discover some vital clue here.”

  The Art Museum’s Sculpture Park was attached to this end of Myrtle Edwards Park, and they could see a huge, bare, metal tree up the hill. Beyond the fountain, a ramp led up to the exhibits, but Marley turned away from them and chose the concrete walkway beside the water.

  The first benches they found were sculptures—they looked like gunmetal sea shells with a seat pinched out of one side. Marley frowned and shook her head at them. “The bay is too deep for the piers to stick straight out from the waterfront, so they’re all angled to the north. Let’s keep going so we’ll have a view of the water instead of all this aluminum and glass. Oh! This is new!”

  She walked toward a tall, misshapen white pillar. Albert had no idea what it was until they came around to the other side. It was a huge, elongated face, staring out into the Sound. Marley stood and admired it in silence. Albert joined her, wondering what it was supposed to make him feel.

  Eventually, they went farther into the park, reaching a place where the bike and pedestrian trails met. “Ah,” Marley said, then crossed the bike trail toward a low wall. Albert wiped part of it dry and they sat. Their view was obscured partly by blowing mists—unusual, so late in the spring—and partly by the steel railing in front of them, but it was still nice. Joggers and bicyclists passed on the trail, and they occasionally heard the ringing of little bells.

  “We’re very exposed here,” Albert said.

  “We are, but I think we’ll be safe for a bit.” Marley took out her phone and handed it to Albert. “There’s something I want you to do. Our GPS keeps a log of all the places we visit. I want you to call this number on the speed dial—“

  “The one labeled GPS?”

  “Yes, clever, aren’t I? You’ll sign in automatically. Download the log file to my phone, then delete it from the device. Just follow the menu, it’s pretty self-explanatory.”

  “All right.” Albert lifted his finger to poke at the speed dial, but Marley stopped him.

  “But not yet.”

  He lowered his hand. “When do you want me to do it?”

  “Later. When it seems right.”

  “When it seems right? Is this a hazing? Because if so I have could give you some tips—“

  “No, dear. It’s more like asking you to snatch the pebbles from my hand.”

  Albert hesitated, but only for a moment. “You know, I’ve heard people say that before but I honestly have no idea what it means.”

  Marley laughed. “I’m sorry, Albert. It’s from before your time, I think. Listen, I have something to take care of or I’d do this myself. But do you remember the moment you realized that SUV was dangerous? It was moving too fast, right? But that wasn’t all, was it?”

  “No, that wasn’t all.”

  “I’ve felt it too, in my time: a strange sort of understanding that doesn’t seem to come from anything in particular, but which nonetheless informs you about the world.” She waved toward the phone. “A time will come when calling the car’s GPS will seem like the right thing to do. You won’t know why, in all likelihood, but you’ll feel it. Call then.”

  “Will I learn some vital clue if I do it at just the right time?”

  “I genuinely have no idea what will happen.”

  Albert held the phone in his lap, staring down at the numbers. Did it seem like a good time to call right now? He didn’t feel anything about it in particular, except that he didn’t like to leave work undone. Better to finish things right away.

  Still, he knew that wasn’t what his aunt was talking about.

  He turned to ask her a question, but she was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The Harsh Glare of Adversity

  Jenny Wu stood against the wall near the entrance to her cell. She looked and felt grimy, had dark circles under her eyes, and had chewed her lower lip to the point that it bled continuously into her mouth. Her face was downcast but she kept a constant vigil; there wasn’t much she could do if the other prisoners started to threaten and tease her again, but she wanted to see them coming.

  “Jenny, dear, why are you—“

  Jenny shrieked in surprise. It was a high, loud, echoing sound that startled everyone in the holding cell to silence. Everyone turned to look at Jenny and Marley, with Jenny in the doorway and Marley just inside the cell.

  “... Standing here in the corner?” Marley finished.

  “Ms. Jacobs, how did you get in here?”

  “The same way I always do. Come, dear.” They sat at the edge of the cot.

  Out in the common area, a fireplug of a woman with a crooked, acne-scarred face stalked
toward them. “Hey! I didn’t give either of you permission to sit.”

  Marley smiled at her. “Carol, I’m so happy to have found you right away. Here, I’ve brought you a note from your little girls.”

  Marley took a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to Carol. “You know my daughters?” Carol said, at once confused, amazed, and suspicious. She unfolded the blank sheet of paper and began moving her lips as she read it.

  “Jenny, haven’t you been arraigned yet?”

  “My lawyer says the prosecutor put it off until Monday. I don’t think I can last until then, Ms. Jacobs, I really don’t.”

  “It seems more crowded in here, doesn’t it?”

  “That only means there are more people to notice me. Isn’t there something you can do?”

  “Your parents came to see me.” Marley’s voice was uncharacteristically flat and toneless.

  “Oh,” Jenny answered. Marley’s blank expression confused and alarmed her. “My father’s western birthday is Friday, so they’re visiting.”

  “You’re throwing him a birthday party.”

  “Not from prison, I’m not! Why are we even talking about... Is there some way you can get me out of here?”

  “I’m trying, dear, but the judge has to set bail before I can pay it. Also, it’s been difficult to find out the truth about Aloysius’s murder. He was living a more complicated life than I ever suspected.”

  “Ms. Jacobs—“

  “Let me ask you—sorry, dear, but I must cut in, I really am pressed and this is important—how was he doing for money?”

  “He was struggling,” Jenny answered. “Except when he wasn’t. Once he took me to a little sandwich shop followed by a free art gallery tour. The next week it was dinner at Lola’s. When he had it, he spent it, but I don’t think he had it as often as he would’ve liked.”

  “Did he talk about it?”

  “I certainly didn’t bring it up. He only said one thing, which was that the hardest thing about being a lawyer was getting his clients to pay his bill. I don’t think practicing law was everything he’d expected it would be.”

  “Thank you for that, dear. He never talked about people who were unhappy with him? Never said he was worried about losing a client?”

  “Not to me. We only went out a few times and we never got very close. We never even did more than kiss. I don’t even know why he chased after me the way he did.”

  “It’s been suggested to me that he chased you because you didn’t want him and I suspect that’s right. I also suspect that, if you’d slept with him, he’d have gone away when you told him to go.”

  “Really? God! If I’d known that—“

  “You never went to his house, did you?”

  “No. He never offered so I didn’t have to turn him down.”

  “Did he ever seem nervous or frightened? Did he ever seem as though he thought he was being followed?”

  “I’ve thought about that a lot. I’ve gone over it again and again, but there really isn’t anything. He never seemed concerned with anything except himself and what other people thought of him. Ms. Jacobs, please, I heard about the condition of his body.”

  “What’s that, dear?”

  “That he was drained of blood.”

  “Oh?”

  “Was it... was it one of yours?”

  “No, dear. I checked that very carefully. First thing, in fact.”

  “Well, maybe a new one who just came to town? Could that be it?”

  “We did have a new arrival, but it wasn’t her. I checked her out, too.”

  Jenny became exasperated. “But are you sure? You can’t really be completely sure!”

  “I’m sure, Jenny. You know me well enough to know that.”

  “But it sounds like something one of your... things would do.”

  Marley was startled by that. Things? It wasn’t like Jenny to talk that way. “It was meant to, dear.”

  “The police should know! They might want to interview them.”

  Marley gave Jenny the same even stare she’d just given Carol. “We both know that police attention would be a death sentence for them.”

  “You know what else has the death sentence? Washington State! This state. You know that, don’t you? I’m facing lethal injection for a crime I didn’t commit, while your ‘guests’ live in luxury, with a nurse to turn down their beds. I’ve never killed anyone, but they have.”

  “They had nothing to do with Aloysius’s death.”

  “We don’t know what really happened to Aloysius! The police have decided I’m the one they should charge and they aren’t going beyond that. And Ms. Jacobs, we both know that, as amazing as you are, you aren’t a detective.”

  “Yes, I certainly know that.”

  “So what hope is there for me, really? People go to prison every day for crimes they didn’t commit. We know that. And your guests, they’re still killers; you know they are. Even if they haven’t killed anyone since they met you, they killed people before. A lot of people. And anyway, how can you be sure none of them were involved? Really really sure?”

  “Jenny—“

  “They’re not even really alive! God! How can you protect them over me? I mean, I really am grateful for your help because I could never have afforded a lawyer like Frederika on my own, and my parents are talking about selling their house and emptying their accounts to help pay for my defense—my dad does genetic research on rural communities, of all things, and my mom teaches at a small medical school. They’re not rich. So I really mean it when I say I’m grateful, really! But your ‘guests’ are dead and they’ve already killed people. Are they ever going to be punished for what they did? No, it has to be me. I have to be punished for something I didn’t even do, and I have my whole life ahead of me.”

  Marley sighed, looked down at the floor, and shook her head. When she looked up again, her expression was icy cold. “Jenny, I have to tell you, I’ve been where you are. Yes, it’s true, I have. I was looking at murder charges, and I was terrified. Sitting hour after hour, thinking too much and doing too little, the fear builds until you’re desperate to make a deal.”

  “Oh Ms. Jacobs—“

  “But I will tell you this, Jenny dear: I love you, because I think you’re a wonderful young woman with a lot to give the world, and I’m going to move heaven and earth to find out who really killed my nephew, so that you can move on and live a good life—“

  “I appreciate that, but—“

  “But! If you send the police after my guests, I’ll ruin you. Do you see Carol over there, reading a blank sheet of paper over and over because she thinks it’s a note from her children? I can do the same to anyone—detective, lawyer, judge, psychologist—until they’re ready to testify—honestly, mind you, as far as they know—that you’re convinced Aloysius was killed by vampires. My guests will already be in a new safe house and you’ll be all over the cable news networks. I’ll still find out the truth about Aloysius’s murder and I’ll make sure you’re set free, but by then you’ll be infamous.”

  Jenny looked down at the floor and sniffled.

  “Don’t cry, Jenny. I’m giving you the chance to avoid the mistake I once made, a mistake I’m still paying for. Be strong and endure; you can’t get through this ordeal by playing to your weaknesses. Stay strong, and when we clear your name, I’ll throw you and your parents a little party.”

  When she spoke, Jenny’s voice was small. “I sit here, hour after hour, no one tells me anything and nothing gets better, and now you tell me you’re choosing them over me.”

  “Oh my goodness,” Marley said quietly. “I thought you understood me better than that. I don’t choose one person over another. Never ever again, dear.”

  Jenny wiped away her tears and discovered she was alone on the bench.

  * * *

  Sitting on the park bench by the water, Albert suddenly had a strange feeling: The perfect moment to call his aunt’s GPS had arrived. He marveled at his
inexplicable certainty as he took the phone from his pocket; the movement felt as natural as scratching his nose.

  He lifted the phone and pressed the speed dial.

  Out on the street, hundreds of feet away, the Lexus he’d been driving exploded.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Marley's Cunning Non-Plan

  “Oh, wonderful,” Marley said. “No one was hurt.”

  Albert was on his belly on the damp grass. When the shock wave had hit him, he’d followed its momentum onto the ground. He lifted his head and saw his aunt sitting on the low wall again, as though she’d never left. The urge to grab her hand and pull her down beside him was incredible.

  Instead, he crouched, putting himself between her and the source of the explosion. “What was that? What just happened?”

  “You have to ask? Someone put a bomb in our car.”

  He spun toward her suddenly. For the first time, Marley saw a look of honest anger on her nephew’s face. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “But I didn’t know, dear! Honestly, I didn’t.” She clasped his hands and moved her face close to his. Albert let her hold onto him. “I told you I didn’t know. I only knew that something was wrong with the GPS and that I shouldn’t call it. I didn’t know why.”

  “But you knew there was something!”

  “Yes,” she said. Albert pulled his hands out of hers, and Marley was startled that such a small rebuke would sting so much. “It’s true. I knew something significant would happen, but I never dreamed it would be this.”

  There were no gun shots. No screams. Albert dared to stand upright and look around. He missed his M4 so much even though he knew it wouldn’t be any use. He didn’t even have a trigger finger anymore. He couldn’t see anyone nearby. “Aunt Marley, you sat me down here and gave me your phone and told me to... What if I’d been standing beside the car when I called? What if... what if a mother with a baby stroller...”

  Marley patted the spot beside her. “Albert, dear, take some deep breaths. Do you need to play your Tetris?”