A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark

by Harry Connolly

  They talked a while, then Marley hung up just as the food arrived. “She says Stan Grabbleton doesn’t want to speak to us except through an attorney.”

  “Does he think we’re cops?” Albert asked, stirring his food together.

  “He seems to think that we’re trying to pin Aloysius’s murder on someone other than Jenny, and he’s not eager to be a ‘fall guy.’ If you can believe he used that term.”

  “From his perspective, he has a point, I guess.”

  “Frederika decided to hire our private detective friend to look for him, and he already has a hit. Apparently, we’re meeting him here in two hours and then heading to Portland.”

  “Cool. I like Portland.”

  They had nearly finished their meal when the restaurant door swung open with great force and Evelyn Thomas rushed in. Her silver hair looked the same as it had in her office and she was again dressed completely in white. The large white handbag under her arm was open and the head of her long-haired white cat peeked out.

  “Oh, wonderful,” Marley sighed.

  Evelyn scanned the room, saw Marley, and rushed toward her. “Marley! Oh, it’s good to see you! What a surprise! I was just walking by, thinking about you, and there you were.”

  “That is an amazing coincidence,” Marley replied sweetly, “but I’m afraid we were just about to leave.”

  “Hello, Alan,” Evelyn said. She pulled out a chair and sat down. “Mind if I join you? How have you been?”

  “Rushed,” Marley answered curtly. “How goes your project?”

  “The habitat? Oh, I’ve just about given up on it,” Evelyn said with a melancholy sigh.

  “Really? I’m surprised to hear that. I thought it was your life dream.”

  She let out a regretful, and theatrical, sigh. “There’s no support for it from the local powers-that-be. After our conversation, well, I feel I should move on to other, more modest dreams.”

  “Well. That sounds awful.”

  “Marley, I’ve been meaning to ask you: Did Aloysius give you anything to hold? Did he store something in your home or—I don’t know—a safe deposit box?”

  “What do you mean, Evelyn? What sort of thing?”

  “He was my attorney, and I asked him to store certain documents for me, things I didn’t feel safe keeping in my office, what with my temp receptionist. I’m in a very competitive business, after all, and it can be especially hard for a woman. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that.”

  “What makes you think he’d give them to me?”

  “To be honest, I don’t think he would, but I’ve spoken to the police about it, and they don’t have anything like it in their evidence files. No one seems to know. Really, I’ve just about exhausted every avenue; I only come to you because I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

  “Well, it’s awfully lucky that you’ve found me. Aloysius did occasionally ask me to keep things for him—we were not very close, you know, but still…. What did these documents look like?”

  Evelyn’s face became excited, but before she could speak the waitress returned to the table. “How was everyth—Excuse me,” she said to Evelyn, “but you can’t bring a cat into the restaurant.”

  “Oh why don’t you… go count your tips!” Evelyn snapped. It wasn’t the most devastating thing she could have said, but it was the nastiest thing she dared with Marley sitting right beside her. The waitress dropped the check and marched away.

  Albert gaped at her. When Evelyn spoke to Marley again, her tone was much sweeter. “You can see that I’m desperate. It was a sheet of paper, cream-colored and thick like stationery. There were numbers written on it in brown ink, hand-written.”

  Marley seemed thoughtful. “Numbers?”

  “Two dozen of them, arranged in a sort of spiral.”

  Marley made a regretful but insincere shrug of her shoulders. “I’m sorry, but he never gave me anything like that. I had a box of old Christmas cards he gave me years ago when he went to law school but never took back, and a carton of promotional key chains, if you can believe it, but nothing like what you’re describing. And all of that was destroyed in the fire, anyway.”

  Evelyn stared into Marley’s face. It was clear she was disappointed, and it was also clear she thought Marley was lying.

  Marley waited to see what she would do. Whatever it was, she knew it would reveal something important. It was impossible to guess what that something might be, but she could feel it like an overfull balloon about to burst.

  “Well,” Evelyn said uncertainly. She absent-mindedly scratched much too hard at her cat’s ears. “Well, I guess it can’t be helped, even though the fire wouldn’t have... anyway.”

  Was that all? Disappointed, Marley signed the check, adding extra to the tip along with a note of apology for the behavior of their unwelcome guest. “Albert, it’s time to visit the clothing store.”

  She stood. Albert and Evelyn stood as well. As they made their way to the door, Evelyn said, “Can I drop you somewhere?” then took out her phone and dialed. She held it to her ear as Albert pushed open the door.

  “No thank you,” Marley answered, stepping aside so Albert could release the door. It swung shut behind her.

  A van rounded the corner so fast the tires squealed. Albert turned toward it. The side door slid open before the driver applied the brakes. Albert had no time to react. Three men in black hoods, all aiming MP5s at them, stepped out just as the van shrieked to a stop.

  “They found me again!” Evelyn yelled.

  “No,” Marley announced as the gunmen came toward them. This was happening too fast. “Albert! Grab hold of Evelyn!”

  Albert, who had been moving to shield his aunt with his body, grabbed Evelyn’s wrist. The closest gunman was shouting at them, right index finger already on the trigger, left hand reaching for the lapel of Albert’s jacket. Marley grabbed Albert’s thick bicep, laid her hand on the restaurant door handle behind them, and yanked it open.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  An Unexpected View

  There was no sensation of movement, not for any of them. Instead, it seemed that the entire world swirled around them like leaves in a whirlwind. Then it stopped.

  Sunlight blinded Albert, and a chill breeze blew on his face. He saw sky, and a black iron fence, and dark gray stone. They were no longer standing outside the restaurant; they were up high, somehow. He could feel the unexpected altitude. He gasped, as shocked as if someone had poured a cold beer on his head. Evelyn shrieked and jumped back, almost breaking out of his grip.

  Marley stumbled into someone—where ever they’d appeared, they were surrounded by people. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “How clumsy of me!” Marley’s hand still clutched the door handle behind her. She released it, offering a silent prayer of gratitude to the great powers of the universe. They’d come here. Well, it could certainly have been worse. Much worse.

  “What’s going on?” Evelyn shouted. “Where am I?”

  The crowd moved away from them, not that there was much space to move on the narrow, concrete deck. A man in a cap and a long red doorman’s coat stepped up to Evelyn and said, in a very gentle voice, “Are you all right, madam?”

  “I don’t know where I am!” she said, sounding panicky. “I don’t know how I got here!”

  Marley kept her tone neutral. “I’m sorry for the commotion. She’s with us and... well, she hasn’t had an episode like this in a long time. Come here, Evelyn.”

  Albert realized he was gripping Evelyn’s wrist too tightly; he let go. She staggered away from him, bumping the man in the doorman’s coat. Her eyes were wild, but she fought to take control of herself; it wouldn’t do to have a public freak out in front of so many people. It simply wouldn’t do.

  Marley put her hand around Evelyn’s shoulders and led her toward the low wall and high iron safety fence at the edge of the deck. “Look out there, Evelyn. Look. You know where we are, don’t you? What do you see?”

  “It’s... it looks lik
e Manhattan.”

  “We’re in Manhattan, yes. And you know where we’re standing?”

  Evelyn looked back at the building. “Is this the Empire State Building?”

  Marley winked at the man in the long coat and cap and he moved away. “It is,” she said, her voice low. “I heard you say those gunmen had found you, but I suspect they won’t look here. And it’s such a beautiful spring day! May in New York City! How wonderful.”

  Albert crowded close to listen in. Evelyn trembled. There was no way to retreat without creating a fuss, and she didn’t dare to that. “What did you do to me?” she whispered. “How did you do this?”

  Marley kept her voice low. “My dear Evelyn, many years ago, I did something terrible. I hurt someone for no other reason than to further my own ends, and that someone hurt me back.”

  Evelyn’s eyes were wide and her whisper was harsh with fear. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m cursed, dear.”

  Evelyn stepped back and bumped into Albert. She glanced at him, half expecting him to pull a gun or throw a punch.

  Marley gently took her hand. “I’m telling you this for a reason. I didn’t bring you along to ‘save’ you from gunmen who were never any real threat to you. Evelyn, dear, I know more than you realize.”

  Evelyn felt the first little twinge of nausea. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Marley looked her straight in the eye. “Do you understand who you are?” Evelyn quailed under her gaze but didn’t respond. “No answer to that? Let me go further, then: I have been where you are, dear. I have. There have been times in my life when I was ready to do anything to achieve my goals, and anything is what I did. Terrible things, Evelyn. Now I’m cursed, and trying to do the right thing with my life, but I could just as easily have been killed. I could have spent eternity in darkness and misery, dragging my chains behind me. This whole business of yours—“

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Evelyn whispered harshly, doubling down on her denial. “The only business I’m in is development. Buildings. Architecture. That’s my only business.”

  “Humankind is our business,” Marley said, her voice smooth and and gentle. “The common welfare...”

  Evelyn didn’t want to hear any more. She wrenched her hand free of Marley’s and lurched toward the door. Albert was close behind. As she swung it open, it struck Albert on the hip, blocking her exit.

  “You’re the one,” Albert said, staring down at her. “You killed my brother, or you had him killed. Why?”

  Evelyn didn’t answer. She strained at the door, and Albert let himself be pushed aside. She fled into the building, presumably toward the elevators.

  Albert turned to his aunt, who sighed and looked through the security fence at the city below. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Not the way nature is beautiful, but utterly wonderful in its own way. People are capable of amazing things, when they want to be.”

  “Excuse me.” They turned to see that the man in the long coat had returned. “Will she be all right doing down alone?”

  “Thank you for your concern, but yes, she’ll be fine. She’s much more capable than your brief glimpse of her makes her seem. Unfortunately.”

  He nodded and faded back into the crowd, unsatisfied but unwilling to press further.

  “How long have you known?” Albert demanded.

  Marley looked up at him and Albert was startled to see a note of fear in her expression. What did she think he would do? Abandon her?

  All she said was, “Let’s get out of this crowd.”

  “Aunt Marley—“

  “Evelyn is already on her way back home. Do you want her to find that number key before we do? We’re in a hurry, Albert. Now open that door, dear. Please.”

  He opened the door and let her pass through. They rode the elevator to the eightieth floor, then another down to lobby. The lobby interior was breathtakingly beautiful and, despite her protests that they were in a hurry, Marley paused to admire it. Then they stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  Albert felt strangely unmoored from his own life. It was invigorating. “I’ve never been to New York before.”

  Marley took his elbow and they began walking toward the corner. Pedestrians streamed around them. “I have, obviously. Several times.”

  “Why did you say ‘obviously?’ ” Marley gave him a look. “Okay. You’re cursed, somehow. You never open doors for yourself, and the one time you did you came through the other side of the country. And because you said obviously it must mean that it’s a door you’ve opened before. Is that the curse? That every door you open takes you through a door you opened sometime in your past?”

  She smiled up at him proudly. “Exactly so.”

  “That... that must suck. Is it in some kind of order? Random?”

  “I believe it’s random, but you must understand that’s only the fourth time I’ve tried it since the curse was laid on me. I’m not exactly experimenting with it to work out all the nuances. There are some doors I’ve opened that I would never want to open again.”

  “What, like the door to hell?”

  That didn’t get a response.

  “... Er, Aunt Marley, I was being sarcastic. I thought you’d laugh or something and... I don’t know, tell me you were talking about a nuclear reactor or something.”

  But she didn’t want to talk about doors to hell. “I did once jump out of a Cessna at four thousand feet. I had a parachute at the time, of course.”

  “You mean the three of us could have fallen out of the sky without a parachute?”

  “We all die, dear, but which would you prefer: to be tortured to death in a dank warehouse by Evelyn’s hired creeps, or with a gorgeous aerial view of the Utah desert in spring time?”

  “You make me almost grateful.”

  “Besides! With all the doors I’ve opened in my life. What are the odds?”

  “But Aunt Marley, couldn’t you have thrown one of your decoys at them, and let them take that instead of you?”

  “Possibly, Albert, I could have done that for myself, even with so little preparation, but I couldn’t have created one for you, too, and you couldn’t have done it for yourself. Now hush while I make a call.” Marley dialed and introduced herself. She needed two tickets, she explained, to get her from JFK to Portland as quickly as possible. Portland, Oregon, thank you, and please forward the particulars by email. She wanted to be in the air by noon, and if a flight couldn’t be booked She hung up. “Let’s try to hail a cab.”

  That turned out to be surprisingly easy. Marley turned, raised her arm, and a cab pulled to the curb. Once safely settled into the backseat, Marley typed out a message to Frederika, then sent it.

  The cab driver turned out to be an effusive talker, which pleased Marley to no end. They chatted happily about the city, travel arrangements, where Marley and Albert had come from, the driver’s relatives who lived on the West Coast, and numerous other subjects, from theater to moon bases.

  The drive itself went so quickly, it was as if traffic had been magically cleared for their convenience. So, it seemed like an exquisitely short time later that he was dropping them off at their charter company. Their plane was in the air a few minutes before noon, and the pilot announced that strong winds would almost certainly shorten the six-hour flight time.

  Albert glanced around the cabin, a little incredulous. He thought he was accustomed to his wealth, but sitting in a swiveling chair in a small jet—holding just the two of them—made him feel like a character in a movie.

  “Aren’t you going to ask?” Marley prompted.

  “Don’t I ask you enough questions?” Albert responded.

  “And you know that I don’t mind, as long as they’re not beneath you. However, I have just told you that I’m cursed, and you must be terribly curious what I did to get that way. Aren’t you going to ask?”

  He looked down at his aunt. Just a few days ago he’d thought her frail and silly, and now
he didn’t know what she was. He suddenly felt terribly young—big and strong but ignorant. What use was strength in the modern world anyway, unless there was a big-screen TV to mount on the wall, or heavy groceries to carry? In his ignorance, he’d thought of his aunt as almost a non-person—little more than an affluent collection of quirks and habits—and he was ashamed to realize so late that she had a rich history and that she would continue to add to it.

  How many other women were out there, in their fifties or sixties—or later—who had done tremendous things, endured terrible trials, and had even more they could do, but had been ignored or dismissed by people like him? It was embarrassing.

  “No,” he said. “I’m not going to ask, but if you ever want to talk about it, I’ll be around.”

  “Fair enough, but Albert, you had such an odd expression just then. What were you thinking about?”

  “I’m not telling you,” he answered. “And Scribe better not put it in your damn book.” Marley laughed, and Albert pressed on. “I do have a different question, though: When did you know it was Evelyn?”

  “From the first moment I saw her, in her office.”

  “Really? She tried to lie to you, didn’t she? And at the restaurant, too. That’s when you knew?”

  “No, Albert dear. I knew from the instant we laid eyes on her in her office. Didn’t you see her? She was dressed all in white, in her big chair with that big, dark, empty room all around her? And what did she have in her lap?”

  “Um, a cat?”

  “Exactly! A long-haired white cat, and she was stroking it thoughtfully the whole time like a Bond villain. Please! Who does she think she’s kidding?”

  “Um, seriously? You realized it was her because of that?” He seemed doubtful. “Have we been transported into a TV show or something?”

  “People will tell you who they are, Albert, if you just pay attention. And I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but I didn’t know why she’d done it. To be honest, I’m still unsure what she’s planning.”