The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  ‘Forgive and forget,’ Aunt Mary’s voice rang in his ears.

  “Hey, Tyler!” Billy pulled out a chair and sat down. He wasn’t wearing his coveralls. He was dressed in a pair of brand new looking Levi’s and a well-filled western shirt. Tyler wondered if Billy had also been to the doctor.

  “Hey, Billy,” Tyler managed without malice in his voice.

  “Where’s Mike?”

  “Home, I guess,” Tyler answered vaguely. Tyler knew that Mike was at home working in his shop. The guy from New York had called him last night and ordered a hundred clocks, fifty sets of book ends and a whole busload of other stuff. Mike would be busy from here to Christmas just filling the new order and he’d told Tyler that there was another guy from Chicago who was supposed to call him today. He reckoned he wouldn’t be seeing much of Mike anymore unless he went by his house. “Whatcha been up to all duded up?” Tyler’s curiosity got the better of him.

  “Been down to see Sam Morris at the Savings in Loan,” he said importantly. “Gonna make a loan on Hannah’s property. Fix up the marina.”

  “Yeah?” Tyler looked at the big guy in astonishment. “Is that so?”

  “Yep. Gonna go into bizness for myself, Tyler,” he said. “I’ve had enough of this workin’ for the man bullshit. All I want is a chance to work for myself. Hell, I might even git married. You never can tell. It could change a feller to git his own bizness.”

  “Yeah, you could become downright respectable,” Tyler remarked with a smirk. The sarcasm in his voice went right over the big man’s head.

  “Yeah, you think so?” Billy grinned and waved for a beer.

  “So, who’s gonna help you with this ‘bizness’?” Tyler leaned back in his chair. He really just wanted to get up and beat the crap out of the guy, but he knew it was not possible.

  “Hannah’s gonna help me,” Billy told him and Tyler’s face fell. He blinked at him waiting for the punch line. He had to be kidding.

  “Yeah.” Billy paid for his beer and turned it up sticking one pinky out delicately. “I might even become a ekzecutive like my friend, Sammy Junior.” He laughed and Tyler sighed. He’d have to go see Mike now. This was too good to keep to himself.

  “So Hannah’s gonna help you?” Tyler asked him.

  “Yep.” Billy leaned forward and a strange expression filled his eyes. “You oughta see ’er. She’s gone on the wagon. Cleaned herself up and her house too. You know she’s a sharp old lady. When she ain’t drinkin’, she can be downright... intelligent.”

  “Really?” Tyler asked and leaned forward. This was another one of Peregrin Aliger's contacts. Hannah. “Tell me more about it, Billy.”

  Billy told Tyler all about his plans. The more he talked, the more Tyler thought he just might seriously make a real business out of the marina. He actually made sense for a change. Tyler was amused at first and then he began to see that Billy wasn’t near as dumb as he’d thought. If he didn’t drink so damned much, he might actually be a likeable guy.

  “You know even old Hannah thinks the world of that Aliger feller,” Billy ended up his commentary on a strange note as if he might have been actually be feeling some remorse about his actions over the past few days. “I’m thinkin’ I might’ve made a mistake beatin’ on him. He ain’t really done nothin’ to me just like you and Mike was sayin’.”

  “If you really feel that way, Billy,” Tyler sighed and picked up his beer and narrowed his eyes at him. “You might want to apologize to him. Maybe make a new start. Be different for a change. I bet it would make a real good impression on him.” Tyler wondered why in the world he would want anyone to make a good impression on Perry Aliger. Especially after what Mike had said and what he’d been thinking about Paula Anne and the baby. Maybe it was he, Tyler McDaniels, that owed the man an apology.

  “Already have,” Billy told him smugly.

  “What?!” Tyler grinned. “No way!”

  “Yeah. Well, not really. At least I done it in my mind.” Billy jerked his head back and laughed. “Yeah, Tyler, I been doin’ a lot of thinkin’. A man in bizness for ’imself can’t go round beatin’ up potential customers, now can he?”

  “No, I guess not,” Tyler laughed with him and then grabbed his ribs as the action caused him considerable pain.

  “Oh, I see them ribs is still botherin’ you,” Billy winced and frowned sheepishly at him. “I really am sorry about that Tyler. I hope you don’t hold it aginst me. Here...” he said and pulled out a battered tube of muscle rub. "This stuff works real good. Old Doc Tennison perscribed it for me. I'll let you have th' rest of it."

  “Oh, no, Billy, you keep it,” Tyler said and managed a smile. “You wouldn’t believe how much sympathy I’ve been gettin’ at home on account of these ribs.”

  Billy’s eyes widened slightly as he caught the drift of Tyler’s words.

  Tyler stood up. “Let’s go tell Mike about your new business. He can help us celebrate.”

  Billy beamed at Tyler in true appreciation. That’s what friends are for, he thought.

  Perry was shocked when Angelica joined him in the shower unexpectedly after supper. He thought that they would definitely need a bigger tub someday soon. He had been going over the plans for tonight in his head when she had pulled back the curtain and stepped into the tub with him. She had taken his mind completely off of the upcoming burglary.

  She now sat on the bed wrapped in a big fluffy towel looking at him with a worried frown.

  “Angelica. It won’t more than an hour at the very most and I’ll be right back,” he told her again as he pulled on his socks.

  “But things have a way of going awry with you,” she said. “Shouldn’t I go with you?”

  “It’s not necessary and if things should go awry, then I will need you here to get me out of trouble.” He leaned to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Stop worrying. This is a new sensation for you. Worrying. Don’t let it become consuming. A little worry is good. It makes you plan. It makes you use the proper precautions. It’s good for you. Too much and you get gray hair.” He laughed when she touched her dark, wet hair.

  “Do you think gray hair would be... becoming on me?” She asked.

  “Angelica, you would be beautiful bald,” he told her. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, as a matter of fact.”

  He got up to find a dark colored pullover to go with his jeans.

  “You really have to be careful when you are...” He looked at her. How could he breach the subject without angering her. “When other people are around. Especially men. I don’t know if you know it, but you attract the wrong type of attention every where you go.”

  “What do you mean the ‘wrong’ type?” She looked down at herself. “I know that Louis Parks is interesting in performing this ritual with me. Is that what you mean.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “For instance. You answered the door last night in your white gown. That was not a good idea. I believe, however, that it had a great deal of influence on how well my interrogation went. They were more interested in you than me.”

  “I think I understand,” she nodded. “I should make myself less desirable then?”

  “Yes,” he told her and thought it had been easier than he expected.

  “Then tell me, Peregrin.” She looked at him with doubt written on her face. “How is it that you attract the same attention from the women no matter what you wear?”

  “I don’t,” he countered.

  “Oh, yes you do,” she said. “Every woman that comes into the shop cannot keep their eyes off you. It’s like you exude some sort of... some type of... what is the word I am looking for? Some sort of airborne hormone?”

  “What?!” He looked at her in astonishment. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “No?” She stood up and looked at him allowing the towel to drop to the floor. “Then why is it that when I allowed my own guards down, I find myself irresistibly drawn to you? And whenever we are together, I can think of nothing but this new s
tudy we have been making. Why is that, Peregrin? I think you should tone down your own... effect.”

  Peregrin was totally taken aback by her words. He bent to retrieve her towel and wrapped it around her.

  “Perhaps we should look into this more when I get back,” he told her seriously. “I had no idea,” he lied.

  “Yes, I know.” She looked at him smugly and then smiled. “Just promise me that you will be careful. I will wait up for you.”

  “I will be.” He kissed her nose and left her hurriedly before she dropped her towel again. Maureen would be waiting for him.

  Maureen’s car was sitting next to the curb outside at precisely ten o’clock as promised. He hurried down the stairs and rounded the front of the building to get into the passenger side.

  “I’m so glad you gave up the booze,” Maureen said as he got in. “It was really bad for you. I think that since, you’ve given it up, you are much, much more... in control?”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “I think you are right.”

  She pulled away from the curb with him wondering what she was talking about.

  “We should be... I mean, he should be going to bed soon,” she told him. “I drove by his house a little while ago and he has company. I didn’t recognize the car, but whoever it is will probably be leaving soon.”

  “I see,” Perry nodded. “You have the key.”

  “I hold the key!” She said ominously and held up a key on a braided cord with a star at one end.

  “You certainly do,” he told her. “In more ways than one.”

  “So you are not always in human form?” She asked him suddenly.

  “No.” He looked at her wondering where the question had come from. “I have tried others.”

  “And you prefer human?” She asked.

  “With the exception of the delphinus, yes,” he admitted.

  “Delphinus,” she repeated. “That would be dolphins. I took marine biology in college.”

  “Yes,” he nodded.

  “I can see you as a dolphin,” she told him. “But also as an eagle or a falcon, too.”

  “I have tried the falcon,” he said.

  “I know,” she said.

  “You do?” He asked as they slowed down to drive past Sam’s place. The car, a light colored Taurus, sat in the circular drive. No lights were visible from the road. She speeded up and they went on further down the dark road into the countryside.

  “Yes, you told me... last night,” she said.

  “In the dream?” He asked.

  “Yeah.” She laughed at his metaphor. “You told me lots of things.”

  “I did?” He asked.

  “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.” She frowned at him.

  “I have a hard time remembering my own dreams,” he told her in all seriousness. He remembered when he had tried, unsuccessfully to persuade Angelica to tell him about her dream about him.

  “Won’t you tell me about it?” He asked.

  “I told you earlier that I couldn’t put it into words,” she said and turned around in someone’s driveway to go back the other way.

  “I wish you would try.” He looked out the window absently.

  “I would prefer to show you,” she told him and he thought of Angelica’s words.

  “Do I seem to attract too much of the wrong kinds of attention?” He asked her. “I mean, do women... find me attractive to the point where they would... I mean, if you were a woman, would you...” He stopped as the absurdity of his words registered on his own mind.

  “I don’t know what other women think of you, Perry,” she told him. “If you are asking me if I think you are attractive, I would have to say yes, definitely. But I’m only speaking for myself.”

  “I see,” he said and fell silent.

  They drove past Sam’s house again.

  “Damn!” Maureen slowed and peered at the Taurus. “I don’t know who that is, but I wish they would leave.”

  They parked her car down the road a bit and walked back. They kept to the shadows and entered the house through the garage. It was dark and silent except for the sound of music from somewhere.

  Maureen nervously lead him up the stairs acutely aware of squeaks and groans under the carpet that she had never noticed before. No one was in Sam's bedroom.

  “This is not good,” she whispered breathlessly to him as they stood in Sam’s bedroom looking around in the gloom. “It was right here beside the bed.”

  The maid had been in on Monday morning. The house was immaculate. Only the remains of a steak dinner had been in evidence on the bar as they had passed through the living room. A shriek and a laugh made them jump out of their skins. The sounds came from outside. Maureen tip-toed to the window in the bedroom and pulled back the drapes to look down into the back yard.

  “Oh, my, God! That sonofabitch!” She said after a minute and Perry joined her to look down.

  Sam’s back deck was directly below them. Sam and a lady with long red hair were chasing each other around a cedar hot tub. Neither of them wore anything other than their good humors.

  “That’s Dottie McMillan!” Maureen hissed through her teeth. “How could he?”

  “How could he what?” Perry bumped his head against the window glass trying to look down.

  “Never mind!” She hissed. “The box isn’t here. I don’t know where he’s put it.”

  They searched the bedroom and bathroom quickly and hurried back downstairs. Perry held jiggers for her while she checked the living room and kitchen and Sam's study, but she turned up empty-handed.

  “I’m sorry.” She frowned up at him. “We need to quit while we’re ahead.”

  He nodded and they left the way they had come. Outside they could here Dottie giggling accompanied by splashing noises.

  “Oooh,” Maureen said as they walked quickly back to the road in the dark. “I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.” She walked stiffly ahead of him with her hands balled into her fists at her sides.

  “What did you know?” Perry caught up with her.

  “I knew he was fooling around with her,” she said angrily.

  “Fooling around?” He asked her.

  “Yeah, like you and me,” she said. “Only this has been going on for at least three years.”

  “You and I have been fooling around?” He asked her somewhat perturbed.

  “No,” she said and stopped to look at him realizing that she had hurt his feelings. “Whatever they have can’t be anything like what we have, Perry. I wouldn’t call last night fooling around.”

  “No I would call it dreaming,” he said in confusion. A pair of headlights was coming toward them. “Let’s go.” He took her hand and pulled her toward where they had parked her car in a small indention in the forest near the road. The headlights approached slowly.

  “Darling, I wouldn’t call it a dream,” she told him as they walked along. “That was the wildest, most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I thought the first time was good, but I had no idea. I don’t know if I could handle that kind of thing every night.”

  “What are you talking about?” He asked her and turned her around in the light provided by the approaching car.

  “Last night!” She looked up at him and they both realized that the car had stopped beside them on the road. They turned together slowly to look at the car. Perry recognized the dark green Navigator immediately.

  The Primus sat looking at them blandly with the window rolled down. He held the object of their quest in his hand.

  “Primus!” Perry said in surprise.

  “I believe the lady has us confused, Primus.” Falco smiled at him. “She thinks it was you she made a memory with last night, but I wouldn’t want you to take the credit for the best thing that’s ever happened to her... or me, for that matter.”

  Maureen blinked at Falco twice. Her eyes rolled up in her head and Perry caught her as she fainted against him.

  “I hate it when they do that.” Falco fro
wned and got out to help him with the unconscious woman. They put her in the Lincoln’s back seat. Perry climbed into the passenger side and sat down.

  “What have you done?” He asked quietly as Falco drove away from Sam’s house.

  “I have been enlightened, my dear Primus,” he said. “I believe I might understand you better now.”

  “You are a despicable creature, Primus,” Perry told him. “Now tell me where you got Sam’s box?”

  “I got it from the getting place,” Falco retorted smugly. “Now we can have some fun, Peregrin.”

  Perry closed his eyes as a blue light filled the cab of the Navigator. The light was so bright he could see it through his eyelids and he knew he had made yet another mistake.

  Chapter Thirty-Five:.

  The room, if it was a room, which he doubted, was dark except for the table directly in front of him. On the table was a collection of odd items. Perry tilted his head to one side and studied the array with open curiosity. A bejeweled dagger, exquisitely beautiful. A pearl-handled revolver, of unknown make and caliber. A singularly lovely crystal goblet of Austrian design. A bottle of Charles Ellner Brut Champagne, known as Seduction Epernay. An odd array to say the least.

  “I hope it’s a good year,” Perry said aloud to no one.

  “1993,” Falco’s voice drifted to him. “If that means anything to you.”

  “What do you propose to do, Primus?” Perry asked and tried to look around. The light emanated from a single silver candlestick on the table. “Get me drunk and ask me to kill myself?”

  “I will ask nothing of you, Primus,” Falco said as he stepped into the light above his left shoulder.

  Perry tried to raise his hand and discovered that he was tied to the chair in which he sat. He laughed as he looked down at the red satin cord around his wrist.