SEVEN
Three days had passed since the night Andreas had put his ring on Hilde's finger, and while she had appeared with him in public for publicity events arranged by Kurt Vogel, he had not visited her privately since threatening her. After escorting her to the door of her apartment where she had been dreading spending the night with him, he did not even kiss her after opening the door for her and all but pushing her inside. Hilde was too shaken to feel upset. In fact, she was relieved to not have to lie next to him in her bed because she wouldn't have been able to sleep, and she needed rest because she would be spending most of the following day in court. Her anti-anxiety medication and a sleeping pill before going to bed made her feel groggy when she was with her clients, but she was sure she had done all that she could in defending two prostitutes, a petty larceny and two vagrancy charges that she argued down to reduced sentences, one year in prison instead of two to three years.
In public, Andreas was attentive and appeared to be everything a woman would want in a man, but once they were alone, he turned his attention away from Hilde. Usually he brought Kurt Vogel into the car with them so that they could discuss campaign strategy and she found that she preferred having the buffer between them. When the Phoenix Group forced out the tenants of the remaining property in Sector 13, Andreas and Kurt were busy repairing the damage to his campaign from her involvement with the property investors. Fortunately, they were able to use her pro bono work to cleanse the negative press. Andreas had remarked it was the only good aspect of her work with those clients, and Hilde was afraid that people would view it as a campaign stunt when she had been doing it since joining the law firm where her father and Werner Richter had been partners.
Today she had been invited to a garden party at the Richter home. In conjunction with the charity events organized by the Winner Foundation, Lina Richter was hosting the affair which would be attended by the wealthiest women of the Teuton community. She was wearing a knee-length pale green chiffon dress that had been provided by a designer eager to have his creation seen at the prestigious gathering. The wide-brimmed matching hat was adorned with real pink and white roses that resembled the embroidery on her white gloves. Five years ago, she would have scoffed at the women who attended these get togethers, but today she blended in with the other women entering the mansion and dropping off their elaborately decorated checks for the charity they were supporting.
Although she was greeting another woman, an elderly Teuton matron, Lina finished quickly and came to give Hilde a hug and kisses on both cheeks before stepping back to look at her. "You look lovely today, Hilde. Your mother sent a check along with her regrets."
That was one problem she would not have to deal with that day. "Did she give a reason?"
Lina shrugged. "I don't remember because I didn't believe her." She smiled at Hilde and hooked her arm around hers. "Let's not question our good fortune. Come into the garden. We have some special guests today that I am sure will delight you."
Hilde couldn't imagine who might delight her until she saw that many of the society women were clustered around a couple of women standing together that she recognized. Dorothy Catalonia and Relena Darlian. Hilde didn't know either of them well, but she was acquainted with them both. When she approached them with Lina, the Vice Foreign Minister was the first to break away to move forward to greet her.
Relena Darlian took her hands and squeezed them. "Hilde Schbeiker! I haven't seen you in so many years!"
Hilde felt uncomfortable with the other women looking at her with envy. "I have seen you in the news reports," Hilde said with a forced smile.
"We've seen you in the news reports also," remarked Dorothy Catalonia as she came to greet her. She smiled as she clasped her hands. "Not all of it has been negative."
"Dorothy!" scolded Relena with a frown at the other woman before looking back at Hilde. "I've heard such positive things about what you have been doing, Hilde. Your work helping the underprivileged caught in the justice system is commendable."
The murmurs of agreement from the other women couldn't be any less sincere, but Relena ignored them. "I hope we will have a chance to talk later."
"And that is my cue," said Lina. "If you will all follow me, I have Professor Wilhelm Goren from the department of horticulture as my special guest to take you on a tour of my garden where I have endeavored to nurture some of the rarest species of flowers from Earth as well as some common, yet very beautiful varieties."
Relena moved away to join Lina with the gray-haired flower specialist, but Hilde fell back, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself. She was surprised and a little irritated that Dorothy Catalonia had fallen into step beside her.
"I've already been through the garden," she told Hilde. "It's spectacular for a colony garden. She must import the insects necessary to maintain it as well as tons of nutrient rich soil."
"She can afford it," Hilde responded.
"Yes, I can see by our surroundings that she can. Lina Richter comes from the Jaeger family, does she not? Her grandfather was Horst Jaeger whose company was responsible for much of the designs and technical expertise that went into building this colony and L1 until his work passed along to his son."
Hilde raised a brow. "You seem to know a lot about her family. Are you still working for the Preventers, and is there some reason you are investigating her?"
The other woman laughed. "You don't keep up on the news, do you? I am busy with my charitable work and my husband and children. I don't have time to work for the Preventers." Something caught her attention. "Oh! That is a lovely flower." When she moved off the path, Hilde followed her, curious about what kind of flower would attract the attention of a woman as wealthy as Dorothy Catalonia.
But once they were off the path, Dorothy stepped aside, and Hilde stopped short before she ran into a man waiting in a shrouded part of the garden. "Heero Yuy!" she gasped, unable to restrain her surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Inspecting the plants that do well in shaded areas, it would appear," remarked Dorothy.
Heero raised his eyebrow at Dorothy who raised her own in response, and then he looked at Hilde. "I am in charge of Relena Darlian's security."
"I doubt she has anything to worry about here," said Hilde, "unless you intend to prevent her from a random bee attack."
Dorothy laughed softly. "I would love to see him diving in front of the Vice Foreign Minister to take a bee sting meant for her."
Heero stared at Dorothy silently for a moment before she shrugged and moved away. Hilde would have followed her, but he stopped her. "I would like to talk to you, Miss Schbeiker."
Hilde looked at him. His expression was unreadable. "When did I become 'Miss Schbeiker'?"
"When I had a chance to investigate your background."
"I'm the same person I was before you investigated. You can call me Hilde. I'll assume that you meant for me to run into you and that you used a wealthy socialite to facilitate this opportunity to talk to me."
"Dorothy has a vested interest in our discussion."
"Oh?" Hilde couldn't imagine why either of them needed to speak to her.
"We are both looking for Duo Maxwell."
Her heart skipped a beat. "I wasn't aware that he was lost."
"Then you know where to find him."
She didn't, but that didn't mean she didn't care where he was. "Why are you looking for him?"
"Isn't his being my friend reason enough?" Heero Yuy didn't want to give up any information he had or he, like she, didn't have any.
"That doesn't explain Dorothy Catalonia's interest," she said.
"She has her reasons and I have mine. Do you know where he is?"
Hilde hesitated, wondering if she could use a different tactic to get him to tell her why he was looking for Duo, but then she reasoned that he had already let her know as much as he was ever going to, that both he and Dorothy Catalonia needed him for something.
"I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him in five years."
Heero scrutinized her for a moment before saying, "I thought it would be easier to find him, given the tracking system your government has for following released convicts, but I was refused access to that information. In my research into the colony, I read that convicts usually end up in the outer sectors, but when I headed to Sector 13, I found a barren wasteland where no one could live."
Her cheeks grew warm although she didn't feel responsible for what the Phoenix Group did with the properties she had acquired for it. "The Phoenix Group is planning a widescale renovation of the sector." At least she hoped it was true but given the half-truths they had told her about making arrangements with the government to provide alternative housing for displaced residents, she was afraid the plans for renovation were lies.
"Many of the former residents of the sector have settled in ventilation tubes," Heero told her, watching her face for her reaction. She didn't know how she should react. Horrified? She was horrified because the enormous, open pipes would be awful places to live. There was no sanitation, no water, no space that could be considered safe from the gangs that reputed to roam the sectors abutting Sector 13.
But she wasn't responsible for their plight. "I will assume that you didn't find Duo Maxwell in the ventilation tubes." Despite her resentment for what had happened between them and especially for the fact that he had gone on with his life by marrying and having a child, she didn't want to imagine him living in the squalid conditions of a ventilation shaft with that wife and child.
"No one in any of the ventilation shafts I visited would admit to knowing him or recognizing the picture I showed them." He added, "It was the most recent photograph, from his arrest."
"I don't know anything about that either," Hilde told him.
"You were living with him," Heero stated, no hint of judgement in his voice. "I understand why you didn't show up to speak in his defense at the trial."
"I ... I couldn't. I wasn't well. My father ..." Hilde pushed back the memories of her father's death, but the feelings associated with it overwhelmed her and she fumbled with the clasp of her handbag before she was able to wrench it open. She reached inside for the decorative pillbox that held her medication. She had already taken one before leaving for the garden party, but she needed one now.
The pillbox slipped from her gloved fingers and fell to the flagstones where the ceramic container broke, spilling out a handful of pills. She started to struggle with her gloves so she could pick them up, but Heero bent and carefully collected the pills which he handed to her.
"I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories for you," he said sympathetically. As she put one pill on her tongue and slipped the rest back in her handbag, he produced a bottle of water which made her wonder how long he had been laying in wait to ambush her with his questions.
She swallowed the pill and returned the bottle to him. "Do you have any more questions for me, Mr. Yuy?"
He raised a brow then said, "Not at the moment, Miss Schbeiker." He reached inside his jacket pocket and withdrew an embossed business card with a number scribbled on it. "This is my number at the hotel," he told her. "If you should find out any information about Duo Maxwell, I would appreciate you either contacting me, or if you happen to see him, pass along my card. The Vice Foreign Minister's delegation will be on L2 for at least two weeks."
Her hand was shaking when she took the card from him to slip into her handbag. She debated telling him that she thought she had seen Duo at Le Beau Papillon and decided against it. Enough time had passed that she realized she had imagined seeing him after having thought about him so recently.
Then she remembered her conversation with Triton Bloom. "I happened to meet Triton Bloom at a nightclub recently."
"Le Beau Papillon? Yes, he mentioned it, and he told me about his encounter with Maxwell after his circus performance. That was what led me to Sector 13. Given his description of Maxwell and especially of the child, I thought he might be living in extremely reduced circumstances."
"The condition of the child?" Hilde didn't want to hear about Duo's daughter, but something drove her to ask anyway.
"They were both wearing clothing that probably hadn't been properly laundered in months, and the girl's dress was worn and too small, the same as her shoes. Triton told me that Duo acted nervous which seemed to affect his daughter. That's not the Duo Maxwell I remember."
Hilde pursed her lips and then said, "He was in prison for five years. You can't expect he'd come away from the experience without changing."
"I suppose not, but hearing that made me want to get him away from this colony even more."
"You won't be able to do it," Hilde told him. "He will be unable to leave the colony until the period of his probation equal to the length of his imprisonment has passed."
Heero didn't respond, so she nodded to him. "I will be in touch, Mr. Yuy, if I hear from him. If nothing else, I am sure he would appreciate hearing from a friend that cares so much about him."
As she walked away, she caught a glimpse of Dorothy Catalonia moving from behind some foliage to join Heero Yuy. If she weren't disturbed by her discussion with him, she might have laughed to see the wealthy noblewoman sneaking around in the bushes. Instead, she took a few steps and then paused and strained to listen to what they might say.
"Do you think she was lying?" asked Dorothy.
"For what reason?"
"I doubt her boyfriend wants her reconnecting with a man from her past. That wouldn't go over well in the polls. I can see the headlines now. Teuton heiress caught in scandalous affair with lowlife outer sector convict."
Hilde winced as she thought about how Andreas would react to her having any contact with Duo Maxwell, especially after how he had threatened her even though she was only acquainted with Triton Bloom.
"We know he was in a ventilation tube only a few days ago."
"Are you sure I wasn't in the ventilation tube shooting up marauding gang members and dropping their bodies into the shaft to get caught up in the fan? After all, the bullets matched my gun."
Hilde had read that sanitation workers had found the bodies when they responded to a malfunction of the ventilation in Sector 10. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time. She might have found it more interesting if not downright salacious to discover that the bullets that killed the men came from Dorothy Catalonia's gun, but she couldn't imagine how that could be true.
"Maybe you shouldn't have given your gun to Duo Maxwell."
"I didn't expect him to go all out vigilante," snapped Dorothy.
"I'm sure he was protecting his wife and child," argued Heero.
"Either way, I didn't appreciate having the colony police meet me at the docking bay to question me before I could even get off the shuttle."
Hilde moved away, her heart racing as she thought about the trouble Duo would be in if the authorities discovered he had a gun. There was absolutely no tolerance for firearms violations. He would be put in prison for the rest of his life, and while she was still angry at him for ruining what they had together, she wouldn't wish such a fate on him.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to sit with the society women as she worried about a man she couldn't even locate if she tried, given that a man with Heero Yuy's talents couldn't, she headed back into the Richter mansion where she found the butler to ask him to locate her driver to bring the car around. As she was waiting in the foyer that was lavishly decorated with flowers from the garden, she saw a door down one of the connecting hallways open and Kurt Vogel exit. She knew he was leaving Werner's study, so she wondered if Andreas was meeting with his powerful backer, and she was about to wave to get his attention, but Kurt quickly walked away in the opposite direction.
The door opened again, and this time Werner stepped out, and he looked perturbed until he turned his head in her direction. His face relaxed and he smiled as he came to her. "Hilde! I asked Lina to invite you to stay for dinner so that I could see you. You're not leaving already, are you?"
"I'm not feeling well," she told him honestly.
"Have you taken your medication?"
The pill had hardly taken the edge off her nerves. "I have. I think I need some rest."
"Of course. You have been very busy lately, and now being so newly engaged, you have a lot of things on your mind. Have you seen your doctor lately?"
He didn't mean her medical doctor and they both knew it. Since her father's death, she had spent countless hours in therapy with a psychiatrist who made so much money from treating her that he probably didn't need to see any other patients. "I saw Dr. Kroeger last week. Perhaps I should make an appointment."
"Nonsense! I'll take you over to see him myself."
He didn't give her a chance to decline. After telling the butler to inform his wife where he was going, he put his arm around Hilde's shoulders and walked her out of the mansion to where her car was waiting. "You don't need to do this," she protested.
"I want to do this." After the driver opened the door, he helped her inside the back and then joined her. He waited until they were moving away from the mansion before speaking. "Lina will understand why you hurried away without speaking to her when I explain."
Hilde clasped her gloved hands in her lap. "I suppose seeing people from my past brought up memories that I would rather forget." She didn't understand why tears were gathering in her eyes. She had put that past behind her, especially her past with Duo Maxwell.
The older man put his arm around her shoulders and drew her against him. She felt guilty for staining his silk jacket with her tears, but she needed to cry and there wasn't anybody she could turn to. Werner had always been there for her, when her father was alive and aloof, on the night of his death, and especially since then. As he held her now, he murmured words of comfort even though he didn't know why she was so upset. In the past few days, so much had set her on edge, not the least of which was Andreas' proposal and subsequent belligerence.
When the tears had subsided, Werner offered her his handkerchief and as she wiped away the mess she had made of her face, he remarked, "Andreas hasn't been spending enough time with you."
"I saw Kurt Vogel leaving your study," Hilde said. "I thought Andreas might be conferring with you."
Werner didn't respond immediately, and his measured words when he did made Hilde suspect that he was lying. "I was arranging an upcoming event that Andreas and I could attend together."
She stared down at her hands for a moment and then she admitted, "I would rather not spend more time with Andreas than necessary."
By the tensing of his body, she new he was surprised, but he squeezed her gently and she looked up at his face. He was genuinely concerned. "I thought you could be happy with him."
Hilde needed to tell someone about what had happened after leaving the nightclub, and since he was like a father to her, she told him everything from the time Triton Bloom had left her off at the table to what Andreas had said and done to her in the car. He had even left bruises on her arms which were still faintly visible.
When Werner saw them, his nostrils flared with anger and his body was rigid, but he said, "I will discuss the matter with Andreas. He surely knows that you wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your relationship."
The car came to a stop, and Werner helped Hilde from the car. They were at the parking lot behind Dr. Kroeger's practice to avoid being seen by anyone that might recognize her.
Hilde didn't want to go in, so she turned to look at Werner. "I feel much better after talking to you."
"You should discuss these things with Dr. Kroeger too. He is only trying to help you, Hilde." She considered digging in her heels to impede their progress to the back door, but she knew that would be childish, so she willingly allowed Werner to accompany her.
They didn't have to ring the bell because the door opened. Dr. Kroeger's nurse explained that the doctor was finishing with another patient and that he would see her as soon as the patient had gone. She took Hilde and Werner to a private waiting area where they remained only a moment before the middle-aged psychiatrist came to meet them.
"Hilde! I wasn't expecting you until next week. Come into my office."
She knew the way. She'd been seeing him regularly for five years.
"Mr. Richter, will you be staying?"
If she talked to Dr. Kroeger about Duo Maxwell, she didn't want Werner to hear what she had to say.
To her relief, he shook his head. "I just wanted to make sure she was settled with you before leaving because she was very distraught this afternoon. I have some urgent business I need to take care of."
Having already reclined on the couch Dr. Kroeger used for therapy, Hilde sat up to look at Werner. "You didn't have to bring me here if you had something you needed to do."
He sat beside her and put his arms around her to draw her close. "Lina and I couldn't have children, Hilde. You are ... are the daughter I could never have. I'll be there for you whenever you need me."
She was comforted to know he felt for her the same way she felt about him. "And you are the only father that has ever shown me affection."
Werner held her for a moment longer, then he rose and headed to the door. Dr. Kroeger stepped out with him for a moment and she could hear them talking but couldn't make out their words. She laid back on the couch and stared at the stucco pattern on the ceiling until Dr. Kroeger returned carrying a syringe.
"This will relax you," he told her.
She knew that it would, so she didn't protest although she flinched when he injected the sedative into a vein. Soon she felt as if she were adrift on the sea and she closed her eyes as she released a deep sigh.
"Now, my dear, let's talk about what happened the night your father died," she heard Dr. Kroeger's voice say from far away.
And she started to talk, telling him what he wanted to hear.
