Chapter 11

I feel lousy unloading my problems on you." Willie confessed.

"Well, it comes with the territory. Everybody does it. That's why they are willing to feed me."

"Yeah." Willie nodded. "I guess you take your payment in kind. Still it seems a bit unfair. The inconvenience I put you through is a lot more than you put either me or Louella through. Taking care of my old man, that's hard."

"It has not been so hard to me."

"He just got on my nerves. And his saying that you and me..."

"That we are lovers?

Willie blushed slightly "It stung me, that he thought that I would sell myself to you."

Barnabas smiled lopsidedly "Willie, you know that I do it, but with George, not you."

"I know it."

"Then why does it sting so much?"

"It is not the same... it has to do with..."

Barnabas shook his head, amused, and a bit sad. "Does it have to do with Jason McGuire?"

Willie's blush deepened "No!"

"Willie..."

"Why do you want to talk about that?" Willie said defensively.

"Poor Willie." Barnabas said. "You want it so much to be false. But it was true, wasn't it? You were Jason's lover. Or rather, his boy."

Willie was as deep red as a beet. "How did you guess?" he asked.

"Oh, Willie, why does it matter? I am not the one to reproach you."

"No, you don't. But I do. I did not do it for the sex. It was just that Jason knew all about those jewels. It was the only way he wouldn't let me in the deal. he said that I was not good for anything else but that. And well, I needed money. And the way he described those jewels..."

"Poor Willie. You did it for money, then."

Willie nodded.

"And that's why you kept making passes at Carolyn and Vicky, and practically every other girl you ran into. You tried to keep your self-respect that way."

Willie nodded again. "I hated it. To be... one of those. But the thought of the jewels kept me going. I was going to get them and split."

"And you found the jewels, in a manner of speaking."

"I did hate you then. But at least you did not ask that of me. In a way, it made it easier to accept you."

"Yet you wept when you buried Jason. You must have been fond of him, in a way."

"Yes. I was. Maybe I was still looking for a father. I was still mixed-up, you know."

"So you were a hustler once. Even if it was for that one caper. And that's why you hate Urien so much."

"I don't hate him."

"No, but you resent him."

"Yes."

"And you are not very comfortable with me and George, either. You tolerate it for my sake, but you don't actually believe that we... er, do it."

Willie nodded again. "I guess that I have to make myself to the idea that you do it. Worse, that a cop like George does it. Barnabas, please, don't tell Louella what I told you about Jason."

"Don't worry. If she learns of it, it will be because you told her."

George could not keep from sighing at seeing Robert Loomis. In theory it what Barnabas was doing was admirable, giving a home to a destitute old man. In practice, Robert Loomis was trouble. It was not just because of a miserable childhood that Willie refused to take his father in.

Oh, well. Just another bird of a broken wing... At least, unlike Vicky, he was not getting jealous...

Maybe it would be different if he was living openly with Barnabas. Then he would not resent whoever called this place home, while he himself seemed like an interloper...

He would have to face it, sooner or later. But not until after the election.

"Hi, Sheriff." Robert said.

George looked at him severely. "I thought that Barnabas had told you not to drink."

"Yes. He did." Robert said, lifting his glass. "But it did not help any."

"Maybe I can help better."

"No, you won't. You will pay for my next drink. Unless you want the townspeople know about you and Barnabas. I will tell the town that Sheriff Brant has a limp wrist."

George was first angry, then amused. They should have expected this. The surprise was that it did not come sooner.

And Robert was so greedy and so stupid about it...

"When was the last time you were in jail? You remember how it was? I can get you another stay. And it will be better than flophouses and the street, which I can get for you too. How long was it that you had it so good as you have now with Barnabas?"

"Do you want the townspeople know what you and Barnabas do with each other? I can listen to you doing it. It is disgusting.

"You are nothing but an old drunk." George said wearily. "A charity case. Two fingers away from the DTs. And for all the good that it will do, you can go around yelling that I am a two-headed Martian. See how people laugh at you. And then I'll lock you up for disturbing the peace. And when you come out, Barnabas will refuse to take you in. So it will be back to sleeping in the street, and freeing to death in the first snowstorm."

"They will believe me."

"No. they won't. I am the Sheriff. I am The Man. Who'll take an old drunk's word against mine? Be very, very careful if you want to go on sleeping in a warm bed and eating regular meals. You might find yourself on your ass again."

"Don't get any ideas about stealing the hand." Zoya said. "It is the property of the Romano family, and they guard it jealously against thieves. The penalties against stealing it are terrible. Have you heard of Magda and Sandor Rakosi?"

"Yes, I have heard of them. But I do not mean to steal it. Only ask for help."

"You are a gadjo. You are not to be trusted."

"I would pay them well. I will not pry into their secrets. Why should they refuse?"

"Our tribe has survived by not trusting gadjos. We left the Old World in the past century because we knew that there would come a time when crazed people would kill gypsies just for being gypsies. And they did, along with Jews, and others that they did not like. But we would not have known of the danger were it not for the hand. It is our tribe's greatest treasure. Petofi could steal it back for a while, but he was caught and punished for it, for he had pledged to give it to us, and never seek to regain it. He broke that pledge and he died for it."

They were in a motel room. Zoya had not protested when he had signed them together as husband and wife. He did not trust her and wanted to keep an eye on her, threatening her with his non-existent magical powers.

Well, she could deceive him if she chose to. But she needed him to reach the tribe, to be the scapegoat when she stole the hand for herself.

She studied him, sitting on the bed. She could see the eagerness, the posturing, the desperation. He was willing to believe anything.

Adam studied her, too. He did not wholly trust her. But he had to, because she was his only hope. With her, he might be able at last to marry Carolyn, and even become a good father to Edmund, to learn to tolerate Roger, and to reach an accommodation with the town...

That girl. Hallie Collins. David Collins' wife. He knew her type. Butter would not melt in her mouth.

She had something to hide Something she did not want Barnabas Collins to know about. Something that she would pay to keep it secret.

Thinking about Barnabas Collins made him angry. That Barnabas, what was the matter with him? If you were a vampire you went around biting necks. What calling did he have to go around lecturing people as if he was with the Salvation Army? Damn it, he might just as well be at the mission, getting soup and lectures...

The cat hissed as he passed by. Damned pests. He aimed at kick at it, but the cat was too fast.

"Just you wait. One day I will catch you and drown you, you lousy beast."

But he would not do it. He suspected that if he ever tried that, Barnabas would get really angry. And his anger was not something he wanted to see...

,... Going after the sheriff had been a mistake. But Hallie Collins would not be. This time it would pay off..

Xavier felt guilty about it. He did not want to discourage Barnabas from coming again hunting for U.F.O.s. He enjoyed being with him. He was not like Verhoff at all.

But he could not invite him back, and he felt lousy about it.

Because of a dream, a dumb dream.

Yet, that dumb dream had left him the certainty that he would never see the U.F.O. if Barnabas was with him.

And he wanted to see the U.F.O. very much. He wanted a real sighting, a real photo, something that he could show to Phillip Klass and make that opinionate twerp shut his mouth once and for all...

...he did not even wonder where the dream had come from...