"Huh? Who's Martinez?"
"One of your potential investors in Corey and Raynard, Inc. Dan Martinez-middle-aged, a bit short, kind of distinguished-looking, chipped front tooth..."
There must be some simple explanation for this... It's just some kind of misunderstanding...
"Merle, I don't know who the hell you're talking about."
"He came up to me while I was waiting for you in the bar. Seemed to know an awful lot about you. Started asking questions on what I can now see as the potential situation you just described. Acted as if you'd approached him to invest in the thing."
Maybe... Maybe this guy has mistaken Merle for someone else...
"Uh-uh. I don't know him. How come you didn't tell me sooner?"
"He beat it, and you said no business till after dinner. Didn't seem all that important, anyway. He even as much as asked me to let you know he'd been inquiring about you."
Maybe I have somehow walked into wrong Shadow...
"What, specifically, did he want to know?"
"Whether you could deliver an unencumbered computer property and keep the investors out of court, was what I gathered."
Maybe I'm schizophrenic and we ARE just a couple of business partners discussing our new project.
"This makes no sense at all. It really doesn't."
"It occurs to me that he might have been hired to investigate a bit - or even just to shake you up some and keep you honest - by the people you've been sounding out to invest in this thing."
Maybe... Maybe... Maybe not.
"Merle, do you think I'm so damn stupid I'd waste a lot of time digging up investors before I was even sure there was something to put the money into? I haven't talked to anybody about this except you, and I guess I won't be now either. Who do you think he could have been? What did he want?"
Someone was following us. I would have noticed earlier, if not for all this... stuff. I concentrated my attention on the rear-view mirror. This was even more important than Merle's story. At least I'd been thinking so for entire five seconds.
"He also asked me," started Merle, and something in his voice made me tense myself, "Whether I'd ever heard you refer to a place called Amber."
I did my best to keep my face straight, but completely forgot I was the one driving. I managed to catch that turn at the last moment, but the catastrophe happened at a different level - I had shown my emotions. There was no point in pretending anymore.
"Amber? You're kidding."
"No."
I didn't know what to think, and Merle's monosyllabic answer wasn't helping much. I had to get some more phrases out of him, to understand where it's going, unless... Unless he knew. Unless he was just playing with me, closing in for the final strike, his backup following in that car. Like in that nightmares of mine. If so, none of my further actions would have mattered, so I just told my self things weren't that ugly.
"Strange. It has to be a coincidence-," I started. I had no idea how to continue. My mind was racing against the clock.
"What?" Another monosyllabic response.
Indeed, what? Well, why don't we take a classical recipe: part lie...
"I did hear a reference to a kind of dreamland place called Amber, last week. But I never mentioned it to anybody. It was just drunken babbling."
"Who? Who said it?"
...and part truth.
"A painter I know. A real nut, but a very talented guy. Name's Melman. I like his work a lot, and I've bought several of his paintings. I'd stopped by to see whether he had anything new this last time I was in town. He didn't, but I stayed pretty late at his place anyway, talking and drinking and smoking some stuff he had. He got pretty high after a while and he started talking about magic. Not card tricks, I mean. Ritual stuff, you know..."
It looked like Merle had bought it all, and I earned another precious piece of information.
"Melman is dead. His place burned down a few days ago."
"No, I didn't know," I replied honestly. So, mother has finally let him loose. Serves him right. What a jerk. Oh, crap... My warehouse! Well, nothing irreplaceable there. This was the least of my troubles. And the biggest was right behind me. Literally.
"Did you know him?"
"I met him - after you left this last time. Kinsky told me Julia'd been seeing him, and I looked the guy up to see what he could tell me about her. You see - well, Julia's dead."
More information for me. I didn't have to pretend that I cared. Because I cared. And not just because of the information.
"How'd it happen? I just saw her last week."
"In a very bizarre fashion. She was killed by a strange animal."
"Lord!"
Things were going too fast, so I slammed the brakes.
"One of your potential investors in Corey and Raynard, Inc. Dan Martinez-middle-aged, a bit short, kind of distinguished-looking, chipped front tooth..."
There must be some simple explanation for this... It's just some kind of misunderstanding...
"Merle, I don't know who the hell you're talking about."
"He came up to me while I was waiting for you in the bar. Seemed to know an awful lot about you. Started asking questions on what I can now see as the potential situation you just described. Acted as if you'd approached him to invest in the thing."
Maybe... Maybe this guy has mistaken Merle for someone else...
"Uh-uh. I don't know him. How come you didn't tell me sooner?"
"He beat it, and you said no business till after dinner. Didn't seem all that important, anyway. He even as much as asked me to let you know he'd been inquiring about you."
Maybe I have somehow walked into wrong Shadow...
"What, specifically, did he want to know?"
"Whether you could deliver an unencumbered computer property and keep the investors out of court, was what I gathered."
Maybe I'm schizophrenic and we ARE just a couple of business partners discussing our new project.
"This makes no sense at all. It really doesn't."
"It occurs to me that he might have been hired to investigate a bit - or even just to shake you up some and keep you honest - by the people you've been sounding out to invest in this thing."
Maybe... Maybe... Maybe not.
"Merle, do you think I'm so damn stupid I'd waste a lot of time digging up investors before I was even sure there was something to put the money into? I haven't talked to anybody about this except you, and I guess I won't be now either. Who do you think he could have been? What did he want?"
Someone was following us. I would have noticed earlier, if not for all this... stuff. I concentrated my attention on the rear-view mirror. This was even more important than Merle's story. At least I'd been thinking so for entire five seconds.
"He also asked me," started Merle, and something in his voice made me tense myself, "Whether I'd ever heard you refer to a place called Amber."
I did my best to keep my face straight, but completely forgot I was the one driving. I managed to catch that turn at the last moment, but the catastrophe happened at a different level - I had shown my emotions. There was no point in pretending anymore.
"Amber? You're kidding."
"No."
I didn't know what to think, and Merle's monosyllabic answer wasn't helping much. I had to get some more phrases out of him, to understand where it's going, unless... Unless he knew. Unless he was just playing with me, closing in for the final strike, his backup following in that car. Like in that nightmares of mine. If so, none of my further actions would have mattered, so I just told my self things weren't that ugly.
"Strange. It has to be a coincidence-," I started. I had no idea how to continue. My mind was racing against the clock.
"What?" Another monosyllabic response.
Indeed, what? Well, why don't we take a classical recipe: part lie...
"I did hear a reference to a kind of dreamland place called Amber, last week. But I never mentioned it to anybody. It was just drunken babbling."
"Who? Who said it?"
...and part truth.
"A painter I know. A real nut, but a very talented guy. Name's Melman. I like his work a lot, and I've bought several of his paintings. I'd stopped by to see whether he had anything new this last time I was in town. He didn't, but I stayed pretty late at his place anyway, talking and drinking and smoking some stuff he had. He got pretty high after a while and he started talking about magic. Not card tricks, I mean. Ritual stuff, you know..."
It looked like Merle had bought it all, and I earned another precious piece of information.
"Melman is dead. His place burned down a few days ago."
"No, I didn't know," I replied honestly. So, mother has finally let him loose. Serves him right. What a jerk. Oh, crap... My warehouse! Well, nothing irreplaceable there. This was the least of my troubles. And the biggest was right behind me. Literally.
"Did you know him?"
"I met him - after you left this last time. Kinsky told me Julia'd been seeing him, and I looked the guy up to see what he could tell me about her. You see - well, Julia's dead."
More information for me. I didn't have to pretend that I cared. Because I cared. And not just because of the information.
"How'd it happen? I just saw her last week."
"In a very bizarre fashion. She was killed by a strange animal."
"Lord!"
Things were going too fast, so I slammed the brakes.