“You bet,” said Harry. “You two take the lead, and let me just listen in for a bit, okay?”
“Fine with me,” said Hester.
“Well, then… ” I said.
There was a small, brass plaque on the door that said, “Hunley Studios.” The buildings looked pretty old, and I was expecting kind of a dingy, narrow stair in a dingy, narrow staircase. Hardly.
The blond wooden stairs were nearly brand new, nicely varnished, and the pale yellow stairwell was both wider and more brightly painted than I'd expected. The stairs didn't even creak. The stairwell was lined with dance posters, most of them featuring either Jessica Hunley or “The Hunley Dance Repertoire Company.” At the top, we found a large, oak framed, glazed door, again with the sign “Hunley Studios.” As we entered, I noted the time at 11:39.
The music was loud, but pleasant. I recognized it instantly, a thing by Ahmed Jamal and his group, called “Poinciana.” We were in a small waiting room, for want of another word, with three new wooden chairs, and a bulletin board. On it, there were several notes, and a “rehearsal schedule” that indicated today, October 11, was for “rep rehearsal, J amp; T, 9-5.” I pointed it out to Hester.
“They rehearse for eight hours?”
“Sure,” she said. “Repertory. That's a series of their performance dances, you repeat those all the time so they stay fresh in your head.”
One more reason to be glad Hester was along.
The divider between the waiting room and the studio was only waist-high, and the door was on a swinging hinge. On the other side, I could see a nice hardwood floor, flanked on the right by a line of floor to ceiling windows, and on the left by a long mirror. No bar in front, unlike in the movies I'd seen, which were as close as I'd ever been to a rehearsal. At the far end was a set of lockers, and a table with a large boom box.
There were two dancers working on the floor, in black tights, leg warmers, and sweatshirts. Their feet were bare. They were both facing away from us, but the one with the iridescent hair could only be Tatiana. I guessed the other to be Jessica, and when they both turned in unison, I saw I was right.
I don't know what they thought when they saw us standing there, but they never missed a beat. Now that they were facing us, I could hear Jessica counting cadence, sort of.
“Down and up and down and up,” she said, as they went down on the floor, rose, went down and rose again. Very gracefully, with flowing movements. “And turn two three, ten two three, and point and twist and point, and turn… ” and with that, they had their backs to us again.
I turned to Hester. “Wow.” Not only graceful, it looked a lot like hard work. Not the way they did it, but the way I knew I'd have to do it. Hester just smiled, and watched them as they moved away from us.
Harry nudged me in the ribs. “You get to investigate them? I wanna work in Iowa.”
The music stopped, and so did the dancers. They sort of stood, talking for a second, and then Tatiana walked over to the boom box, and opened a tape case. Jessica came over to us.
“My two favorite officers,” she said. “And are you an officer, too?” she asked Harry, with a pleasant voice.
“Detective Harry Ullman,” he said. “I'm a Wisconsin deputy sheriff.”
“What brings you all to Lake Geneva?” She stood in a completely relaxed pose, and I noted that her breathing was entirely normal. If I'd been moving the way she had, I'd still have been breathing hard.
“Business, I'm afraid,” I said. In the background, Tatiana closed the boom box, and started walking over toward us.
“Oh, I'm sorry to hear that,” said Jessica. “Should we hold up our hands?”
“Only if you do it to the music,” I said.
“Actually,” said Hester, “we need to talk to both of you for a short while.”
Tatiana had joined us by then, and I stuck out my hand. “Hello, again.”
We shook hands, and she said, “Taking a break?”
“Working,” said Hester.
Jessica looked at her watch. “Unfortunately, we are, too. We have a lot to do today,” she said. “But we'll be taking a break to eat in about half an hour.”
“Fine,” said Hester. “We'll wait.”
With that, both Jessica and Tatiana turned, and walked all the way to the end of the floor, and turned on the boom box. I recognized “Body Language” by Queen.
“Great music,” I said to Hester.
“They've got a half hour to think,” she said. “Get ready to work.”
I watched the two dancers as they faced in opposite directions, and did precisely the same moves as they maneuvered apart. Hands and feet in slightly different positions, due mainly to the difference in their heights, they clapped in perfect unison, as they moved to the music.
“I could watch this for hours,” I said.
“Me, too,” said Harry. “Hours and hours.”
“That's good,” said Hester. “You'll probably have to.”
“Hey,” I said. “My pleasure.”
“You know, Houseman,” she said, deadpan, “it's probably a good thing you're over the hill. Otherwise, you could be influenced by this.”
“My age is my consolation.” I leaned up against the wall, rapt.
“Again,” said Jessica. Tatiana walked quickly over to the boom box, and started the music again.
Exactly the same moves, repeated flawlessly. Well, that's the way it looked to me, anyway. Jessica had Tatiana stop the music.
“How about like this, starting with the first 'sexy body,' and then two, three… ” intoned Jessica, and shifted from side to side, with her hands on her hips.
They did that four or five times, with Jessica counting it. Satisfied, they started the music up again.
My favorite part was where they were back to back, then moved about thirty feet apart, but in the same plane. They moved sideways across the floor, coming together again, and snapping their fingers to the music. When they were directly opposite each other, they each put their arms at shoulder height, and clapped each other's hands while they were back to back. Precisely in time to the music, and at the precise instant when the musicians clapped. I was astonished. I couldn't do that even if I were facing my partner, and never if it involved moving my feet at the same time.
Hester apparently noticed my fascination. “It's in the counting, Houseman.”
“Bullshit,” I whispered. “It's supernatural.”
“I can't help thinking,” said Harry, “that they… Oh, never mind.”
“You two aren't thinking about the case,” said Hester.
They went through “Body Language” five times. Then Jessica got out a mat, and signaled to us. “We just have to rehearse this one bit, then we'll eat.” “Fine, go ahead,” said Hester. With the music off, Jessica clapped her hands in time, and Tatiana spun, and went over onto the mat, slapping her cheek into the plastic surface, with her weight on her raised right arm and her left wrist, which was under her hip. At the same time, her left leg went straight up, foot pointed directly at the ceiling, and her right leg came up with her right foot on her left knee, forming a tripod. Damndest thing. She froze in that position for a full five seconds, then collapsed with a heartfelt complaint.
“Oh, man!”
“Again,” said Jessica.
Tatiana stood, and as Jessica clapped time, spun into the floor, assuming the same position and holding it for five seconds.
Relaxing again, she said, “Aw, boy, that hurts.”
“Now the other side,” said Jessica.
“Aw, geeze,” said Tatiana, but with complete good nature. You could tell she would do almost anything to excel, and to please Jessica. “You know that isn't my best side.”
As Jessica clapped, Tatiana reversed, and did it going the other way. Perfectly, as far as I could tell.
“Ow,” said Tatiana.
Once more, and then both of them walked over to us.
I was thinking lunch. Like, in food. Instead, Jessica motioned us through the divider, and to the three chairs. As we three cops sat, she and Tatiana just sort of flowed into a sitting position on the floor, near a black gym bag. Jessica opened a door under the counter, and removed two bottles of water, some crackers, a small brick of white cheese, and some grapes.