They'd chatted with Franklin and Hutton for a few minutes, eating the nachos with melted cheese"I can feel my heart clogging up. This stuff is absolute shit," Jael saidand then Jael said to Lucas, "Let's go talk."
As she stepped past him, she caught his wrist in her hand and led him out of the room; Hutton raised an eyebrow. In the living room, Lucas sprawled on a couch while Jael settled back in an oversized chair. Lucas said, "Great chair," and Jael said, "All guys don't really know about that nacho-cheese thing."
"You're right. There's probably some raggedy-ass cowboy out on a ranch in North Dakota somewhere who doesn't have either a TV or a microwave."
She said, "It really wasn't bad."
"If you eat that stuff three days in a row, you'll be as big as Franklin." Franklin completely filled an average doorway. "In fact, Franklin used to be about your size."
She nodded, getting rid of the topic. "I went to see Marcy a couple of hours ago. I just missed you."
"She's hanging on," Lucas said, his face going grim. "But she's harder than goddamn nails. If anybody can make it back, she's the one."
"I feel you know. Guilt, I guess."
"Don't," he said. "This has nothing to do with you, really. It has something to do with a nut, and some asshole who killed Alie'e and Sandy Lansing."
"I can't get Plain's body," she said. "But I finally found Dad. He's on St. Paul Island, which is about as far from here as you can get and still be on Earth. It'll take him a few days to get here."
"How is he?" Lucas asked.
"Devastated. I'd like to get the thing done with."
"I'll see about it," Lucas promised. "This thing with Plain when did that end?"
"A year ago."
"A year? I thought it might be more recent the way he acted."
"Time was not a big deal with Plain. Everything was right now. He could read a history book about Rome and get angry about the Roman empire."
"Tell me about Alie'e," Lucas said. "Was there anybody that she talked about? Anybody who might be a little over the edge?"
"Are you questioning me?" But she smiled, and when she did, her torn-paper face was beautiful, tough and vulnerable at once.
"No, no. Of course not. And if you want to talk about something else, that's fine. But I start brooding about this kind of stuff. You know, why? Most people are freaked out by the idea of shoplifting. If you get somebody killing several people, he's either completely psychotic, delusional, nuts, living in a different world, listening to God or he thinks he's got a reason. This guy we're looking for, he thinks he's got a reason. So there should be some connection to Alie'e. Somewhere, a connection."
"Her dad was weird. He came on to me a couple of times. I often thought he was a little wrong. Not a killer, but he, I think I don't know." She lifted her hands to her temples. "His relationship to Alie'e and the other girls, he tried to act paternal, but he was always looking at them If you know what I mean."
"Yeah. He was turned on."
"Yeah. And Alie'e's mom wasn't much of a prize, either. My mom didn't care what I did for a living; she thought the earth owed me one, and let it go at that. But Lil was living through Alie'e and I think she knew about Lynn's interest in sex."
"You think Lynn might have abused Alie'e?"
"No. Nope. I think Alie'e would have told me, and I think I would have seen it in her, the way she acted around her father. No, maybe it was just my expectations. Somebody's a dadyou don't think of his standing around trying to get a shot at the asses of his daughter's friends."
"Happens all the time," Lucas said. "I'll do it. For sure."
"But he was creepy about it."
"So no ideas."
"I told you before, I really think you've got to look at the people on the Internet. Those people"
"We've got somebody checking that, a computer guy named Anderson. If you can think of anything specific along those lines, call him. But the thing is, when he ran Alie'e's name through Alta Vista, he got 122,000 matches. We're trying to narrow them down."
"What's Alta Vista?"
"A search engine on the Net. You can look for names and so on."
"Okay. Well, I'll think about it. You know all about her brother, Tom."
"We're looking into him," Lucas said.
"He's an amazing guy. From what she said."
"Is he nuts?"
"She didn't think so. She thought he was holy," Jael said.
"How bright was she?" Lucas asked.
"Mmm, you've got to be smarter than average to make it as a model, but not a lot smarter. She wasn't intensely bright."
"So why were you hanging out with her?"
She smiled. "I thought everybody knew that."
"They know you were sleeping with her, but I thought there had to be a better reason."
"There wasn't," Jael said. "She was deep into herself, into feeling good. Intofeeling. That's what she did best, and she spread it around. She could make you discard everything else. And feel good. The sex was wonderful. Very intimate and very playful and very sexual. I mean, I can't really explain it to you, because you don't know what I'm talking about and you're not in a position to find out."
"Did her appearance have anything to do with it? And her being famous?"
"Probably. There was a whole package. When you were with her, you felt sexy and important and wicked and fun. And she'd make you forget everything else and justfeel. That's why she did those short pops: It was another aspect of feeling for her."
"So what about her boyfriend, Jax? What'd he think about all this? Sleeping with other women."
She shrugged. "Jax carried her bags. And slept with her every once in a while. He's basically a remora. He's probably back in New York right now, looking for somebody else."
"He is. You didn't like him?"
"It's not that. I just didn'tcare about him. Didn't even think about him when he was standing in front of me. He made himself into what he is. Not my fault. He wants to carry bags and hang out with pretty women, and that's what he does."
"Sounds bad," Lucas said.
"He doesn't think so." They sat in silence for a moment, then Jael said, "You and Marcy had a relationship."
"For six weeks or so. It was a little too intense."
She cocked her head. "Why would you walk away from intensity? Other people go their whole lives without intensity. They dream about it."
"like I said, this was a little too much. We were headed for a disaster."
"You mean, like, you'd strangle her or something?"
"No. But something was going to happen, and we'd wind up hating each other," Lucas said. "We didn't want to do that. Risk it."
"She's still sort of hung up on you," Jael said. "You know what would've been fun? For the three of us to go away. You and me and Marcy."
She said it so conversationally that Lucas was neither embarrassed nor surprised. He said, "I'm a little too Catholic for that. Marcy would be, too, if she was a Catholic."
"Oh, I don't think so," Jael said. "Not Marcy, anyway. I think she might be interested in the idea."
"Really?" She'd said it with some certainty, and now hewas surprised. He looked a question at her.
"No, no, we weren't playing. We hardly had a chance to talk," Jael said. "But you can sort of pick out people who like tofeel. Marcy's one of us."
"You mean, a little gay?" Lucas asked.
"No. That's not what I mean. You're one of us. I could tell from talking to you, and the way you look at women."
"I gotta stop talking about this," Lucas said. "Sure," she said. "It really makes me nervous."
"That's the Catholic part," she said. "You've probably been fighting it all of your life."
"Maybe," he said.
"You know," she said later, "I'm a little scared."
"I know. You should be."
"The way Plain was killed. He probably never had a chance even to say anything."
"The guy is nuts. But he's not some great force. We just haven't been able to find him. We will."