Don had told me to get the helmet up to Wisconsin, where I would be met at the airport by a man named Larry, who would fly me to the lodge in a private craft. I did that, and this was done.
I also learned, with no real surprise, that David Fentris was dead.
The temperature was down, and it began to snow on the way up. I was not really dressed for the weather. Larry told me I could borrow some warmer clothing once we reached the lodge, though I probably would not be going outside that much. Don had told them that I was supposed to stay as close to the Senator as possible and that any patrols were to be handled by the four guards themselves.
Larry was curious as to what exactly had happened so far and whether I had actually seen the Hangman. I did not think it my place to fill him in on anything Don may not have cared to, so I might have been a little curt. We didn't talk much after that.
Bert met us when we landed. Tom and Clay were outside the building, watching the trail, watching the woods. All of them were middle-aged, very fit-looking, very serious, and heavily armed. Larry took me inside flier and introduced me to the old gentleman himself.
Senator Brockden was seated in a heavy chair in the far comer of the room. Judging from the layout, it appeared that the chair might recently have occupied a position beside the window in the opposite wall where a lonely watercolor of yellow flowers looked down on nothing. The Senator's feet rested on a hassock, a red plaid blanket lay across his legs. He had on a dark-green shirt, his hair was very white, and he wore rimless reading glasses which he removed when we entered.
He tilted his head back, squinted, and gnawed his lower lip slowly as he studied me. He remained expressionless as we advanced. A big-boned man, he had probably been beefy much of his life. Now he had the slack look of recent weight loss and an unhealthy skin tone. His eyes were a pale gray within it all.
He did not rise.
"So you're the man," he said, offering me his hand. "I'm glad to meet you. How do you want to be called?"
"John will do," I said.
He made a small sign to Larry, and Larry departed.
"It's cold out there. Go get yourself a drink, John. It's on the shelf." He gestured off to his left. "And bring me one while you're at it. Two fingers of bourbon in a water glass. That's all."
I nodded and went and poured a couple.
"Sit down." He motioned at a nearby chair as I delivered his. "But first let me see that gadget you've brought."
I undid the parcel and handed him the helmet. He sipped his drink and put it aside. Taking the helmet in both hands, he studied it, brows furrowed, turning it completely around. He raised it and put it on his head.
"Not a bad fit," he said, and then he smiled for the first time, becoming for a moment the face I had known from newscasts past. Grinning or angry, it was almost always one or the other. I had never seen his collapsed look in any of the media.
He removed the helmet and set it on the floor.
"Pretty piece of work," he said. "Nothing quite that fancy in the old days. But then David Fentris built it. Yes, he told us about it…" He raised his drink and took a sip. "You are the only one who has actually gotten to use it, apparently. What do you think? Will it do the job?"
"I was only in contact for a couple seconds, so I've only got a feeling to go on, not much better than a hunch. But yes, I'd a feeling that if I had had more time I might have been able to work its circuits."
"Tell me why it didn't save Dave."
"In the message he left me, he indicated that he had been distracted at his computer access station. Its noise probably drowned out the humming."
"Why wasn't this message preserved?"
"I erased it for, reasons not connected with the case."
"What reasons?"
"My own."
His face went from sallow to ruddy.
"A man can get in a lot of trouble for suppressing evidence, obstructing justice."
"Then we have something in common, don't we, sir?"
His eyes caught mine with a look I had only encountered before from those who did not wish me well. He held the glare for a full four heartbeats, then sighed and seemed to relax.
"Don said there were a number of points you couldn't be pressed on," he finally said.
"That's right."
"He didn't betray any confidences, but he had to tell me something about you, you know."
"I'd imagine."
"He seems to think highly of you. Still, I tried to learn more about you on my own."
"And…?"
"I couldn't, and my usual sources are good at that kind of thing."
"So…?"
"So, I've done some thinking, some wondering…The fact that my sources could not come up with anything is interesting in itself. Possibly even revealing. I am in a better position than most to be aware of the fact that there was not perfect compliance with the registration statute some years ago. It didn't take long for a great number of the individuals involved, I should probably say 'most', to demonstrate their existence in one fashion or another and be duly entered, though. And there were three broad categories: those who were ignorant, those who disapproved, and those who would be hampered in an illicit life-style. I am not attempting to categorize you or to pass judgment. But I am aware that there are a number of nonpersons passing through society without casting shadows, and it has occurred to me that you may be such a one."
I tasted my drink.
"And if I am?" I asked.
He gave me his second, nastier smile and said nothing.
I rose and crossed the room to where I judged his chair had once stood. I looked at the watercolor.
"I don't think you could stand an inquiry," he said.
I did not reply.
"Aren't you going to say something?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"You might ask me what I am going to do about it."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing," he answered. "So come back here and sit down."
I nodded and returned.
He studied my face. "Was it possible you were close to violence just then?"
"With four guards outside?"
"With four guards outside."
"No," I said.
"You're a good liar."
"I am here to help you, sir. No questions asked. That was the deal, as I understood it. If there has been any change, I would like to know about it now."
He drummed with his fingertips on the plaid.
"I've no desire to cause you any difficulty," he said. "Fact of the matter is, I need a man just like you, and I was pretty sure someone like Don might turn him up. Your unusual maneuverability and your reported knowledge of computers, along with your touchiness in certain areas, made you worth waiting for. I've a great number of things I would like to ask you."
"Go ahead," I said.
"Not yet. Later, if we have time. All that would be bonus material, for a report I am working on. Far more important, to me, personally, there are things that I want to tell you."
I frowned.
"Over the years," he went on, "I have learned that the best man for purposes of keeping his mouth shut concerning your business is someone for whom you are doing the same."
"You have a compulsion to confess something?" I asked.
"I don't know whether 'compulsion' is the right word. Maybe so, maybe not. Either way, however, someone among those working to defend me should have the whole story. Something somewhere in it may be of help, and you are the ideal choice to hear it."
"I buy that," I said, "and you are as safe with me as I am with you."
"Have you any suspicions as to why this business bothers me so?"
"Yes," I said.
"Let's hear them."
"You used the Hangman to perform some act or acts, illegal, immoral, whatever. This is obviously not a matter of record. Only you and the Hangman now know what it involved. You feel it was sufficiently ignominious that when that device came to appreciate the full weight of the event, it suffered a breakdown which may well have led to a final determination to punish you for using it as you did."