His face was no longer handsome, bearing now the signs of one who had spent his final moments fighting for breath. I crossed to him, felt for a pulse, knew in advance I would find none. I covered a fingernail with my thumb and squeezed. It remained white when I released it.
How long ago? I asked.
Right before I came for you.
Why me?
You were nearest.
I see., Was the sheet torn in this place before, I wonder?
I don't know.
There were no cries, no sounds at all?
I didn't hear anything. If I had, I would have come right away.
I felt a sudden desire for a cigarette, but there were oxygen tanks in the room and NO SMOKING signs all over the building. I turned and retraced my steps, pushed the door open, held it with my back, leaning against it, lit a cigarette, and stared out across the water.
Very neat, I said then. With the day's symptoms behind him, he'll warrant a 'natural causes' with a 'possible air embolism,' 'congestive lung failure,' or some damn thing behind it.
What do you mean? Frank demanded.
Was he sedated?, I don't know. It doesn't matter. I'd imagine you used the recompressor. Right? Or did you tough it out and just smother him?
Come off it. Why would I ...
In a way, I helped kill him, I said. I thought he was safe with you here because you hadn't done anything about him all this time. You wanted to keep her, to win her back. Spending a lot of money on her was one way you tried. But it was a vicious circle, because Paul was a part of your source of extra revenue. Then I came along and offered an alternative supply. Then today's accident, the whole setup here tonight ... You rose to the occasion, seized the opportunity, and slammed the barn door. Not to mention striking while the iron was hot ... Congratulations. I think you'll get away with it. Because this is all guesswork, of course. There is no real proof. Good show.
He sighed.
Then why go into all that? It's over. We will go see Barthelme now and you will talk because I will be too distraught.
But I'm curious about Rudy and Mike. I've been wondering all along. Did you have any part in it when they got theirs?
What do you know? he asked slowly. And how do you know it?
I know that Paul and Mike were the source of the stones. I know that Rudy found out and tried to blackmail them. They dealt with him, and I think Paul took care of Mike for good measure at the same time. How do I know? Paul babbled all the way back this afternoon and I was in the decompressor with him, remember? I learned about the diamonds, the murders, and about Linda and Paul, just by listening.
He leaned back against the workbench. He shook his head.
I was suspicious of you, he said, but you had the diamonds for proof. You came across them awfully fast, I'll admit. But I accepted your story because of the possibility that Paul's deposit was really somewhere quite near. He never told me where it was, either. I decided you had to have either stumbled across it or followed him to it and known enough to recognize it for what it was. Whichever way, though, it doesn't matter. I would rather do business with you. Shall we just leave the whole thing at that?
If you will tell me about Rudy and Mike.
I don't really know any more than what you've just said. That was none of my affair. Paul took care of everything. Answer one for me now: How did you find the deposit?
I didn't, I said. I haven't the least idea where he got them.
He straightened.
I don't believe you! The stones, where did they come from?
I found where Paul had hidden a bag of them. I stole it.
Why?
Money, of course.
Then why did you lie to me about where you got them?
You think I'd come out and say they were stolen? Now, though ...
He came forward very fast, and I saw that he had a large wrench in his hand.
I jumped backward, and the door caught him on the shoulder as it snapped inward. It only slowed him for an instant, though. He burst through and was at me again. I continued my retreat, falling into a defensive position.
He swung and I dodged to the side, chopping at his elbow. We both missed. His backstroke grazed my shoulder then, so that the blow I did land, seconds later, fell near his kidney with less force than I had hoped for. I danced back as he swung again, and my kick caught him on the hip. He dropped to one knee, but was up again before I could press in, swinging toward my head. I backed farther and he stalked me.
I could hear the water, smell it. I wondered about diving in. He was awfully close ...
When he came in again, I twisted back and grabbed for his arm. I caught hold near the elbow and hung on, hooking my fingers toward his face. He drove himself into me then and I fell, still clutching his arm, catching hold of his belt with my other hand. My shoulder smashed against the ground, and he was on top of me, wrestling to free his arm. As he succeeded in dragging it away, his weight came off me for an instant. Pulling free, I doubled myself into a ball and kicked out with both legs.
They connected. I heard him grunt. Then he was gone.
I heard him splashing about in the water. I also heard distant voices, calling, approaching us from across the islet.
I regained my feet. I moved toward the edge. Then he screamed, a long, awful, agonized wail. By the time I reached the edge, it had ceased. When Barthelme came up beside me, he stopped repeating What happened? as soon as he looked down and saw the flashing fins at the center of the turmoil. Then he said, Oh, my God! And then nothing.
In my statement, later, I said that he had seemed highly agitated when he had come to get me, that he told me Paul had stopped breathing, that I had returned with him to the dispensary, determined that Paul was indeed dead, said so, and asked him for the details; that as we were talking he seemed to get the impression that I thought he had been negligent and somehow contributed to the death; that he had grown further agitated and finally attacked me; that we had fought and he had fallen into the water. All of which, of course, was correct. Deponent sinneth only by omission. They seemed to buy it. They went away. The shark hung around, waiting for dessert perhaps, and the dolphin people came and anesthetized him and took him away. Barthelme told me the damaged sonic projector could indeed have been shorting intermittently.
So Paul had killed Ruby and Mike; Frank had killed Paul and then been killed himself by the shark on whom the first two killings could now be blamed. The dolphins were cleared, and there was no one left to bring to justice for anything. The source of the diamonds was now one of life's numerous little mysteries.
... So, after everyone had departed, the statements been taken, the remains of the remains removed, long after that, as the night hung late, clear, clean, with its bright multitudes doubled in their pulsing within the cool flow of the Gulf Stream about the station, I sat in a deck chair on the small patio behind my quarters, drinking a can of beer and watching the stars go by.
... I needed to stamp CLOSED on my mental file.
But who had written me the note, the note that had set the infernal machine to chugging?
Did it really matter, now that the job was done? As long as they kept quiet about me ...
I took another sip of beer.
Yes, it did, I decided. I might as well look around a bit more.
I withdrew a cigarette and moved to light it ...
When I pulled into the harbor, the lights were on. As I climbed to the pier, her voice came to me over a loudspeaker.
She greeted me by name, my real name, which I hadn't heard spoken in a long while, and she asked me to come in.