Mrs. Fratt had led the way into the fortress. Her son was carried along by Lieftin and another man to make sure that she did not betray them. After the Staronif had been removed from its vault, Carmody had shoved the mother and son into it. Then he had tossed in a grenade and closed the vault door.
It was the explosion that had set off an alarm and had forced Carmody and his men to run, instead of making the planned leisurely drive to the spaceship. Raspold, having just arrived on Beulah in his search, had joined the chase.
During the flight, Carmody stole a gravplane. Forced down near the edge of the Big Thorn Forest, he had gone on foot. And it was in that forest that he had been compelled to shove the Staronif down the throat of the lugar. Later, he had made his escape from Beulah and eventually had gone to Dante’s Joy.
“I think I overlooked you, Mrs. Fratt,” he said, “because one, I thought a man had sent me that letter and, two, I thought that you and your son were dead.”
“My son protected me with his own body,” she said. “He died. My face was mangled, and my eyes were destroyed by flying fragments. I had my face repaired, but these...”
She removed her glasses, and Carmody could see the empty sockets.
“But you could have had new eyes!” he said.
“I swore I would never see again until you were paid back for what you did to me and Bart. I’ve spent a lot of time and money looking for you. I had a great deal of money, you know, because the demo willed me a fortune when he died. But it was almost all gone when I finally heard about your being a priest on Wildenwooly. By that time, I’d quit buying jerries because I wanted to reserve all my money for the search. That’s why I’m so old-looking now. I was afraid I’d die before you were found. But, thank God, I did find you.”
“You’ve taken all these years to find me?” he said. “Mrs. Fratt, what kind of men did you hire to look for me?”
“Raphael Abdu conducted the search for me. Don’t you say anything against him, you evil-tongued monster! He’s a good and faithful man; he’s been working tirelessly for me too long. I know him and trust him.”
“So that now, when he’s bled you of your money and there’s no more coming, he conveniently discovers me?” the priest said. “Well, give him credit for that. At least, he didn’t just drop the whole thing. He did give you something for keeping him in what I imagine was a good-paying job for twenty-eight or twenty-nine years. Ah, thou good and faithful servant!”
“Should I shut his mouth, Mrs. Fratt?” Abdu said. “I could knock his teeth out. It’d be a good starter.”
“No, let him talk. I don’t care what he says; he can’t change my mind.”
“Mrs. Fratt, Abdu could have found me easily any time after I left this planet. I was in Johns Hopkins for a year. The police knew where I was, and my Church had no reason to hide my identity or location. Abdu’s taken you for a sucker.”
“You’re a slippery one,” she said. “You escaped the first man Abdu sent after you, and you’ve made it difficult for us to catch you. But you’re here now, and nothing anyone can do is going to get you out of this.”
Carmody, despite the mausoleum coolness of the room, was sweating.
“Mrs. Fratt,” he said without any inflection of the desperation he felt, “I can understand why you want revenge on me. I partly understand, anyway, although after all these years and the fact that I am no longer the man you knew... Still, I cannot understand or forgive you for having murdered an innocent woman, my wife!”
She clutched the arms of the chair.”What? What are you talking about?”
“You know damn well what I’m talking about!” he said harshly. “You had my Anna murdered! And when you did that, you became as guilty and as foul as that John Carmody you hate so much. You are as wicked as he was, and you have no right to talk of justice or retribution!”
“What do you mean?” she shrilled, turning her blind head toward Abdu and then back to Carmody. “What’s this about your wife? I didn’t even know you had a wife! Murdered, you say? Murdered?”
Abdu spoke smoothly and even managed a chuckle of amusement, but he glared at Carmody. “I told you you have to be careful of him, Mrs. Fratt. He’s slick as Satan himself. He’s just saying that about his wife to throw you off the track, to confuse you. And to implant suspicions about me in your mind. His wife’s all right. I saw her kiss him good-bye just before he left Wildenwooly.”
Mrs. Fratt’s expression was angry. “You liar, Carmody! Would you say anything to save your own skin?”
“I am telling the truth!” Carmody said. “My wife was killed by a bomb. And shortly after she died, I got a phone call from a man wearing a mask. He said that you were responsible for Anna’s murder!”
“You lie!”
“Then perhaps you can explain another thing. If you wanted me alive, why did your men try to kill me outside the house of an old friend of mine, here in Rak?”
She became even paler; her mouth worked soundlessly.
“In your hatred for me, you not only had my wife killed, you caused the death of an innocent man, one who had nothing to do with me except that he happened to drive the taxi that took me out to Mrs. Kri’s. He was killed by the bomb meant for me.”
“He’s lying again,” Abdu shouted savagely. “He’ll say anything to put off the inevitable, the justified inevitable, I’ll swear.”
Mrs. Fratt reached out, touched Abdu, slid her hand along him, and gripped his hand. “You didn’t do all these terrible things, did you? You didn’t kill his wife and that man, did you? Or try to kill Carmody and rob me of him?”
“I’m telling you the truth, Mrs. Fratt. I think you’d better quit listening to him. He could talk a hungry snake away from a bird.”
He looked at his watch. “Mrs. Fratt, we’ve ten hours before the last ship leaves. We’d better get started. You didn’t want this to be a short thing, remember?”
“Oh, I made a mistake not getting eyes before I did this!” she said. “I want to see him suffer! But there wasn’t time to do it!”
“Never mind, you can hear him. And feel him.”
“Mrs. Fratt,” Carmody said, unable to keep his voice from going hoarse, “I’m making one last appeal. You spoke of God a little while ago, thanked Him. Do you really believe that He’ll approve this? If you are a Christian, then for the sake of God don’t do this! Even if I were the man who wronged you so. He would not want you to torture me. Revenge is mine, saith the Lord. But I am not...”
“Revenge is mine, saith the Lord.” Mrs. Fratt almost hissed. “The Devil may quote scripture, and I guess that is true! But go ahead! Whine, beg, plead for mercy! I begged, for my son’s sake, and you laughed at me! Laugh now!”
Carmody fell silent. He was determined that he would at least try to die with dignity. They would get no pleas or screams of pain until he could stand it no longer. Nevertheless, he could not control the quivering of his body.
He said, “Mrs. Fratt, while I can talk and think rationally, I want to tell you that I forgive you. I hope you have a chance for God to forgive you, too. So, no matter what I say later, remember that this is my true feeling. God grant you grace.”
Mrs. Fratt had risen to her feet. She started to walk slowly toward him, with Abdu holding her hand. She stopped and put her hand to her heart. She was silent so Abdu said, “It’s just another trick, Mrs. Fratt.”