“It could’ve been part of the arrangement. Or a mistake.”
“Sure it could. Hey, here I’ve been stuffing myself with these and never offered you any. Try one of the dark chocolate-covered pecan clusters. They’re great.”
“Thank you, I will,” he said.
I let him take it and get back into the chair again. “I should have shown you, but I already ate it. You know what I found in here? One of those yellow marshmallow bunnies, like you get in your basket at Easter. Really.”
He looked at me.
“I supposed they meant for it to be there. Or maybe it was a mistake at the factory.”
I got the smile again, and this time it stayed so long he turned away so I wouldn’t see it. “You win, I believe.”
“Sure I do. You know as well as I do that florists don’t make mistakes like that. Look at that bouquet. It’s all mums and glads and greens. Bouquets are planned, and nobody would plan one that included one little white rose down at the bottom where it couldn’t be seen.”
“I said you win.”
“Yeah.”
I was quiet so long he started to stand up, but I waved a hand to let him know I wanted him to stay. “Listen, I told a lie a minute ago. I didn’t mean to, but it was a lie just the same.”
“A lie is an untruth stated with intent to deceive.”
“Okay, it wasn’t a lie—it was an untruth. I said I was rich. I should’ve said I come from a rich family. I actually don’t have much dough—just what my father gives me for clothes. So I can’t really hire you. But I want you to help me, and when I’m older I’ll pay you, honest. You’re a criminologist, right?”
Blue nodded.
“Well, I want you to help me find Uncle Herbert and send him back before he hurts somebody else.”
“Somebody else?”
“You told me about his wife.”
“Whom he killed before you were born,” Blue said. “Has he harmed anyone recently, as far as you know?”
I shook my head.
“But you believe he has. Your voice betrayed you a moment ago, and your face did just now. I’ll try to help, I promise—but I won’t stand a chance unless we’re open with each other. What is it you think he did?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? The bomb.”
“You believe that he put the bomb in Pandora’s Box?”
“Not in the box. I was just talking to Elaine about that, and I realized it doesn’t have to have been there. Everyone was looking at the box when the bomb went off, so naturally we all think the bomb was in there. Only Elaine thinks that Munroe guy had dynamite around his waist.”
I got the eyebrows again. “And do you?”
“Huh uh. He was in the book sale with us, remember? He had his shirt out of his pants, so there could have been stuff under it. But I don’t think it could’ve been anything anywhere near as big as sticks of dynamite. I’d have seen the corners of something.”
“I agree. People have done that sort of thing successfully with explosives beneath a loose-fitting overcoat, but I’ve never heard of hiding them under a summer shirt, and I don’t think it could be done.” As he spoke, Blue had been getting up to stand up. Even crippled, he got across to the door pretty quickly.
“Come in,” he said. “You can hear better.”
The guy who stepped into my hospital room then was as big as my father, and maybe bigger—tall and wide; quite a bit of it was probably fat, but for sure quite a bit wasn’t. He had a big square face that looked like it had been hacked out of a block of wood with a machete. “By God, you’re right!” he said. “But I could hear well enough out there.”
Then to me: “My name’s Sandoz, Miss Hollander; I’m a county detective.” He got out his badge case like he was used to doing it and flipped it open.
As primly as I could, I said, “I’m delighted to meet you, Lieutenant Sandoz. May I ask why you were spying on me?”
“Because two people are dead, Miss Hollander, and at least two more are apt to die before tomorrow morning. Whoever killed them might get a dozen next time, and next time you might be one of them. I’d do worse things than listen outside your door for a minute to stop that from happening.”
Naturally I was trying as hard as I could to remember just exactly what Blue and I had said, and wondering when he’d started listening. I said, “I don’t think you’ll learn much from either one of us, Lieutenant Sandoz.”
He smiled. It wasn’t a very friendly smile, only a little twitch of his wooden lips, but I think it was probably about as friendly as he could make it. “I’ll be the judge of that, Miss Hollander. I’ve already learned, for example, that someone you call Elaine—that will be Elaine Calvat Hollander, your mother, I suppose—thinks Munroe had a bomb on him. Now when I see her I’ll have something else to talk about.”
“Do you think so?” Blue wanted to know. He crossed to the chair and sat down again.
“I don’t know enough yet to have an opinion. Can I ask who you are, sir?”
“My name’s Aladdin Blue,” Blue said. So much for my uncle Al.
“And what are you doing here?”
“That should be obvious. I’m visiting Miss Hollander.”
I said, “He brought me some candy,” and held out the box. “Want a piece, Lieutenant Sandoz?”
I got ignored. “I’m afraid you’ll have to go now, sir.”
There was no mincing around with Blue; he just shook his head. “I won’t.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to.”
“If you speak to the hospital authorities, and argue with them long enough, I’m certain they’ll order me to leave,” Blue said. “But before you do, I think you should consider whether you really want to.”
“I’ve considered it,” Sandoz told him. “Get out.”
Blue made a toy steeple of his fingers. “I am a Hollander employee,” he said “As you must know by now, Mr. Hollander is in New York on business. I spoke with him by telephone before coming here, and although he is unable to return, he is deeply concerned about his daughter’s welfare, and—”
“The planes don’t fly out of New York on Sunday? They sure land at O’Hare.”
“Mr. Hollander is involved in negotiations that will affect the future of the corporation profoundly,” Blue said. “Such negotiations are not suspended on Friday afternoon and resumed on Monday morning; but even so, he may drop everything and come. I had hoped, when I left here, to be able to tell him that would not be necessary. Meanwhile I am here in loco parentis. Miss Hollander is a minor; she has suffered serious injuries and loss of blood. We’re in Cook County, so you aren’t even in your own jurisdiction. I don’t think you’re so stupid as to try to eject me, a cripple, by force under those circumstances. But if you are, I assure you I will file suit against you and Pool County tomorrow.”
“You pointed out yourself,” Sandoz said, “that I could get one of the doctors here to put you out. What would you do then—sue the hospital because your visiting time was up? Why make it tough for me? I’ve got nothing against you now. Why give me something?”
“I’m trying not to,” Blue said. “In fact, I’m trying to help you. Suppose Miss Hollander’s condition worsens tonight? Not because of anything you said or did—conditions sometimes do. I’ll have to tell Mr. Hollander that I was here and you forced me to leave so that you could cross-examine his daughter. Have you thought about how that might look, how it might sound? How will you defend yourself—by proving that Miss Hollander’s an insane explosives expert?”
(Blue was watching Sandoz’s face when he said that and so was I, because I knew right away that he was trying to see if Sandoz had been listening when I’d said Uncle Herbert might be the one. Maybe it looked to Blue like Sandoz’s nose lit up and his eyes went around, but it sure didn’t to me. I might as well have been watching a wooden Indian.)