“You were very interesting on the panel,” Barbara said when the young man walked away clutching his signed book.
“I’ve got the Irish gift of gab,” Duncan said, shrugging. “It’s not much more than that.”
“Duncan’s not an Irish name,” Barb pointed out, smiling.
“Well, it’s from my mother’s side,” Duncan replied. “You didn’t say much in the panel.”
“I didn’t know what to say, or ask,” Barbara said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t read any of your books.”
“I always have a book for a beautiful lady,” he said, taking his computer bag off his shoulder and dipping into it. The cover of the book he handed her mostly consisted of a large-breasted blonde holding two large guns. The model didn’t know how to hold a weapon, either.
“Nice cover,” Barb said, dryly.
“They sell books,” Duncan said, shrugging again. “The core market, as I said, is males. Sex sells. This offends the hell out of those who think that the world should be perfectly PC and males shouldn’t care. That is not, however, reality.”
“You didn’t add ‘unfortunately,’ “ Barbara said, flipping open the cover and glancing at the blurbs.
“That is because I am not PC,” Duncan said, smiling broadly. “I like women to be women and men to be men. There are differences. Women who try to outdo males just to outdo males, who get all up in arms at having a door opened for them, who think males should think like women, and who get terribly upset at my covers, I think are… less than they could be. I think even less of the males who fall for their arguments.”
“You don’t like the modern ‘urban male,’ “ Barb said.
“I think that telling men that they should be women leads to most of the problems we’re dealing with these days,” Duncan replied, arching an eyebrow. “Males respond, by and large, to arguments that feminists despise. That women should be treated as special and specially protected. That it’s a male’s duty to be the first line of protection and that there’s a reason for ‘women and children first’ in a lifeboat situation. That honor and duty and loyalty are good traits and should be encouraged. Males are expendable, women are not. That may not be PC, but it’s how I feel and, demonstrably, more males respond to that sort of reasoning than ones that are essentially feminine. At the same time, women should be allowed to be whoever they are, without either males or females telling them who they should be. If a women is a superior warrior, then let her do her thing. If she’s sensitive and caring and unable to do battle, then let her do what she is called to. Ditto males. But don’t say that males should be sensitive and caring. Most of us are lousy at it no matter how hard we try. Males tend to make lousy women. Don’t create boxes and say ‘This is who you must be.’ Especially don’t create boxes that are designed counter to the way that most men and women truly feel. Feminists created Eminem and now they’re getting what they asked for, whether they realize it or not.”
“Strangely enough, I agree with most of that,” Barbara said, considering it carefully. “So what’s this book about?”
“Magic and dragons,” Duncan said, shrugging. “Actually, that series isn’t going all that well. I’d thought that it would really sell, both because my other series sold so well and because the big market is high-sales fantasy. But it’s just limping. I swear I’d sell my soul to get it off the ground!”
“You’re a very odd person, Folsom Duncan,” Barb said, frowning slightly at the expression.
“Ain’t I then?” Duncan said, grinning. “Check your assumptions at the door, as Lois Bujold would say.”
Barbara blinked for a moment and then sighed.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?” Duncan asked.
“It’s… hard to explain,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“What’s so important?” Janea asked when she met Barb in the lobby followed by Greg.
“Timson,” Barbara said. “You said that he knows a lot about the occult. Right?”
“He’s blond,” Janea said, realizing where she was going right away.
“That’s what dye is for,” Barb pointed out, sharply.
“No, he’s blond,” Janea said, definitely. “Trust me on that one.”
“Oh,” Barbara said. “Damn.”
“Nice try, though,” Greg said. “I’m starting to agree with Janea that it’s probably a LARPer.”
“I’d already considered him, though,” Janea admitted. “And rejected him for just that reason.”
“So what do we have?” Greg asked.
“I’m looking at motive and opportunity, I guess,” Barb said. “There are several of the Wharf Rats that meet the criteria for suspects. Also a couple of people around Larry Whatsisname, the magazine publisher. One being Larry. Baron and Sean both have jobs that move them around the state and both have ties to Ohio.”
“The body that they found there,” Janea said, nodding.
“Sean’s got a real case of the bums at women at the moment,” Barbara continued. “He found his live-in girlfriend in bed with another man and then she took out a restraining order on him. So he’s not very happy with women right now. Baron’s… well, he’s more or less what I thought we were looking for. Not very socially apt, so having the power to compel women would probably be attractive to him. Both of them travel a good bit for their jobs. Eric and Larry both travel. Eric’s married, admittedly, but I’m not sure that discounts him. And he’s ambitious. Demons can tinker with earthly powers to aid in ambition. Larry… I just don’t like. But he also fits the profile.”
“There are at least six of the LARPers that fit the profile as well,” Janea said. “But not Timson. And from what I’ve gleaned about the Wharf Rats, I’d put Sean and Baron high on the list of suspects.”
“I’m interested in Duncan as well,” Barb said. “He has something very strange about his… soul. He’s like a power sink or something. If Remolus is a power absorber, then I’d expect his touch to be something like what Duncan has.”
“That’s… outside my territory,” Greg said. “But don’t get caught up on motivation and opportunity. Or clues. Before you know it, you’ll decide that it was done by a one-legged butler in the library or something.”
“I wish there was some way to go around getting DNA from all these suspects,” Barbara said, then paused, looking thoughtful.
“Ain’t gonna do it,” Janea said, shaking her head.
“It wouldn’t take all that long,” Greg said, grinning. He had another hickey on the other side of his neck.
“Says you, Flash,” Janea replied, shaking her head. “Some people take more than thirty seconds.”
“Hey!”
“You don’t know what I was thinking,” Barb protested.
“Bet you a dollar?” Janea said. “Ain’t gonna do it. What got you on Timson, anyway?”
“Somebody said to check your assumptions,” Barbara said. “Timson was such a nice guy, I wondered if it was all an act.”
“Oh, it’s a good bit act,” Janea said, fondly. “He can be a very bad boy if you know what I mean.”
“That wasn’t quite where I was going,” Barb said, tartly.
“Why’s it always about bad boys?” Greg said, sighing.
“I’m not sure what or who we’re looking for,” Janea said, seriously. “It could be one of the guys at the con that’s popular and can pick up the girls. Or it might be one who seems to be a total loser on the surface and is using power to attract them.”