CHAPTER 38
Mrs. Filer, thank you for agreeing to see us," said the taller of the two men. "I'm David Mortimer, and this is Stan Keenan."
"Glad to know you."
"Now, Mrs. Filer, as we told you on the phone, we understand your husband disappeared about ten years ago. And he never turned up again?"
"No. Never saw him again."
"He never wrote? Sent you money?"
"No."
"Excuse these questions, Mrs. Filer, but there are certain things we have to know. Was your husband ever convicted of a felony?"
"He passed some bad checks."
"Was he arrested for that?"
"No, that was when he disappeared."
"Was he ever fingerprinted, that you know of?"
"I don't think so. That was the first trouble he was in."
"Did he have any scars, or distinguishing marks?" "No."
"Was he right- or left-handed?"
"Right."
"At the time he disappeared, was he under some stress, do you think?"
"I suppose so. He was fired from his job. He was always reading those crazy magazines, and he was upset about pollution and things like that."
"What crazy magazines are those?"
"You know, spaceships and Martians. He tried to get me to read them, but I thought they were too farfetched."
"Science fiction magazines?"
"Yes. He had a closet full of them."
"Do you still have those magazines, Mrs. Filer?"
"No, I threw them all out."
"What was your husband's height and weight, would you say?"
"He was about five ten, a hundred forty, forty-five. He was healthy, but he didn't eat right."
"Do you have any photos of your husband? I'm sorry, but it might be important."
"I think there are a couple put away. What's it all about?"
"It's possible that we might have some current information about the whereabouts of your husband. If he is the person we have in mind, he's quite well off."
She looked at them for a moment, then said, "Wait while I look." She left the room and returned a few minutes later with a handful of snapshots. Keenan put them into a viewer, and the two men passed it back and forth.
"I think it's a make," said Mortimer to Keenan. "Mrs. Filer, did your husband always have this beard?"
"Ever since I knew him."
"You never saw him clean-shaven?"
''No.''
"Mrs. Filer, we'd like you to look at some holos. May I put this cube in your machine?"
"Sure." She watched with curiosity as Keenan inserted the little cube and turned on the halo. In the tube, a clean-shaven young man appeared.
"Is that your husband, Mrs. Filer?"
"No. That's Ed Stone, the man who's building the Cube."
"You've seen him on the halo, and never thought he could be your husband?"
"Oh, no. That isn't him."
Keenan pressed a button on his controller; in the holo, one of the snapshots of Filer appeared beside the image of Stone. "Look closely, Mrs. Filer. Now we're going to use an image enhancement program that will show what Ed Stone would look like if he had a beard like your husband's."
In the holo, Stone became bearded. The two faces stared out, side by side. "Now what do you think?"
"Oh. That's amazing! But I've heard his voice, and it's different."
"Different how?"
"Kind of lower and hoarser."
"Do you know that Ed Stone has been suffering from laryngitis?"
"No, I didn't know that."
"Well, Mrs. Filer, we think there is a very good chance that Ed Stone is in fact your missing husband. If so, of course, we want to establish that fact, and see that he makes a settlement for the years you brought up your children without his help."
She began to cry. "Why didn't he ever-"
"It's possible that he's suffering from amnesia, Mrs. Filer. If so, seeing you might bring his memory back. Now we'd like to arrange for you to go to New York or Washington the next time he's there, and of course bring the children. We realize that this would entail some heavy expenses for you, and we'll see to it that you're provided with the funds you need."
"But what about all this stuff like being kidnapped by aliens, and building a big box to put everybody in?"
"Delusions, Mrs. Filer. Your husband is a sick man, and of course he's very dangerous."
C HAPTER 39
Stone and his bodyguard were crossing the lobby when a woman in a cheap coat stood up and called, "Howard!" She had two children with her, a teen-aged boy and girl. Stone glanced at her and kept walking, but she ran after him. The bodyguard intercepted her. She leaned around his arm to call, "Howard, don't you know me?" "I don't think so. My name isn't Howard, it's Ed." Her eyes filled with tears. "Howard, this is Joyce. I'm your wife. "
"Listen, you're making some mistake. Leave her alone, Al, it's all right. Ma'am, I never-" He re ached for her hand, but she drew away.
"You left me with two little kids, and I never heard a word from you, you just went. How could you do such a thing?"
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken."
"I wrote you three letters, but you never answered. I had to borrow money to come here."
"Let's get out," said the bodyguard in a low voice. "There's a guy with a minicam over there, and I think this is a setup."
"You worry too much," said Stone. He tipped his hat to the woman and they left.
"Ed, we're in trouble," said Ben Abrams. "The New York Times is going to release a report tomorrow that you're a phony. "
"What?"
"They say you're a man named Howard Filerwho disappeared from his home in Pittsburgh in May, twenty oh one. They have photographs of Filer, who looks like you, and they have a statement from his wife, who says you're him."
"Well, that can't be. Oh,Jesus, that's the one that came up to me in the lobby."
"Yes, Al told me about it. And they've got the dealer who sold you that magazine."
"What magazine?"
"The old skiffy magazine you've shown people. Now this could undermine confidence in the whole Cube Project unless we do something."
"Who is this guy who says he sold me the magazine?"
"His name is Leonard Applebaum, he has a secondhand store in Dayton."
"Dayton, Ohio? I was never there."
"Well, we'll know more in a couple of days . Meanwhile, let's not worry, but it doesn't look good."
Ed's advisers were having a skull session in the penthouse.
"They've filed suit in Superior Court in Pittsburgh for desertion and nonsupport, asking a million dollars in actual damages and fifty million in punitive damages."
"We've got to either discredit them or buy them off."
"In the first place, we don't know who they are. Mrs. Filer is obviously being financed by somebody, but we haven't been able to find out who."
"Who stands to gain by this?"
"Maybe the Chinese."
"How do you figure that?"
"Well, if this scandal gives them an excuse to halt the Cube Project, and if the Earth isn't destroyed, who's going to be left after everybody else gets in the box? Chinese."
"Do you think they started the whole thing? Could they have brainwashed Ed somehow?"
"Don't even suggest it. Look, I'm not saying there's any merit to the lawsuit. She says herself that she didn't recognize Ed on the holo for ten years. Her own husband? Come on."