Chapter 16: Partners in Crime
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I looked back at Brody. He was pinching his cigarette between his fingers, with a sort of twitch. His hand seemed to be shaking a little. His brown poker face was still smooth. "We've got to agree on a story," I said. "For instance, Carmen wasn't here. That's very important. She wasn't here. That was a vision you saw." "Huh!" Brody sneered. "If you say so, pal, and if -" he put his hand out palm up and cupped the fingers and rolled the thumb gently against the index and middle fingers. I nodded. "We'll see. There might be a small contribution. You won't count it in millions, though. Now were did you get the memory device?" "A guy slipped it to me." "Uh-huh. A guy you just passed in the street. You wouldn't know him again. You never saw him before." Brody yawned. "It dropped out of his pocket," he said. "Uh-huh. Got an alibi for last night, poker pan?" "Sure. I was right here. Agnes was with me. Okay, Agnes?" "I'm beginning to feel sorry for you again." His eyes flicked wide and his mouth hung loose, the cigarette balanced on his lower lip. "You think you're smart and you're so goddamned dumb," I told him. "Even if they don't throw you out of an airlock, you have such a bleak long time ahead of you, inside." His cigarette jerked and dropped ash on his waistcoat. "Thinking about how smart you are," I said. "Take the air," he growled suddenly. "Dust. I got enough chinning with you. Beat it." "Okay." I stood up and went over to the tall oak desk and took his two guns out of my pockets, laid them side by side on the desktop so that the barrels were exactly parallel. I started for the door. Brody called: "Hey!" I turned and waited. His cigarette was jiggling like a doll on a coiled spring. "Everything's smooth, ain't it?" he asked. "Why, sure. This is a free habitat. You don't have to stay out of jail, if you don't want to. That is, if you're a citizen. Are you a citizen?" He just stared at me, jiggling the cigarette. The blonde Agnes turned her head slowly and stared at me along the same level. Their glances contained almost the exact same blend of foxiness, doubt and frustrated anger. Agnes reached her silvery nails up abruptly and yanked a hair out of her head and broke it between her fingers, with a bitter jerk. Brody said tightly: "You're not going to any cops, brother. Not if it's the Sternwoods you're working for. I've got too much stuff on that family. You got your holos and you got your hush. Go and peddle your damn memory device." "Make your mind up," I said. "You told me to dust. I was on my way out, you hollered at me and I stopped, and now I'm on my way out again. Is that what you want?" "You ain't got anything on me," Brody said. "Just a couple of murders. Small change in your circle." He didn't jump more than a centimetre, but it looked like a metre. The white cornea showed all around the tobacco coloured iris of his eyes. The brown skin of his face took on a greenish tinge in the lamplight. Blonde Agnes let out a low animal wail and buried her head in a cushion on the end of the davenport. I stood there and admired the long line of her thighs. Brody moistened his lips slowly and said: "Sit down, pal. Maybe I have a little more for you. What's that crack about two murders again?"
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Part 1