Read Ghosts of Columbia Online
Authors: L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Alternate History, #United States, #Literature & Fiction
Ghosts of Columbia (15 page)
He didn’t talk, and I didn’t, either, not with what I had to think about. While he drove, I slipped vanBecton’s memos—the ones I had swept onto the floor and into my coat—into my folder. They were definitely administrative drivel, but that wasn’t why I wanted them. What I needed them for would come later.
I looked out as the cab passed Ward Circle and into Ward Park beyond the seminary. Within a few blocks we turned off New Bruges and onto Sedgwick, where the houses show why the upper northwest in the Federal District reeks of money, with their trimmed hedges, sculptured gardens, and shadowed stone walks.
Supposedly, in the early days, upper northwest was far enough from the capital itself that it served as an interim retreat for Speaker Calhoun, but now such retreats were much farther from the Capitol building.
Eric and Judith’s home was a Tudor set on a large corner plot with walls around the entire back of the property and two Douglas firs rising over the walls and the three-story dwelling. Their car barn had space for three steamers.
I tipped the driver two dollars. “It’s a long ride back.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Johan!” Judith met me at the Tiffany-paneled front doors wearing a bright blue suit, with her sparkling silver hair swept into a French braid, and only the hint of wrinkles around her gray eyes.
“I did not expect you to be here.”
She stepped back and held the door as I carried in the garment bag and my folder. “I left early this afternoon. The gallery and the Dutch masters can do without me. How long has it been?”
“Only a little over a year.”
“It seems longer. Eric said you were here for a presidential function.”
“A welcoming dinner for the new Japanese ambassador. Sometimes they remember the old warhorses, especially when the occasion is less than popular.”
“Johan—I doubt that you’ve reached your midforties.”
“Actually, I’m past that.”
“You don’t look even forty.” She led the way up the carpeted circular staircase, past the large crystal chandelier, to the second floor. “You have the rooms on the end. We redid things a bit last year when Suzanne got married. It’s now a guest suite. You’re actually the first guest.”
“I feel honored.”
“We don’t see as much of you.”
“I know.”
Her hand brushed my shoulder, and the scars there twinged—all psychological.
“It wasn’t your fault, Johan. You did what you could. Elspeth told me that so many times, and you can’t blame yourself for what you had to do. Without the government medical program …”
“Thank you, Judith. It’s still hard.” I hung the bag in the open closet and began to take out the evening wear. “It’s really kind of you to be here.”
“You could have called me.”
“It was hard to call Eric.”
“You and Eric are so alike.” She shook her head. “I suppose it follows. Elspeth and I are … were alike, people said.”
And they were, so much that it still ached when she talked, but the ache had almost faded—almost, but not quite.
“Sisters are often alike.” I forced a grin. “I think they’re supposed to be.”
“In some ways, Eric could have been your brother.”
“He’s far more sensible.”
“Do you have time for chocolate? I know how seldom you drink.”
I pulled out the old Ansonia—five-fifteen. “Certainly. I shouldn’t have to leave here until around quarter to seven. You can wire a cab, can’t you?”
“One way or another, we’ll get you to the president’s. It wouldn’t do to have you late.”
I followed her downstairs again and out into the sun room off the parlor. “I should have guessed. You had the chocolate and biscuits already waiting.”
“I hoped.” She eased into the captain’s chair on one side of the glass-topped, cherry-framed table and poured two cups. I took the other captain’s chair.
“What do you think of the Japanese submersibles?” she asked as she handed me a cup with the gracefulness that recalled another woman.
“About the way you do about modern art, I suspect. Necessary, but hardly something you really want to support in public.” I sipped the chocolate, steaming and with just the right hint of a bite. “Good chocolate.”
“Thank you.” She nodded. “You think the submersibles are necessary?”
“For the Japanese, they’re more than that. The home islands either import almost all their raw materials or get them from their possessions. They have to expand through the islands. And now that Chung Kuo is building a navy to rival ours … ?” I shrugged.
“Everyone seems to be building more and more weapons. Where will it end?”
“Where it always has. In war.” I tried a butter biscuit, probably too fattening but definitely delicious.
“I think you are even more cynical. Haven’t you found someone? Elspeth would have liked that, you know. She wasn’t possessive in that way.”
I sighed. “I know. I’ve been seeing a singer.”
“Another artistic type?” Judith laughed freely, and I smiled back. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. What’s her name?”
“Llysette. Llysette duBoise.”
“Not
the
Llysette duBoise? I thought she had died in Ferdinand’s prisons.”
the
Llysette duBoise? I thought she had died in Ferdinand’s prisons.”
“You know of her?”
“She was starting at the Académie Royale back when I did my fellowship there—one of the last ones before Ferdinand. Dark-haired, often piles her hair on top of her head? She was single then, and I think supporting her father.”
“The same one. She had a difficult time, but they did release her. It took some diplomatic work, and she had intimated, although I didn’t press, some pressure by the Japanese ambassador. He’d heard her sing.”
“She was magnificent then, even that young. Why is she stuck up in the wilds? You’re charming, Johan, but she would not have known you were there.”
“It’s a matter of economics and politics.”
“Let me guess.” Judith’s voice turned hard. “She’s a foreigner, and she probably had to have strings pulled to enter the country. No one cares if she sings in out-of-the-way places, but the dear Spazi has put out the word to the larger symphonies that they really don’t want to be investigated. Something like that?”
I nodded.
“Can you do anything?”
“I haven’t had much luck. Neither has she.”
Judith studied me for a time. “Things are not looking good for you, are they?”
“No. That’s one reason I came. Whatever happens, stay out of it. I should have spent more time with you earlier, but I didn’t realize what would happen. I thought they’d leave me alone.”
“They never did. Why would they now?”
I sipped my chocolate. “One hopes. Foolishly. But one hopes.”
“Don’t we all? Elspeth felt so badly for you, Johan, you know? If you can find happiness again, we would be happy for you.”
“Thank you, Judith.”
I heard steps come through the kitchen.
“Well, if it isn’t the long-lost brother.” Eric never called me his brother-in-law. “I hoped I’d get home a little before you left.”
“You’re in luck.”
“Some chocolate?” asked Judith.
“Please.” He sat in the middle of the love seat and looked at me. “When you’re in town, there’s usually trouble.”
“Am I so predictable?”
He laughed. “The Japanese announced their atomic submersible. The Congress passed a tax increase, and Chung Kuo decided that Kilchu belongs to their great Manchurian heritage. In the meantime, Maximilian has decided that the export tax on Mexican crude will be upped another two dollars a barrel, and, in order not to upset the New French, the Venezuelans will follow his lead. The President is stepping up detailed budget reviews, and threatening to expose a good dozen congressmen for fraud and lying or both.”
“And you’re blaming it all on me?” I reached for another butter biscuit.
“Who was talking blame?” Eric took the chocolate cup from his wife with a fond smile. “Things just happen when you’re around. That’s probably why the Speaker was perfectly happy to let you get pensioned off into the wilds of New Bruges, up there with the bears and the cold winters.”
“That’s what I thought.” I drained the cup.
“A little more?” asked Judith.
“Half a cup. In a while, I need to start getting dressed.”
“How’s the teaching?” Eric shifted his weight on the love seat.
“The teaching is interesting. Most of the students aren’t. They’re still in the mold of coasting through the term and then trying to cram a half year’s work into three weeks.”
“I can recall doing that.” Eric chuckled.
“You had the brains to get away with it.”
“Not the brains, just laziness.”
“Hardly. Do your clients really believe that you’re just a former korfball player who somehow bumbles through? Are you still cultivating that image despite the years in the Foreign Ministry?”
“Of course,” laughed Judith.
“It’s what makes people comfortable,” admitted Eric.
“Tell me about the children,” I suggested.
They did, and I listened while I finished the half cup of chocolate.
In time, I looked at my watch. “I think I had better get ready. If I could trouble you to call a cab for quarter to seven, I would appreciate it.”
“Just get yourself together. We’ll take care of it,” promised Eric.
I took a quick shower, shaved again, and pulled on the formal wear. It was actually looser than when I’d worn it last. Was the additional exercise helping?
I didn’t quite dash downstairs, where Judith met me, wrap in hand.
“You look almost good enough for me to throw over Eric.” She winked, and I bowed solemnly.
“Almost, but not quite, thank heavens.” He stood in the doorway. “Shall we go?”
“Is the cab here?”
“Cab? Nonsense. The least we could do is give you a lift. Besides, we’d already planned to go out.”
“I do appreciate this,” I offered again, as I seated Judith next to Eric in the front before climbing into the spacious rear seat.
“We were going out anyway. It’s only a few blocks out of the way.”
Eric wheeled the big Stanley down New Bruges Avenue, past the embassies and under Dupont Circle to where it became Seventeenth Street. Before I knew it, he pulled up in front of the Presidential Palace, right on Pennsylvania.
“Here you are.”
“Thank you. I doubt I’ll even be close to being late.” I waved as the Stanley pulled away almost silently, then straightened and marched toward the gate. It always surprised me how quiet the federal city was, but that was because of the prohibition on internal combustion engines. Steamers only whisper along, and electrics are even quieter.
At the gate, I handed over my invitation and identification card. The guard
checked both, and then put a tick mark by my name on the long list. A couple waited behind me.
checked both, and then put a tick mark by my name on the long list. A couple waited behind me.
“Honestly … don’t know why we have to attend these… . So boring, and they even had to pad the guest list, Marcia said.”
“We attend because it goes with the job, dear.”
“I know … what one suffers in public life …”
She didn’t know the half of it, fortunately for her.
I smiled politely at them as I walked through the gate and up the drive to the porticoed doorway.
“The honorable Johan Eschbach.” The announcement carried through the foyer, but no one looked up as I stepped toward the East Room.
“The honorable David Dominick and Madame Dominick.”
I smiled at the faces I did not know and made my way toward one of the bars, the one in the far corner. People always congregate around the first place to serve.
“Red wine, Sebastopol, if you have it.”
“Will a Merino do, sir?”
“Fine.” I took the wine and glanced around, finally spotting a halfway familiar face. “Martin?”
“Johan.” Martin Sunquist extended his hand. “I thought you had retired to the wilds of New Bruges.”
“I did. The president was so desperate that they dragged me all the way down here.”
His eyebrows rose. “I did hear something along those lines. Still …” He lifted his glass. “Whatever the reason, it’s good to see you.”
“Are you still over with the Budget Examiners?”
“Same building, but a new job.” He lowered his voice. “Now, I examine the geographic distribution of federal programs.”
“I suppose that knowledge can be used by the president … and Ralston.”
“This president, at least.” Martin took a small sip of wine and glanced toward the corner of the room. “Ralston’s done a lot with the budget shop. It’s a lot more confrontational than in the old days … even your old days.”
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