Saturn (28 page)

Holly saw that it would be senseless to try to talk with Malcolm after the debate ended. He was immediately surrounded by admirers, including Morgenthau and that dark little man, Vyborg. Kris Cardenas pushed her way through the departing throng, a bright grin on her face. "I think we might get you down to Titan after all," she said to Gaeta.

He grinned back at her. "Maybe. If Eberly wins the election."

Holly suddenly felt like a third wheel on a bicycle, standing between Kris and Manny. The crowd was thinning out, little knots of three or four people heading for home or one of the restaurants. Eberly came down from the stage, enveloped in well-wishers and sycophants. As he walked past Holly he nodded to her and smiled, but he did not invite her to join his group.

Before she could feel any reaction, Gaeta said, "Come on, Holly, we'll walk you home."

Surprised, Holly glanced at Cardenas. She arched one brow, as if to remind Holly of what they had learned about the stuntman's activities.

Holly nodded back and the three of them started across the grass and up the lakeside path toward the village of Athens.

"I didn't see Nadia here," Cardenas said as they climbed toward the apartment buildings.

"She's probably working," Gaeta said. "Urbain's given her some time on a telescope; she's always up in the observatory now."

"I thought she'd come with you," said Holly.

He actually looked surprised. "With me?"

Holly let it pass. They reached Cardenas's building and said goodnight, then Gaeta walked with Holly to the next building, where her apartment was.

"You've been seeing Nadia a lot, haven't you?" she asked.

Gaeta nodded. "If this Titan gig falls through, I've got to do something to keep my investors happy. She's helping me plan a jaunt through the rings."

"Sure."

The dawn of understanding finally shed its light on Gaeta's face. "Ohh," he said. "She told you, didn't she?"

"It came up in conversation, yes," said Holly.

They were at the door to her apartment building. As Gaeta stopped there, the habitat's lighting flicked from its evening mode to the nighttime system. His face fell into shadow, but Holly could see him well enough.

"Okay," he admitted, "it happened."

"More than once."

He grinned sheepishly. "Christ, you sound like a priest at confession: 'How many times?'"

"It's not funny, Manny."

"You didn't take our times together seriously, did you?"

She thought a moment, then half-lied, "No, not all that seriously, I guess."

"I mean, I know I was supposed to look out for you, but, well... it just sort of happened."

"It happens a lot with you."

"You seemed to enjoy it at the time," he said softly.

Holly suddenly realized what he had just said. "What do you mean, you were supposed to look out for me?"

He took a deep breath. "That's why I'm here, Holly. Your sister wanted me to keep an eye on you."

She felt her jaw drop open. "Pancho? Panch
hired
you?"

Shuffling from one foot to another like a little boy caught in a place where he shouldn't have been, Gaeta said, "It's not that simple, Holly. She didn't exactly hire me."

"She thought I needed a bodyguard," Holly groused. "My big sister didn't trust me out here on my own."

"I was trying to raise the funding for the Titan gig," he tried to explain, "and this guy from Astro Corporation came up with an offer."

Suddenly the absurdity of it hit Holly like a bucketful of ice-cold water. She broke into laughter.

Perplexed, Gaeta asked, "What's so funny?"

"You are. And my big sister. She hired you to protect me, and you pop me into bed. My faithful watchdog. When she finds out she'll want to castrate you."

"She wanted me to keep you away from Eberly and that's what I did."

Holly's laughter choked off like a light switch being thrown. "Panch hired you to keep me away from Malcolm?"

He nodded sheepishly.

"And that's why you took me to bed?"

"No! I didn't plan that. You ... I... it just
—
"

"Just sort of happened. I know."

"I didn't hurt you."

"The hell you didn't," Holly snapped. "And then you go off and screw Kris, and then Nadia. You'll be lucky if you live long enough to get to Titan."

"Oh Christ. Does Kris know about all this?"

"Kris? Sure she knows. So does Nadia."

"So my name's mud with her, eh?"

"With Nadia?"

"With Kris."

"Why don't you ask her?"

In the shadowy lighting it was hard to make out the expression on Gaeta's face, but the tone of his voice came through clearly enough. "Because I'd ...
mierda!
I really like Kris."

"More than Nadia?"

"More than anybody. I guess I hurt her feelings, didn't I? I guess she's pissed off at me."

Holly couldn't resist the opportunity. "I don't think she's really mad at you. Of course, she's working up some nanobugs that eat testicles, but other than that I don't think she's sore at you at all."

Gaeta mumbled, "Guess I can't blame her." Then he turned away and started walking down toward his own quarters, head hung low. Holly almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

They're all trying to keep me away from Malcolm, Holly thought as she undressed for bed. Pancho, Manny, Morgenthau, they're all trying to keep Malcolm and me apart.

As she slipped into bed and commanded the lights to turn off, she wondered if she still wanted Malcolm the way she did when she first came aboard the habitat. He's been so bugging distant; he doesn't care about me. He hardly even knows I'm alive. But he's been so busy. This political stuff takes all his time. It was different when we first met, different when we started out in this habitat. I could see him all the time then, and he liked me, I know he did.

How can he like me, how can he even think about me, when he never sees me? He's always surrounded by Morgenthau and that Vyborg snake. And Kananga, he scares me.

How can I get past them? How can I get to be alone with Malcolm, even for a few minutes?

Her thoughts drifted to her sister. She
hired
Manny. She's paying him big bucks to keep me away from Malcolm. He made love to me for money, the dirty ... Holly tried to think of the masculine equivalent of the word "whore."

Lying in bed, staring into the darkness, she thought, So Pancho wants to keep me away from Malcolm, does she. I'll show her. I'll get to Malcolm. I'll get past the Hippo and the Snake and even Kananga, the Panther.

And suddenly, like a bright light clicking on, she knew how to accomplish that.

Holly got out of bed and dressed swiftly. She didn't have to check a directory to know where Eberly's quarters were; she had the complete map of the habitat in her head, every square centimeter, every assigned apartment, laboratory, workshop, airlock, even the maze of underground tunnels and conduits.

Yet she hesitated before leaving her own apartment. The clock said three minutes before midnight, but she thought that Eberly would probably still have a throng of admirers and well-wishers crowding his quarters. Better to wait. Wait until they all leave.

So she went instead to her office and pulled up a display from the outdoor surveillance camera that looked at Eberly's building. Sure enough, people were still milling around out on the grounds. His apartment must be jammed with them, Holly thought.

Drowsily she watched as the crowd slowly thinned away. She fell asleep, then woke with a start. The digital clock said 02:34. The apartment building looked dark and silent. He's prob'ly asleep by now, Holly thought. For several moments she debated inwardly about awakening him. He works so hard, she thought; he needs his rest.

But you'll never get to see him alone otherwise, Holly told herself. She commanded the phone to call Eberly.

"You have reached the residence of Dr. Malcolm Eberly," his phone answered. "Please leave your name and Dr. Eberly will return your call."

Screw that! Holly said to herself. She got up from her desk chair and headed for his apartment.

There was a perfunctory security lock on the building's main door. Holly had memorized all the combinations long ago, and tapped on the keypad. The door popped open. As she went up the stairs, a sudden thought shook her. Maybe he's not alone! Maybe he's got somebody with him.

With a shake of her head, Holly told herself, Better to find out now. She marched down the shadowy hallway, lit only by the glow of fluorescent nameplates on each door. Eberly's apartment was at the end of the hall.

She took a breath and rapped on the door. No response. Holly banged on it with the flat of her hand, worrying that the noise would wake the neighbors but determined to get Eberly to answer her.

She heard someone cough on the other side of the door. Then Eberly's muffled voice demanded, "Who is it?"

"Holly," she said, standing squarely in front of the peephole.

Eberly slid the door back. He had a dark-colored robe pulled around him, his hair looked slightly tousled.

"There is a doorbell," he said crankily.

"I've got to talk to you," she said. "It's urgent."

As if he were slowly remembering his manners, Eberly gestured her into his sitting room. A snap of his fingers and the glareless overhead lights came on. Now Holly could see that his robe was deep maroon. And his feet were bare.

"What is it, Holly? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry to bother you at this hour, Malcolm, but I can't get past Morgenthau and all your other assistants and I've got to have your help and the only way I could see you alone was like this."

He smiled a little and slicked back his hair with one hand. "All right. You're seeing me. What's the problem?"

"Diego Romero. He was murdered."

"Murdered?" The strength seemed to leak out of Eberly's legs. He sank down onto the sofa.

Taking the closest chair to him, Holly said, "I'm positive. It wasn't an accident. He was trying to push himself out of the water and somebody held him down."

Eberly swallowed visibly, then asked, "You have proof of this?"

"I have evidence. The abrasions on his hands. They couldn't have happened any other way." Picturing the scene in her mind once again, she added, "And there were boot prints in the dirt, too many prints for one person to make."

"But who would want to kill that gentle old man? Why would someone want to murder him?"

"I don't know," Holly said. "That's why I need your help. There ought to be an investigation."

He sat in silence for a moment, obviously thinking furiously. "Holly, this is a matter for the Security Department. You should tell them about your evidence."

"Security? That means Kananga, doesn't it?"

"He's in charge of security, yes."

Holly wrung her hands. "I don't think he'd take me seriously. He's... he wouldn't think my evidence is enough to start a real investigation."

Eberly leaned back in the sofa. "Colonel Kananga is an experienced police officer. He'll know what to do."

"Malcolm, he scares me," she confessed.

He said nothing for several heartbeats, looking at Holly with those startling blue eyes of his. Then he smiled gently. "Holly, would you like me to go with you to Kananga?"

Her heart clutched within her. "Would you?"

"For you, Holly, of course."

"Oh, great. Cosmic!"

Eberly's smile grew warmer. "I'll call Kananga first thing in the morning." His eyes shifted to the digital clock across the room. "Which is only a few hours from now."

She shot to her feet. "Oh, jeeps, I'm so sorry to bother you at this time of night, Malcolm. It's just that I can't get to see you anytime else, you've always got so many people around and
—
"

Eberly rose and grasped her shoulder lightly. "I know. I've been so terribly busy. Too busy. But I'll always make time for you, Holly. Simply call me here at my quarters. Leave a message and I'll get back to you so we can meet together, in private."

She didn't know what to say, except utter an awed, "Cosmic."

Eberly guided her to the door. "I don't want you to worry about a thing, Holly. We'll meet with Kananga tomorrow. And from now on, whenever you want to see me, simply leave a message on my private line, here."

"I will, Malcolm. I surely will."

As she walked homeward, feeling almost light-headed, Holly real
i
zed how wrong, how stupid, Pancho had been. Malcolm could've taken me to his bed and I'd have hopped in like a rabbit on aphrodisiacs, she thought. But Malcolm was too much of a gentleman to even think about that. And the guy Panch hired to protect me screws me whenever he feels like it. Some bodyguard.