The Black Tower (12 page)
Authors: BETSY BYARS
“Don't bother.”
There was silence, broken only by an uneasy cough from the backseat. Meat felt that the front seat could take a lesson from him. When you were about to say something wrong, cough.
Herculeah's mom didn't believe in coughs. She said, “Your dad picked an inappropriate time to be amusing.”
“Mom, you don't understand Dad at all!”
“Oh?”
“It was the perfect time. I was upset and it helped me. At least he didn't say I was worse than an infant. You know what he said?”
“No.”
“He said that whatever the girl in the book found in the tower, she couldn't possibly have handled it any better than I did.”
In the backseat, Meat waited for Mrs. Jones's reply, but apparently she had used up all of her one-word sentences. They drove the rest of the way home in a blessed silence.
30
A MIDNIGHT CALLER
The phone rang and Herculeah picked it up on the first ring. She said, “Hi, Meat.”
“How did you know it was me? Has your mom gotten caller ID?”
“I don't need caller ID to know when it's you. And,” she went on, “you always call when we've solved a case.”
“I didn't do much to solve this one.”
“Yes, you did. You recognized right away that Nurse Wegman was a man. And I didn't pick up on that at all. I was an idiot. I thought she was just an unattractive woman. Sometimes I think I don't deserve to be a detective.”
“Oh, yes, you do. You manage to get people to confess things, like Lionus Hunt telling you all about his mother killing her twin sister, about his plans to get into Hunt House in the disguise of a nurse. He would have thought it was a waste of time to tell me stuff like that. He would have just killed me.”
“If I've learned one thing about criminals, it's that they think they're so clever, they want to talk about how they did it.”
There was a silence, and then Herculeah said, “You know what I was thinking about when you called?”
“What?”
“I was thinking about the connection between this case and the labors of the real Hercules.”
“It had to be the Nemean lion. Remember Hercules killed him? There were wrought-iron lions on the gate? Did you notice them? And the old man's name was Lionus.”
“Yes, I noticed the lions. I saw them the first day I went to read.”
“Did your hair frizzle?”
“No, but I got a this-is-it feeling. When I get that feelingâit's hard to describe. I just know ...” She took a deep breath, searching for the right words. “I just know ...”
“This is it,” Meat supplied.
“Exactly!” She hesitated. “Why are you laughing at my feeling?”
“I'm not laughing at that. I just thought of another Hercules connection.”
“What?”
“Remember the girdle of Hippo-something? I forget what her name was.”
“Hippolyte. But I don't get what that's got to do with it.”
“The girdle. The imposter Nurse Wegman wore one to help him look like a woman. I saw it when they were putting him in the ambulance.”
Herculeah laughed, too.
Meat waited and then got to the real reason he had called. “You haven't asked me about the phone call from my dad.”
“Meat! I'm sorry! I can't believe I forgot. How was the phone call from your dad?”
“It was great. He's going to be here next weekend.”
“I hope I get to see him. I only saw him that one night, and he was dressed like Macho Man.”
“He even looks like Macho Man in his everyday clothes, too.”
“So what are you and your dad going to do? Anything special?”
Meat hesitated, trying to decide whether to say, “Oh, nothing special, just hang out,” or tell the truth. He decided on the truth. “My dad has this friend who runs a health club here. My dad trained there when he was getting started. He's getting me a membership, and I'm going there every weekend.”
“Lucky! I wish my dad would get me a membership. What's the name of it?”
“I forgot,” he said. Meat didn't want to seem unfriendly, but he did hope that he and Herculeah would not be in training together. This was something between two Macho Men.
To change the subject he said, “Have you got any idea yet about what your next mystery will be?”
“I not only have an idea, I know.”
“How?”
“Well, when I was searching Ida Wegman's coat, I reached in the pocket and pulled out a lipstick. It was Summer Rose or something like that. And I knew it wasn't the fake Nurse Wegman's lipstick because she'd wear something like Dragon-Lady Red. And as soon as I thought, Dragon, I knew that would be part of my next case.”
“One of those this-is-it feelings?”
“Yes.”
Meat said, “Dragon ... dragon.... There are no live dragons, of course. Maybe this has something to do with that Chinese martial arts place or that Chinese restaurant on Peachtree. Both of them have dragons in their windows.”
“No. This will not be a dragon advertisement. This will be a dragon.”
She yawned. Meat always dreaded that sound because it meant the conversation was over. He tried to think of some way to keep it going, but before he could, she spoke again.
“I've got to go. It's been a long day. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Meat.”
There were only three words left to say, so he said them.
“Good night, Herculeah.”
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