“About India,” he said, watching her with
probing eyes.
“It’s your turn now. Tell me about yourself,”
Willi said quickly, to intercept the questions she saw coming on
the subject of her best friend. “What do you do? Are you a college
professor like your brother? You don’t look solemn enough for
that.”
“I can be serious when the subject demands
it.” He certainly looked serious enough right now. “I’m an
astrophysicist.”
“Oh, dear God, not another one!” Willi nearly
choked on her French toast.
“What do you mean, ‘another one?’” His voice
had taken on a strangely cold timbre.
“Hank was always involved with numbers and
complicated formulas, too,” Willi said. “I was hoping maybe you
taught English literature, or Romance languages, or possibly you
might be an artist. I would love to meet someone with a job I could
understand.”
“Would it sound simpler if I told you I have
worked on the space program?” He watched her sip her coffee. “The
caffeine doesn’t seem to be doing much good. You still look
depressed. Willi, I want to know what Hank was doing
yesterday.”
“He was just fooling around, playing games
with the computer.” Willi’s gaze dropped to the cup in her hand.
She set it down very carefully, bracing herself for more
questions.
“A man in my line of work knows more than
most people about computers, and about what they can do.” Mark’s
hand covered hers. His voice was compelling. “Willi, look at
me.”
Reluctantly, she met his bright blue eyes.
Having done so, she found she could not look away.
“Tell me what Hank was doing.”
“I honestly don’t understand it,” she
said.
“Was he trying to break into some other
system?”
“You mean, is he a hacker? No, I’m sure he’s
not. Hank is too independent to get involved in someone else’s
work. I think he wants to be the sole author of any discoveries he
makes. He was talking about a Nobel Prize.”
“Was he? That suggests something more than an
idle game. Willi, I am serious about this. I want you to tell me
anything you know about Hank’s work. Professor Moore told me you
were with Hank all day yesterday and that he has often seen you in
Hank’s office in the past. You are too intelligent not to have
noticed the changes Hank made to that computer. Why did he add
those components?” When she sat silent, staring down at his hand
over hers, Mark said, “
Talk
, Willi.”
“Did you join the CIA after you left NASA?”
she asked.
“Don’t ask silly questions.” His voice was
stern. “I haven’t said anything about either organization. And stop
putting me off.”
“Maybe you worked for the Spanish
Inquisition.”
““
Willi
.” Now he sounded thoroughly
exasperated.
“Okay, I give up.” Willi did not want Mark
Brant to be angry with her. She wanted him to like her and to speak
to her in a kinder voice. “Hank always made me promise to keep
quiet about anything I saw or heard in his office. But I don’t know
why I should still be loyal to him. He never really cared about me.
I was just a convenience to him. He admitted as much last night.
And after what he did to India—”
“What did he do to India? Where was she when
you said Hank had ‘lost’ her? Why was she missing for so long? Why
did she look sick and nearly faint when I walked in on you?”
“Why are you asking all these questions? Who
are you?”
“Just call me a curious scientist.” His blue
eyes were almost hypnotic in their intensity. His voice was low and
gentle, coaxing her. “Tell me what you know.”
“Hank has some crazy theories about space and
time. He’s trying to prove the theories are right.”
“Go on.” The blue eyes did not waver. “How
did India get involved? Was she working with him?”
“No. It was my fault.” Quickly, she explained
how she had asked Hank to give India computer lessons. “According
to Hank, he arrived at his office just as something unexpected was
happening. He claimed that India had vanished into the
computer.”
“So the first time I walked in on you, during
the afternoon, Hank was trying to get her back?” Mark did not seem
at all surprised by what Willi had told him. Nor did he question
whether it had actually happened. “How long did this episode
last?”
Willi told him everything she knew, including
the brief, mysterious appearance of a man with a sword. Upon
hearing that piece of information, Mark’s face went white and
tense, and he made her repeat what she had said.
“Have you finished your meal?” he asked with
just the slightest hint of impatience.
“I couldn’t possibly eat anything else.” His
persistent questioning was making her more than nervous. She was
beginning to be frightened.
“Let’s go, then.” Mark was on his feet,
reaching out to help her up from the table. Willi was used to
taking care of herself, but it was nice to have a man’s hand on her
back, guiding her toward the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the university,” he replied. “I just hope
we aren’t too late.”
“Damn it! I should have taken care of this
last night.” Mark looked around Hank’s office in disgusted
frustration. “I should have expected him to dismantle everything
after we left.”
“What you should have done was call me, right
away,” said the chief of Campus Security, who had let them into the
office. “You say Professor Moore is planning to file an official
complaint about Marsh’s activities? That will be a help, but let’s
see if we can speed up the investigation. Can you tell me what’s
missing in here?”
“Nothing that belongs to the university is
gone.” It was Willi who answered him. She picked up a heavy
electrical cable that had been disconnected, then neatly coiled and
left on top of the table. “Every piece of equipment Hank was using
is still here, but the room has been completely rearranged. I’m
sorry, but I don’t remember exactly how the components were
connected.” Sighing, she put the cable down again.
“Are you saying that he didn’t steal
anything?” The security chief looked offended.
“He did take away his papers,”’ Willi said.
“I’d be willing to bet he took any floppy disks he had, along with
all the written information about his programs.”
“If there hasn’t been a theft,” said the
security chief, “then I don’t think the local police will be
interested in this. The university may want to sue him to recover
the information on his project, but that will be up to
Administration. I will have the lock on this door changed, just in
case he plans to come back and remove any of this stuff. That’s
about all I can do here.” He locked the door with his master key,
then went off muttering about having to write up a report.
“Thanks for your help,” Mark said to Willi.
“You don’t want to be late for work. I have to make a few phone
calls.”
“You can’t dismiss me that easily,” she
declared. “I have answered every question you put to me. Now I have
some questions for you.”
“I’m sure you have, and I’ll answer them as
soon as I can. Willi, you said earlier that you were going to call
India during your lunch break. When you do, will you ask her if
she’ll talk to me in the next day or so? It’s important. And if you
should see Hank, be careful.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Willi said. “Hank
isn’t a violent man.”
“Not in the way you mean, no. But he could
put you into the same danger India was in. I don’t want anything
unpleasant to happen to you.” Mark placed one finger beneath
Willi’s chin, tipping her face upward. For a fraction of a second,
for not even the length of a heartbeat, his lips brushed hers. Then
he was gone, striding down the hall toward the main entrance. He
had said nothing about seeing her again, but Willi knew he would be
back.
Late that afternoon, a pale, wan India opened
her door to Willi.
“How are you feeling?” Willi stepped over the
loudly purring Charlemagne and followed India into the living
room.
“I have never been so tired.” India dropped
into a chair. At once, Charlemagne jumped onto her lap, rubbing
against her. Absently, India scratched his ears. She wasn’t
actually paying attention to the cat, and Willi had the feeling
that India didn’t really see
her
, either. India appeared to
be somewhere else.
“Professor Moore said you called in sick this
morning,” Willi remarked with deceptive casualness. “Okay, kid,
here’s what we’ll do. We’ll tell everyone you have a bad case of
the flu. That’ll give you at least a few days to stay home and pull
yourself together, and people won’t bother you for fear of catching
whatever you have and being sick over the holidays.”
“I guess so.” India sounded so indecisive
that Willi began to be seriously concerned about her condition.
“India, can you tell me what happened to you
yesterday? Do you
know
what happened?”
“I can’t talk about it.” India sounded on the
verge of tears.
“In that case, I have just one more question
for you, kid.” Willi tried to sound enthusiastic because she wanted
a positive response. “Am I still invited for Christmas dinner?” To
her dismay, India looked at her blankly as if she had forgotten
what time of year it was.
“Christmas dinner will probably be boiled
potatoes or tomato soup,” India said at last. “That’s all the food
I have in the house, and I don’t think I can bear to go to the
grocery store. But if you don’t mind the menu, yes, please come. I
don’t think I want to be alone on Christmas Day.”
“Just leave the menu to me, kid.” Willi
smiled at India, trying to hide her growing concern. “You supply
the working stove, and I’ll take care of everything else.”
When Mark called Willi late that evening, she
bit back the exclamation of relief that came to her lips. Nor did
she tell him she had been waiting by the telephone for hours.
“I never asked India if she would talk to
you,” Willi said. “She’s so sad, Mark, almost as if she’s in
mourning. She was like this after Robert died, but I thought she
was starting to come out of it.” When she told him about the
Christmas dinner she was planning to cook for India, Mark broke
in.
“Could I crash your party?”
“I’m not sure. India doesn’t know you.”
“Yes, she does. I’m the man who carried her
upstairs to bed last night after she almost fainted again,” he
reminded her.
“Well,” Willi said slowly, “if someone else
is there, she might try to cheer up. She might even eat.” Willi did
not add that she wanted Mark to be present for her own sake.
“Good thinking.” The rich sound of his voice
cut through her worry over India, warming her. “We’ll do it
together, Willi. The university closes for the holiday at noon
tomorrow, doesn’t it? I’ll pick you up at your office and we’ll go
shopping.”
Willi hung up the telephone and sat back on
the couch, staring at the ceiling but not seeing it. What was it
about Mark Brant that touched her so deeply? She sensed that he was
in some way different from other men she had known, but she could
not decide exactly what the difference was, just that underlying
feeling of warm familiarity, of closeness, as if they had known
each other long ago….
They bought food and decorations and a small
tree for India, and stored it all in Willi’s apartment. Mark also
bought a table-sized tree for Willi, and a string of tiny white
lights to decorate it. She brought out the few ornaments that had
survived since her childhood and hung them on the tree, and Mark
topped it with a new silver star. Watching his intent face and his
fine, sensitive hands while he worked, Willi’s eyes misted over
until everything in her apartment was seen in soft focus. With Mark
there, somehow the single room took on a romantic appearance. She
resisted a sudden desire to touch him.
“Do you ever look at the stars?” he asked,
taking his hands away from the one on the tree.
“Not since I was little. I’m not even sure I
could find the Big Dipper anymore.”
“Then it’s time to start again. I propose a
Christmas Eve picnic.”
She did not object that it was a cold night.
When he looked at her and smiled, she knew she would willingly go
anywhere with him.
He bought hamburgers and trench fries and
soda at the local take-out store, then drove her to a hilltop well
away from the lights of Cheswick. There he spread a blanket and
they sat upon it, eating while he pointed out the stars to her and
named the constellations and told her about his work.
Willi expected him to try to make love to
her, but he did not. When he pulled a second blanket over their
shoulders, wrapping them together in a cozy cocoon, it wasn’t so he
could fumble and grope at her, it was to keep her warm. She wasn’t
sure whether to be glad or unhappy about the kind of treatment she
was getting from Mark. No man, not even Hank, had ever talked to
her the way Mark did, as if he assumed she could follow his
reasoning and understand what he meant when he used scientific
terms. The funny thing was that she did understand what he meant.
Most of it, anyway.
It was lovely sitting beside Mark and
listening to him talk. It felt good to be treated like a
respectable and important human being again, after Hank’s casual
indifference. A little of Willi’s tough, defensive outer shell
began to melt that night while she sat with Mark’s arm around her,
looking at the stars and trying to remember all their names as he
recited them. When he finally took her home, she was afraid he
would break the spell by asking to spend the night, but he only
brushed his lips across hers as he had done the day before and said
he would see her on the morrow.
Inside her apartment once more, Willi turned
on the tree lights and gently touched the star Mark had placed on
the topmost branch. She left the other lights off while she
undressed. The little white bulbs were illumination enough. They
shone like miniature stars, and even after she pulled the plug and
crawled into bed in the darkness, the street lamp outside her
window sent a ray of light to shine upon the silver star at the top
of the tree.