Cameron. The trouble was hardly with his new Master. Simon Beltaire delivered everything he promised and more.
'I'll have words with them again,' he replied, and added darkly, 'I can always send Smith and Cook to them if they have nothing more to offer than excuses. I suspect the two of them could extract our money, at least.'
'That should be your court of last resort,' Beltaire warned. 'It would be better to go to the extreme of doing your own hunting before you turned force on your suppliers.' He raised a finger suggestively. 'Remember that you have the use of my motor-launch when I do not require it. There are quarters in San Francisco-as you well know- where a brat might not be missed for several days. Most would go with anyone who offered them candy-and opium-powder mixed with taffy or fudge is a sure way to keep an urchin sleepy and cooperative long enough to get it into the launch across the Bay. Once it is in my house, of course, it can yell as much as it likes. Under normal circumstances I would not suggest this at all, except that the matter is fairly urgent if you are to make continuous progress. A local brat would at least be sturdy, which is more than can be said for Chinese merchandise that's just made a long voyage.'
Paul licked his lips. 'I'll consider it.'
Beltaire nodded, and packed up his paraphernalia. 'I will leave you to your experience,' he said. 'This first time, you might not be able to break through the barriers to the Other Side; if not, be patient, for sometimes your body needs to become accustomed to these things so that your spirit can soar freely. And sometimes your spirit is preoccupied with a problem that must be solved before you are free to seek other realms. If that is true, and you identify the problem, solve it at once.' Paul did not notice him leaving, but after a timeless interval of lying in a state of hazy, vague pleasure on his bed, neither was he able to make the breakthrough he had hoped for. Despite Beltaire's advice, this frustrated him. Try as he might to empty his mind of everything, one problem kept intruding; the need to find his Vessel, the untouched female-or male, but Paul preferred to use a female Vessel, and it was much easier to tell if a female was a virgin than a male.
If only he could find an adolescent-or better yet, an adult!
He stared at a spot on the ceiling, a water-stain shaped like a cloud. Scant chance finding a virgin past the age of ten, he grumbled to himself, his euphoria flattening. At least, not one I can get hold of without getting the police on my trail. And as for an adult-huh, there's only one that I know of, and-
It hit him then, like a bolt of lightning. His Vessel, his perfect Vessel, was right at hand and waiting for him! That Hawkins harridan-she was a virgin, and a fat lot of good her virginity was doing anyone, too! She wouldn't be missed by anyone but Cameron-he still had free access to Cameron's estate, and if he caught her outside the mansion on one of those long walks of hers, Cameron would never know what had happened to her! Cameron wouldn't report her missing, he wouldn't dare; he couldn't face police himself, and there would be no one else who could answer questions about her! He might even assume she had run off, frightened by the things he was asking her to read to him.
He levered himself up off his bed. Best to do it now, as Simon had said, as if the Firemaster had somehow known that this would be the solution to his problem. If he waited, Cameron might get tired of the lack of progress and send her off himself, or she might decide that poverty was better than reading what must seem to her to be the ravings of lunatics, and quit.
He had a moment of doubt as his hand fell on the doorknob. Beltaire had said that the drugs would last for many hours, and that they would have several different effects on his mental and physical condition. Should he do this while he was still under their influence? Could he? They might slow his reflexes, so that he would botch the kidnapping. They might send him visions that would confuse him. They might render him too euphoric to act. Or- they might give him immensely greater strength and endurance, and render him impervious to pain. He stood twisting the knob in indecision.
But then, he saw that while twisting the doorknob, the thing had come off in his hand. It hadn't simply fallen off, either; he'd wrenched it from the doorplate.
Well! So that is one of the effects! Beltaire had warned him to be careful around the house, and now he knew why! There were several drugs that had the effect of numbing the nerves and enhancing strength, and Beltaire must have put them in his mix.
Perfect. If I leave now, I can borrow the motor-launch and be in Pacifica in an hour I can have the men drop me in the shallows, then anchor the launch just below the cliffs, and I can take the path up from the beach. I can wait there for her. Neat, clean, and impossible to trace. She would simply disappear.
And there's no reason for Cameron to suspect me.
He would finally get Rosalind Hawkins, and she would finally get what she deserved.
Rose could hardly help but compare April in California with the same month in Chicago. There was nothing to choose between, to be frank. April had always seemed to be one of the most miserable months in the calendar to her-the weather was hideously distempered, changing every few moments, and all of the changes unpleasant. There was just enough promise of spring to raise one's hopes, but not enough to be convincing that winter's grip was loosened-and there was always the chance that a blizzard in the middle of the month would send everything into an icy winter freeze for another week or more. There could be no opera, no ballet, no concerts, even; it was Lent, after all, in a predominantly Catholic city, and if there was any music available, it was all religious, and
