ceramic cookie jar, he assumed it was a humidor.
“Good luck to us both, Gordon.”
Mr. B nodded. “We’l need it.”
They shared that strange handshake again, and then the freeholder left.
Mr. Brussard looked unhappy as he closed the door. With a sigh he returned to his den.
As soon as he was out of sight, Jack darted from the bathroom and headed back to the basement.
His mind whirled as he descended the stairs. What was this “klazen” they’d been talking about? From what he’d just heard, it kil ed people. But not just
any people … “those responsible.”
Responsible for what?
It sounded crazy, but here were two grown men, one of them a freeholder, both frightened by this thing Jack had never heard of.
Despite previous worries about
No one in his family had heard of a “klazen” and, try as he might, he couldn’t find a word about it anywhere. The big problem was not knowing how to spel it. So he’d tried every variation he could think of:
So he cal ed up the source of al weird knowledge—at least in his world.
“Please tel me the cube’s al right,” Weezy said as soon as she came on the phone. “It is, isn’t it? You didn’t lose it or anything, did you?”
“And a good morning to you too,” he said.
“Please, Jack. I’m serious. You’re not cal ing me to tel me—”
“Everything’s fine, Weez. I’ve got it right here. And guess what? Mister Brussard can open it too. But Steve can’t. Isn’t that weird?”
A pause, then, “Yeah, I guess so. Is that what you cal ed to tel me?”
“No. I heard a strange word last night: klazen. Ring a bel ?”
“No. How do you spel it?”
He read off al the variations he’d written down.
“Nope,” she said. “Never heard of it. What’s it supposed to be?”
“I’l tel you later. I’m going to ask Mister Rosen if he’s ever heard of it. Want to come along? I can explain on the way.”
“Okay. But stop here first. And bring the cube.”
He laughed. “You sound like Linus and his blanket.”
“Ja-ack!” She made it a two-syl able word.
“Okay, okay. Wil do.”
Before leaving he returned to his room and checked the tepin-treated pistachios on the windowsil . Nice and dry. Great. He opened the envelope Mr. Canel i had used for the peppers and scooped them into it, then placed that in the top drawer of his desk.
He rubbed his hands together. Later today, if Tom stayed true to form, big brother would get his. Oh, yes. In spades.
Mwah-ha-ha-ha!
On the way from Weezy’s to USED, Jack noticed that she looked different. Her hair was down and her clothes were a little dressier than usual. Stil al
black, though.
He explained what he’d overheard about the klazen.
Weezy shook her head. “I don’t get it. What’s it supposed to do? Kil you?”
Jack remembered Mr. Brussard’s words:
“I think so. He said it can ‘sniff out those responsible.’”
Weezy looked at him. “Responsible for what?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. I’m pretty sure it’s a Lodge thing.” “Which means it could have something to do with that body we found.” That would be cool, but too coincidental.
“Oh, that reminds me,” he said, realizing he should have told her earlier. “Kate
learned something about how he was kil ed.”
