Crown of Slaves

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When Anton re-emerged from the shadows, he forestalled Ruth's question with: 'Later.'

Chapter 13

Although he had no way of comparing notes with him, Victor Cachat's reaction to Jessica Stein was about the same as Anton Zilwicki's.

'Something about that woman gives me the creeps,' he muttered to Ginny, after they'd presented their respects to The Grieving Daughter and Close Associates of the Martyred One, and quietly eased themselves off the dais.

'What was it, exactly?' chuckled Ginny. 'The way she gauged the political value of our respects in an eyeblink, down to the last millimeter? The way she brushed us off not a nanosecond too late? The way she fawned all over Cassetti's not-so-witticisms? Or is just the fact that when she laughs at his stupid jokes her front teeth are too big?'

Ginny took Victor by the elbow and steered him firmly toward an approaching robotray. 'I need a drink. Me, it was her sandals did it. Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I do not think high-heeled sandals are proper attire for a funeral.'

Victor glanced down at Ginny's feet. 'And what do you call those things?'

'I'm not the grieving daughter,' Ginny responded firmly, snatching two cocktails from the passing robotray and handing one to Victor. 'Here, try this. I have no idea what it is, but it's bound to be bad for you.'

Dubiously, Victor tried the beverage. 'Yuck. Tastes like-'

'Alcohol. Of course. What it is, mostly. You don't like any drinks, Victor, except that Nouveau Paris slum-brewery so-called ale you and Kevin swill down. How do you expect to be a galaxy-famous great spy if you don't pick up a little suave along the way?'

Victor took a second gingerly sip. 'First, 'galaxy-famous great spy' is another oxymoron. Great spies are never famous. Second, I'm not a spy anyway. I'm a cop these days, remember?'

'Victor, give it a generation or so, and the distinction between 'spy' and 'cop' may mean something in the Republic of Haven. Today, it's like insisting on the difference between a mutt and a mongrel.'

'Don't ever let President Pritchart hear you say that.' Victor held the cocktail further away, as if it contained some toxic substance. 'This stuff is really bad, whatever it is. Is there somewhere I can dump it without being crass?'

The last two sentences had been spoken a bit loudly. To his surprise, a voice came in from over his left shoulder.

'Sure. Give it to me.' A moment later, a female arm appeared and deftly removed the glass from his hand. The arm was bare, lightly freckled, and quite nicely formed if a bit on the plump side. The hand attached to it, likewise.

Victor turned and saw a young woman smiling at him. Her face was of a piece with the arm and hand: pretty, in a slightly full and snub-nosed way; green-eyed; coppery-haired; peaches-and-cream complexion; and with a very appealing sprinkle of freckles across the cheeks and bridge of the nose.

In another deft motion, the woman drained the glass.

'Yuck. This is that godawful crap they concocted as a 'special punch' for the festivities-uh, sorry, solemn occasion. I think they even had the nerve to call it a 'Stein memorial martini,' which'd have Stein spinning in his grave if he had one, which he doesn't because they never found more than a few pieces of the body.'

Despite himself, Victor found the professional interest irresistible. 'I'd heard he was murdered with a bomb. But my impression was that it was a fairly narrow-focus device.'

The woman didn't sneer, exactly. The lip-curling expression simply had too much relaxed humor to qualify for the term. But she came close.

'That's what the RA said for public consumption. I'm not sure why, exactly. Been me, I would have broadcast the fact that whoever killed Stein was callous enough to plant a bomb which not only turned Stein into molecules and scattered him across a city block, but also killed three of his aides, two secretaries, and'-here the trace of good humor vanished-'two five-year-old kids playing on the street outside the RA's office. Blind luck all the people living in the building next door managed to get out alive.'

By the time she'd finished, Victor's interest in the woman had gone from Casual Accidental Encounter to Full Professional Alert. He could tell from subtle signs in her posture that the same was true for Ginny.

Ginny launched a probe. 'At a guess, I'd say the RA wanted to keep the focus entirely on Stein. There's a difference-a subtle one, true, but still there-between an assassination and an indiscriminate attack. From the viewpoint of public relations, the first has a clearer edge to it.'

'Yes, there is,' said the woman, 'and, yes, I think you're probably right.' She nodded toward the dais. 'I take it you were no more overwhelmed by the grief of the occasion than I've been.'

Now, her smile widened and her eyes crinkled. Even with his professional caution aroused, Victor found himself warming to her.

'I'm Naomi Imbesi, by the way. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, our meeting was about as coincidental as a rigged lottery. But I do think I pulled it off rather nicely, for public consumption.'

Ginny's responding smile was just as wide and just as cheerful. 'I thought you were great. And the outfit's perfect. That-what is it, anyway? some kind of riding apparel variation?-sets off your figure perfectly. The bust alone ought to be bronzed. Same for the hips and ass.'

'I'd call it jodhpurs and vest, except I'd die laughing-and don't think I wouldn't, the way I'm built, wearing this thing.' Rather complacently, she gazed down upon herself.

It was a self which Victor was trying his best not to ogle. Naomi Imbesi had the kind of lush figure modern society officially frowned upon as 'overweight,' and a good percentage of that society privately had fantasies about.

Ginny's sharp elbow caught him in the ribs. 'You lout! After all the trouble this poor woman's put herself through, you're not even going to look? You have to excuse him, Naomi. He's really a sweet guy-honest-but he's as sophisticated as a turtle. No savoir-faire at all.'

Ginny raised her glass and drained the drink. Then, looked around. 'But who am I to talk? Speaking of savoir-faire, I'd better get started on my own job for the evening.'

Victor must have been frowning a little, trying to follow Ginny's train of thought. Seeing the expression, she smiled sweetly.

'Getting pie-faced drunk, dimwit. Falling-down comatose. How else are we going to get the awkward paramour out of the way so business can proceed?'

She transferred the smile to Naomi. 'Won't take long. I can't handle liquor at all.' A moment later, she was making a beeline for a nearby robotray.

When Victor looked back at Naomi, he saw that she was studying him. Still smiling, true, but there was more in the way of calculation than good humor in her eyes.

Yet, whatever she saw must have reassured her, for the humor came back soon enough. 'Don't worry, Victor. It won't hurt.'

Finally understanding, he flushed a little, suppressing the impulse to say aloud: I have been seduced before, you know. He had a moment's desperate wish for a mug of slum-brewery Nouveau Paris ale. Okay, once, when I was sixteen years old and one of my sister's friends… ah, never mind.

Ginny was plowing her way back toward them, triumphantly holding four glasses aloft. 'Three for me and one for Naomi,' she announced upon arrival. 'You don't get any, Victor, 'cause you can't hold your liquor all that well, either, and we can't afford to blow the opportunity.' She handed one of the glasses to Naomi. 'Um. Possibly a poor