'That's okay,' de Gier said. 'Hairy Harry only works for the county; federal regulations don't bother him much.'
'It would be another reason to lean on us.'
De Gier agreed.
Grijpstra kept rubbing his chin. 'I'm supposed to leave by bus tomorrow.' He reported on the Jameson Bay confrontation.
'You're right,' de Gier said. 'I should have kept a low profile here. I'll never learn. Drawing attention to myself and to you too. And now there's Lorraine.'
'Now there isn't Lorraine,' Grijpstra said. 'Does Ish-mael know about that?'
De Gier didn't think so. 'It's too early yet. Lorraine was a recluse herself, it'll be a while before she's missed. Want to do some site work?'
Grijpstra, wrapped in a towel, wearing a straw hat that belonged to de Gier and the slippers that Nellie had tucked in his bag, followed his host.
De Gier showed him the scene of the crime, a large granite cliff next to stone steps leading down to his dock.
De Gier was Lorraine, Grijpstra was de Gier. Grijpstra came, reeling and staggering, out ofthe pagoda's front door. De Gier stood, one foot on the highest step of the path, one foot on the cliff next to the path. De Gier, hungry for love, wanted to embrace Grijpstra. Grijpstra pushed de Gier away. De Gier fell over backwards.
De Gier held a black belt injudo. He rolled, jumped up lightly.
'But Lorraine hurt herself?' Grijpstra asked. He knelt near the spot where Lorraine, having been allegedly pushed, fell, and where, afterward, she had been allegedly kicked in the belly.
He did find a stain, not too clearly visible, a dried-up spot ofa different, deeper red than the granite's natural pink-and-red shades.
'Has it rained since this happened?'
It hadn't.
Grijpstta leaned against the pagoda's balustrade. 'Now then, show me what you did after Lorraine disappeared from your view.'
De Gier stood on the veranda. 'I was here.' He pointed at the top stone step. 'Lorraine stood there. I do recall shoving her. Next thing she wasn't there. I didn't hear her scream. Maybe she groaned. I recall some sound but I might have thought she was talking while walking down the steps.'
'Not a lot of blood,' Grijpstra said. 'Maybe her clothes soaked it up.' He coughed. 'Vaginal? Possibly.'
De Gier coughed too.
De Gier's cough irritated Grijpstra. 'Irresponsible movie sheik on the rampage, even here.' He glared. 'You have a nasty habit there, my boy. And it isn't getting any better.'
De Gier looked away. 'Bad George claims she miscarried,' he admitted. De Gier sat on the steps, jerking the ends of his mustache, baring his teeth that way. His voice seemed higher than normal. 'I didn't ask him to produce proof either. Didn't want to know. That would have been in the boat, and they would have thrown it overboard, yes?'
'Baby could be yours?'
'I used condoms.'
'Any breaks?'
'Yes,' de Gier said.
'You've been here four months,' Grijpstra said. 'You were intimate straightaway? When did you meet Lorraine?'
'First day,' de Gier said. 'That answers both questions.'
Grijpstra was shaking his head. 'Lorraine was around forty? Did she mention pregnancy?'
'Irregularity,' de Gier said. 'She said it was normal, she'd been like that for a while. It seemed to bother her, though.'
'So it's Flash and Bad George, who're trying extortion, who assert subject was pregnant.'
'Who's subject?' de Gier asked. 'This is Lorraine.'
'Subject.' Grijpstra slapped de Gier's shoulder. 'Nothing is personal to me here. You're nothing but my client. If I cared I would be useless.' He poked de Gier's chest. 'We continue. The extortionists brought the body back. Let's see how they did that.'
De Gier became Bad George, coming up the steep path from the little harbor below, carrying Lorraine's body lightly across his arms.
'Hmmm,' Grijpstra said. 'Not a heavy woman, I see.'
'Slender,' de Gier said. 'Lovely body. Bit of a monkey face, though, wrinkled up, because of a bad marriage, divorce. She lived with her parents for a while, in a trailer park in Arizona. Parents own Bar Island over there, bought it as an investment when they were young, thought it would appreciate in value, which it didn't.'
'Subject had money?'
'She was a biologist. Her university provided income.
Subject had a grant to study birds here, and planned to teach in Boston later on. Bar Island is a sanctuary for terns, but there are fewer each year. She had to find out why.'
'Why?'
'Sea gulls,' de Gier said. 'They're bigger than the terns and they keep taking the eggs or the young. Lorraine had statistics. She knew where the gulls breed and was proposing that she and Aki take their eggs.'
'Aki is a biologist too?'
'Not as well-qualified as Lorraine.'
'Sanctuary,' Grijpstra said. 'Subject thought she'd get a break from her divorce mess here.' He looked at the island to the east, Bar Island. 'Nice. So she wasn't really from around here?'
'New York, originally. This was the family's summer place, they used to camp out here, built a nice cabin. Her parents thought they might winterize the place and retire here but the mother got emphysema and Arizona has dry air.'
'Smoker?'
'So subject said. The mother sucks cigarettes and oxygen at the same time from a cylinder she carries around. A cripple.'
Grijpstra coughed painfully.
'How's your affliction?' de Gier asked.
'Doctor says I stopped just in time,' Grijpstra said. 'So subject really was a nature woman?'
'Sure.' De Gier gestured. 'Paddled a kayak to stay happy. Lived on health food. Lots of energy. The terns got boring and she started a paper on loons. She and Aki were out most mornings. Loons like daybreak.'
'Loons?'
'Birds, water birds, fairly big,' de Gier said. 'You'll love them. Impressive patterns of black and white, with piercing red eyes. Endangered species but still abundant on Maine bays and lakes. Make unbelievable sounds, like opera singers who have gone beautifully crazy.'
'Male opera singers?'
'Female opera singers.'
'So what we have here is a lonely and sensitive fairly attractive female subject,' Grijpstra said. 'I'm familiar with your case history and profile.' He clasped his hands in back of him and studied de Gier sternly. 'Your modus operandi is that you make yourself available but you don't actively seduce. So subject came on to you. You told her okay, but nothing serious please; the human race is a mistake, you don't want to add to its numbers. You're in principle against homo sapiens but as you find yourself in human shape you'll go along with that for as long as the condition doesn't get too uncomfortable. You don't believe in relationships either but short-time lust can be exciting. If, on those conditions, subject is interested… And so on. Yes?'
De Gier sighed affirmatively.
Grijpstra looked fatherly. 'Rinus?'
'Henk?'
'Your attitude, does it ever make you feel guilty?' De Gier looked away.
'You look guilty now.'
