Up in Honey's Room

ones he kills.” She said, “Forgive me, I’m making conversation.”

Bo came to the sofa looking only at Vera to say there was a call for the deputy marshal. “In the den,” he told Carl, still looking at Vera, and turned away.

Carl said, “Was he asking you if it was okay?”

“You must have said something he didn’t like.” Vera waved her hand. “He wants you to follow him.”

· · ·

It was Kevin Dean on the phone.

“You’re talking to Vera?”

“I’m looking for Honey,” Carl said standing by the desk, shelves of leather-bound sets of books behind him, books he thought of as decoration, never opened.

Kevin said, “She doing you any good? I haven’t seen her since I was reassigned. You have trouble calling her Honey?”

“No,” Carl said. “Do you?”

“I did at first. In fact I still have trouble. It’s what you call your wife or your girlfriend. Anyway, listen, the reason I called, Dr. Michael Taylor, one of the useless spy ring guys, was shot and killed last night. It looks like his wife Rosemary did it with a Walther P38 and then used it on herself, blew her brains out. The cleaning woman said the gun belonged to Dr. Taylor. She came this morning surprised to see the car still in the garage, the doctor hadn’t left to go to his office, and found them in the living room.”

Carl was thinking, If Kevin had trouble calling her Honey, it meant he hadn’t gone to bed with her yet. He said, “The maid called the police?”

“Right away. Detroit Homicide got on the scene. One of the guys in the squad knew about Dr. Taylor being pro-Nazi, a member of the Bund back in the thirties, arrested on a misdemeanor, demonstrating in front of a synagogue. Homicide’s keeping us up on what they find.”

Carl was looking at Bo standing in the doorway, his back to Carl by the desk.

“Something else,” Kevin said. “They’re positive a third gunshot victim was in the lavatory, shot in the back of the head. They found traces of blood the shooter tried to clean up but did a half-assed job, so the evidence techs went over the entire lavatory and found bone fragments and brain tissue in the drain.”

Carl told Kevin to hold it a minute. He said to Bo, “Sweetheart, instead of listening to the conversation, how about getting me a cup of coffee?”

Bo walked away without saying a word.

“Maybe the doctor,” Carl said, “was in the can when she popped him.”

“Taylor was shot in the chest. It was someone else.”

“Who’s missing?”

“Joe Aubrey.”

“His plane’s at the airport?”

“It never was. He took the train this time. He’s having work done on the Cessna, in Atlanta.”

“Where’s Walter?”

“At his farm this morning.”

“Alone?”

“That German couple’s there. I asked the woman, she answered the phone, if anybody came home with Walter, she said no.”

“You know Honey crashed the spy party.”

“I heard, yeah. You believe it? I’ve been trying to get hold of her, but she hasn’t been home or at work all morning.”

“You still pickin’ through bomb damage?”

“I’m on the homicide now. You want to look at the scene, I’ll take you.”

Carl said, “Is there any reason to believe the third one might be a woman?”

Kevin took a moment to say, “I don’t know. I think they all assume it was a guy. But the wife, say she caught him with another woman.” There was a silence. “No, if the wife did it, the other woman’s body’d still be there. I’ll find out and let you know.”

“Or the third one,” Carl said, “was the other guy she caught her husband with? But where did he go?”

Kevin said, “You’re not thinking it could be Honey.”

“Vera said Walter drove her home. I don’t have any reason to believe Vera, but I do. I accept her lying about Jurgen.”

“Well, Walter’s at the farm. I spoke to him for a while. In the surveillance report for last night, Walter arrived with most likely Joe Aubrey, but it was hard to get a positive ID. They know Walter because of his car. Surveillance says he left with a man and a woman.”

“You call him before or after you knew about the homicides?”

“After I went to the scene. I called him from there, asked him who he drove home. He said Honig Schoen. He dropped her off at her apartment. I said, ‘Walter, there were three people got in your car when you left the meeting.’ Walter said, ‘You have a photograph of three unidentified people standing by a car at night somewhere?’ He said whoever saw us was mistaken or lied. His wife was his only passenger.”

“That’s what he called her?”

“Which, his wife or his passenger? I asked if she was at the farm with him. Walter said no. But she promised to spend time with him today.”

“She told him that?”

“Walter said he would see she kept her verd.”

“So we know what she’s doing now,” Carl said. “She’s hiding from Walter.”

Vera hadn’t moved from the sofa. Sitting with her again Carl thought of giving her knee a pat for no other reason than having the war in common, on different sides but they’d feel the same way about it. He said to her, “You think the war’s done anyone any good?”

“I’ll say no one, because I’m too tired to think of something that sounds wise, or enigmatic. Or stupid.”

“What do you want to do when it’s over?”

“Try not to be noticed.”

“You worried about people telling on you?”

“My friends?”

“Your spy ring.”

Carl looked up and there was Bo with a coffee service for one. He placed the tray on the cocktail table and poured a cup as Vera said to him, “This gentleman wants to know if I suspect you would tell lies about me to save your dupa from rapacious prison convicts.”

Bo said, “What’s wrong with a rapacious convict?” He served Carl, handing him a cup of black coffee. Carl said thanks and Bo said 'Koorvya mat” in a pleasant tone of voice and walked away.

Vera was watching him. Carl said, “What’s koorvya mat mean?”

“You thanked him-you didn’t think he was saying oh, you’re very welcome?”

“He was too sweet.”

“I shouldn’t tell you,” Vera said, “but what difference does it make. Koorvya mat is Ukrainian for ‘Go fuck your mother.’ What did you say to him, before?”

“I might’ve raised my voice,” Carl said. “You don’t think he’ll turn on you, huh?”

“If they frighten him enough, I wouldn’t be surprised. But whatever he tells them will be highly entertaining. Bo loves attention.” She said, “What will the others do if accused? Nothing. Joe Aubrey will continue to be Joe Aubrey. Dr. Taylor the obstetrician will inspect vaginas as he thinks up racial slurs, and Walter... Honey must have told you his astonishing plan.”

It took Carl by surprise. He said, “Yeah, Walter,” and said, “you think he’ll pull it off?”

Vera started to smile. “You haven’t spoken to Honey, have you? You’re still upset she left you to come to my