Heinz Stenmitz in the most fitting place possible, in front of the Beldame Oriental. The presence of either other people or Stenmitz himself had caused a change in Bandolier's plans, but the old theater had retained its importance to his son.
'It has to be where he's keeping his notes,' I went on. 'It's the last place left.'
Tom nodded. 'Do you think you can really convince him that you're Dick Mueller? Can you do that voice?'
'Not yet, but I'm going to take lessons,' I said. 'Do you have a phone book in this room?'
Tom got up and pulled the directory off a shelf beside his desk. 'Lessons in how to speak Millhaven?' He handed me the book.
'Just wait,' I said, and looked up Byron Dorian's number.
Dorian sounded unsurprised to hear from me: what did surprise him, mildly, was that I was back in Millhaven. He told me that he was working on getting a show in a Chicago gallery and that he had done another Blue Rose painting. He asked me how my writing was going. I spoke a couple of meaningless sentences about how the writing was going, and then I did succeed in surprising him.
'You want to learn how to talk with a Millhaven accent?'
'I'll have to explain later, but it's important that the people I talk to think I'm who I say I am.'
'This is wild,' Dorian said. 'You're even from here.'
'But I don't have the accent anymore. I know you can do it. I heard you do your father's voice. That's the accent I want.'
'Oh, boy. I guess I can try. What do you want to say?'
'How about 'The police will be very interested'?'
'The p'leece'll be very innarestud,' he said immediately.
' 'This could be important for your career.' '
'This cud be importint f'yore c'reer. What's this about, anyhow?'
' 'Hello.' '
'H'lo. Does this have anything to do with April?'
'No, it doesn't. I don't want to go off on a tangent.' '
'Are you saying that really, or do you want me to say it in Millhaven?'
'Say it in Millhaven.'
'I doan wanna go off onna tangunt. The whole thing is to put your voice up into your head and keep things flat. When you want emphasis, you just sort of stretch the word out. You know how you say Millhaven?'
'Muhhaven,' I said.
'Close. It's really M'avun. Just listen to the guys on the news sometime—they all say M'avun. It's almost
'M'avun,' I said. 'H'lo. This cud be importint f'yore c'reer.'
'That was good. Anything else?'
I tried to think what else I would need. 'Movie theater. Beldame Oriental. This manuscript has some interesting information.'
'Movee theeadur. Beldayme Orientul. This manyewscrip has got sum innaresteen infermashun. Oh, and if you want to say a time, you know? Like five o'clock? You just say five clock, unless it's twelve—you always say twelve o'clock, I don't know why.'
'I wanna meet yoo at five clock to talk about sum innaresteen infermashun.'
'Tock, not talk—tock about. And ta, not to. Ta tock. Otherwise, you're sounding pretty good.'
'Tock,' I said.
'Now you're tockin',' he said. 'Good luck, whatever this is.'
I hung up and looked over at Tom. 'Do you realize,' he asked, 'that you're probably trying to learn to talk in exactly the same way you did when you were a little boy?'
'I'm tryna lurn ta tock like Dick Mueller,' I said.
While Tom paced around the room, I called each of them in turn—McCandless, Monroe, and Hogan—saying that I was Dick Mueller, a good friend and colleague of April Ransom's. I put my voice up into my head and kept it flat as Kansas. H'lo. I jus happena to cum across this innaresteen manyewscrip April musta hid beheyn the books in my office, because that's where I founnit. Iss fulla innaresteen infurmashun, ya know? Very innaresteen infurmashun, speshally if yur a p'leeceman in M'a-ven. In fact, this cud be importint f'yore c'reer.
McCandless said, 'If what you found is so important, Mr. Mueller, why don't you bring it in?'
Hogan said, 'The April Ransom case is over. Thanks for calling, but you might as well just throw the manuscript away.'
Monroe said, 'What is this, some kind of threat? What kind of information are you talking about?'
I doan wanna go off onna tangent, but I think iss importunt for you ta tock ta me.
McCandless: 'If you want to talk about something, come down here to Armory Place.'
Hogan: 'I have the impression that we are talking. Why don't you just say what you have to say?'
Monroe: 'Maybe you could be a little more specific, Mr. Mueller.'
I wanna meet you inside the ol movie theeadur, the Beldame Orientul, five clock tomorrow morneen.
McCandless: 'I don't think we have any more to say to each other, Mr. Mueller. Good-bye.'
Hogan: 'If you want to see me, Mr. Mueller, you can come to Armory Place. Good-bye.'
Monroe: 'Sure. I love it. Give my best wishes to your doctor, will you?' He hung up without bothering to say good-bye.
I put down the receiver, and Tom stopped pacing.
'How much time do you think we have?' I asked.
'At least until dark.'
'How are we going to get in?'
'Who do you think inherited the Lamont von Heilitz collection of picklocks and master keys? Give me enough time, and I can get in anywhere. But it won't take five minutes to get into the Beldame Oriental.'
'How can you be so sure?'
Tom let his mouth drop open, raised his shoulders, spread his hands, and gazed goggle-eyed around the room. 'Oh. You went down and looked at it.' He came back to the couch and sat beside me. 'The entry doors on Livermore Avenue open with a simple key that works a deadbolt. The same key opens the doors on the far side of the ticket booth.' He pulled an ordinary brass Medeco key from his jacket pocket and set it on the table. 'There's an
