'After the first time you Spoke.'
She looked as though she didn't understand the question. 'We went home,' she said.
'When did you Speak again?'
'For Mr. Brooks. It was a few days later. It was the same, except longer. Then the third time was a Revealing.'
'And then you did it how often?'
'Every week, usually. Sometimes the Voice didn't come, though.'
'How often did that happen?'
'Once in a while. I just sat there with everybody looking at me. It was terrible.'
'When the voice did come, what happened?'
'We went out onto the stage, you know, after the welcome and the music, and maybe sometimes there was a guest star who got up and talked about what Listening had done for him. Then she'-she indicated the door to the dining room-'and I went onto the stage and sat down. I always sat on the right, because she was supposed to say something into the microphone before anything happened. Usually, while she was talking I would hear a kind of whisper in my ear. It would say my name a few times. Then it was like I was being filled slowly with warm water, and I would go away. When I came back, it was over.'
I needed a moment to think, and I got up and pulled open the curtains covering the living-room window. Sunlight poured into the room. Jessica squinted and stretched a hand out in front of her to block the light. 'Don't,' she said. 'It hurts my eyes.' I pulled the curtains closed again, and she settled back onto the couch.
'Did you understand the things you said when you were Speaking? Afterward, I mean, when you heard the tapes.'
'No. Not most of it.'
'And did Dick go on examining you?'
The color returned to her cheeks and she looked away.
'Sure, always. That's what the Speaker's doctor is for.' She sounded defensive. 'Before Dick it was that fat man. He was Anna's doctor.'
'Jessica. Did either Dick or Mr. Brooks give you anything to read? Did they ask you to learn anything?'
'Like what?' she said blankly.
'Yeah, like what?' said a deep voice behind me.
I turned to see the steely-haired lady who'd left in the Land Rover. She was clutching three bags that said Taco Tiki, and she was regarding me very narrowly indeed. 'And how'd you get in here?'
'You're Hermia,' I said happily. 'I just missed you.'
'What's going on?' she said. Mrs. Fram lurched into the dining-room doorway and stood there with her jaw slack. She looked at Hermia's bags. 'Taco Tiki,' she said.
'I can't leave for a minute,' Hermia said. 'What are you, some kind of spy?'
'Dick sent him,' Jessica said. 'They're going to write a book about me and make me famous again. And there's nothing you can do about it.'
'Is that so?' Hermia said softly, looking at me. 'A book. All about little Jessica. Now, isn't that interesting?'
'We have high hopes for it,' I said, wondering if Hermia were armed.
'You and Dick,' she said.
It sounded thin even to my ears. 'His name goes first,' I said.
'Merryman and what?'
'Aren't you going to put those bags down? Your food will get cold.'
'Doris,' Hermia commanded, holding out the bags. Doris tottered over to get them. 'Get out of here,' Hermia said. 'Put them in the other room. Stay there.' Mrs. Fram trudged through the door, looking like the Night of the Living Dead if the Living Dead had come back for junk food.
'You're going to ruin things,' Jessica said accusingly to Hermia.
'You bet your cute little hairbow, I am,' Hermia said. 'Now, you, what's your name?'
I stood up. She was almost as tall as I was. 'Hermia,' I said, 'there's a lot going on that you don't know about.'
She blinked. 'Like what?'
'Changes. In Century City.'
It didn't exactly stun her; she didn't stagger backward or clutch at her throat, but she was listening. 'Which direction?' she said after a moment.
'The wrong one, dear,' I said. 'If you're not careful.'
'I'm doing my job.'
'Then how'd I get in here?'
'I had to get food. Who else is going to go out?'
'What were your instructions?'
'They wanted tacos,' she said, trying for a tone of calm reason. 'They can't live on pizza, and Taco Bell doesn't deliver.'
'They wanted tacos,' I said pityingly. 'Do you know what she told me? What she would have told anyone who walked in while you were doing what? Going out for tacos?'
Nobody said anything. Then Jessica said, 'I like tacos.'
Hermia shot her a glance and she subsided. 'How long since you were basemented?' I asked.
Hermia licked her lips. 'Never,' she said.
'What an experience you have in store,' I said. 'If you call the wrong person.'
'Which one?' Hermia said.
I licked my index finger and held it up. 'Check the wind,' I said.
Chapter 23
'Try the American Dental Association,' I said to Joyce. I was standing in a pay phone on Ventura Boulevard. Across the street, furtive-looking men stole in and out of an adult bookstore.
'I don't have to,' she said. 'That's what he is, a dentist. He's listed in the ADA data base. How'd you know?'
'Just a guess. Have you talked to the DEA?'
'Yeah, that's what's odd. He graduated in 1972 but he only registered with the DEA seven years ago.'
'That's about right,' I said. 'Where'd he practice?'
'I don't know. He graduated from a college in New York.'
'Good work. Just to make sure, can you check with New York to see if he was certified there? He probably practiced in or near a town called Utica.'
There was a pause. 'It's after five o'clock there,' she said. 'They'll probably be closed.'
'Tomorrow morning is fine.'
I figured Brooks worked until five-thirty or six, so I had a few hours. I dialed my own number and entered a two-digit code when I heard my recorded voice say hello.
'Number of messages,' the machine announced, 'four.' I hated its smug tone of voice, and also the fact that the damn thing couldn't count.
'One,' it said.
'Simeon? Roxanne.' Music was very loud in the background. She must have been calling from McGinty's of Malibu, the bar where she worked. 'I've been cold the last couple of nights. I drove by last night, but no Alice, and I didn't feel like getting threatened with another piece of firewood. Give me a call if you feel like sharing your warm feet.' There was a pause. 'Everybody here is very drunk,' she said.
'One,' the machine said again.
'I am Mrs. Yount,' Mrs. Yount said. 'That house is a mess, mister. I was just there. There's no excuse for it. Now, normally I'd just tell you to move out. But if you find Fluffy I'll forget all about it. I know she's alive. I could
