Stone Junction

‘The man’s real name is Daniel Pearse.’

Debritto said, ‘The machine agrees, or at least that it’s a truthful guess. On what basis do you make that guess?’

Sweat trickled down Dredneau’s neck. ‘I broke a code, an extremely difficult code. From radio transmissions. It took me almost eight months. Cryptography is a useful talent for a detective. I pay listeners all over the world to monitor coded radio transmissions. Most of the codes are trifles, unraveled at a glance. This one was provocative – what’s called a shift-cipher. I had to amass a huge sample before I could establish any sort of frequency count, much less discern the operative principles; with that, the code sets followed.’

‘You’re doing well. My compliments on your work, one professional to another. So, what are these code sets?’

‘Partial panagrams – a complete set is in my valise in the bedroom.’

‘Excellent. Who does this Isaiah Kharome-Daniel Pearse work for?’

‘I don’t know. It’s a guess. Based on style and odd textual references. It’s a group of alchemists or magicians, I think.’

‘A secret society?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘No national, racial, political affiliations?’

‘Maybe anarchists.’

‘There have always been rumors about such a group.’

‘If the code’s difficulty is any indication, they’re very careful.’

‘We’ll see. Now Daniel Pearse – why is his name a guess?’

‘Because early transmissions referred to “Danny Boy” and then changed to “Kharome.” Playing around one night, I reversed “Kharome” – still in code sets – and came up with DPearse. Logically, given the earlier Danny Boy reference, the D was likely for Daniel. I ran Daniel Pearse and Isaiah Kharome through my information network, which stretches from Interpol to the local PD – and voila! A Daniel Pearse, but no Isaiah Kharome. Or no Mr Kharome right away. He began to show up on DMV and credit card screens. Clearly, someone was constructing an identity.’

‘Tell me about this Daniel Pearse.’

‘His dossier is in my valise with the code sets and frequency charts. What little there is is rather provocative. When he was fourteen, his mother, Annalee Pearse, was killed and Daniel was severely injured planting a bomb. He was suddenly represented by expensive lawyers and placed under the guardianship of questionable relations. From there––’

‘Stop!’ Debritto said. ‘I hope you’re right about this, sir. I get to clean up a mess. I killed his mother.’

Dredneau said nervously, ‘My reports say a faulty bomb. Check them, please.’

Debritto ignored him. ‘It was a rush job. I wasn’t supposed to kill her; just stop her. Foil it. Those fools don’t want to punish. I mean, they didn’t even want the police to know. They didn’t say why, of course. But a bomb in a nowhere alley in Livermore? It had to be a diversion for a run on the lab. Going public would hurt nuclear interests. They didn’t even trust their own field agents to handle it. By the time I was called in, getting there in time, much less setting anything up, was going to be tight. I barely made it. I’d just gotten on the warehouse roof above the alley when here she comes, bomb in hand. She caught the movement when I pulled my piece. She turned to run, yelling to somebody. I aimed for her legs, but just as I squeezed it off she slipped on the wet pavement and the bullet hit the bomb. I lost seven percent of my hearing in my right ear.’

‘Sure,’ Dredneau said wearily. ‘CIA. Did Keyes set me up or does it go higher?’

‘Please, Mr Dredneau. I don’t take orders from anyone.’ Dredneau nodded. ‘I like it,’ Debritto continued. ‘You see, when they paid me off, they told me the kid was in a coma and probably wouldn’t make it. I tell you, this is something. Now I have a chance to finish the job. And so: Where is our Daniel Pearse, aka Kharome?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you know anywhere he might be headed, any sense of a plan?’

‘No.’

‘Do you know where the diamond is?’

‘No.’

‘Your truths are boring me, sir. Surely if you had code access as the theft was being set up, you must at least have some idea of how he accomplished it.’

‘Some. They further disguise the code with their own idiom, but from what I gathered he was supposed to use a new nerve gas on the guards, blow the vault, and be picked up by helicopter flying under the radar. Those are the only elements of the plan – other than dates and names – I’m sure of.’

‘But he didn’t use the gas or explosive, right? So how did he do it?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘But you knew it was going to happen. My, my, Mr Dredneau, you might have warned us. But it’s much more fun to waltz in and grab some glory with stunning deductions – and no doubt grab a little money, too, while you’re at it.’

Dredneau said nothing.

Debritto smiled. ‘It makes you uncomfortable to realize how much alike we are. You want the ten million just like me. Otherwise, you would have given the CIA his real name, rather than Kharome, which he’s probably changed