11 was, of course, coincidence that, precisely at the moment Ca.s.sandra"s corpse appeared to me, a roar of thunder can- nonaded in the sky and lightning turned tile awful sight into a tableau of blinding whiteness.
Max was unable to resist toasting the sky.
"Good timing!" he cried.
Outside, a torrent of rain began to fall, so heavy mat it was, immediately, a curtain of descending water- Max regarded the corpse of his wife.
There was no sense of triumph or of pleasure in his look.
"So," he said. "It worked."
It did not require the intellect of a Rhodes scholar to know what he meant.
With the help of Brian"s talent at impersonating his sister, they had successfully fooled Harry.
And, more important, me Sheriff.
With all the tricks and counter-tricks occurring. Plum completely missed the main illusion of them all- (I missed it, too.)
Now You SM h... 191
The person he"d a.s.sumed to be Ca.s.sandra Odacorte wasn"t her at all.
Max drained his gla.s.s of brandy and set down the gla.s.s.
He returned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
I know I shuddered then, for he felt it.
"I"m sorry, Father," he said- "Don"t think I"m unaware of what I"ve done. I know that I"ve committed murder. Per- haps the motivation wasn"t strong enough."
His voice hardened.
"I thought it VMS, though," he said.
He exhaled heavily.
"Now the final phase begins," he told me.
"The conclusion of me trick-
"I"ll continue with me act Not in Las Vegas, but in vari- ous other locations, jobs 111 arrange for myself. Las Vegas is too conspicuous. But lesser whereabouts will be in order.
"Where Brian"s continued imitation of his sister will go unnoticed-
"The falling-out with Harry was, of course, essential.
"If Harry was around, he"d inevitably see through the pretense-
"Now he won"t."
"And," he went on, "Sheriff Plum "keeping an eye" on me is equally essential.
"His value consists of the fact that he will, at the same time, be keeping an eye on the person he believes to be Ca.s.san- dra, a witness to her ongoing existence."
And I thought he"d lost focus, the chilling idea came. How wrong I"d been. The discovery did nothing but dismay me further.
Did I wince as my son chuckled? I wanted to.
192 Richard Mth-m
"Brother Brian"s going to be a busy boy from now on," he said. "His "gofer^ days are over." He rubbed his eyes; he must have felt drained. "A busy boy, but not a happy one,"
he said.
He knelt beside my wheelchair.
"Not that he deserves to be happy," he said. "He has a lot of paying back to do for all those forged checks."
So that"s it, I thought. That"s his hold on Brwn.
Max hissed scornfully.
"He was never very bright, was he?" he said.
"You know what I have in my safe. Padre? A contract signed by Brian.
"An agreement to a.s.sist me in the killing of his sister."
I closed my eyes to shut it all away. I couldn"t bear these dreadful moments.
Max didn"t notice.
"I had to insist on it, of course," he said- He made a sound of dark amus.e.m.e.nt-
"After all," he went on, "could I trust me word of a man who"d help murder his own sister?"
Oh, G.o.d, Max, G.o.d. I wanted to weep.
Max made an odd sound, and I opened my eyes to look at him-
He was blinking his eyes. He dosed them hard, then opened them again.
"I should have eaten something today," he said. "That much brandy on an empty stomach isn"t good. But then, I have no appet.i.te for food.
"Only for revenge," he finished.
Now he saw the look on my face; I guess I wasn"t totally without expression.