“I always do my best.” No smile. “Who in the car … I presume your someone was in the car … is it you want found?”
“A woman. A young woman, I’d guess between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight.”
“That’s quite a range,” Polikartos chided him.
“I only saw her briefly.”
“Anyone else in the car with her?”
“Several people. Probably a chauffeur.”
“Um-hmm. You’re sure it was a Cadota?”
“Yes. A hard car to mistake.” Eric provided time, I.D., and other information.
“So one would think,” the investigator said, making notes on his own terminal. “Can you describe the woman at all?” Eric did so, in detail that surprised him. Her fellow passengers remained ciphers in his memory.
“All right, Mr. Abbott. I accept the usual credit cards. My rate for this sort of work is fifty dollars an hour plus expenses.”
“Plus expenses,” Eric mumbled.
“I don’t have time to dicker with you, Mr. Abbott. If it makes you feel any better, this shouldn’t take me very long. Either I can identify your woman for you pretty soon, or I’ll never be able to.”
“Pretty soon.” Eric fought to keep the sudden surge of excitement from coloring his voice. “How soon is pretty soon?”
“When I know something is when pretty soon is. What credit card you want to use?” Eric supplied him with an authorization number. “Hokay. I need your home phone. I assume you don’t want me contacting you at your place of business?”
“No, home would be best. No problems that way, right?” Still Polikartos didn’t smile.
“Good-bye, Mr. Abbott. I’ll be in touch.” The screen blanked.
Not exactly the loquacious type, Eric mused. He sat staring at the terminal as though at any instant it might demand his attention again. Eventually he rose. Nothing to do now but wait. He was startled at how tense he felt.
Might as well do some work after all. His feeble excuse having been readily accepted at the office, he could at least enjoy a working vacation.
Since someone else was doing his searching for him, he’d managed to moderate his obsession. He thought of calling and telling Charlie, finally decided against it. Charlie was his closest friend, but among his qualities that were not admirable was his inability to keep a secret. Better to let him think he was sick.
Work went surprisingly well, though without the accessories available to him at the office there were certain things he couldn’t do. It was very late that night when the phone rang. He’d already gone to bed, anticipating a call from Polikartos sometime tomorrow.
He answered. There was video, but it was poor. Illumination from the other end of the line was weak, but he could still make out the image of his investigator.
“Didn’t expect to hear from you so soon,” he mumbled sleepily. “Or this late. What’ve you found out for me?”
Polikartos looked different somehow. Nervous, anxious, obviously very concerned about something. There was a furtive air about the man that made him look much smaller. When he replied, his tone was sharp. Not threatening, but as though the speaker suddenly feared his own words.
“Forget this matter, Mr. Abbott.”
Eric blinked away incipient sleep, tried to concentrate.
“What? What are you saying? Is something the matter?”
“Nothing’s the matter,” Polikartos replied, so tightly that his tone gave the lie to his claim. “Just forget all about this. You seem like a nice young fellow. You listen to me, yes, and forget about this woman, forget about the car you saw, forget the whole business, hokay? You haven’t seen her since, only the one time?"
“That’s right. That’s why I hired you.”
“Hokay, you hired me. I give you advice instead of information. Sometimes the two are interchangeable, yes? You never saw that Cadota, hokay? You never saw that license number and you never saw any young lady, and you stay a nice, happy young man.”
“Now wait a minute. I paid for …”
“Your fee will be refunded in full. I credit your account. I don’t want your money, Mr. Abbott, and I don’t want your business.”
Whereupon voice and video snapped off.
Bewildered, Eric sat numb on the edge of the bed, staring at the silent phone in his palm. Cool air brushed his nude form.
His first thought was to contact another investigator, someone more stable. Only, Polikartos had struck him as stable. He’d regarded Eric’s request as routine business. Something had happened to change his mind, something unusual. The corollary seemed inescapable. He’d found something out.
He dialed the investigator’s number. This time he got an answering machine. “Polikartos is not in,” it declaimed. “If you will leave your name and number, he will contact you as soon as possible.”
He tried again, several times, each with the same result. Then he moved to the terminal and called up the general Phoenix directory. There was no listing for a Polikartos. It might be a first name, then. It might even be a pseudonym. He had no way of knowing, no way of finding out.
He’d neglected to do his own homework.
There was nothing for it but to go to work the next day. Polikartos was a dead end, and now a maddeningly tantalizing one. All morning he considered what to do next. It didn’t take much thought. He knew Polikartos’s phone number. He also knew his office address.
Charlie would miss him at lunch, but that couldn’t be helped.
IV
