Universe Twister - Keith Laumer [127]
"I told you, she was tricked!"
"Oh. You mean the guy told her he wanted her to look at some property, or take a test spin in a new model coach?"
"No, it was to be more of a trial honeymoon, as I understand it," O'Leary confessed. "But that's neither here nor there. Someone grabbed her, and I want to get her back!"
"How about this Lorenzo guy? You figure him for the snatch?"
"Well—I suppose he could have done it. Maybe he changed his mind at the last moment and couldn't go through with Krupkin's plan. In fact, the more I think of it, the likelier it seems. He probably abducted her from the coach as planned, and then instead of taking her to the hut, he took her . . . somewhere else."
"Nice piece of deductive reasoning, Slim. So I guess the best man won—and they live happily ever after. Well, maybe not really the best man, who knows, maybe he's scared of old ladies too; what I mean is—"
"I know what you mean!" Lafayette snapped. "Listen, Roy: I have to find her!"
"I've got to admire your loyalty to your boss, Slim—but I'm afraid he'll have to line up something else—"
"To heck with my boss! Anyway, I may as well tell you: he's not my boss."
"You mean—you quit?"
"I never worked for him. You leaped to a faulty conclusion. I'm sorry."
"Then—where'd you get his signaler?"
"If you mean this ring—" Lafayette held up the sparkling red stone. "Duke Rodolpho gave it to me."
"Huh?" Sprawnroyal grabbed O'Leary's finger and gave the gem a careful scrutiny.
"It's Krupkin's, all right." The little man lowered his voice. "On the level, Slim, what'd you do, slit his throat to get it?"
"Certainly not! I've never even seen the fellow!"
Sprawnroyal shook his head, his eyes hard on O'Leary. "It don't figure, Slim. How would the duke get the prince's ring? His Highness set a lot of store by that gimcrack—I know!"
"All I know is, the duke had it—and he gave it to me." Lafayette tugged at the ring, slipped it over his knuckle. "Here," he said, "you can have it back. I don't want it. I'm only interested in finding Lady Andragorre."
His host weighed the ring on his palm, looking grim.
"Slim, you're in trouble," he said; he pushed back his chair. "Come on; you and me better go see Flimbert, our security chief, trial judge, one-man jury, and enforcer. He won't like this development at all, at all. And on the way you better think up a better story than the one you told me. Otherwise, I'm afraid we'll have to invoke the full rigor of Ajax Commercial Regulations."
"What does that mean?" O'Leary snapped. "You'll cut off my credit?"
"Not quite, Slim. More like your head."
Flimbert was a round-faced, hairless gnome with half-inch-thick lenses which looked as though they were permanently set in his head. He drummed his pudgy fingers on his desktop as Sprawnroyal gave his account of O'Leary's appearance. "I checked: the ring's one of the ones we made up for Prince Krupkin, all right," he finished.
"It looks like a clear case of murder and grand larceny, compounded by unauthorized entry, false pretenses, and perjury," Flimbert piped in a voice like a peanut whistle. "Any last words, you?" He looked at O'Leary like an angry goldfish peering through its bowl.
"Last words? I haven't even had my first ones yet! All I know is I was crawling along peacefully, minding my own business, when I fell down that lift shaft of yours! And I didn't say I was from Krupkin—that was Roy's idea. And where do you get that murder charge? Talk about conclusions of the witness—"
"Prince Krupkin would never have let his personal signaler out of his sight. Ergo, you must have killed him to get it. Open and shut. By the power vested in me—"
"I told you, I got the ring from Rodolpho!"
"Equally unlikely. Krupkin wouldn't have given it to Rodolpho either—"
"But he did! Why don't you check my story, instead of railroading me!"
"Hey, Bert," Roy said, rubbing his massive chin. "I been wondering: why would Slim here