Sirens, page 51
off first, Anna,' Daina said without opening her eyes. She did not want
to be disturbed until they reached their destination. 444 she was aware
of the limo's slowing, then stopping. ght she heard Anna say good night
and she murmured reply. I've found out something you ought to know.
Meyer's voice reverberated over and over inside her It was a tantalizing
thread she followed here and there t ever getting closer to its meaning.
must have slept the last part of the journey for when -0 ened her eyes
again, the limo sat parked at the kerb to the cemetery entrance. The
engine was off. She straight ahead, saw the back of Alex's head. There
nothing odd about it. Then the head turned and she Margo's handsome
face. A few wisps of black hair floated over her small ears.
She smiled. ', my dear. Meyer iting for you.' c disappeared from Daina's
view only to open the back r a moment later. She was bent slightly
forward from the t. She was slim and very lovely, Daina thought. She
held a bouquet of irises. ' thought you might need these.' a laughed. It
was she, after all, who had forgotten the rs. here was no one around but
Meyer. He stood before ggie's grave, slightly stoop-shouldered. He was
dressed in ionable dark grey linen slacks and a cream-coloured shortved
cotron shirt. He looked unrumpled and fit. His wise sso's head seemed
even larger out of doors. He leaned tly on an ebony cane with a
seemingly sharp silver tip a gnmt knobby malachite handle ' was given to
me,' told her later, ' the end of ' war by an English nel.' or a long
time after she came up to stand beside him he nothing. She watched him
clandestinely, searching perhaps some sign of his age. But, except for
the huaraches he re, she could find none.
There was no tremor to his hand, nodding of his head. She watched a thin
blue vein pulsing the side of his head only partially covered by his
fringe hair. Above them the sky was opalescent with reflected t - mostly
the neon from Hollywood and the Strip - but smog softened it enough to
create the illusion of pristine ty. In this light., Meyer seemed
immortal, untouchable 445 either by mortal hands or by time itself. He
had survived the death camps, the deaths of two sons and at least one
wife. And here he stood, indomitable. 1 '1 hear things about you,' Meyer
said and his voice sent shivers down her spine. ' things.' He turned his
face to her and the light struck his eyes, enlarging them.
"We haven't seen your like in a long, long time.' Meyer had a way of
using the word '' as if it stood for the opinion of the entire world.
"An incandescence on the screen.' He took one hand off the cane,
squeezed her arm with remarkable strength . There is nothing you can't
accomplish now, it seems.' ' I feel as if I'm ten feet tall,' she said,
almost dreamily. ' me,' Meyer said, ' it you who've changed or is it
those around you?' ' don't know what you mean." "Well, for instance,
that limo you arrived in.' His hand left her for a moment to gesture
vaguely out towards the cemetery's entrance. ' months ago you didn't
have it ... couldn't get it, am I right?' He nodded. '. Do you have it
now because you're different or because those around you perceive you
differently?' Daina looked at him. ' it matter?' Meyer smiled at her. '
to you, Daina.' She looked down at the irises Margo had put into her
arms. She bent down, placed the bouquet on the grave. She stood up,
feeling slightly lightheaded. ' does it feel,' Meyer asked her, ' put
flowers on to an empty grave?" He reached out and grabbed her before she
could fall. She staggered against him but he was solid for all the pain
in his bad feet and he held her until she had recovered. ' do you mean?'
she said. ' was here at the funeral when Maggie was buried. I saw -' '
you saw," Meyer said patiently, ' an empty coffin being lowered into the
ground. Your friend Maggie was not inside.' She did not think to
question what he said. ' where is she?' and.' Meyer's arm was hard
around her. ' back aggie was born in St. Marys, Iowa,' Daina said.
born, raised. She and her sister were spirited out of Ireland just after
they were born. They came here, laced in a suitable family situation and
why?' real family name is Toomey,' Meyer said. He waited ..t. ' that
sound farniliar?' a minute.' Daina thought back to a conversation she
with Marion. He had seemed upset, she had asked him hat disaster in
Northern Ireland. Wasn't that what he id? ' Sean Toomey the patriarch of
the Protestants in ? r nodded. ' same. Maggie was his granddaughter.'
God!' Daina cried. ' are you saying?' , not drawing any conclusions,'
Meyer said evenly. ' let do that now. I'm only telling you what I've
found out. ' that part of our bargain?' t Marion told me that Sean
Toomey ordered the cornbritish and Protestant raid on that Catholic
section of t, what's it called?' dytown.' s. Andytown. And that was ...'
o weeks, give or take a couple of days, before your was murdered.' e
turned away. ''ve got to go to the police.' Meyer had her arm and he
would not let her go. He her back towards him. ' tell them what?' ust
what you've told me.' She eyed his blank face. ' don't have the guts to
stand by it?' alm. down,' he said. ' has nothing to do with me ... ith
you, for that matter.' He drew her closer to him, using cane to
emphasize his points. ' right, let's say we both to the Los Angeles
police with what I've just told you. you seriously believe that Sean
Toomey had his grand- hters sent over here without the knowledge of the
United tes government? And do you further think they'd allow this 446
447 to get out into the press?' He waved the cane back and forth.
"No, no, no. There are far too many IRA sympathizers in this country to
allow that.' He shook his head sadly. ''d never get that grave opened.
Never.' He put his hands on her shoulders. ', this information's for you
and you alone. I told you I'd help you find out who killed your friend,
nothing more.' ' you haven't even done that." Meyer pressed a slip of
paper into her hand, closed her fingers over it.
"When you get a chance,' he said, ' this man.' This time it was he who
leaned over and kissed her cheek. She could not help it; she went to
Bonesteel. Of course, he was sceptical. ''ve got to tell me where this
information came from. ' ', I can't.' She spread her hands.
"Please don't ask me.' ' listen -V '' you listen. Either you believe it
or you don't and that's the end of it.' ' right,' he said.
"I think it's a crock.' ',' she said, getting up. '-bye." "Wait,' he
said. ' a minute.' He drummed his fork up and down. on the tablecloth.
They were in the kitchen of Rubens' house. She had refused to come down
to the precinct house again and could not think of a public place around
the city where she would not be mobbed; she did not want Alex with her.
He gestured with the fork. ', sit back down." His voice was gruff. ''re
getting me nervous standing there.' It was Maria's day off but, looking
through the window, Daina could see the Mexican gardener's helper hard
at work on the roses. ' don't think I like you much,' she said, sitting
down opposite him. ' you haven't thrown me out yet.' ' know why. Without
you, I'll never find out who killed Maggie.' ".aned across the table
towards her. ' that's very to you, isn't it?' was my friend.' ftiend who
was already on drugs, who lied to you ly, it seems, who envied your
success, who believed re having an affair with her boyfriend -2 slapped
him hard across the face.
"Christ, you're all prying into everything!' t's what I do,' he said
without moving. His face was here she had struck him but there was no
obvious in his voice. ''m a garbage man. I sort through's dirty
underwear, sniffing at the excrement because, out of ten times, that's
where I'm gonna find the twisted rds who kill other human beings. Do you
see the logic in IShe turned her head away. ''s disgusting.' ]!l suppose
it's much more disgusting than grinding other le down under your high
heeu :-er eyes blazed as she turned to look at him. ' don't do .@No,'he
said. ' only think you don't.' ' out of here!' Her chair went over on
its back as she left ' don't want any part of you P He came after her. '
what d'you think you're going to , Maggie?" "I'll handle it myself.' She
backed up'against the wall. ' y from rne!' She moved to slap him again
but he caught her wrist in a she could not break. ''t be an idiot,' he
said, struggling with her. He was close to her and they were both
panting with the exertion. c both need each other.' His lips were close
to hers and their s locked. Immediately his mouth came down over hers
and could feel his heat growing. ' are you doing?' she said. ' does it
look like?' Her breasts were exposed. She took his hands in hers, drew
448 449 them up and away for a moment. She looked into his eyes and,
surprised, saw herself there.
She saw that she wanted him to make love to her not only because she
liked him - that would not be enough. She needed his warmth now because
he was not, like Rubens, a part of her world. His entering her would
prove to her that she was more than an image. She moved to kiss him back
but his face was as if he were in shock. She could hear the sound of his
harsh breathing. But the look on his face sent a cold knot of fear
streaking through her stomach. ''s the matter, Bobby?' ' don't ... I
really don't know. I' - he looked down at his hands, took them away from
her flesh - ' myself thinking about you all the time, fantasizing. Even,
you know, in the precinct house, I get ribbed all the time ... some guys
are jealous because they know I'm with you.' She moved closer to him so
that her bare breasts pressed into his shirtfront. ''ve thought about
this so many times. What it would be like to ...' He put his hands on
her shoulders. ' now that the moment's here, it's like I'm paralysed.
All I can think of is that fifty-foot billboard of you, how you were in
Regina Red. Then I see this and ... and it's all disconnected. I can't
seem to separate one from the other.' ' I'm only flesh and blood,
Bobby.' ',' he said, pushing her a little away from him. ', you're not.
You're more now. You're an image, a fantasy to millions of people, a wet
dream to I don't know how many guys. You're more than just flesh and
blood now.' Her arms were around him, entwined. ''s nonsense and you
know it.' But the knot in her stomach was growing until it filled her
chest cavity and she thought she might explode. What's happening to me?
she thought. ''t you see?" Bonesteel said in an anguished voice. ' want
to make love to you but I can't. We're from different worlds. I don't
belong in your bed.' At that moment, Daina wanted to scream to him that
she was just a girl from the streets, frightened and alone but, even
then, something hard and immutable inside her would not 450 and she
wound up biting the inside of her cheek to keep She cried out and
Bonesteel, thinking it was out of Lbacked away. sorry,' he said softly.
''m really sorry, Daina.' Then went down the hall past the wise face of
El Greco's she heard the door slam behind him, Daina sank to s and,
covering her face in her hands, began to weep knee had not done since
the long days and nights at White She tasted the rubber in her mouth and
almost retched. 0@ held on to herself, rocking back and forth, crying
until, she fell asleep on the carpet almost directly beneath figure of
the mermaid who looked down upon her with ful eyes. ornewhere, in the
back of her mind, she knew how dis- cted she was becoming. That was why,
after all, she had to seduce Bonesteel and why she had broken down so
letely when he refused her. Now she knew she was apart, ent from all
others but - and this she did not comend - only part of her rejoiced at
this ascension. he had seen Bobby as her last lifeline to the real world
of day people, going about their quotidian routines as she once done but
did no more. She had entered another realm, quite willingly so, with
both eyes open and arms spread e, but the crossover had been so
seductively swift, slickly with pleasure that she had not been aware of
the daily ges, that she was drifting farther and farther out to sea this
moment when she had looked up to find the shoreline e. had been quite
right. He was not from her world, her reaching out to him in the most
primitive way had an attempt to show him - and herself - that she was
still an. Meyer's words came back to her, hauntingly. Tell me, said, is
it you who's changed or is it those around you?' What frightened her
most was that she did not know the wer. How does an icon react? She
suspected that many ore her had asked themselves the same question and
that who could not answer it had not long survived here. en Rubens came
home he found her sprawled on the sofa, 451 a half-full highball glass
in her hand and a bottle of Stolichnaya sitting in dried rings on the
coffee table within easy reach. ', Daina, what's going on between you
and that cop?' She looked at him with uncomprehending eyes and he leaned
over, slapped the glass from her weak grip. It went rolling on its side
across the cushion, dropping to the carpet with a dull thud, spreading a
dark stain from its contents. Rubens bent over her. ' gardener's
assistant told me But she was already sobbing uncontrollably, clinging
to him with such passion that his anger melted. '.' He whispered her
name over and over again while he rocked her back and forth. ''s wrong?'
But there was nothing she could tell him. EI-Kalaarn began by
withdrawing his knife. Heather made a move towards him but Rita pulled
her sharply back.
She waved the MP40 under Heather's nose. She put her forefinger across
her sensual lips, looked into Heather's eyes. She shook her head from
side to side. EI-Kalaam had given his machine pistol to Malaguez who was
standing off to one side. On the opposite side of the chair) Fessi was
licking his lips. He fondled the trigger of his AKM. His lips'were
partly open and he seemed to be breathing in heavy gasps. El-Kalaam
advanced on Rachel. He brought the shining point of the knife to bear on
Rachel's blouse. As it passed through the harsh beam -of light it became
a dazzling slab. The sound of cloth shredding was very loud in the
protracted silence. Rachel's flesh began to appear as EI-Kalaam slowly
peeled off her blouse in wide strips. Her skin shone dusky in the light.
Her shoulder blades appeared and then her chest. She wore a thin
camisole with a delicate line of lace across the top. A small pink rose
in the centre between her breasts. ',' he breathed. The knife point
hovered in the air. ' is that now?' His eyes locked with hers. Then his
gaze moved down to her shoulders. The tip of the blade shot forward
through light and shadow and light again. It broke 452 strap on Rachel's
camisole. Rachel gave a little gasp. arily, her hands moved to cover
herself but Malaguez them in her lap. Her shoulders shook. She stared
straight ok at that,' EI-Kalaam said. ' beautiful brea sts. t you think
so, Maiaguez?' little small for my taste.' !, well, give them time,
Raoul. You must give them time. child is still forming. She's not yet a
woman.' A tear was ing at the lower lid of Rachel's right eye.
It welled up, an the lid, tumbled down her cheek, dropped on to the of
El-Kalaam's hand. He smiled. They're the breasts of a child,' Malaguez
said. ' them Fessi.' ' trouble with you is, you have no feel for the
future, laguez.' EI-Kalaam contemplated Rachel. ''re the sts of a child
now, yes. But soon ... ah, they'll bud into a man's magnificent
breasts.' The smile left his face suddenly. nless, of course, something
were to happen to them.' ' what?'Malaguez said. EI-Kalaam shrugged.
"Oh, I don't know. But you know what c is like. An accident, perhaps."
There was a flicker in chel's eye. ' ... you know ... someone vicious
could e along ... a woman-hater say. Someone with no appreciion for the
female human form. A homosexual Fessi giggled. His eyes were wide and
glittery. ' a psychopath, maybe. The world's full of crazy men, know.
And let's just say, for the. sake of this example, that is psychopath
caught the girl one night.' He stood very close to Rachel. Her breasts
