“I begin to see.”
“Okay, okay! I probably shouldn’t have done it. I didn’t see any harm in it at the time. They were just prototype souvenirs he was fooling with, and the difference wasn’t even noticeable unless you were looking hard.”
“He’d noticed it the first time around.”
“Which was good reason for him to consider them perfect and not be looking again. And what difference did it make, really? Even in the absence of a six-pack the answer seems obvious.”
“It sounds all right, I’ll give you that. But the fact is that he did check-and it also seems that they were more important than he had indicated. I wonder why?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” he said. “The first thing that occurred to me was that the souvenir business was just a story he made up because he wanted to show them off to us and he had to tell us something. Supposing he had been approached by someone from the UN to produce a model-several models-for them? The original is priceless, irreplaceable and on display to the public. To guard against theft or someone with a compulsion and a sledgehammer, it would seem wisest to keep it locked away and put a phony one in the showcase. Paul would be a logical choice for the job. Whenever anyone talks crystallography, his name comes up.”
“I could buy parts of that,” I said, “but the whole thing doesn’t hang together. Why get so upset over the flawed specimen when he could just manufacture another? Why not simply write off the one we’ve lost?”
“Security?”
“If that’s so, we didn’t break it. He did. Why shove us around and bring it to mind when we were doing a good job forgetting about it? No, that doesn’t seem to jibe.”
“All right, what then?”
I shrugged.
“Insufficient data,” I said, getting to my feet. “If you decide to call the police, be sure to tell them that the thing he was looking for was something you’d stolen from him.”
“Aw, Fred, that’s hitting below the belt.”
“It’s true, though. I wonder what the intrinsic value of the thing was? I forget where they draw the misdemeanor felony line.”
“Okay, you’ve made your point. What are you going to do?”
I shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. Wait and see what happens, I suppose. Let me know if you think of anything else.”
“All right. You do the same?”
“Yes.” I started toward the door.
“Sure you won’t stay for dinner?” he said.
“No, thanks. I’ve got to run.”
“See you, then.”
“Right. Take it easy.”
Walking past a darkened bakery. Play of night and light on glass. DO YOU TASTE ME BRED? I read. I hesitated, turned, saw where shadows had anagrammatized a bake sale, sniffed, hurried on.
Bits and pieces-
Near midnight, as I was trying a new route up the cathedral, I thought that I counted an extra gargoyle. As I moved closer, though, I saw that it was Professor Dobson atop the buttress. Drunk again and counting stars, I guessed.
I continued, coming to rest on a nearby ledge.
“Good evening. Professor.”
“Hello, Fred. Yes, it is, isn’t it? Beautiful night I was hoping you’d pass this way. Have a drink.”
“Low tolerance,” I said. “I seldom indulge.”
“Special occasion,” he suggested.
“Well, a little then.”
I accepted the bottle he extended, took a sip.
“Good. Very good,” I said, passing it back. “What is it? And what’s the occasion?”
“A very, very special cognac I’ve been saving for over twenty years, for tonight. The stars have finally run their fiery routes to the proper places, positioned with elegant cunning, possessed of noble portent.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m retiring, getting out of this lousy rat race.”
“Oh, congratulations. I hadn’t heard.”
“That was by design. Mine. I can’t stand formal goodbyes. Just a few more loose ends to splice, and I’ll be ready to go. Next week probably.”
“Well, I hope you have an enjoyable time of it. It is not often that I meet someone with the interest we share. I’ll miss you.”
He took a sip from his bottle, nodded, grew silent. I lit a cigarette, looked out across the sleeping town, up at the stars. The night was cool, the breeze more than a little damp. Small traffic sounds came and went, distant, insect-like. An occasional bat interrupted my tracing of constellations.