Milo moved his bulk again, as if trying to remain afloat in a sea of red silk. The movement served only to plunge him lower and he edged forward on the couch. “But you and he did discuss danger.”
“I brought it up. In general terms, so no, there’s no specific asshole I can direct you toward. Maybe it was one of those pathetic cripples who used to carp at him.”
“Still Alive,” I said.
“Them, their ilk.”
Milo said, “You spoke in general terms, but did something happen to make you worry, ma’am?”
“No, I simply wanted Eldon to be more careful. He didn’t want to hear it. He just didn’t believe anyone would hurt him.”
“What kind of cautions did you want him to take?”
“Simple security. Have you seen his apartment?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then you know. It’s a joke, anyone could just walk in. It wasn’t that Eldon was reckless. He simply wasn’t attuned to his surroundings. Most brilliant people aren’t. Look at Einstein. Some foundation sent him a ten-thousand-dollar check and he never cashed it.”
“Dr. Mate was brilliant,” said Milo.
Alice Zoghbie stared at him. “Dr. Mate was one of the great minds of our generation.”
That didn’t jibe with med school in Mexico, internship at an obscure hospital, the bureaucratic jobs. Alice Zoghbie might have known what I was thinking, because now she turned to me and said, “Einstein worked as a clerk until the world discovered him. The world wasn’t smart enough to understand him. Eldon had a mind that just never stopped working. Thinking all the time. Science, history, you name it. And unlike most people, he wasn’t blinded by personal circumstance.”
“Because he lived alone?” I said.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean. He didn’t get distracted by irrelevancies. I’ll bet you assume his own parents died in pain and that’s why he decided to dedicate his life to relieving pain.” Her hand drew an invisible X. ” Wrong. Both his mother and his father lived to ripe old ages and passed on peacefully.”
“Maybe that impressed him,” said Milo. “Seeing the way it should be.”
Alice Zoghbie uncrossed a long leg. “What I’m trying to get across to you people is that Eldon had a worldview perspective.”
“Seeing the big picture.”
Zoghbie shot him a disgusted look. “Talking about him is making me very sad.”
Stating it calmly, almost boastfully. Milo remained expressionless and I did the same.
She gazed back at both of us, as if waiting for further response. Suddenly, the lower lids of the sapphire eyes pooled and twin rivulets flowed down her cheeks.
Tears flowing perfectly parallel to her slender nose. She sat there, immobile, allowing the tracks to reach the corners of her mouth before reaching up and dabbing with spidery fingers. Pink glossy nail polish. From somewhere in the house, a clock chimed.
She said, “I sure as hell hope you find the vicious fuck who did this. They just can’t get away with this. That would be the worst thing.”
“They?”
“They, he, whoever.”
“What would be the worst thing, ma’am?”
“No consequences. Everything should have consequences.”
“Well,” said Milo, “my job is catching vicious fucks.”
Zoghbie’s expression went flat.
“Ma’am, is there anything you can tell us that might help the process along?”
“Enough with the ma’am, okay?” she said. “It’s coming across patronizing. Is there anything I can tell you? Sure, look for a fanatic—probably a religious extremist. My bet would be a Catholic, they seem to be the worst. Though I was married to a Muslim, and they’re no great shakes.” Her head bobbed forward as she studied Milo’s face. “What’s your background?”
“Actually, I was raised Catholic, ma’am.”
“So was I,” said Zoghbie. “Down on my knees confessing my sins. What rubbish. The pity for both of us. Candles and guilt and bullshit spewed by impotent old men in funny hats—yes, I’d definitely look for a Catholic. Or a born-again Christian. Anyone fundamentalist for that matter. Orthodox Jews are just as bad, but they don’t seem as predisposed to violence as the Catholics, probably because there’s not enough of them to get cocky. Fanatics are all cut out of the same mold: God’s on my side, I can do whatever the fuck I please. As if the Pope or Imam Whatever is going to be around when your loved one is writhing in agony and choking on their own vomit. The whole right-to-life thing is obscene. Life’s sacred but it’s okay to set off bombs at abortion clinics, pick off doctors. Eldon was made an example of. Look for a religious fanatic.”