Del said, ‘The way this night’s going, whatever we drive is liable to end up on the junk pile. So it shouldn’t be one of your most precious cars.’
‘Nonsense, darling. You should be comfortable.’
‘Well, I like the Jaguar two plus two.’
‘It’s a lovely car,’ Mrs. Payne agreed.
‘It has the power and manoeuvrability we need for work like this,’ said Del.
‘I’ll have it brought around to the front door at once,’ Mummingford said.
‘But before you do, do you think you could please bring a telephone?’ Del asked.
‘Certainly, Miss Payne,’ the butler said, and he departed. Having finished his croissant, Tommy got up from his chair, went to the tea cart, and selected a cheese Danish.
He had decided to concentrate on eating and not even try to be part of the conversation. Both women made him crazy, and life was too short to let them upset him. In fact, if reliable sources could be believed, there was a forty percent chance that life was very damn short indeed.
Smiling at Del, smiling at her mother, Tommy returned to his chair with the Danish.
From the radio, at reduced volume, issued Glenn Miller’s ‘String of Pearls.’
Del’s mother said, ‘I should have had you children change into bathrobes the moment you arrived. Then we could have thrown your clothes in the dryer. They’d be dry and warm by now.’
‘We’ll only get wet again when we leave,’ Del said.
‘No dear. The rain will be stopping in another four minutes.’
Del shrugged. ‘We’ll be fine.’
Tommy took a bite of the Danish and looked at his watch.
‘Tell me more about the entity,’ Mrs. Payne said. ‘What it looks like, what its capabilities are.’
‘I’m afraid that’ll have to wait till later, Mom. I need to use the bathroom quick, and then we’d better run.’
‘While you’re in there, comb your hair, dear. It’s kinking up now that it’s drying.’
Del left the room, and for perhaps ten seconds, Julia Rosalyn Winona Lilith and the big black dog stared at Tommy as he ate the Danish.
Then Mrs. Payne said, ‘So you’re the one.’ Tommy swallowed a mouthful of pastry. ‘What does that mean – the one?’
‘Why, of course, dear boy, it means precisely what it says. You’re the one.’
‘The one.’
‘Yes, the one.’
‘The one. There’s something ominous about it.’
She seemed genuinely baffled. ‘Ominous?’
‘Sort of like a term that some lost tribe of volcano-worshipping South Sea islanders might use before they throw the virgin into the fiery pit.’
Mrs. Payne laughed with obvious delight. ‘Oh, you are precious. A sense of humour quite like Ned’s.’
‘I’m serious.’
‘That makes it even funnier.’
‘Tell me about – the one,’ he insisted.
‘Well, of course, Deliverance merely meant that you’re the one for her. The one. The one she should spend the rest of her life with.’
Tommy felt a hot blush rising faster than the mercury in a thermometer bathed with August sunshine.
Evidently Julia Rosalyn Winona Lilith saw the blush, for she said, ‘My heavens, you are the sweetest young man.’
Scootie chuffed as if in agreement.
Blushing so brightly that he was beginning to sweat,
Tommy desperately wanted to change the subject. ‘So you haven’t slept since Mud Lake.’
Mrs. Payne nodded. ‘Just south of Tonopah.’
‘Twenty-seven years with no sleep.’
‘Almost twenty-eight, since the night that my Deliverance was conceived.’
‘You must be tired.’
‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘Sleep isn’t a necessity for me now. It’s a choice, and I simply don’t choose to do it, because it’s boring.’
‘What happened at Mud Lake?’
‘Didn’t Del tell you?’
‘No.’
‘Well,’ said Mrs. Payne, ‘then it’s certainly not my place to do so. I’ll let it to her, in her own good time.’
Mummingford entered the room with a portable telephone, per Del’s request, and put it on the coffee table. He retreated without comment. He had to deal with a stolen Ferrari, after all.
Tommy looked at his watch.
‘Personally, Tommy dear, I think your chances of living until dawn are a hundred percent.’
‘Well, if I don’t make it, Rosalyn, I’ll visit you on the David Letterman show.’