Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

“But you didn’t ask?”

“What would be the point of going back to the same place all the time?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“You must have had something in mind when you asked the question.”

I let him see I was talking off the top of my head.

“Why does it matter?” he asked.

“We’re trying to put together a history of the missions during those years.” The answer seemed to satisfy him. “And he never said anything to you at all about those flights?”

“I didn’t see him that much, Chase. And no, I can’t really remember anything he might have said. Except probably, when he got back, that he was glad to be home.”

“Tolly, is there anybody else he might have spoken to? Anyone who might know what those later missions were about?”

He needed a minute or two to answer that one. He mentioned a couple of names.

Someone who might have known, maybe, but he died a few years back. And there was a friend of Margaret’s, they might have talked to her, but she’s dead, too.

“Let’s try a different approach, Tolly. Did Adam, or Margaret, either of them, ever tell you they’d found something out there? Something unusual?”

“Like what?”

“Like an old starship. Really old.”

“No, I don’t know about anything like that.” He shook his head. “Well, maybe he did say something once or twice.”

“What did he say?”

“He was kidding around. Said they’d found something that would blow the socks off everybody.”

“But he didn’t say what?”

“Wouldn’t tell me. Just smiled and said how they were going back out eventually and I was going to get the surprise of my life. But he kidded a lot. You know what I mean?”

I reported both conversations to Alex. “Good,” he said. “We’re making progress.” He rubbed his hands and told me I’d done brilliantly.

I couldn’t see it. “In what way?” I asked. “The only thing I can see that we’ve done is compromise the interests of our client.”

“We’ll find a way to make it up to her.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“Buy her a nice birthday present. Point out to her the possibility of a major find out there, and that if we can come up with it, she’ll get a generous share.”

“I don’t think she’s the type to let the cash go and settle for an outside chance.”

“I know.” He sucked in some air. “We bungled that part of things, I guess.”

“We?”

“Okay. I did. Look, Chase, we’ve been doing what we had to.”

“We could have just moved the merchandise, taken our commission, and made the lady happy. Now, if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll have to settle for some reward money.

And I don’t like the way this is working out for Amy.”

“I know.” He looked unhappy. “Ms. Cable appears to be generous. If nothing else develops from this, I’m sure she’ll compensate us for our trouble.”

“I’m sure.”

“Chase, we had an ethical responsibility here. We don’t market stolen goods.”

“I’d like not to be here when you explain it to Amy.”

Where did they go? Into the glade, or along the river? Back to the sea, or beyond the moon?

- Australian children’s fable, twenty-third century C.E.

We debated taking Amy back to the Hillside, but we were both concerned she might make a scene. It was better to talk things out at the office, then see whether she’d be receptive to a meal.

I’ll say one thing for the woman: She was no dummy. She knew as soon as she walked in the door it was bad news. “What?” she demanded of Alex, bypassing the customary greetings, and ignoring me altogether.

Alex directed her to the sofa and sat down behind the desk. Would she like something to drink? Thanks, no.

“It’s beginning to appear,” he said, “the cup was stolen.”

Her nostrils quivered. “That’s crazy. Hap gave it to me. It was a peace offering after I caught him screwing around. A goddam cup.”

That wasn’t quite the same story she’d told us initially.

“It seems odd,” said Alex. “Ordinarily you’d expect flowers or candy.”

“Yeah. Well, Hap wasn’t your ordinary kind of guy. It was the cup I usually drank out of when I was over there, and he wasn’t going to go out of his way.”

“You drank out of it?” Alex was horrified.

“Yeah. Is that a problem?”

“No.” Alex cast a quick glance my way. “No, not at all.” We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

“I didn’t steal it,” she said. “I asked you not to contact him. Is that what he’s saying?

It’s a lie.” She finally looked over at me. “It’s just like him. Now that he knows it’s worth something, he wants it back.”

“Hap doesn’t know anything,” Alex said smoothly. “Hap isn’t the problem.”

“Who is?” she demanded.

“There’s a fair chance that Hap didn’t have legitimate ownership.”

“You mean Hap stole it from someone? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Not Hap. Probably his father.”

Color flowed into her cheeks. “Maybe you should just give it back to me and we’ll forget the whole thing.”

“We can do that, if you like. But the person we think was the original owner knows that we know where it is. I expect she’ll be taking action.”

“Thanks. You’ve been a big help, Mr. Benedict. Now please give me my cup.”

Alex’s tone never changed: “In order to be able to get it back, though, the other party will have to be able to establish ownership. I don’t know whether she can do that.”

Amy stared at Alex. “Please get me the cup.”

He sighed. “Have it your way, if you must. But it’s a mistake.” He excused himself and left the office. Amy sat stiff as a board.

“We can probably arrange a finder’s fee,” I said.

She nodded violently.

“We really had no choice,” I continued. That was hedging a bit, but there was some truth to it.

She was on the verge of tears. “Just leave me alone.”

Alex came back with the cup, showed it to her and packed it in a container. “You won’t want to let anything happen to it, Amy.”

“I’ll take care of it. Have no fear.”

“Good.” She got up, and he opened the door for her. “I suspect you’ll be hearing from the police.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I don’t feel very good about that,” I told him, when she’d gone.

“The law is what it is, Chase. These things happen.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if we’d not poked our noses into it.”

He took a deep breath. “Our code of ethics requires us to look into the source of anything that seems doubtful. If we start moving stolen merchandise around, we become liable. Suppose we’d sold it to somebody, then Ms. Cable showed up.”

“She’d never have known.”

“It would have been on the open market, Chase. She might have found out.” He poured two cups of coffee and handed me one. “No. We do things by the book.” He used a tone indicating that part of the conversation was over. “I was looking at your interview with Delia Cable.”

“-And?”

“I’ve done some research on them. The parents. You know what they were doing for income after they left Survey?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“Nothing. Margaret had an inheritance that left her independent.”

“Must have been considerable if they could afford skiing vacations and flights to God-knows-where.”

“Apparently, it was. She came into it early in the marriage. They were able to do whatever they wanted. And in the end they left Delia pretty well provided for.”

“Okay. Is this leading somewhere?”