Martha Rattigan, registered nurse, Snake said disgustedly. On substitute duty for Ellen Coombs. She's clean.
And she's twenty-six years old, added Julio. You might have mentioned that she was young before I made a fool of myself. Gemstone was in Nam with Ogden. Does she look old enough to have been in Nam?
I think she's angry.
Wouldn't you be? What's the sandwich?
I was hungry, Snake said defensively. Who gets a chance to eat with these hours?
Teague said, "That's a nice solid lock you got there, Julio. I used to train a wrestler once."
I think you'd better let her up, said Snake. Unless you're enjoying yourself in that position.
I'm tempted. It's the closest I've been to a woman in a while.
Poor darling. Now let the nice lady up and apologize like a good boy.
I've got a better idea. At the count of three I'm going to get to my feet and run like hell. You do the apologizing. One.
"She's pretty cute," Teague observed. "Maybe I shoulda shaved."
Wait, said Snake. What do I tell her?
Tell her I get this way when the moon is full. Two.
But the moon isn't full.
Tell her I'm an escaped mental patient. Tell her I was abused by a nurse when 1 was a child. Tell her I have a thing about uniforms. Tell her anything you please, but I'm out of here. Three.
He jumped to his feet, and ran from the room. He hurried down the stairs, and stopped at the first landing. He heard the nurse's strident voice complaining, and Snake's soothing tone as she tried to calm her. He grinned, took a deep breath, and danced down the rest of the stairs to the parlor. Mrs. Costigan was there, and she wasn't alone. With her was a middle-aged woman with grey hair and a distinguished bearing. Mrs. Costigan was holding something in her hands, and on the floor was a salesman's sample case.
Mrs. Costigan said, "Julio, come and look at this. Isn't it lovely?"
Julio came closer to see what she was holding. "A clock?"
"Not just an ordinary clock."
"Not at all," said the other woman with a practiced smile. "Hello, I'm Stella Amsell, and I represent the Jefferson Timepiece Company of Wilmington, Delaware. What Mrs. Costigan is holding is a faithful reproduction of a Seth Thomas grandmother clock, slightly reduced in size, but otherwise the exact same clock that was first produced in the Thomas factory in 1871. It's a beauty, isn't it?"
"It certainly is." It was about three feet long and a foot high, the body sculpted of gleaming walnut that curved gracefully around the clock itself.
"And it's free," said Mrs. Costigan.
"Actually, it's a promotional gift," said Mrs. Amsell. "Normally, this clock sells for one hundred and thirty-nine ninety-five, but we're giving away a limited number of them to a selected group of people in the community."
"People like me," said Mrs. Costigan, beaming.
"People like you," Mrs. Amsell agreed. "We're hoping that your friends and neighbors will see this handsome reproduction perched on your mantelpiece, and will admire it so much that they will want one for their very own."
Julio said, "That's a lucky break for you, Mrs. C."
"I was picked by the computer. It picked me out of all the other names."
"You and several others," said Mrs. Amsell. "I still have some other stops to make." There were four more clocks in the sample case at her feet.
Snake, Julio called, get down here.
I can't, she answered. I've got my hands full of nurse. She wants to call the cops.
Get your ass down here now. I think I've got Gemstone.
Julio went into the woman's head. He did a deep and careful tap, as comprehensive as the one he had done on the nurse upstairs, and when he was finished he knew as much as he wanted to know about Stella Amsell, aka Gemstone, aka Louise Abruzzi, onetime army nurse.
Snake came into the room, still with her half-eaten sandwich. Mrs. Costigan introduced her to Mrs. Amsell, and showed her the clock.
Snake made the appropriate sounds of admiration, as she said to Julio, Have you tapped her yet?
She's Gemstone, all right. Take a look for yourself.
Snake went in and out of the woman's head. What a sweetheart. The device is in the clock. Did you catch how it works?
It's a sophisticated job. The clock itself is the timer, and it ignites a tube of compressed thermite that throws a jet of flame under high pressure. Should be as hot as a welding torch, burn down anything from a barn to a battleship.
Only if it's undetected.
She has it set for one in the morning.
What next? You going to jump this one, too?
I think we can do better than that. He told her what he had in mind.
You running this job now?
Not at all. You asked me to help, and I'm trying to. What do you think?
I like it, but how do you know she'll react?
She used to be a nurse.
So was Mrs. Costigan. And speaking of nurses…
Not now.
I think you can get to that one upstairs. She was doing a lot of complaining, but I think she enjoyed that roll on the floor.
Not interested.
Really? As I recall, you were doing some complaining, yourself.
Listen, my onetime lover, once this job is over you and I are going to find ourselves a quiet place and we won't come up for air for days.
Well see about that, but right now it's time to get to work.
Make it good.
The other two women were debating where in the parlor to put the clock. Mrs. Amsell was partial to the mantelpiece, while Mrs. Costigan thought that it would look better on the sideboard. She put it there, and both women stepped back to take a better look. As they did, Snake took a bite of her sandwich, and began to chew. Then she stopped chewing. She made a strangled sound deep in her throat, and a look of panic came over her face. She gasped for breath, but no breath came. She made another strangled sound, and the other women turned to stare at her. She put one hand to her throat, and her other hand stretched out in appeal.
Julio shouted, "She's choking."
"The sandwich," said Mrs. Costigan.
"Somebody do something."
"Help her."
"Heimlich maneuver."
"I'll do it, I'm a nurse," said Mrs. Costigan, but Mrs. Amsell was ahead of her. Moving quickly, she got behind Snake, and wrapped her arms under the rib cage. She went through the motions of the Heimlich maneuver once, again, and a third time. A gummy wad of food shot out of Snake's mouth, and fell to the floor. In the scene that followed, Snake sat slumped in a chair, breathing shallowly. Mrs. Amsell received congratulations modestly. Mrs. Costigan cleaned up the mess on the floor. Julio hovered around the edges.
Sipping a glass of water, Snake asked, How was I?
Too good. You had me scared.
Did you make the switch?
Nothing to it. All the eyes were on the star.
"Are you feeling all right?" asked Mrs. Amsell. She and Mrs. Costigan had finally settled on the mantelpiece for the clock.
"Thanks to you. I can't thank you enough."
"Not at all, I was happy to help."
"I could have done it," muttered Mrs. Costigan.
"I'm sure you could have," Mrs. Amsell assured her. "Now, will you look at the time? I'll have to run."
"This must be heavy." Julio picked up the sample case. "I'll give you a hand with it."