Rick nodded. "Fuck, is that supposed to be some sort of surprise ending? I could have told you that."
"I hope you don't mind but I'm also going to take some of your toys with me," Rick said, motioning in the direction of my study. "You've got some of the neatest stuff in there. I love that Klingon warship, and you've got some terrific little Star Wars spaceships." He came over, looked at me. "Can I ask you a question?"
Still taped into the chair, I raised my head feebly. "Go ahead."
"Which do you think is better? Star Trek or Star Wars?"
"I don't know," I said, looking at Sarah, tied up in her chair across from me on the other side of the kitchen table, who'd already seen too much to be surprised by this line of questioning. "Which do you think is better?"
"I think Star Trek."
"Me, too."
"Really? You know why I like it better? More chicks in little short outfits. At least in the original one. The Next Generation, they toned it down a bit. Until that Voyager show, and the Borg chick, with the really tight costume. Man."
Suddenly, as if he'd forgotten something, he went back into the study. A moment later he returned to the kitchen holding a model of the saucerlike spacecraft from Lost in Space, the Jupiter 2. Actually, he was flying it more than holding it, carrying it a couple of inches away from his eyes. One was closed, the other squinting, like he was picturing the craft zooming through the galaxy.
"Okay, I'm taking this, too, but there's a part that's broken off it."
"It's the door," I said. "It needs to be glued back on. It's on the shelf right where the model was."
And then he was gone, looking for it. He returned with the model ship, the door, and a small container of liquid plastic cement he'd found on my modeling table.
"I want you to fix it," he said. "I was never very good at this sort of thing. I always put on too much glue and ruin it."
"I'm kind of tied up at the moment."
"Okay," he said. "I'm going to let you use your right hand." He began to unwind the duct tape that held my right wrist to my chair.
"I'm gonna need both hands," I said. "If I'm going to glue it and then hold the door in place."
"I look stupid to you? You can do it with one hand. I'll help you, and then we're going to talk about finding that ledger for Mr. Greenway."
He unscrewed the cap on the liquid cement. With my free hand I set the door on its back side so I could apply cement to the parts that would come in contact with the ship.
"How about this," I said to Rick as I dabbed a bit of glue onto the door. "I'll tell you more about that ledger, but you have to let me tell you about another story I'm working on first."
"What? Like another science fiction book?"
"No, this one's a bit different. It's sort of a mystery, about a double-cross."
"Oh yeah? I always like those. Like you think the guy is your friend, but then you find out he's your enemy."
"This one's about a guy who does all the dirty work for his boss, takes all the risks, but gets shafted in the end."
Rick eyed me warily. "Go on."
"He even kills for his boss, that way the boss is protected, you know? There's some distance between him and the crime, so that if he has to, he can deny knowing anything about it."
Rick frowned. "Doesn't sound like something that would interest me."
"No? It should. I'm basing it on you. Here, press the door into place, now hold it for a few seconds till it sets. In this story, you're the central character. You're the one getting double-crossed."
"Sure I am."
"You know what your boss Greenway said to me - I don't even know how long ago, I got no idea what time it is now. But earlier tonight, he said something very interesting to me."
"What he say?"
"He said, 'What if we gave you Rick?' "
Rick ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth. "Whaddya mean, what if he gave you Rick?"
"He said, 'What if we give you Rick for the murders of Spender and Stefanie? We get him to take the fall for that, and then we give you whatever you want.' "
"That's bullshit."
"It didn't sound like bullshit a little while ago. You see, I may not look like I'm in a good bargaining position right now, but a couple of hours ago, I kind of had the jump on your boss and his friend Carpington, and they were ready to say anything to put themselves in the clear. Greenway said you're a hothead, that you killed those people, and he's prepared to give you up to save himself. He's in some pretty deep shit now. This whole thing's falling apart around him, and if he can keep his ass out of jail by giving you to the cops, I think that's what he's going to do. And you know Roger will go along. That guy cries for long-distance commercials."
"You're lying."