Tonight he would be able to sleep.
He paused at the door, looking back. "Good night, Guido," he repeated.
"And thanks again for the song."
7
Two brawls in succession had not tired him; he got more exercise than
that in an evening at the dojo. But the strain of the time before had
had its effect. He woke with a fluttering gasp and saw dust motes dance
in a yellow sunbeam. The clock said almost nine.
"Judas priest," he groaned. Suddenly it came to him that he had left
Guido unguarded. So much for the amateur detective.
He sprang from bed and twirled the radio controls. Having found a
newscast, he went into the bathroom and showered; Trig Yamamura had
beaten that much Zen into his thick head. Through the water noise, he
heard that more money was necessary so the nation's bought friends
would stay bought; that the countries which had simply given their
friendship were being imperialistic, i.e., hanging on to their overseas
property, and therefore unworthy of help; that subversive elements
in the bottle cap industry were to be investigated; and that Mother
Bloor's Old Time Chicken Broth was made by a new scientific process
which "sealed in" tiny drops of chicken goodness. Nothing was said
about another murder.
Kintyre sighed and gave himself time to cook breakfast. If Guido hadn't
been killed last night, he must be safely asleep at home by now. There
were a few hours to spare.
He got into slacks and a gray sports shirt: he hated neckties and had
no reason to wear one today. First, he decided, he must see Trig. After
that he could wind up Bruce's University job. And, yes, he would take a
closer look at the Book of Witches.
Yamamura's office was unimpressively above a drugstore in downtown
Berkeley, a mile or so to walk. Kintyre found him polishing a Japanese
sword. "Hi. Isn't this a nice one?" he boasted mildly. "I picked it up
last week. It's only Tokugawa period, but get the heft, will you?"
Kintyre drew the blade. It came suddenly alive. He returned it with a
faint sense of loss. "I could have used that chopper last night," he
said.
"Yeh." Narrow black eyes drifted across him, the plaster high on his
forehead and the outsize Band-Aid on his left forearm. "What happened,
and is she going to prefer charges?"
"I suspect I met Bruce Lombardi's murderer," said Kintyre. "Or one of
them."
Yamamura slid the sword carefully into its plain wooden scabbard. He
took out his oldest briar and stuffed the bowl. Kintyre had finished
his account by the time the pipe had a full head of steam up.
"--So I came on home."
Yamamura looked irritated. "It's your own stupid fault Larkin got
away," he said. "Obviously you were holding your neck muscles tense.
The stool wouldn't have hurt you to speak of if you weren't." He
waggled his pipestem. "How often must I tell you, _relax_? Or don't you
want to win your black belt?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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