"Ask him," Horner said, pointing at the bound Overman, "ask him
about Jones Beach." Horner smiled grimly, waiting. His own memory of
Overman's life was only fair, and spotty, and certainly not very good
on particular details. Overman's of his would be the same.
"What happened at Jones Beach before we were married?" Jane asked
Overman.
"Twenty years ago? How the hell should I remember?"
"_He_ remembered," said Jane in a bewildered voice, pointing at Horner.
"Ask him about our honeymoon," Horner suggested.
"Where did we go on our honeymoon?"
"Er, Atlantic City," Overman-in-Horner said triumphantly.
"How long did we stay?"
"Two weeks."
"Who," Jane asked, "was in the hotel room next door?"
"Who remembers a thing like that?" Overman said after a while.
Horner grinned. "I do," he said, and named some old friends of theirs.
Jane made no comment, but asked other questions. They became
increasingly intimate, and Overman could not answer most of them. But
Horner, of course, answered them all.
Finally, Jane said, "I--I don't know how it can be." Her eyes were
filling with tears as she looked down at Overman. "You--you're my
husband. You should be. But you don't know the things he would know.
It's impossible, but you're not--not--"
Her voice trailed off. She turned to Horner. "While you--you're just
a boy. You don't look anything like my husband, but you know all the
things he knows."
* * * * *
Quickly, Horner told her. Overman tried to confound the incredible
story with acid comments on its impossibility, but Jane heard Horner's
words and, when he had finished, she went to him slowly and untied
him. She looked at him and said, also slowly, "You--you're my husband.
I know you are. I know it now. But you're young. I can't keep you,
saddled--"
"That's just what he said," Horner said.
"But you'll want your freedom, won't you?"
"Hell," said Horner, "no. I have a better idea. Bring the car around,
Janey. We have a lot to do."
"But this man who looks like--"
"He comes with us," Horner said. He chafed his wrists and ankles and
went inside quickly and soon returned with a Luger pistol, a memento
of his Army days in Germany during the Second World War. "Get up," he
told Overman, then realized he could not. "Untie him," he told Jane.
She did so. Overman got slowly to his feet. "Try anything and you'll
regret it," Horner said. "Don't go for the car, Janey. We'll all three
go for it together, Overman in the middle."
Horner rammed the Luger into his jacket pocket and took hold of
Overman's arm, steering him for the door. They went into the hall
together, and into the elevator. Jane flanked Overman nervously on the
other side. The elevator was not empty. A couple named Shapiro from the
sixth floor was in it and Jane smiled at them. Horner jabbed the Luger
against Overman's ribs and Overman gave them a weak smile too. Horner
nodded at them in a friendly fashion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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