[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"Talk is cheap," Lucy said. "We want him back. We miss him. We need him." Had Paul really done
anything at all? Or was he just talking to make her feel better? She couldn't tell, and not knowing was a
torture in itself.
He said, "I did find out your father's okay. They're holding him, yeah, but they haven't hurt him or anything."
"That's good," Lucy said. Again, she wondered if she could believe him. She wanted to. She wanted to very
badly. That only made her more suspicious. Angrily, she demanded, "How do you know?"
"Captain Horvath found out for me," Paul answered. Now Lucy took him seriously. Everybody in
Chinatown knew, or knew of, Fatty Horvath. Paul Gomes went on, "It's about even money whether the
Germans come after my father and me next."
"You?" Lucy stared. Up there on top of that funny bridge, the idea seemed even more ridiculous than it
would have somewhere else. "Why would they want to come after you? With the stuff Curious Notions
has, you must be the goose that laid the golden eggs for them."
"Yeah, right," Paul said tightly. Lucy hadn't heard that slang phrase before, but she had no trouble figuring
out what it meant. Her cheeks got hot. Paul added, "You remember what happened to the goose that laid
the golden eggs, don't you?"
Till Paul reminded her, Lucy hadn't remembered. Now she did. They'd killed the goose, trying to figure out
where the eggs came from. She said, "Is that why you people named my father? To get the
Feldgendarmerie off your own necks?"
Paul nodded. He looked out across the garden, not at her. "That's right," he said, and then, after a small but
noticeable pause, "I'm sorry."
By the way he said those last two words, they were an enormous gift to Lucy a gift she probably didn't
deserve. But he had said them. And, by the look on his face, he knew he couldn't take them back. Lucy
said, "Sorry doesn't do anything. You talked to this lawyer fellow, and you talked to Fatty Horvath. But
what happens if they can't get Father loose?"
"What do you want us to do then?" Paul asked. "Bust him out of jail?"
He plainly meant it for a joke. But Lucy found herself nodding. "Yes. That seems fair, doesn't it? He's in
there on account of you." She studied him carefully. She didn't think she'd ever looked at anyone like that
before. And she found herself nodding again. "I think maybe you can, too. With all those strange things you
sell in that shop, who knows what else you've got in there?"
Now Paul's eyes snapped back to her. What was on his face was shock shock and maybe fear to go with
it. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said slowly.
The way he said it convinced Lucy he was lying. "Oh, don't I? What would happen if the Germans really
tore that place apart? What would they find? How much trouble would you people be in?"
Paul turned white. Lucy had heard people talk about that, but she'd never seen it herself till now. She knew
she'd made a hit. She just didn't know where. He hung on to the rail for a moment to steady himself. "We
wouldn't be," he answered. "We'd jump in a hole and pull it in after us."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy asked. "There's nowhere in the world the Germans can't come after
you. Well, maybe the middle of China, but you wouldn't fit in there very well."
He only shrugged. He didn't say anything more. By his sour, unhappy smile, he'd already said too much.
Somehow, though, Lucy didn't think he'd been bragging or just plain lying. If he said he had a way to get
free of the Germans, he probably did. But she couldn't imagine what it was.
"Who are you, Paul Gomes?" But that wasn't the right question. Lucy realized as much as soon as she
asked it. What she really wanted to know was, What are you? On the other hand, she didn't get an answer
even to the question she asked.
"You know what you are, Paul?" his father said. "You're an idiot." Paul gave back a sour smile. "I love you,
too, Dad." "An idiot," his father repeated, relishing the word. "You think this local girl is cute, so you're
ready to move heaven and earth to get her out of a scrape. If that doesn't make you an idiot, kindly tell me
what would."
Do I think Lucy Woo is cute? Paul wondered. He shrugged. He probably did. She wasn't gorgeous or
anything, but she wasn't bad. Is that why I'm trying to help her, though? That was a different question. He [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]