Aces and Knaves

looked at Elma, and then at Arrow and me. She said, "Well, I...you know, like you hear things."
    "I'm not going to ask you to name names," Elma said, gently. "And I know you're smart enough to stay away from them. But you're right about Dad."
    "I can vouch for your dad," I said. I told them the story of my meeting with Mr. Wong. Even Arrow hadn't heard this and they all listened intently. Sarah asked whether I'd seen any celebrities at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Elma wanted to know Mr. Wong's opinion about who was behind Ned's murder. I told her that Mr. Wong didn't know.
    I didn't mention the gun or the Chinese lady. Elma hadn't said anything about Ned owning a gun and I didn't know whether the police had told her about it. I knew Arrow hadn't.
    Elma served homemade cherry pie for dessert. I ate two pieces. Then she excused Sarah so that she could do her homework; Sarah went upstairs. Something that was supposed to be music drifted down to us. Arrow and I insisted on doing the dishes while Elma put food away. Elma remarked that I would make somebody a good husband. I said I'd had lots of practice washing glasses when I was a bartender.
    When the dishes were done Elma ushered us into the living room and poured us small glasses of cognac. She sat in her favorite chair, kicked off her shoes and tucked one leg up underneath her. I hadn't been able to do that since I was in eighth grade.
    She said, "I have wracked my brains, but I can't think of anybody who would want Ned dead."
    "Maybe the police will find out who did it," I said, not believing it.
    "You and I both know that that's not likely to happen," Elma said, quietly.
    There was an awkward pause; Arrow and I didn't know what to say. Then Elma said, "But what I want to talk to you about is something that happened back in Scotland when we were young. I don't know the whole story, but it certainly affected the relationship between Ned and James and might even have something to do with James wanting to take over Dionysus."
    "Did you know that James was at the funeral?" I asked.
    "No." Elma and Arrow answered together.
    "He left as soon as it was over."
    "I wish he had stayed and spoken to me," Elma said. She looked hurt.
    "I think he had some business to attend to in LA," I said. Why was I apologizing for James?
    "It sounds just like James," Elma said, dismissing him, abruptly. "But back to my story. When they lived in Scotland, Ned and James hung around with a group of local boys in Wick. They did some crazy things, as boys will. James was the ringleader and Ned was his lieutenant. James invented a game that they played. It was a kind of gambling game. They called it, simply, The Game."
    She took a sip of cognac. I did too. It caressed my taste buds and went down smoothly.
    "Whenever any of the boys wanted any of the others to do something for him, such as fix him up with a girl or cover for him when he had done something wrong, they played The Game. They had a bunch of squares laid out in a field, outlined by stones. The boy who needed the favor would stand at a mark and throw another stone into the squares. That stone was painted white. If it landed in certain squares he won and got the favor; if it landed in others he lost."
    "It sounds vaguely like roulette," I said, "with more of a skill factor."
    "James was very good at physical games as well as mental games," Elma said. "When he played he could always get the stone in the right squares. I don't think he ever lost."
    "What was the penalty for losing?" Arrow asked.
    "Whatever had been agreed on beforehand. Which brings me to the point. One of the boys in the group was killed while scaling a cliff above the North Sea. He fell off and landed on the rocks below. Ned and James were both there when it happened.
    "Neither one of them would talk to me about it, but the rumors said that climbing the cliff was a penalty for losing The Game. I heard that James had chosen the penalty and demanded that it be carried out on this particular day, even though it was foggy and raining and the rocks were slippery. Not long after that Ned and James left Wick forever and came to the States."
    There was silence while we digested what Elma had said. I swallowed the rest of my cognac in one gulp and felt a burning sensation in my throat. Elma and Arrow sipped theirs.
    "Did that incident alter your feelings toward James?" Arrow asked, breaking the silence.
    "Over a period of time that and the fact that he deserted me did," Elma said.