Odd Hours

founded it.”
    “Now I know less than I did.”
    “He went all over the world furthering peace.”
    “And look what a paradise he made for us.”
    “You know, I think you’re a funny kid.”
    “So I’ve been told. Usually with a gun pointed at me.”
    “He negotiated with countries that persecuted Christians.”
    “He wanted to see them persecuted more?”
    “Moran had to negotiate with the persecutors, of course.”
    “I’ll bet they have tough lawyers.”
    “In the process, he made a great many valuable contacts.”
    “You mean dictators, thugs, and mad mullahs.”
    “Precisely. Special friendships. Somewhere along the way, he realized that he was engaged in a lost cause.”
    “Promoting good will.”
    “Yes. He became weary, disillusioned, depressed. Half a million to a million Christians are killed each year in these countries. He was saving five at a time. He was a man who had to have a cause, and a successful cause that made him proud, so he found a new one.”
    “Let me guess—himself.”
    “IIGO had an impeccable reputation as a charity. That made it a perfect conduit for laundering funds for rogue governments…then for terrorists. One thing led to another.”
    “Which led to him shot in the head.”
    “Did you kill him?” he asked.
    “No, no. Shackett did it.”
    “Did you kill Mrs. Moran?”
    “No, no. Reverend Moran killed her.”
    “Then you have killed no one here?”
    “No one,” I confirmed.
    “But aboard the tugboat,” he said.
    “I crawled so he could walk. He walked so you could fly.”
    He frowned. “What does that mean?”
    “I have no idea. I just read it off the refrigerator.”
    He licked his black and crumbling teeth, wincing as he did so.
    “Harry—is your name in fact Harry?”
    “Well, it’s not Todd.”
    “Do you know why I haven’t killed you yet, Harry?”
    “I’ve given you no reason to?” I said hopefully.
    “For one thing, my brother and I have a responsibility here.”
    “The resemblance is remarkable. Are you identical twins?”
    “In this current operation, we represent the nation that produced the bombs.”
    “You will absolutely be able to sell film rights.”
    “To save our own skins, we will have to give them a perfect story believable in every detail.”
    “Oh. Every detail. Well. Talk about a tall order.”
    “If you cooperate fully with those details, I don’t have to kill you. But there’s another thing.”
    “There’s always another thing.”
    He favored me with a sly, calculating look. You might think that was the only look he had, but in fact I had seen one other.
    “I was listening outside the study door long before you saw me,” he said.
    “Your employers get their money’s worth.”
    “I heard something that intrigued me. The pills, Harry.”
    “Oh, my.”
    “I am always looking for a new experience.”
    “Not me. I’ve had too many just tonight.”
    I half expected a coyote with a gun to appear behind the redhead and shoot him dead. Then we’d see how long I could keep myself alive with conversation.
    “My brother won’t touch drugs,” he said.
    “There’s got to be one in every family.”
    “For a while I had a minor problem with methamphetamine.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “But I’m cured now.”
    “I’m glad to hear that.”
    “I do some heroin, but I don’t overdo it.”
    “That’s the key. Moderation.”
    He leaned toward me over the dinette table. I waited for his breath to peel up the Formica.
    He whispered, “Is it true? Pills that, as Shackett said, facilitate psychic powers?”
    “It’s a secret government project.”
    “Isn’t America amazing?”
    “I’ve got a bottle in my car. They’re disguised as aspirin.”
    “You know another reason I haven’t killed you yet, Harry?”
    “I am clueless.”
    “I never caught you once looking at my teeth.”
    “Your teeth? What about your teeth?”
    He grinned broadly at me.
    “So what?” I said. “Some people don’t even have teeth.”
    “You’re a very considerate guy, you know that?”
    I shrugged.
    “No, Harry, you are. People can be cruel.”
    “Tell me about it. I’ve had my own experiences.”
    “You? You’re a pretty good-lookin’ guy.”
    “Well, I compete okay,” I said. “But I don’t mean me. I have a brother, too. Maybe you heard me telling Shackett about him.”
    “No, I must’ve come in after that.”
    “My brother, he’s paraplegic.”
    “Oh, man, that’s a tough one.”
    “And