The Key to Midnight

nothing.
        ''There's something wrong with me, Alex. I've always felt so hollow, empty… detached. Something happened to me a long time ago, something to make me the way I am. I'm not just… not just making excuses for myself.'
        'I realize that. God knows what they did to you - or why.'
        'I have to find out what it was.'
        'You will.'
        'I've got to know his name.'
        'Whose name?' he asked.
        'The man with the mechanical hand.'
        'We'll find him.'
        'He's dangerous,' she said sleepily.
        'So am I.'
        Joanna slid down on the bed until she was flat on her back. 'Damn it, I don't want to go to sleep yet.'
        He took one of the pillows from beneath her head and drew the covers to her chin.
        Her voice was growing thick. 'There was a room… a room that stank of antiseptics… maybe a hospital somewhere.'
        'We'll find it.'
        'I want to hire you to help me.'
        'I've already been hired. Senator Chelgrin paid me a small fortune to find his daughter. It's about time I gave him something for his money.'
        'You'll come back tomorrow?'
        'Yes. Whenever you want.'
        'One o'clock.'
        'I'll be here.'
        Her eyes fluttered, closed. 'What if I'm not… not awake by then?'
        'I'll wait.'
        She was silent so long that he was sure she had fallen asleep. Then she said, '1 was so scared.'
        'Everything will be fine. It's okay.'
        'I'm glad you're here, Alex.'
        'So am I.'
        She turned on her side.
        She slept.
        The only sound was the faint hum of the electric clock.
         Neither of us used the word 'love,' Alex thought.
        After a while he kissed her forehead and left the room.

----

    22
        
        Mariko was sitting on the living-room couch. Mifuni had gone,
        'The sedative worked,' Alex said.
        ''The doctor said she'll sleep five or six hours. He'll be back this afternoon.'
        'You'll stay here with her?'
        'Of course.' She rose from the couch and straightened the collar of her shapeless brown robe. 'Would you like tea?'
        'Thank you. That would be nice.'
        While they sat at the small kitchen table, sipping hot tea and nibbling almond wafers, Alex told Mariko Inamura about the Chelgrin case, about the burglar he had encountered in his hotel suite, and about the man who had followed him in the Gion a few hours ago.
        'Incredible,' she said. 'But why? Why would they change the girl's name… change her complete set of memories… and bring her here to Kyoto?'
        'I haven't any idea. But I'll find out. Listen, Mariko, I've told you all this so you'll understand there are dangerous people manipulating Joanna. I don't know what they're trying to cover up, but it's obvious that the stakes are high. Tonight when you opened the door for me downstairs, you didn't ask who was there. You've got to be more careful.'
        'But I was expecting you.'
        'From now on, always expect the worst. Do you have a gun?'
        Frowning, she said, 'We can't protect her every minute. What about when she appears on stage? She's a perfect target then.'
        'If I have anything to say about it, she won't perform again until this is settled.'
        'But in spite of everything they've done to her, they've never hurt her physically.'
        'If they know she's investigating her past and might learn enough to expose them, God knows what they'll do.'
        She stared into her tea for a long moment, as if she had the power to read the future in that brew. 'All right, Alex-san. I'll be more careful.'
        'Good.'
        He finished his tea while she telephoned the taxi company.
        At the downstairs door, as he stepped into the street, Mariko said, 'Alex-san, you won't be sorry that you helped her.'
        'I didn't expect to be.' 'You'll find what you've been looking for in life.'
        He raised his eyebrows. 'I thought I'd found it already.'
        'Men are the same.'
        'As what?'
        'Men of all cultures, societies, races are equally capable of being such fools.'
        'We pride ourselves on our dependability,' he said with a small smile.
        'You need Joanna as much as she needs you.'
        'You've told me that before.'
        'Have I?'
        'You know you have.'
        She smiled mischievously, bowed to him, and assumed an air