The Game-Players Of Titan Page 7

  I—touched it, trying to find my purse." She was silent, then.

  By the glare of the dome light, Pete saw the body jammed behind the front seats of the car. It was Luckman; no doubt of it. Even in death, the round, plump-cheeked face was recognizable. It was not ruddy, now. It was, in the artificial light, a pulpy gray.

  "I called the police at once," Carol said, "and arranged to meet them here." Sirens were now audible in the black sky above them, a long way off.

  VIII

  FACING THE members of the group Pretty Blue Fox, Bill Calumine said, "Ladies and gentlemen, Jerome Luckman has been murdered and every one of us is a suspect. That's the situation. There isn't much more I can tell you at this time. Naturally, there will be no Game-playing tonight."

  Silvanus Angst giggled and said, "I don't know who did it, but whoever it is—congratulations." He laughed, waiting for the others to join in.

  "Be quiet," Freya said to him sharply.

  Coloring, Angst said, "But I'm right; it's the best news—"

  "It's not good news that we're under suspicion," Bill Calumine said shortly. "I don't know who did it, or even if any of us did it. And I'm not even sure that it's to our advantage; we may find enormous legal complications in getting back the two California title deeds which we lost to him. I just don't know; it's too soon. What we need is legal advice."

  "Right," Stuart Marks said, and around the room the other members of the group nodded. "We should jointly hire an attorney, a good one."

  "To help protect us," Jack Blau said, "and to advise us how best to get those two deeds back."

  "A vote," Walt Remington said.

  Irritably, Bill Calumine said, "We don't need to vote; it's obvious we need an attorney. The police will be here any

  time, now. Let me ask this," he glanced around the room, "if one of you did it—and I stress the word if—does that person want to declare himself now?"

  There was silence. No one moved.

  With a brief smile, Calumine said, "That takes care of that, anyhow. If one of us killed Luckman he's not going to say."

  "Would you want him to?" Jack Blau asked.

  "Not particularly," Calumine said. He turned to the vidphone. "If no one objects I'll call Bert Earth, my attorney in Los Angeles, and see if he can get right up here. All right?" Again he glanced around.

  No one objected.

  "All right, then," Calumine said, and dialed.

  Schilling said, "Whoever did it, for whatever motives," his voice was harsh, "putting it in Carol Holt Garden's car was a vicious and brutal act. Wholly inexcusable."

  Freya smiled. "We can condone the murder but not putting the body in Mrs. Garden's car. An odd era we're living in."

  "You know I'm right," Schilling said to her.

  Freya shrugged.

  Into the vidphone, Bill Calumine was saying, "Give me Mr. Barth; it's an emergency." He turned toward Carol, who sat by Pete and Joe Schilling on the large center sofa. "I'm particularly thinking of your protection, Mrs. Garden, in our hiring of legal counsel. Since it was found in your car."

  "Carol's no more a suspect than anyone else," Pete said. At least, he thought, I hope not. Why should she be? After all, she notified the police as soon as she found it.

  Lighting a cigarette, Schilling said to him, "So I arrived too late. I'll never have my opportunity to get back at Lucky Luckman."

  Stuart Marks murmured, "Unless you already have."

  "Meaning what?" Schilling said, turning toward him and surveying him.

  "Hell, what do you think I mean?" Marks said.

  On the vidscreen the firm, elongated features of the Los Angeles attorney Bert Barth had formed and Barth was already in the process of advising the group. "They'll come as

  a team," he was explaining to Bill Calumine. "One vug, one Terran; that's customary in capital crimes. I'll get up there as soon as I can but it'll take me at least half an hour. Be prepared for them both to be excellent telepaths; that's customary, too. But remember: evidence obtained through telepathic scanning is not legal in a Terran court of law; that's been solidly established."

  Calumine said, "It sounds to me like a violation of the provision in the U. S. Constitution against a citizen being forced to testify against himself."

  "That, too," Barth said, nodding. Now the whole group was silent, listening to the conversation between Calumine and their attorney. "The police telepaths can scan you and determine if you're guilty or innocent, but other evidence has to be produced for it to stand up in court. They will use their telepathic faculties to the hilt however; you can be sure of that."

  The Rushmore Effect of the apartment now chimed and then announced, "Two persons are outside wishing to enter."

  "Police?" Stuart Marks asked.

  "One Titanian," the Rushmore Effect said, "and one Terran. Are you police?" It was addressing the visitors. "They are police," it informed the group. "Shall I admit them?"

  "Have them come on up," Bill Calumine said, after an exchange of glances with his attorney.

  Barth continued, "What your people must be prepared for is this. By law, the authorities can disband your group until this crime is solved. In principle, it's supposed to act as a determent to future crimes committed by Game-playing groups. Actually, it works out more as a simple punitive gesture, punishing everyone involved."

  Dismally, Freya said, "Disband the group—oh no!"

  "Sure," Jack Blau said grimly. "Didn't you know that? It's the first thing I thought of when I heard about Luck-man's death; I knew they'd disband us." He glared around the room, as if seeking for the person responsible for the crime.

  "Well, maybe they won't," Walt Remington said.

  There was a knock at the apartment door itself. The police.

  "I'll stay on the vidphone," Bert Barth offered, "instead of trying to make it up there. I can probably advise you better this way." From the vidscreen he looked toward the door.

  Freya opened the door. There stood a lean, tall young Terran and, beside him, a vug. The Terran said, "I'm Wade Hawthorne." He produced a black-backed leather wallet, which contained their identification; the vug merely rested in its customary fashion, overtaxed by the ascent to this floor. Stitched to it was the name-thread E. B. Black.

  "Come in," Bill Calumine said, striding toward the door. "I'm the group's spinner, Bill Calumine's my name." He held the door wide, and the two officers entered the apartment, the vug E. B. Black coming first.

  "We wish first to talk to Mrs. Carol Holt Garden," the vug thought-propagated to the group. "Since the corpse was found in her car."

  "I'm Carol Garden." She rose to her feet, stood steady and calm as the team of police turned to face her.

  "Do we have your permission to scan you telepathically?" Wade Hawthorne asked her.

  She glanced at the vidscreen.

  "Tell them yes," Bert Barth said. To the two police he said, "I'm Barth, their legal counselor, in Los Angeles. I've advised my clients, this group, Pretty Blue Fox, to cooperate with you fully. They will all be open for telepathic scanning, but they understand—and I know you do, too— that any evidence you obtain in this fashion can't be entered in a court of law."

  "That's correct," Hawthorne said, and walked over to Carol.

  The vug slid slowly after him, and there was silence.

  "It appears to be as Mrs. Garden related on the phone," the vug E. B. Black said, presently. "She discovered the corpse in mid-flight and at once notified us." To its companion the vug continued, "I find no indication that Mrs. Garden had any prior knowledge of the corpse's presence in her car. She does hot appear to have had anything to do with Luckman prior to that discovery. Do you agree?"

  "I agree," Hawthorne said slowly. "But—" He glanced

  around the room. "There is something in connection with her husband, Mr. Peter Garden. I'd like to examine you next, Mr. Garden."

  Pete, his throat dry, rose to his feet. "Can I talk with our attorney a moment in private?" he said
to the policeman Hawthorne.

  "No," Hawthorne said in a pleasant, even voice. "He's already advised you on this matter; I see no reason to permit you to—"

  "I'm aware of what his advice is," Pete said. "I'm interested in learning the consequences if I were to refuse." He walked across the room to the vidphone. "Well?" he said to Barth.

  "You'll become a prime suspect," Barth said. "But it's your right; you can refuse. I'd advise you not to, because if you do they'll never stop hounding you. They'll scan you sooner or later anyhow."

  Pete said, "I have an aversion to having my mind read." Once they discovered his amnesia, he realized, they would be certain he had killed Luckman. And perhaps he had. The obvious was confronting him brutally.

  "What's your decision?" Hawthorne asked him.

  "You've probably begun to scan me already," Pete said. Barth of course was right; if he refused they would scan him anyhow, if not now, then some other time. "Go ahead," he said, and felt sick and weary. He walked over to the two of them and stood with his hands in his pockets.

  Time passed. No one spoke.

  "I've picked up the matter which Mrs. Garden was thinking about," the vug thought-radiated to its companion. "Have you?"

  "Yes," Hawthorne said, nodding. To Pete he said, "You have no actual memory of today, do you? You've reconstructed it from remarks made by your auto-auto or at least by alleged remarks."

  "You can question the Rushmore of my car," Pete said.

  "It informed you," Hawthorne said slowly, "that you paid a visit to Berkeley, today. But you don't actually know if it was to see Luckman, and if so, whether you did see him or

  not. I can't imagine why this block in your mind exists; was it self-imposed? And if so, how?"

  "I can't tell you the answer to that," Pete said. "As you can certainly read for yourself."

  Hawthorne said drily, "Anyone intending to commit a capital crime would of course know that telepaths would be brought in; he would have to deal with that, and nothing could possibly benefit him more than a segment of amnesia entering to block out that period of his activities." To E. B. Black he said, "I would presume we should take Mr. Garden into custody."

  The vug answered, "Perhaps. But we must examine the others, as a matter of course." To the group it declared, "You are ordered to disband as a Game-playing organization; from this moment on it is illegal for any of you to come together for the purpose of playing Bluff. This ruling will hold until the murderer of Jerome Luckman has been found."

  They turned, instinctively, to the vidscreen.

  Barth said, "It's legal. As I warned you." He seemed resigned.

  "Speaking for the group," Bill Calumine said to the two police, "I protest this."

  Hawthorne shrugged. He did not seem particularly worried by Calumine's protest.

  "I have picked up something unusual," the vug said to its companion. "Please scan the rest of the group as a whole and see if you agree."

  Glancing at him, Hawthorne nodded; he walked slowly about the room, from person to person, and then back to the vug. "Yes," he said. "Mr. Garden is not the only person here unable to recall what he did today. In all, six persons in this group show similar lapses of memory. Mrs.' Remington, Mr. Gaines, Mr. Angst, Mrs. Angst, Mrs. Calumine, and Mrs. Garden. None of them have intact memories."

  Astonished, Pete Garden looked around the room, and saw by the expressions on the faces of the other five that it was true. They were in the same situation that he was. And probably, like himself, each of them had believed his situation unique. So none of them had discussed it.

  "I can see," Hawthorne said, "that we're going to have

  difficulty establishing the identity of the murderer of Mr. Luckman, in view of this. However, I'm sure it can be done; it merely will take longer." He glared at the group with displeasure.

  In the kitchen of the con-apt, Janice Remington and Freya Gaines fixed coffee. The others remained in the living room with the team of detectives.

  "How was Luckman killed?" Pete asked Hawthorne.

  "By a heat-needle, evidently. We're having an autopsy performed, of course; we'll have certain knowledge then."

  "What the hell is a 'heat-needle'?" Jack Blau asked.

  Hawthorne said, "A side-arm left over from the war; they were all called in, but a large number of servicemen kept theirs and we find them being used every now and then. It employs a laser beam and is accurate from quite a distance, assuming there is no intervening structure."

  Coffee was brought; Hawthorne accepted a cup and seated himself. His companion, the vug E. B. Black, declined.

  On the vidscreen, the miniature image of their attorney Bert Barth said, "Mr. Hawthorne, whom do you intend to hold? All six persons with defective memories? I'd like to know now because I'm going to have to ring off this line, soon; I have other commitments."

  "It seems probable we'll hold the six and release the others. Do you find that objectionable, Mr. Barth?" Hawthorne seemed amused.

  Mrs. Angst broke in, "They're not going to hold me, not without a charge."

  "They can hold you—anybody—seventy-two hours at least," Barth said. "For observation. There are several blanket charges they can bring in. So don't fight that, Mrs. Angst; after all, a man has been killed. This is a serious matter."

  "Thanks for the help," Bill Calumine said to Barth, a little bit ironically, it seemed to Pete. "I'd like to ask you one more thing; can you begin work getting the stricture on our meeting for Game-playing removed?"

  "I'll see what I can do," Barth said. "Give me some time. There was a case last year in Chicago. A group there was dissolved under the same statute for several weeks and

  naturally they took it to court. As I recall the group won its case; anyhow I'll look into it." Barth rang off.

  "We're lucky," Jean Blau said, "that we've got legal representation." She looked frightened; going over to her husband she stood close by him.

  Silvanus Angst said, "I still say we're better off; Luckman would have wiped us out." He grinned at the two police. "Maybe I did it. Like you say, I don't remember. Frankly, if I did it I'm glad." He did not appear to have any fear of the police. Pete envied him.

  "Mr. Garden," Hawthorne said, "I catch a very interesting thought from you. Early this morning you were warned by someone—I can't catch by whom—that you were about to commit an act of violence having to do with Luckman. Am I correct?" Rising, he walked over to Pete. "Would you mind thinking as clearly as possible about this?" His tone was informal.

  Pete said, "This is a violation of my rights." He wished that the attorney were still on the vidphone; as soon as Barth had rung off the attitude of the police had stiffened. The group was now at their mercy.

  "Not precisely," Hawthorne said. "We're governed by many regulations; our pairing off bi-racially is to protect the rights of those we investigate. Actually we're hampered by such an arrangement."

  Bill Calumine said, "Did both of you agree on shutting down our group? Or was that its idea?" He jerked his head in the direction of E. B. Black.

  "I fully concur in the action of banning Pretty Blue Fox," Hawthorne said. "Despite what your inborn prejudices may - tell you."

  Pete said, "You're wasting your time baiting him for his association with the vugs." It was obvious that Hawthorne was used to it by now. He probably encountered it everywhere the two detectives went.

  Coming over beside Pete, Joe Schilling said softly, "I'm just not satisfied with the attitude of that Bert Barth. He's giving in too easily; a good aggressive lawyer would stand up for us more."

  "Perhaps so," Pete said. It had seemed that way to him, too.

  "I have my own attorney back in New Mexico; his name is Laird Sharp. I've known him professionally and socially a long time; I'm familiar with his way of operating and it's in great contrast to Barth's. And since they're evidently going to book you I'd like to see you get him instead of this attorney of Calumine's. I know he could get you right out."

  "The pr
oblem," Pete said, "is that military law still prevails in many situations." The Concordat between Terrans and Titanians had been a military one. He felt pessimistic. "If the police want to take us in they probably can," he said to Schilling. Something was terribly wrong. Something with enormous power was in operation; it had acted against six members of the group already, and who knew what its limits were? If it could deplete them of their recent memories—

  The vug E. B. Black said, "I agree with you, Mr. Garden. It is unique and disconcerting. Up to now we have not run into anything exactly like it. Individuals, to avoid being scanned, have procured electroshock and managed to obliterate memory-cells. But that does not seem to be the case here."

  "How can you be sure of that?" Stuart Marks said. "Maybe these six people acted together to get electroshock equipment; they could have done it through almost any psychiatrist and psychiatric hospital. The machinery is readily available." He glowered at Pete hostilely. "Look what you've done. Because of you our group has been banned!"

  "Because of me?" Pete said.

  "Because of the six of you." Marks looked sullenly around at all of them. "Obviously, one or more of you killed Luck-man. You should have looked into the legal situation before you did it."

  Mrs. Angst said, "We did not kill Luckman."

  "You don't know that," Stuart Marks said. "You don't remember. Right? So don't try to have it both ways, remembering that you didn't do it and not remembering that you did."

  Bill Calumine spoke up; his voice was icy. "Marks, damn

  it, you have no moral right for acting this way. What do you mean by accusing your fellow group-members? I'm going to insist that we continue to act together and not let ourselves be split this way. If we start to fight among ourselves and begin accusing each other, the police will be able to—" He broke off.

  "Be able to what?" Hawthorne said mildly. "Be able to locate the slayer? That's all we intend to do and you know it."

  Calumine said to the group, "I still insist we should stick together, those with intact memories and those without; we're still a group, and it's up to the police to voice the accusations, not us." To Stuart Marks he said, "If you do that again I'll ask for a vote to have you dropped from the group."