Double Take

CHAPTER 29

Cheney parked the Audi on the narrow curb at the base of a dozen steps that led upward to an eagle’s-nest house.

They walked up the thick old wooden steps to Wagner’s house, skinny trees and brush pressing in on either side—it felt like a small wilderness, dense and wild.

The front door was ajar and so they walked into a small, dimly lit entrance hall. Cheney called out, “Is anyone here?”

“A moment,” a man’s shout came from upstairs. “Go into the living room, on the right.”

The small front room was all windows that looked toward the bay—the tip of Belvedere, Angel Island, even Alcatraz was in view. Beanbags, all of them bright red, were scattered throughout the room, some in small groupings, some alone. The walls were bare, no bookshelves, no photos, nothing but those dozen or so bright red beanbags.

In less than a minute, Bevlin Wagner walked into the living room, wearing only a thick white towel knotted below his waist.

“Hi, Bevlin,” Julia said, evidently finding nothing strange in this.

He walked up to her, leaned down, and kissed her mouth, then straightened to study her face. “You look beautiful, Julia. I was so worried about you yesterday, you were so pale, so frightened.”

She nodded. “I’m fine now. Thank you for taking the time to speak to Agent Stone.”

“No problem.” Bevlin, the towel loosening a bit around his waist, nearly mesmerizing Cheney, said, “Agent Stone. I’m pleased you’re keeping Julia safe.”

When in psychic Rome, Cheney thought, and shook the man’s hand. He wanted to tug on the towel just to see what he’d do. Bevlin Wagner was dead white, and his burning dark eyes and long black hair made for a compelling contrast. He had very little body hair.

“I was in the shower, didn’t want to keep you waiting.”

“You’re always in the shower, Bevlin,” Julia said. “Go put some clothes on. We’ll be right here when you get back. I promise I won’t let this dangerous FBI agent search the beanbags.”

Those soul-probing dark eyes hit Cheney’s face square on. “I didn’t have time to wash my hair,” Bevlin said.

“It looks clean enough, don’t worry,” Julia said. “Get dressed.”

Bevlin left the room, whistling Bolero, if Cheney wasn’t mistaken.

“He does this exhibitionist thing often?”

“Oh yes. It’s sort of his trademark. I don’t know why, since he isn’t all that remarkable a specimen.”

“Has he ever lost the towel?”

“Yes. He paraded out with his towel once when I arrived before August did. The towel hooked on a doorknob and whipped right off. I looked him straight in the face and told him I knew a really good personal trainer.”

“He wasn’t insulted?”

“Didn’t seem to be. He said personal trainers were too hairy except for the women, and they scared him.”

Cheney laughed. “What’s the deal with all these red beanbags? How long has he been doing this?”

“Ever since I’ve known him, and I don’t have a clue.”

Bevlin Wagner came back into the room, wearing old gray sweats, his long narrow feet bare. “Agent Stone, I know you’re here to question me about the attempts on Julia’s life.”

Cheney said, “Yes, I appreciate your time. Mainly, I’d like to ask you about Dr. August Ransom’s murder. There seems to be little doubt that the attempts on Julia’s life and his murder are connected.”

“I don’t know anything about any of it, I’m afraid.” He looked over at Julia and blessed her with his sweeping intense look. “If only I did know something—are the two really related? Okay, maybe, maybe. Wallace and I wondered about that, of course. I must tell you this, Agent Stone, when August visited me last night, he told me he really doesn’t like you, that you might be dangerous, and I should be careful not to anger you. He’s displeased about your being with Julia. He didn’t say so, but I’d wager he’d be much happier if she were with me.”

Julia said, “Bevlin, there is no earthly—or unearthly—reason for August to be concerned about Agent Stone. He’s trying to find out who garroted him, after all. Despite what Wallace says, I think August would want his murderer brought to justice.”

Cheney said, “Bevlin, what you said, it is what August thinks, not what you think, is that right?”

Bevlin walked to the huge front window. “Of course it’s what August thinks.” He paused. “The fog’s finally lifting. I have three clients today. The first one a batty old doll who wants to give all her money to a nice-looking young man who says he’ll set up a trust for her. There’s a big commission for him, naturally. God knows what’s in the fine print.” He shuddered.

Julia asked, “What is your role in it?”

“I’ve already approached her husband, so to speak. His name was Ralph, owned a large piece of Sausalito at one time. He asked me to call his son, try to keep her from losing every dime he earned. Said those dimes had been too hard to come by to hand them over to a smarmy, good-looking crook. Ralph said he heard she’s not going to be joining him for a number of years yet, so she’ll need all the money he left her. I called the son a little while ago.” He shrugged again. “He was foaming at the mouth. Maybe some good will come out of it, we’ll see. Hey, Agent Stone, maybe you could go pop this crook.”

Cheney found himself drawn in, believing for a moment that this very strange man had indeed spoken to Ralph, a very dead person.

He couldn’t help himself, whatever Julia thought. “Did you really dial up the dead husband, Mr. Wagner, give him the lowdown?”

“Ralph? Well, not really,” Bevlin said. “It was one of my guides who tugged on me, told me to talk to this old geezer, he needed to know what was going on.”

“Guide?”

“Yes, my guide. I am speaking English, not Croatian, Agent Stone. All of us have guides, all of us. But some of us are too unaware to even recognize that they’re there. I happen to have a good dozen of them, all for different matters, you see. One knows finance, one speaks beautiful Hindi, one has perfect pitch, is very proud of that and is often telling me what he’s listening to at the moment, and the key that’s being played—but he’s not much use, as you can imagine. There’s this one guide, all he can talk about is Egypt, about all the time he spent in the library at Alexandria.

“My best guide is a real schmoozer, can chat up those who have passed over, tell me what’s in their hearts.”

“Do your guides have names?”

Bevlin frowned. “Do you know,” he said slowly, bending those dark eyes on Cheney’s face, “I’ve never thought to ask and they’ve never offered. They’re all very individual, really. I never had need of names to speak with them.”

Julia said, “Bevlin, you said yesterday you knew August had been there, but he’d had to leave. But you spoke to him last night?”

“Of course.”

Cheney asked, “When you spoke to him, was it through a guide?”

“Ah, August is different. He isn’t like other people who’ve passed. He already knew how things work, how to get through to me.”

“I’ve never heard about guides before,” Cheney said. “I mean, are they dead people who volunteer for this duty?”

“That’s a novel thought, Agent Stone. They’re simply—there,” Bevlin said. “Simply there, like when I first realized I could see things other kids couldn’t, a guide told me what was happening. He’s still with me. Sometimes he wakes me up when I oversleep and a client’s coming.”

Cheney said, “Can you talk to one right now?”

Bevlin Wagner eased down into a big red beanbag and closed his eyes. He sat perfectly still.

Cheney felt like he’d wandered into Disneyland Croatia.

Bevlin’s eyes slowly opened. They looked dreamy and vague. Odd how that could change so quickly. “I spoke to my first guide. He told me I had the gift but I have to continue to grow before I can truly become what I was meant to be. He said I had to work on being more grounded, and listen to those who know more than I do. He knows I can reach my potential, and he’s doing his best to help me.”

“But why did he come to you specifically and not someone else?”

Bevlin cocked his head at Cheney. “This might take a while. Please go into the kitchen, have some coffee. I made it this morning.”

Then he closed his eyes. For a moment, Cheney was convinced he’d stopped breathing. He took a step forward.

“No, it’s okay,” Julia said. “Let’s go to the kitchen. You really don’t want to try his coffee. He has bottled water.”

“Yeah, sure.” Still, Cheney kept looking back over his shoulder at the man sitting as still as a tree stump on a red beanbag.