Killer Karma

25

Lamper returned to his office, his forehead furrowed in the expression of someone holding a troubling mental debate. Lamper eyed his phone from the office doorway for a long minute before closing the door and picking it up. He punched an outside number.

“Hello, Maitland,” Lamper said. “This is Earl Lamper.”

Cole sidled close enough to hear the other end of the conversation.

“Why, good morning, Earl. What can I do for you?”

“This may sound like a strange question, but…did Donald come back here to the office last Wednesday evening?”

Cole hoped Lamper was checking whether Irah’s story was a lie.

Maitland laughed. “I’m sure he wished he had. I dragged him to an evening of Stravinsky at the Civic Center. Why do you ask?”

“Oh…I’m just straightening out some questions about computer access times.”

That satisfied her. Hanging up, Lamper wore a satisfied expression, too. For about a minute, then he began looking even more troubled.

Cole cheered him on. Worry, Earl, worry.

After more indecisive hovering over the phone buttons, he punched Flaxx’s extension number.

Flaxx answered. “Yes?” A terse greeting that was followed by a noticeably impatient sigh when Lamper announced himself. “What do you need? I have a group of store managers arriving here any minute.”

On his end on the phone, Lamper grimaced in apology. “I’m sorry to bother you, but…Irah was just talking to me and- ”

Flaxx’s tone sharpened. “Just now?”

“Yes. She had me meet her out by the elevators.” Lamper dropped his voice to a whisper. “She — she tried to convince me that you killed Sara Benay and Inspector Dunavan.”

“What!”

“That’s ridiculous of course. What really concerns me though is she went on to say- ”

“You say were talking to Irah out by the elevator just now?”

Cole frowned. The phrasing sounded as though Flaxx wanted someone else to know what Lamper was saying.

He raced down to Flaxx’s office…and found Flaxx gazing across his office at the conference table…where Irah laid brochures and stapled pages in front of each chair. The bar stood open, with a coffee urn and box of pastries on the counter.

Flaxx’s jaw tightened. “Thank you for telling- … Wait, Earl. I don’t have time to hear the details now.” Hanging up, he caught Irah’s eye. “How long did it take you to bring that security upgrade information from your office?”

She considered. “Maybe two minutes.”

Did that mean she had been here the rest of the time? Cole grimaced. He had expected her to go back to her office, not hang around where she had an alibi for the chat with Lamper. But maybe damaging Lamper’s credibility was just as useful. He welcomed anything that created mutual suspicion.

Irah smiled at her brother. “If you think I saw Earl in that time, it would have been a meeting faster than a two-dollar whore’s blow job.”

Flaxx eyed the phone. “Is your spy camera still in Earl’s office?”

“Yes.” She drew the word out, eyeing him.

He frowned. “It doesn’t make sense that Earl would lie to me, but with him denying that visit last night… I want you to watch him for me. Tell me what he says and does.”

“You got it.”

Cole grinned. It was even more mess in the neighborhood.

She carried unused brochures and papers to his desk. “These are for the group this afternoon.”

Cole walked back to Lamper’s office. The way Lamper’s gaze kept wandering from the computer monitor suggested trouble concentrating.

From behind the monitor, leaning his forearms on top of it, Cole frowned down at him. What now? Make another appearance as Irah, delivering more blatant threats? Except Lamper might know Irah was in this morning’s meeting. So far, no one had realized individuals were in two places at once, but he could not expect that luck to last.

Suddenly that thought connected with two others: Lamper’s blind loyalty and the managers’ meetings. The click of interlocking pieces reverberated in Cole. He studied Lamper with growing excitement. Done right, producing a way to be in two places at once, a duplicate individual, might be just what he needed.

“You stay here and stew,” he said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He gave himself another long emersion in internal combustion. This had to see him through two maybe extended materializations.

The first was as Gina. He materialized just outside the door of Bookkeeping and hurried inside into Lamper’s office, putting excitement in his expression and whisper. “Mr. Lamper…you’ve got to see this. A man just came in to see Miss Carrasco and…he looks like he could be your twin!”

Lamper whipped around from his computer. “What!”

“Yes.” Cole grinned. “I had to come tell you. He’s gone down to her office.”

Behind the glasses, Lamper’s eyes narrowed. Cole watched the mental wheels whir. “A double for me…here to see Irah?” He came to his feet. “Thank you. I do want to see him.”

Cole stuck behind him until out in the hallway, then let go and raced ahead to Irah’s door, where he became Lamper. He stood with his hand on the doorknob when Lamper rounded the corner.

Lamper jerked to a halt, staring. When he started forward again he moved with the caution of someone approaching a bomb. Cole heard his heart pounding.

Cole pretended to give a guilty start. “Well…this is bizarre, isn’t it? I didn’t expect to meet you.”

Lamper looked him over intently, and glanced from Cole’s suit to his own, identical in every detail. “You’re a friend of Irah’s?”

“No, an actor she hired for this gig.” Cole paused. “You know about it, don’t you?”

Lamper never hesitated. “Of course. I just — ah — seeing you is startling.”

“You can say that again.” Cole grinned. “Charles Arthur’s the name. The whole gig is strange, but…” He shrugged. “…for ten thou for two days’ work, I can put up with whatever’s in this security demo. Can you tell me what going to your boss’s house as you last night was about, though?”

Triumph lit Lamper’s eyes. “What did Irah tell you?”

“Squat. She just gave me my lines and dropped me off.”

“It was…part of the setup.” Lamper paused. “What are you- I mean, you’re clear about what you do today, aren’t you?”

Cole nodded. “Sure. I’m supposed to wait in her office. At noon I put on my makeup…”

“Makeup?” Lamper said in surprise.

“That’s how I get into this meeting this afternoon. I go in as one of the store managers. In the middle of the meeting I jump up, pull out a gun loaded with blanks, and shoot at Flaxx.” Cole felt a wash of enthusiasm…as if he were the actor, describing a real job. “He pretends to be hit. I run out and down to the emergency exit door, then take the stairs to the shopping arcade where I strip off my disguise and try to lose myself in the crowd.

“Some super-duper tracking device, a spray or a bug Carrasco shoots at me — she didn’t really say what it is — is supposed to lead them to me. If it doesn’t and I make it out of Embarcadero Center without being caught, I head for the airport and catch my flight back to L.A.”

During the recitation, Lamper went ashen. His heart rate launched into overdrive, making a pulse throbbed visibly in his neck. “Don’t,” he said hoarsely.

Cole blinked. “Don’t go back to L.A.? Why not?”

“Don’t go through with the job.” He reached out, clearly intending to grab Cole’s arm for emphasis. “Go to the airport now.”

Cole hastily backed beyond reach. “Are you crazy? Why should I do that?”

“There — there’s — ” Lamper floundered. “There’s a…power struggle going on in the company and Irah is — I think she’ll give you a gun with — ah — real bullets.”

Cole retreated another step. “That’s crazy, man. Even if she tried that, you think I’m not super careful about props like guns? No way am I taking a chance on walking in there with live ammo.”

“She’ll manage a switch somehow.”

“Uh…well…I’ll be even more careful.” He kept backing away. “Excuse me. I want to check out the stairs.”

Walking to the stair door, he watched Lamper with rear vision and ground his teeth. Go, go! Don’t hang around seeing I can’t open the door. To his relief, before he reached the exit, Lamper stumbled away. Cole let go and followed him.

Lamper went as far as Maldonado’s desk, where he stood staring at the closed office door. “I need to talk to Donald. How soon will the meeting be over?”

Maldonado glanced around. “I don’t know. Shall I have him call you when he’s free?”

“Please. Tell him it’s very important.”

Back in his office, Lamper dropped into his desk chair, pulled off his glasses, and sat with his face in his hands.

Mrs. Gao came in from her desk. “Are you feeling ill? You don’t look at all well.”

Terrible, in fact. Lamper’s face had gone so grey and tight, a death’s head seemed to be looking out of it. Cole refused to let himself feel any sympathy.

Lamper put his glasses back on and gave her a weak smile. “I’m just a little tired today.”

“Would you like some tea?”

“Thank you.”

While sipping the tea, he watched the hallway door, heart rate still up. Obviously waiting for the meeting to end. Then he would try to call Flaxx and warn him. Flaxx must be kept from giving it any credibility.

Praying the meeting ran a while yet, Cole zipped out to fill up on heat again.

Coming back, he found Lamper still sitting staring at the door. Cole felt as if he had a racing heart, too. Now he wanted the meeting over…the sooner the better.

Ten minutes later a group of men and women passed in the direction of the reception area. Lamper almost dropped the mug in his eagerness to reach for the phone again.

Cole raced to Flaxx’s office. Maldonado’s chair was empty so he materialized as he ran. And stepped inside the office just as the phone rang.

Shit. Irah was helping Maldonado pick up coffee cups.

He jumped out of her sight behind the half-open door. Peeking around the edge, he waved to attract Flaxx’s attention.

Flaxx scowled, waving him away, and picked up the phone. But the scowl quickly became a startled stare. “This is who?” Listening, he smiled wryly and crooked a finger. “Come on in, Earl. You’ll never guess who’s on the phone.”

Cole shook his head. “You’re busy. I’ll come back later.” He backed out of sight and let go. Shit. He hoped that appearance was going to be enough.

He walked back in to see.

“Who is it?” Irah asked.

“Just a minute,” Flaxx said into the phone and hit Mute. “Katherine, leave the rest of those cups for now, will you? And close the door on your way out.” Once she left, he turned to Irah. “He says he’s Earl Lamper.”

“And?”

“Earl was just at the door.” He took the phone off Mute. “I have bad news, whoever you are; your game won’t work this time. A minute ago I was looking at Earl Lamper.” His expression went incredulous and his voice furious. “Really. Fuck off.” He slammed down the phone.

Irah eyed him. “What was that about?”

“The Earl on the phone said the one I saw at the door was an imposter.” Flaxx drummed his fingers on the phone. “I wonder…”

This was probably going to be an interesting conversation but Cole left it to go back to Bookkeeping and see Lamper’s reaction to the call.

He caught Lamper on the way out of Bookkeeping. Not going far, though…just to the men’s room. Alone there, face bloodless, a pulse throbbing in his neck, Lamper paced in front of the basins. After several rounds he turned on the cold water in a basin, soaked paper towels in it, and pressed them to his face and neck. A man in torment, Cole judged. Pushed into a corner.

Cole still had enough energy to push some more. If he kept the materialization short. He turned himself into Irah and stepped from behind the screen wall. “I understand you met Charlie Arthur.”

Lamper whipped around. He clutched the wet towels like a shield. “I don’t know how you can even be thinking of doing this,” he said hoarsely. “I’m not going to let you.”

Cole leaned against the stalls, keeping Lamper facing away from the mirrors. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Charlie’s just here to demonstrate a security device.”

“The hell he is!” Lamper threw the towels in the basin. “Why does he look like me?”

Cole hesitated, then shrugged. “That’s insurance. If you’re with me or don’t interfere, he discards the store manager disguise on the way downstairs and no one knows what he really looks like. But if I don’t feel you’re with me, I’ll have him pull it off before he goes through the exit door and your face will be on the security tape as the man who shot Donald. It’s your choice.”

He backed toward the screen wall. “Now don’t try seeing or calling Donald to warn him. I’ll be monitoring a spy camera in his office. Not that he’s likely to believe your story anyway.”

Once around the screen wall, he let go, then came back to find Lamper standing with his face twisted by a desperate internal debate. Cole wanted to shake him. Come on, come on, Lamper. You’re such a faithful lapdog; don’t just stand there! How much do you want to save that bastard? You’re not a violent man, so haven’t I pushed you to the point there’s only one way to do it?

“I’ve got to save Donald,” Cole whispered at him. “I can’t let her kill him.”

The mental torture raged on for another five minutes, however, before Lamper pushed away from the basins with a despairing sigh.

He stumbled out of the room and back to Bookkeeping. There he went into his office long enough to dig a business card out of his desk. “I have to step out for a few minutes,” he told Gao.

Lamper stepped out as far as the elevators, where he pulled a cell phone from of his pocket and punched in a phone number on the card. “Inspector Hamada, this is Earl Lamper again. I need you to keep Donald Flaxx from being murdered this afternoon.”

Cole groaned. “No, damn it; that’s the wrong approach!”

Lamper frowned. “By arresting the killer, of course. … What!”

Cole had no trouble guessing that Hamada must be saying they could not arrest someone when no crime had been committed.

Lamper’s face twisted in angry desperation. “What if I tell you the killer has committed crimes…two murders, one of them Inspector Dunavan. Does that make you more interested?”