Distant Friends and Other Stories Read online

  "Sure I do. I just-well, Calvin's a closer friend."

  "Yeah. Well, thanks for stopping by, Mr. Ravenhall. I'll be in touch."

  "Thanks." I shook his hand again and left.

  His last question bothered me all the way back to the hotel. Why hadn't I given him Nelson's number?-Especially since Nelson was closer to Eureka, where I had already more or less decided to go next. Was there something about that last contact I'd had with him that had bothered me? Certainly, Nelson had been nervous, but that was normal for him... wasn't it? I was beginning to regret having broken off the contact so quickly. My chance was now gone for further questioning; if I called back with the same questions I was likely to stir up Nelson's quiescent paranoia, and I couldn't take that just now.

  I glanced at my watch. It was nearly noon. Flopping onto my back on the bed, I closed my eyes. Calvin?

  Yo, Calvin?

  Hello, Dale. Learned anything interesting?

  Yes and no. I've found the cop in charge of the investigation has some of the same questions I do, but he doesn't have the answers either. Is Gordy still due in here at six, and when is he heading over to Eureka?

  Yes, and tomorrow morning.

  I need a favor. Would you ask him to delay either leg of his trip by twenty-four hours?

  Well... I suppose I could ask him. Why?

  I'd like to go up to Eureka myself and look around. No particular reason, I added, anticipating his next question. I'd heard Amos had suspended his psychotherapy practice and was working on something special. I'd like to check it out.

  I can save you some trouble, if that's all you want. According to Gordy, Amos was trying to build some kind of electronic gadget for locating new telepaths.

  My jaw dropped. You're kidding. I hadn't heard a whisper about that. I didn't even know it was theoretically possible.

  My jaw dropped. You're kidding. I hadn't heard a whisper about that. I didn't even know it was theoretically possible.

  Now that I thought about it, I remembered Amos had earned a master's in electrical engineering before switching to psychology. How far had he gotten?

  Gordy didn't know. He was planning to try to find out when he went up there.

  I pondered. Calvin, I'd still like to go to Eureka tonight.

  Okay, I'll try to work things out with Gordy. If not, you two'll be in contact range within a few hours and can hash it over between yourselves.

  Thanks. One other thing. I hesitated. Nelson told me he was in Baja when Amos died. Is that true?

  Calvin was silent for a moment, and I could sense his surprise. Accusing another telepath, even implicitly, of lying was serious business. As a matter of fact, I don't know. Nelson is a bit of a maverick sometimes, and I'm pretty sure he occasionally takes his Comanche out for a short spin without telling anyone. I think he resents having his movements watched so closely, especially when he doesn't think it necessary.

  I grunted. That was just great. Maybe I should give him personal notice that I'm heading to Eureka. I'll talk to you later, Calvin. Thanks for your help.

  Sure. Good hunting.

  For a moment I just lay there, thinking. Then I rolled over, snared the phone, and placed a call to the airport.

  I got into Eureka at eight that evening and rented a car for the drive out to Amos's home. I'd never been there before, but Gordy had given me detailed directions earlier in the day and I found the unpretentious little ranch house without difficulty. Mrs. Lederman, Amos's long-time housekeeper, was waiting there for me; with typical foresight, Calvin had phoned to tell her I was coming.

  "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Ravenhall," she said when I had identified myself. "Please excuse the mess; I haven't felt much like cleaning today."

  "It looks fine," I assured her. Her plump, middle-aged face had lost most of the signs of recent crying; the scars in her psyche would take much longer to heal. I didn't intend to pry, but the texture of her surface thoughts made it obvious that she had loved Amos deeply. I wondered how he had felt about her, and the thought inevitably turned my mind toward Colleen.... Wrenching hard, I forced myself back to business. "Mrs. Lederman, did Amos say or do anything unusual before he left? Anything that might imply he was worried or suspicious about something?"

  She shook her head. "I've been thinking about it ever since Mr. Wolfe called from Colorado this afternoon and I can't come up with anything. Amos seemed a bit preoccupied when he returned from Los Angeles about two weeks ago, but that cleared up quickly and he went back to work on his telepath finder-I expect you've heard of that by now."

  "Yes. Who besides you knew he was working on it?"

  "Nelson?" That made sense, I suppose. One main use of the gadget would probably be to locate young telepaths before any accidental psychic damage occurred, and knowing such a thing was in the works might ease any fears Nelson had about being hurt like that again. "Would you let me see where Amos worked?"

  "If you'd like," she shrugged, and I caught something about a mountain retreat from her mind. "But most of his electronics work was done at his cabin in the Sierra. It was more peaceful there, he used to tell me; nobody else thinking nearby."

  She led me down the hall to Amos's workroom, and I poked around there for a few minutes without finding anything interesting. "Can you tell me how to get to his cabin?"

  "Well... it was sort of private, but I guess it'd be okay now. But it'd take five or six hours to get there.

  You ever driven mountains at night?"

  "Enough to know I don't want to try it in an unfamiliar area. I'll head out in the morning. If you'll give me those directions, I'll go now and get out of your way."

  "No need for that," she shook her head. "I've made up the guest room for you."

  "Oh. Thanks very much, but I don't think I ought to stay."

  "It's no trouble. I'm leaving in a few minutes, anyway, and you'll have the place to yourself. Amos was always hospitable, Mr. Ravenhall," she added, as I opened my mouth to refuse again. "I know he would have wanted you to stay here."

  What could I say to that?

  She gave me a quick guided tour of the premises to show me where everything was, and then left, locking the front door behind her. I watched her car disappear down the road and then, moved by an obscure impulse, returned to Amos's workroom.

  Off in one corner of the room was a small writing desk almost buried under neat piles of paper and correspondence. I'd ignored it the last time I came through, but now I went over and gazed down at it. A

  proper investigation should include a search of Amos's papers... but I had no right to pry like that.

  Besides, if I found something significant, would I even know it? I still didn't really know what I was looking for. Resolutely, I started to turn away... and as I did, the return address on one of the envelopes caught my eye. It was that of a Las Vegas casino.

  Frowning, I picked up the letter. It was unopened, postmarked the day before Amos's death. Feeling guilty, I opened it.

  The message was very brief: Dear Mr. Potter, Thank you for your note of the 4th. We are quite interested in your proposal, and would very much like to discuss it in person with you. Please let us know when it would be convenient for us to fly you down for a meeting.

  Thank you for your note of the 4th. We are quite interested in your proposal, and would very much like to discuss it in person with you. Please let us know when it would be convenient for us to fly you down for a meeting.

  I reread the letter twice without making any more sense of it. What was Amos doing getting mixed up with Vegas casino owners? What kind of offer was he making? And was it pure coincidence that Amos had subsequently died in that very city?

  Some of those questions might be answered if I could find the carbon of Amos's original letter, but a two-hour search convinced me that it wasn't anywhere in the house. Unless Amos had destroyed it or Mrs. Lederman had taken it away, there was only one other place it was likely to be. More than ever, now, I wanted to get to Amos's mountain
retreat.

  I was rudely awakened from a restless dream by an insistent knocking at the base of my mind, and it took me a second to realize that I was being contacted. Yes?

  It was Gordy. Dale, are you all right?

  Sure. I sneaked a look at my watch. Four thirty, and I was lying fully clothed on Amos's guest room bed.

  Why do you ask?

  When you hadn't checked in by midnight Calvin and I started getting worried. We thought something might have happened to you.

  Just fatigue, I assured him. I'm sorry, though; I had intended to contact you last night. I guess I was more bushed than I thought. Listen, I may have something interesting here. Did you know Amos had a cabin in the Sierra?

  Yes, but I don't know where it is.

  I do. I repeated the location Mrs. Lederman had given me. I understand he did most of the work on his telepath finder up there; I'm going to go see how far he got with the gadget. And to check on something unexpected that's just cropped up. I described the contents of the letter I'd found.

  What do you think it means? a new voice asked.

  I jumped. Calvin? Damn, but you startled me-I didn't know you were listening in. Come to think of it, how come you're within range?

  Because I'm in Salt Lake City, he explained. I flew here last night to give Gordy a hand in raising you.

  Now, what about this letter?

  I haven't the foggiest. But I think it might be important.

  Maybe, Gordy said cautiously. I gather you'd like me to stay here in Vegas until you're finished with everything?

  If you would. I think it would make things simpler if I didn't have to keep track of where you were going to be. Another day or two at the most.

  Okay. Nelson will calm down eventually, I suppose.

  How's that?

  You didn't know? No, I guess not. He was going to fly up to Eureka after I left to attend Amos's funeral.

  He was furious that we were delaying things so that you could go running around robbing Amos of his last shred of dignity.

  That last was a direct quote, Calvin added.

  I winced. Yeah. I'm sorry. But I still think it's got to be done.

  We're not blaming you, Dale, Calvin said. Just finish up as quickly as possible, okay?

  Will do, I promised. Look, I'd better let you two go. I'll contact you when I get to the cabin. Honest.

  Gordy chuckled. Okay. See you.

  I stared out the window at the predawn darkness for a full minute. Further sleep would be impossible; something in the back of my mind was urging speed. Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I located my shoes and headed to the kitchen for a fast breakfast.

  Half an hour later I was driving towards the rising sun.

  I'd half-expected Amos's cabin to be some rude shack on the side of a mountain, and was therefore vaguely surprised to find a quite modern-looking structure, complete with phone and power lines snaking their way down the mountain. With the key Mrs. Lederman had left me, I let myself in. The interior was as modern as the Eureka house, but not nearly as tidy; Mrs. Lederman probably didn't get up here very often. It was basically a single room, efficiency style, almost a third of which was taken up by a long work table holding about a ton of electronic equipment. In the center of the work table was Amos's telepath finder.

  There was no doubt as to what it was. Clearly homemade, it consisted of a metal box the size of a portable tape player with a pivoting direction pointer protected by a plastic dome mounted on top. There were only two switches: on/off and general/tare. Calvin? Gordy? Anyone home?

  Right here, Calvin answered. Where are you, Dale?

  At Amos's cabin. I've found the telepath finder.

  You made good time, Gordy grunted, sleep-cobwebs still evident in his mind. I'd forgotten they'd been up much of the night trying to contact me. What's it look like?

  I described it for them. That's it? Calvin asked. No range meter or anything like that?

  Nope. Maybe Amos planned to work on one next. Of course, you could always get range by triangulation.

  Right. Have you tried it yet?

  No. I wanted you two here when I did. Any ideas what this general/tare thing is?

  That makes sense, I agreed. Okay, brace yourselves. Here goes.

  With the second switch set at "general" I reached out and flipped the device on. Instantly, the needle on top swiveled around and came to a stop pointing at my belt buckle. I took a couple of steps to the right; the needle followed me. Seems to work, I told the others. Now I'll try it on "tare." I flipped the second switch and waited.

  Nothing. The needle moved a fraction toward the west, but was still pointing at me when it stopped. I flipped the switch back and forth a couple of times, but the needle refused to move farther than a few degrees. This part isn't working.

  You sure? Gordy asked.

  Yeah. I'm standing on the finder's north side, so if it edits me out it should swing around to point south-east, where you two and Nelson are. It certainly shouldn't point north by west. I turned it off. We can worry about this later. I'm going to see if I can find that car'

  One corner of the work table was piled with papers. Leafing through the whole stack would take only minutes; as it happened, my search was considerably snorter. I've found it.

  Read it to us, Calvin said.

  I skipped Amos's identification of himself and his list of credentials. The interesting part was in the second paragraph: It has recently come to my attention that one of our group has been making periodic visits to your area for the purpose of "gambling"-I use quotation marks because, for him, certain games will not be governed by chance. No names need be mentioned; I do not intend to aid you in catching or prosecuting him, but merely wish this unfair practice to stop. My efforts to dissuade him have failed, so as a last resort I am offering you a deterrent in the form of a telepath finder....

  Gambling? Gordy seemed shocked. Who of us would do something like that? That's just crazy.

  I think we all came up with the same name simultaneously. Calvin was the first to admit it. If Amos was right, there's only one of us who has really convenient access to Vegas, who can sneak in and out without too much risk of close-approach problems.

  I sighed. You mean Nelson?

  DAMN YOU ALL! WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS?

  All three of us jumped violently. It was Nelson's voice, but so convulsed with fury as to make it almost unrecognizable. Hey, Nelson, take it easy, I said. We didn't know you were listening in.

  Of course not. You'd much rather plot my destruction in private, wouldn't you? You and that holier-than-thou Amos. Well, I warned him!

  Something was wrong here. Even given Nelson's strong emotion, his contact shouldn't be this strong.

  Nelson, where are you? I asked carefully.

  Something was wrong here. Even given Nelson's strong emotion, his contact shouldn't be this strong.

  Nelson, where are you? I asked carefully.

  Damn you, Nelson! Gordy suddenly interjected. You killed him, didn't you? Amos caught you sneaking into Vegas, so you conditioned those thugs to hijack the plane and kill him!

  It was his own fault, Nelson shot back. It was none of his damn business how I make my money. I had to do it-can't you see that?

  He'd gone from angry to pleading in the space of a single sentence, and I didn't like it a bit. Was he starting to crack up?

  You'd like that, wouldn't you? Well, if I go, you're going with me!

  And that shook me clear down to my toes. It had come up so quickly and so unexpectedly that I hadn't noticed: Nelson and I were in close-approach contact.

  Nelson was only a hundred miles away!

  And getting closer, he mocked me. I know where you are, too; I listened to you give the directions to your pals this morning. I'll be overhead before you know it.

  Nelson, are you nuts? Gordy cut in. You'll kill both of you.

  And why not? You're all out to destroy me anyway. I might as well t
ake one of you with me. I've got nothing to lose now.

  Dale, get out of there, Calvin ordered. You've got to try and get away from him.

  I took three steps toward the door and froze. Get away where? I don't know what direction he's coming from!

  Nelson laughed. His thoughts were getting progressively louder, and it was becoming harder and harder to hear Gordy and Calvin over the noise. Calvin had to virtually shout his next message. Use the telepath finder. Maybe it really is working.

  I sprang over to the table, snatched up the box, and flipped the switch. In "tare" mode it once again pointed north by west-and stayed there even when I moved out of the way. Instead of coming straight up from San Diego, Nelson had circled around and was bearing down on me from the north. Clutching the box like a talisman, I ran outside to the car.

  And then the nightmare began.

  There was no way I could outrun Nelson, and we both knew it. His Piper Comanche had a cruising speed of at least a hundred eighty miles an hour and could travel in a straight line, while I had to stay on winding mountain roads at a quarter of his speed. If I could have gone at right angles to his path, let him overshoot me, I might have had a chance. But it was already too late for that sort of trick. Nelson had complete access to my surface thoughts, and there was no way for me to make any plans without his knowledge.

  complete access to my surface thoughts, and there was no way for me to make any plans without his knowledge.

  I gritted my teeth and drove on, trying in vain to shut out the increasing pressure slowly crushing my mind.

  A curve came up, too fast. I tapped on the brake, managed to negotiate the turn without losing too much speed. Every fiber of my being was screaming for me to get away, but I had no intention of driving off a cliff for Nelson's convenience. Wiping my palms, one at a time, on my pants, I tried to think.

  I was completely cut off from Calvin and Gordy now-the close approach had been blocking any other contact practically from the minute I left the cabin. They would know enough to call the police, of course, but there was little chance the cops could help me. It would be less than an hour before Nelson closed to the twenty-mile gap that would ensure mental disintegration for both of us. The Air Force? They could act swiftly, but they'd first have to be persuaded to get involved. And in a completely non-military situation like this, the chances of that were essentially zero.