Gregor nearly dropped the silver soup spoon he was holding. It was engraved in curving script HVK. Gregor was careful not to let it go where it might fall down the garbage disposal.
“I can’t arrest anybody,” he told Tibor. “I’m not even with the Bureau anymore. I’m a private citizen. And what would I arrest Peter for? Being a prime bastard? It isn’t a crime.”
“You could think of something to arrest him for. It wouldn’t have to stick. It would be only to get him out of the way.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Bennis says that if it is necessary, she could possibly find some marijuana and put that on him and then he could be arrested for that. She says her brother Christopher—”
“You’re worse than insane,” Gregor interrupted. “Tibor, this is the United States of America. There’s something called the Bill of Rights here. There are also dozens of laws against the kind of thing you’re talking about. Entrapment. False witness. I don’t know. There are laws that apply though, trust me. You’re going to get yourselves into a lot more trouble than you’re going to get Peter into.”
“I don’t want to get Peter into trouble,” Tibor said patiently. “I just want to get him out of the way.”
“The next thing I know, you’re going to be talking about cement overcoats,” Gregor said. “You can’t do this.”
“We can do something,” Tibor said stubbornly. “Listen, Krekor, it is a matter of only one week. At the end of the week Donna and Russ will be married, they will take Tommy off to Disneyland, everything will be all right.”
“Right,” Gregor said.
“The important thing is to get through the wedding.” Tibor was adamant. “You do not believe me, Krekor, but it is true. He will come here. I will bet you anything you want.”
“And I’ll bet you anything you want that he won’t. He isn’t stupid, Tibor. I’ve met him.”
“Stupidity has nothing to do with it. Could you promise me this? If he does show up, will you keep him away from Donna?”
“I don’t know if I could do that. Peter is Tommy’s father, no matter what kind of idiot he is. Don’t you think Donna’s old enough to handle these things for herself?”
“No.”
Gregor took a piece of loukoumia off a plate of the things in the middle of Tibor’s kitchen table. Even through the powdered sugar he could see that it was one of the pink ones, flavored with rosewater. Since it had come from Ohanian’s Middle Eastern Food Store right down the street, it was also the size of a small brick.
“If Peter shows up, I promise you that I will do something to make sure that he does not stop this wedding. Not that I think anything can stop this wedding. Donna is just being Donna. When the time comes, she’ll do the right thing.”
“When the time comes, I will hit Peter over the head with the long staff. I will take the cross off it first, so as not to be sacrilegious. Take some of that loukoumia home, Krekor. I don’t need so much for myself.”
“I don’t need any more than I’ve got,” Gregor said. “I have a plate in my kitchen just like this one. Don’t worry about Donna so much, Tibor. It will work out.”
Tibor made a noise, which meant that he didn’t think it would necessarily work out. In his life, things very often had not worked out. Gregor supposed he didn’t blame him, but it made things complicated. Tibor always seemed to make things complicated.
2.
The message on his answering machine made things complicated too, Gregor decided. He played the message again when he got up the next morning, but it was just as garbled as ever. He wrote the name “Liza Verity” down on a Post-It note and took it back to the bedroom to check against his notes. He found the name in the list of people who were supposed to be at the reception but had not actually been there. The specific notation was short and unilluminating:
LIZA VERITY—friend J.C. and K.P. Vassar College—Nurse—Phila.——Did Not Attend
Gregor took his notes back into the kitchen and put them down on the table. He couldn’t remember when a case had called forth this much ink from him. He seemed to have spent all his time since John Jackman first called him in making lists of things. Lists of Patsy MacLaren Willis’s friends and neighbors at Fox Run Hill. Lists of people who had attended the reception for Karla Parrish. Lists of people who had been in or near the parking garage at the moment when the Volvo blew up.
Gregor called John Jackman at homicide. When Jackman finally picked up, Gregor announced his name and said, “Well?”