Rogue Moon

Hawks looked back at him. “Sometimes.”

“Every time but one. He hasn’t slowed down since then.” Co

3

At the top of the incline, the driveway curved over the face of the cliff and became an asphalt strip ru

There was a swimming pool in the middle of the lawn. A thin blonde woman with extremely long legs, who was deeply sunta

Co

“She lives here?” Hawks asked.

Co

They walked up a flight of flagstone steps to the lawn, and across the lawn toward the swimming pool. There was a man swimming under the blue-green water, raising his head to take an occasional quick breath and immediately pushing it under again. Beneath the rippling, sun-dappled surface, he was a vaguely man-shaped, flesh-colored creature thrashing from one end of the pool to the other. An artificial leg, wrapped in transparent plastic sheeting, lay between Claire Pack and the pool, near a chrome-plated ladder going down into the water. The radio played Gle

“Claire?” Co

She hadn’t moved in response to the approaching footsteps. She had been humming to the music, and tapping softly on the towel with the red-lacquered tips of two long fingers. She turned over slowly and looked at Co

“Oh,” she said flatly. Her eyes shifted to Hawks’ face. They were clear green, flecked with yellow-brown, and the pupils were contracted in the sunlight.

“This is Dr. Hawks, Claire,” Co

She waved a hand,. “Sit down. He’ll be out of the pool in a little while.”

Co

Co

Claire Pack paid him no attention. She was looking at Hawks, her mouth quirked up in an expression of intrigued curiosity. “The kind of work Al likes? You don’t look like a man involved with violence, Doctor. What’s your first name?” She threw a glance over her shoulder at Co

“Edward,” Hawks said softly. He was watching Co

Co

“You may,” Hawks said to Claire Pack wtih a faint upward lift of his lips. “I’ll call you Claire.”

She raised one eyebrow again, puffing on the cigarette. “All right.”

Co

Hawks said, “I’ll do my best.”

“I don’t think Ed looks like a very soft touch, Co

Hawks said nothing. The man in the pool bad stopped swimming and was treading water with his hands. Only his head was above the surface, with short sandy hair streaming down from the top of his small, round skull. His cheekbones were prominent. His nose was thin-bladed and he had a clipped mustache. His eyes were unreadable at the distance, with the reflected sunlight rippling over his face.

“That’s the way his life’s arranged,” Co

Hawks said, “Mr. Co

Claire Pack laughed with a bright metallic ripple. “Do people offer you drinks, Ed?”

“I don’t think that’ll work either, Claire,” Co

“Shut up,” she said. “Well, Ed?” She lightly held up the thermos jug, which seemed to be nearly empty. “Scotch and water?”

“Thank you, yes. Would Mr. Barker feel more comfortable about getting out of the pool, if I were to turn my back while he was fastening his leg?”

Co

She laughed again, throwing her head back. “He’ll come out when he’s good and ready. He might even like it if I sold tickets to the performance. Don’t you worry about Al, Ed.” She unscrewed the top of the jug, pulled the cork, and poured a drink into the plastic top. “No spare glasses or ice out here, Ed. It’s pretty cold, anyhow. All right?”

“Perfectly, Claire,” Hawks said. He took the cup and sipped at it. “Very good.” He held the cup in his hands and waited for her to fill her glass.

“How about me?” Co

“Go get a glass from the house,” she said. Leaning forward, she touched the side of her glass to Hawks’ cup. “Here’s to a well-balanced life.”

Hawks smiled fleetingly and drank. She reached out and put her hand on his ankle. “Do you live near here, Ed?”

Co

Claire turned her head and shoulders and looked squarely at Co

Something flickered in Co

Hawks looked up at Co