Page 47 of Hanging and Burning

The man’s nameplate read ASST. MANAGER FRANZ POLLANDER. When I sat down, Franz’s head jerked back, like a frightened chicken or an asp preparing to strike.

“Joe Oliver,” I said.

“What?” the seated bureaucrat was aghast. What was a Joe Oliver?

“I’m here to see Mara Macintosh.”

“Who?”

“Mara Macintosh. She’s a resident here, I believe.”

“Who—who are you?”

“I just told you: Joe Oliver.”

“You can’t just—just waltz in here and—and drop in on people. These are our residents.”

“And I am coming to see one of them. Mara Macintosh.” I was having far too much fun with the slightly built, sour-faced sentry for the aged.

“For what reason?” Franz was beginning to try to hold his own against the trespasser, me.

“I was sent to ask her something.”

“Ask her what?”

“The question is for her, Mr. Pollander.”

“For her? Are—are you some kind of salesman?”

“No.” I had the feeling that the entire room of Turnings employees had stopped working, entranced by the spectacle that Franz and I presented.

“Then why are you here?” he insisted.

“Arman Babylon.”

Those two words brought about a kind of temporary paralysis in my inquisitor.

Finally he said, “What about Mr. Babylon?”

Using my best English, I answered, “Arman has tasked me with the mission of asking Ms. Macintosh about certain members of his family.”

“She’s Mrs. Macintosh,” Pollander said, giving me the impression of a man trying to keep his balance on slippery ground.

“If you say so.”

“If you were sent by Mr. Babylon, then why don’t you know her—her proper title?”

“You got Arman’s number there on your computer, right? Call the man. Ask him how he managed to forget to tell me that Fordham was her married name.”

A vicious smile flickering across his face, Franz Pollander reached for the receiver, albeit slowly.

I watched.

“I can call him, you know,” he said, right hand hovering over the receiver.

“I just asked you to.”

His bluff called, Pollander said, “I need written permission to allow just any stranger to walk in on one of our residents.”