“Brussels doesn’t know what to do,” said Wright.  “They want you off the detail, but not necessarily off the team.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“It means they’ve got another agent on the way to take your place.  Once she gets here, you’re going to be off checking those few remaining people in our threat files.”

“I thought we had eliminated pretty much all the credible threats.”

“We have.  This way they can say you’re still on the case, but you’re not engaged in any high profile sexcapades.”

“Great.”

“I feel for you partner.  It’s not like I haven’t found my way into some nice warm beds in the past two weeks.  Mine just aren’t so famous.”

“What do I do in the meantime?”

“Same thing you have been doing. Stay close to the Ladybugs.  Keep them out of danger.  We’ll decide what you’re doing next after your replacement gets here tomorrow.”

Andrews was halfway back to his room before he realized that his jaw was clamped shut.  He stepped into an alcove and closed his eyes.  He took three deep breaths and then held the last one as he rolled his head around.  He pictured his dorm room in the enclaves as he took several more slow deep breaths. All he had ever wanted when he was there was to leave, and now that he was gone, it was the safe place he visualized in times of stress—the bare cement block walls, the simple white dresser and desk, the well-worn rugby ball sitting on his tightly made bed.

When he opened the door to his room, he was expecting to find Ruth there, or perhaps Ep!phanee.  Instead Steffie was there.  She was wearing a floral print cropped tie top with widely flaring sleeves and a pair of hip hugging bellbottoms in the same design.  Her mass of platinum hair hung loosely about her shoulders, making her thin face look less predatory.  Andrews thought she looked pretty, and he told her so.

“Before you say anything else, I want to apologize,” she said.

“For the interview?”

“No, for the other night at the club. I was completely toasted.”

“Yes, I remember.  And now you’re here… because this is your day?”

“That’s right.  Here.  Ruth made this calendar for you.”  She handed him a monthly calendar with a name written in each square.

“Steffie, Steffie, Penny, Penny, Ruth, Ruth, Steffie… Looks like you hit the jackpot.”

“Are you mad at me?”  She had a hurt look on her face that gave him a sort of choking feeling.

“No, I’m not mad at you.  I’m just upset.  They’re going to send me away.  They’re going to take me off the detail.”

“They can’t do that!  We won’t let them.”

“No choice, I’m afraid.”  He walked to the couch and sat down.  “Probably all for the best.  I’m sure this is playing right into the hands of those women in the Science Police who think men have no business in the agency.  We can’t focus on anything but our penises.”

“That’s just stupid.  Obviously they don’t know any men.”

“Maybe.  Or maybe they know us too well.”

“You need to not think about it. Why don’t we have breakfast?  Have you eaten?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Then let’s just sit and talk.”

“I don’t really feel like talking either.”

“You remember when you first interviewed me?”

“Yes.”

“We took turns asking questions.”

Andrews smiled despite himself. “That’s right.”

“Let’s do it again.”

“Okay, but you go first.”

“What’s your favorite sport?  Is it that rugsby?”

“Rugby.  Yes.  Your’s?”

“I liked baseball when I lived in California, but since I’ve been living in Europe, I mostly watch football.  Did you play rugby growing up?”

“Yes.  All the boys did.  It got pretty brutal.  I busted my chin open and had to have six stitches right here.”  He lifted his chin and pointed to a thin scar.  “It was mostly just an excuse for the bigger boys to beat the crap out of the smaller boys, but it was a lot of fun.”

“Okay, your turn.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your nose ring.”

“Yes?”

“Piffy and Ruth have the side of their nostrils pierced, and so do other women I’ve seen with nose rings, but you have it right in the middle.  Why?”

“Do you think it makes me look like a cow?”

“No.  But I can see how people might make that connection.”

“I wear it for two reasons really. One: it kind of touches on this submissive streak that I feel inside, but don’t otherwise let show.  And two: it just pisses a lot of women off for some reason, and that’s always fun.”  They both laughed.  “Okay, my turn.  What’s your favorite food?”

“A month ago, I would have said tacos, but now I have to go with hot dogs.”

“Have you had a chilidog yet?”

“No.  Hey, you snuck an extra question in there.”

“Oh no,” she said, her eyes large with mock surprise.  “Maybe you’ll have to punish me.”

“Maybe.”

“Ask me two questions then.”

The local police had removed the robber’s hoods.  They were all women in their early twenties.  Andrews stood looking at them for a long time.  When he found Ep!phanee standing next to him, he realized that he had almost forgotten she was there.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes.  I don’t think they even shot in our direction, did they?”

“No.”

The police took both their statements and then released them.  They climbed back in the car and the driver took them to the Royal Continental. Neither of them had much to say along the way.  Once at the hotel, Andrews met briefly with Wright to fill her in and then he went to his room to begin filling out the inevitable paperwork.

When the Science Police officer opened the door to his assigned room, he decided that a major mistake had been made. Instead of the simple room that he had been assigned in the other hotels, and which had suited him just fine, he found a spacious suite.  He stood at the entrance of a large central room with features of both a living room and dining room.  A roaring fire was already burning in the gas fireplace next to a fully stocked bar. He realized for the first time that he was shivering, having been out in the pouring rain for most of the evening and not having had the chance to dry off.

He walked to the fireplace and held out his hands to warm them.  He stayed in that position until the front of his legs became unbearably hot, and then he turned around and warmed his back.  Just as his back was becoming too warm and his front was feeling once again cold, Ep!phanee walked in from the bedroom.  She wore nothing but a gauzy nightie through which her tattoos were clearly visible.

“I don’t think I’m really in the mood,” he said.

“In the mood for what?  Don’t worry.  I know just what you need and I’m going to take care of you.”

“I didn’t realize that you were the ‘taking care’ type.”

“Of course I am.  Look how well I take care of myself.  First you need to take off those wet clothes.  Portland isn’t like the Caribbean.  If you get a little rain on you there, it dries off in minutes. Here, you’ll catch pneumonia.”

“It does kind of sink right into your bones,” he replied as he began peeling off his still damp clothing.

“You need to get into the hot shower,” she said, stepping behind the bar and filling two shot glasses from a whiskey bottle.  “First have one of these.”

When Andrews came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a very fluffy complimentary robe, he found Piffy seated at the table with a pot of hot coffee.  She had already poured him a cup.  When he sipped it, he found that she had laced it with more whiskey.

“I think you need to get right to bed,” she said.

“I have paperwork to take care of.” He went to his luggage, which was sitting just inside the door and found his portfolio, bringing it back to the table. Halfway there he stopped and looked back at his luggage.  “What am I doing in a room like this anyway?”

“I had you upgraded.  If you’re going to be with us, you’re going to go first class all the way.  It’s one of the perks.”

Andrews sat back down at the table and began filling out the seven forms necessary when an agent discharged his weapon, all of which required long written statements and all of which were sandwiched with carbon paper and other sheets so that they were produced in triplicate.  When he finished the second, he stopped to warm up his coffee and noticed for the first time that Piffy was no longer in the room.  He found her, once he was completely done, sprawled across one side of the bed, her bare, very white bottom staring at him from below her nightgown hem.  The California king was large enough though that once he stripped off his robe and climbed in, he didn’t notice her presence the entire night.  When he woke up, she was gone.

“Good morning.”  Ruth walked into the bedroom carrying a tray.  “Come on, sit up.  I’ve bought you breakfast.”

“I could just get up.”

“No.  You need breakfast in bed after the day you had yesterday.  You need to be pampered a bit.”  The tray contained two eggs, two strips of bacon, hash browns, a waffle with blueberries, milk, and a cup of coffee.

“I don’t know if I can eat all this.”

“Just eat what you want.”  She pulled a chair away from the wall and sat down to watch him eat.

She was already dressed for the day, wearing hip-hugger bellbottoms and a halter-top, both of which resembled the Union Jack, white platform shoes, and a red headband holding back her dreadlocks.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” he replied

“I’ve hardly seen you in three days.”

“Well, we’re together now.  Do I get to spend the day with you?”

“Actually, we’re supposed to meet later this morning and work out the schedule, but Piffy thought you needed somebody to pamper you this morning.”

“And you thought you would be the one to do it?”

“I jumped at the chance.”

“I can take care of myself.  I’m a big boy.”

“You’re telling me,” she said with a sly look.  “Now don’t dawdle.  Eat your breakfast.”

Andrews finished, though he had only a bite of his waffle, before even thinking to look at the clock.

“Good grief, it’s after nine.”

The next morning Andrews got up and disentangled himself from Penny’s arms and legs.  The bed was really just large enough for one of them.  He had slept well through the night, but now he had several pains in his neck and shoulders and he was unsure whether to attribute them to his workout the day before or to not having enough room in bed. He slipped back into his workout clothes and put on his wristwatch, checking the time.  It was not quite seven.  Stepping quietly out the door, he walked the length of the ship to the dining room and found an early continental breakfast.  He grabbed a pair of Danish, two bananas, and two cups of coffee; and balancing them, carried them back to the cabin.  He found Penny awake and putting on his robe.

“I brought you some breakfast.”

“Thanks, I’m starving.”

“Thank you for the card,” he gestured toward the greeting card still standing on the desk.

“Not from me.”

He opened it and looked again.

“Must be Piff,” said Penny.

“What are you planning to do today?” asked Andrews as they ate.

“I’m going to try and write.  I’ve got a few songs, or at least pieces of songs, that have been rattling around in my head since New York.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“No you wouldn’t.  It would be incredibly boring.  I’m just going to pluck a few strings and jot down notes. It’ll be the most uninteresting thing you can imagine.  Besides, it’s Piffy’s day to spend with you.”

“When do I get a copy of this schedule?” He sounded peevish even in his own ears.

“Ask her.”

Andrews did plan to ask her just as soon as he could, but when he finally saw her again, the question fell out of his brain and crawled away to some dark corner.  When Ep!phanee saw him, she ran and leapt into his arms.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and her lips around his mouth.  He couldn’t have gotten free if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to.  They kissed for several minutes, and then at last, he set her down.

“Did you send me the card?” he asked.

“Of course.  You didn’t recognize my P?”

“Well, you know… Penny?”

“Oh yeah.  Well, she’s not likely to send you a card though, is she?”

“Maybe you could sign it with an F for Fanny?”

“You’re bad.”

“Or you could draw a little clownfish…”

“You’re very bad.”

“In any case, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.  It’s because I missed you.  That’s why it said ‘miss you’ on it.”

“Very clever.  So what are your plans for today?”

“We can do anything you want to do. What were you planning?”

“I’d like to work out again in the weight room.  And Penny gave me a book that I haven’t had enough time with yet.”

“What is it—Edgar Rice Burroughs?”

“H. Rider Haggard.”

Piffy rolled her eyes.  “No wonder people think she’s a dyke.  I’ll work out with you.”

Andrews changed back into his shorts and tee shirt and met her in the weight room.  Piffy was waiting, wearing a pair of shorts that were so small they almost deserved some different and as yet uninvented name, and a tube top. Both articles of clothing were made of some shiny black material that he had never seen before.  Even in a world where just about everything seemed to exude sex appeal, it had not occurred to Andrews until that exact moment that gym clothes could be sexy.  They worked out for over an hour, and Andrews didn’t know if it was the weights which caused his heart to pump so forcefully in his chest, or if it was the sight of Ep!phanee’s remarkably toned body.

“You must work out quite a bit.”

“Yes, I have a fully stocked gym in my home at Thatch Cay.  What is that?”

Spreading out below them was a great tan blanket moving across the landscape.  It moved and undulated in swirling patterns.  The dirigible was passing over one of the legendary caribou migrations.  Tens of thousands of individual animals moved across the ground like a kaleidoscope of reindeer.  Andrews set down his barbells and moved to stand next to the large window.  Piffy followed him.

“Caribou,” he said.  “The great plains of the United States used to be covered with buffalo like this.  Now they’re extinct.  I think women have done a better job of running the world than men did.”

“Say that when you’re flying through the black haze above New York, or when you’re outside your dome in Ohio and the acid rain is coming down.”

They spent the rest of the day together, comparing their lives up until that point, talking about their interests, and eventually getting around to the possibility of their shared future together.

“I was quite ready to find that you wouldn’t live up to my expectations when I met you,” he said, “not that I expected anything more than a professional relationship.  But I like you.  I like all of you.  And the sex… well I really, really like it.  It’s much better than I imagined it would be.  But I don’t really see how our lifestyles are going to mesh.  I don’t know if I can handle all the complications.”

“What do you want to do for the next ten years, John?”

“I want to continue with the Science Police.  It’s exciting and I’m good at it.”

“And what is your concern about it… about your job and being married?”

Andrews spent the morning with Ruth. They ate breakfast and then they took a long walk around the Doric House grounds.  Just after noon, he and Wright left and flew to Bloomington, Minnesota to go over the security at the Metropolitan Stadium.  That evening’s concert went off, like the one two nights before in Atlanta, without any major problems.  Afterwards the band returned to Doric House for one more night.

Having been, for the most part, too busy for dinner, Andrews was just beginning to think about ordering a snack from the kitchen when there was a knock at the door.  He opened it, half expecting Ruth with another hot fudge sundae. Instead he found Ep!phanee, still in her costume from the concert.

“Hey lover, what’s up?”

“Good evening.  I was just thinking of ordering something from the kitchen. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat.”

Picking up the house phone and asking for a connection, he ordered sandwiches and hot chocolate.

“I’ve been looking forward to seeing you,” Piffy said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his.

“Really?  You didn’t look particularly anxious.”

“I had to let Ruth have a chance to get to know you.  And she did… finally.”

“Now you’re back with me?”

“Only for today.  Tomorrow, you spend with Penny.”

“I’ve already been with Penny.”

“Yes, I know she snuck into your room for a quickie, but you need to spend some time getting to know her. Relationships aren’t just about sex, you know.”

“Really?  So far, that has not been my experience.”

“You sound a little testy about it,” she said, leaning back and looking him in the face.  “Most guys would give anything to be in the position you’re in.”

“Maybe.  I think it’s one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ situations. I just get to know you.  I like you.  I want to spend more time with you, but I can’t because I have to be with Ruth. Now I want to spend more time with her and I can’t.  I suspected that this type of relationship would be too much for me and I’m finding out that I’m right.”

“It will get easier once you know all of us and we can work out a schedule.”

“This just isn’t natural.  I think men are wired so that they are in love with one woman at a time.”

“Well, of course it’s not natural. It’s not natural that men are almost extinct either.  But that’s the way it is.  We have to make due the best we can with what we have.”

“Hmm.”

They spent the remainder of the evening talking about less weighty matters—what life was like in the Virgin Islands, favorite places to visit in Europe, and what the weather was going to be like on the west coast.  They spent the night together, and for the first time in his life, Andrews shared a bed with a woman without having sex.

The next morning Andrews left Piffy sleeping in his bed while he shaved and showered, but she was gone when he came out of the bathroom.  He met briefly with Wright but there was little to discuss.  The entire group was treated to a champagne breakfast.  Then it was off to the airport again.  The dirigible was fueled and supplied and waiting to go.  It lifted off as soon as everyone was aboard, flying directly north.

Andrews made a quick inspection of the ship after seeing that his few personal possessions had been carefully stowed back in his cabin.  He then went to the bridge and watched the crew at work until he was called away to answer a telephone call.  It was from Evan Larkin, the man he had met in Bolingbrook.  Larkin wanted nothing more than to talk for a few minutes. Andrews let him ramble on for a while and then confirmed that he had heard the news regarding the arrest of his former fiancé.

“Yes, the poor girl.  Elke and Inga are going to see if we can’t get her accepted into a mental health facility.”

“That would probably be for the best. Well, goodbye Larkin.”

“If you’re ever in the Chicago area, give me a call.  We could have dinner.”

“Thank you, I will. Goodbye.”

He started back toward his cabin, but was intercepted along the way by Penny.

“Hello beautiful,” she said.

“Hi.  How are you?”

“I’m feeling fine.  We’d like you to come back to the port side lounge for a minute.  The band has something they want to run by you.”

She led him to the lounge where the other three Ladybugs were seated, as well as Alexa Rothman.  When he stepped in the room, they all looked up and smiled. He sat down on one of the overstuffed couches, as Penny took the spot beside him, tucking her legs up under her.

“We have something we wanted to share with you,” said Piffy, “before anyone else knows.”

“Oh?”

“We have the Asia tour coming up in two months,” explained Alexa.  “It should really be called the Asia-Australia tour, since after Singapore; we’re going south to hit Melbourne and then Sydney.”

“But then we’re going to the enclaves,” Steffie spouted.

“That’s right,” said Ruth.  “After Sydney, we’re going to Tasmania, South Island, and then Cape Horn.”

“We were going to wait until the South American tour to do the Cape Horn enclave,” continued Alexa, “but we might as well do it at the same time as the others.”

“That’s very exciting.”

Andrews took Ruth to lunch at a hotdog restaurant.  He was becoming increasingly fond of the American fast food.  He specifically asked the cab driver to take them to one “on the other side of the railroad tracks.”  Sure enough, there was a thriving community of black women, and while upon cursory examination the houses and businesses looked prosperous, the streets, sidewalks, and public works were clearly not as well maintained as those in the rest of the city.  They ate their hotdogs.  Their encounter with the police however, had fouled both their moods and neither felt like continuing afterwards.  Upon returning to the Biltmore, Ruth went to the Ladybugs’ suite, while Andrews spent the evening going through the thick file that had been put together for him in Chicago.  There he found a brief notation regarding a town in Mississippi called Oxford.  The next morning, he asked Agent Wright about it.

“A woman named Pearl Kerrigan wrote a long rambling threat to the Ladybugs back in ’72,” she said, after examining the note.  “It seemed serious enough at the time, so it was investigated by local police.”

“What did they find?” he asked.

“I don’t have any record of a resolution of any kind, but that was three years ago and the woman hasn’t been heard from since.  We rated the threat level pretty low, both because of how long ago it was received and the distance from any tour venue.”

“I have half a mind to go check it out myself, just to find out what happened.”

“I think it’s a waste of time,” said Wright.  “But if you want to requisition an airflivver, I’ll sign off on it.  I don’t think both of us should leave the area though.”

“No, that’s fine.  I can handle this myself.”

The airflivver met him on the roof of the hotel two hours later.  About as wide and tall, not including the dragonfly wings as a good sized car, and about two and a half times as long, this particular flivver was owned by a private contractor who leased it out to the government when it needed vehicles. Andrews dreaded getting into such aircraft when they were still running because of the reaction that some of the pilots had to him.  This pilot, a pretty girl barely old enough to have a pilot’s license, had apparently had contact with men before.  Though friendly and curious, she didn’t seem shocked to meet him.

“Hi, I’m Deb.”

“Agent Andrews.”

“We’re going to Oxford?”

“Yes, you know it?”

“Yes indeed-oh!”  She pulled back on the steering column and the vehicle shot into the air and spun around in an arc so tight that Andrews thought he would be thrown through the door.

Airflivvers typically had an airspeed of nearly two hundred miles per hour, and this one seemed to be one of the fastest, so the flight to Oxford took just less than two hours.  Along the way Andrews learned quite a bit about pilot Deb Gale, who was nothing if not communicative.  She was twenty-one, had moved to Atlanta from Ohio in order to get her piloting job, lived with two friends in a small apartment, and had a long distance friendship with a young man in the enclaves named Bud that she hoped would blossom into romance.

“I want to eventually get a job flying one of the big dirigibles, after I get enough airtime in.  Right now, I’m just enjoying the adventure.  You’ve got to have fun and adventure in your life while you’re young.  That’s what I keep telling Bud.  He’s twenty-four and he’s still afraid to move up north.  Pretty soon he’ll be too old for adventure and then what will he do.”

There was no airport in Oxford, at least not one capable of landing an airship.  There was a small tarmac where four or five airflivvers parked next to a single Quonset hut.  A single black and white police cruiser was waiting nearby.  Once they had landed, Andrews climbed out of the passenger side. Deb secured the craft and then followed him.  They were met by a single uniformed woman climbing out of the car.  She was a stocky woman in her fifties, her hair shot with grey.

“Agent Andrews?”

“Sherriff Donnelly.”  He reached out and shook hands.

“My goodness, I can’t believe it. An actual man right here in Oxford.”

“There are no other men in town?”

“Not for years now.”

“But you’ve known other men?”

“I’ve known a few,” she said, but didn’t elaborate.

“As I told you on the phone, I’m looking for Pearl Kerrigan.”

“I can drive you out to her place. She lives right outside of town. Nobody’s seen her in weeks though.”

“I’m coming too,” said Deb, as they piled into the police car.

“All right,” said Andrews, “but stay out of the way.”

They drove through town.  The once thriving main street had fallen to disrepair and beyond it was a town filled with old worn down houses with peeling paint, and newer mobile homes set back from the street in lots overgrown with weeds and brush.  Beyond the edge of town were a few small farms and then the ruins of abandoned farmhouses.  At last they pulled up in front of a turn of the century home.  It was in better shape than some of the places they had seen, but it looked quiet now.  The windows were all shuttered over and there seemed to be no sign of life.

Sheriff Donnelly got out of the car and walked up onto the front porch, peering into the front window before knocking on the door.  Andrews got out and walked back along the long driveway toward the separated garage behind.  He heard the sheriff knock several times and then call out but there was no answer. The garage had a door that slid from the side and it proved to be unlocked, so he pushed it far enough to create a two foot wide opening.  He stared into the darkness inside.

“Aren’t you going to take out your gun?” asked a voice behind him.

At ten o’clock the following morning, the airship Rosalie Morton rose up from the field at O’Hare and made a slow, majestic turn toward the south.  She would make a quick trip to Atlanta, arriving just before 2:30 local time. Andrews was seated at his tiny desk in his very small cabin, completing the extensive reports that had to be filed anytime a Science Police agent fired his weapon.  A knock at the door brought him to his feet even though the door opened before he had a chance to reach for the handle.  Ep!phanee stepped inside.  She had to press up against him in order to close the door behind her.

“Hello stranger,” she said.

“Hardly a stranger.  We saw each other half an hour ago.”

“Yes but we weren’t alone.  I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“What’s more, my clownfish misses you.”

Sometime later, after the coral reef dweller in question had renewed his acquaintance, Andrews lay on the small single bunk in his room.  Piffy was draped over him like a blanket, her skin separated from his only by a thin layer of perspiration.

“So what is the fascination with sea life—the whole aquatic motif?”

“I like fish and the coral reef. When I’m home on Thatch Cay I go snorkeling almost every day.  Sometimes I go spear fishing.”

“Thatch Cay?”

“Yes, that’s the island we own.” She giggled.  “I managed to say that almost like it’s a normal thing—we own an island.”

“You all live there?”

“Well, we all have houses there. Agave Studio is there.  Then there’s an old fishing village I had fixed up as the port for our boats.  And I had my beach renovated—two hundred barges full of rocks and debris hauled away, the sand sifted, and several rows of palm trees planted back from the shoreline. But until a couple of months ago, I was the only one there besides the caretakers and their families.  Steffie and Penny were both in Europe and Ruth was staying with her mother in St. Croix.”

Andrews was quiet for a moment.  “Really?  Spear fishing?”

“Sure.”  She climbed off of him and began putting her clothes back on.  “You know that island is why we got back together.”

“How so?”

“Oh, we were all fighting about recordings and copyrights and who was going to be the band’s manager, but when it came to selling our joint assets, Thatch Cay was first on the list and nobody wanted to let go of it.  Penny and I got together after not speaking for a couple of years to figure out what to do with it, and we ended up in the studio together.”

“Then the world owes Thatch Cay a debt of gratitude.”  He sat up and folded his hands behind his head.  “I hope we get a chance to sneak out for dinner tonight or maybe tomorrow. I hear they have a very famous hotdog restaurant in Atlanta.”

“That’s not going to be possible I’m afraid.”  Now dressed in her tee shirt and mini skirt, Piffy wobbled like a stilt walker as she put her feet into her platform sandals.  “We have some planning to do for the show this evening, and I want you to spend tomorrow with Ruth.”

“Ruth?  Why?”

“She’s nice.  She’s pretty.”

“I know she’s nice.  She’s famous for being ‘the nice one’, and I think she’s beautiful.  But we’re hitting it off so well, I thought we could spend some time together.”

“We are hitting it off and we’ll spend more time together, but if I have a man it’s just not right that I don’t share him with my best friends.  It’s not like we come across men every day.”

“There are men… around,” he sputtered. “What are you going to do, loan me out like one of your guitars?”

“Don’t be stupid.  I wouldn’t loan Ruth my guitar… maybe my Dreadful, but not my Rickenbacker.  Anyway, she can’t play guitar for shit.  Besides, you should be loving this.  Men are supposed to be like that.  You all make your monthly donations willingly enough don’t you?  You’re supposed to be… what’s that word that you are?”

“Promiscuous?”

“Horny.  That’s it.”

“You have no idea what men are like, do you?”

“I’ve seen men before, though I admit I haven’t really gotten to know one until now.”

“Not even your father?”

“I didn’t have a father.  My mother ordered her genetic sample from the Science Council.”  She stopped and stared at him, eyes and mouth wide open.  “Oh shit.  Oh shit.”

“Relax.  I’m thirty-five.”

She stared uncomprehendingly.

“I’m too young to be your father.”

“Oh my God,” she let out the breath she had been holding and put her hand over her heart.  “What a scare.  I guess Ruth doesn’t have to worry about that.  Penny doesn’t either, though that’s just the kind of kink she’d probably enjoy.”

“So you want me to go out and have sex with your friends?”

“Only if you hit it off.  If you don’t click, then no problem.  Unlike most women, they can afford to fly south and find their own man. And just Ruth and Penny—not Steffie. She had her own man and the bitch never once offered to share him with me.  Well, all right.  Maybe Steffie too.  We’re kind of a package deal.  You understand how the world works, don’t you?  There just aren’t enough men for us not to share.  You can’t just date one girl, no matter how much I would like to have you all to myself.”

Andrews ordered a taxi and rode with Ep!phanee back to the American, where the rest of the band and entourage had stayed.  Once she was safely under the protection of the Chicago Police Department, and after he had made a quick stop at his own room to shave and change, he took the same cab back to the international building and met up with Agent Wright and the team.

Two of the local agents were working in the office, coordinating with other Science Police teams who were investigating possible threats in cities around the globe.  Andrews and Wright, each taking one of the local agents with them, set out to determine the veracity of threats in the Chicago area.  Wright and her temporary partner Agent Finnegan were to investigate the source of some anti-lesbian letters, while Andrews and Agent Loginova were looking into a woman who had sent several long, rambling quasi-religious, anti-rock and roll letters.  Downstairs in the garage, Andrews bid farewell to Wright and followed Loginova to the large black Packard Clipper.

“You know the area better,” he said, as he climbed into the passenger seat, aware that many women didn’t trust male drivers.

Loginova was a tough looking woman of five foot eight.  She had the body of an athlete, and while her face was attractive, it boasted several scars that said she could take a beating as well as give one.  Her burgundy-dyed hair was cut into an unusual bob, very high on the back of her head and featuring bangs that came to a point in the middle, just above her nose, rather than being cut straight across.

The last known residence of Miss Athena Kesting was in Bolingbrook, which with traffic took almost forty minutes to reach.  The quaint little village was covered by a large glass and steel dome to protect residents from the acrid smoke and acid rain that was the bane of the Midwest.  The address in question proved to be huge house on a large, fenced estate.

“Not what I was expecting,” commented Loginova, as she pulled the car up the driveway, past extensive gardens.

The two agents parked and got out. On either side of the front door were life-sized marble statues of women in long flowing dresses.  Andrews knocked, using the brass doorknocker, and when the door opened, he was surprised to find a woman who was the spitting image of the statue on the left.

“Good morning,” said Loginova, showing her badge.  “We would like to speak to Miss Athena Kesting.”

“Oh.  She doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Can you give us her forwarding address?”

“Won’t you come in please?”

The two agents entered a home that was as opulent inside as the outside had hinted.  Passing through a foyer covered in rich wood paneling, they entered a stunningly decorated living room and sat down on a beautiful antique sofa. Two other women were seated when they came in, but both rose to their feet.

“Inga, would you ask Mr. Larkin to come down?” asked the woman with whom they had entered.  “My husband will very much want to speak with you.”

A few minutes later, the gentleman in question entered the room.  He was an average looking man, wearing casual though expensive clothes.  He was slightly balding, something that he had chosen not to try to cover up by combing his hair over.

“Good Morning,” he said, shaking hands with both agents.  “I’m Evan Larkin, and these are my wives Elke Lom-Larkin, Angelina Redmond-Larkin, and Inga Lom-Larkin.”

“Agent Andrews, and this is Agent Loginova.”

“So what can we do for you,” Larkin asked sitting down across from them.  Elke sat to his right, while Angelina and Inga stood behind them.

“They are here about Athena,” said Elke.

“Oh yes.  Well, no surprises there.  She was a troubled girl, I’m afraid.”

“What was your relationship with Miss Kesting?” asked Andrews.

“We were engaged.  My wives thought that she might fit in with us here, so she moved in for a trial period.  I’m afraid it was not to be, though.  She left, what has it been now?  Six months ago.”

“Do you have a forwarding address?”

“Inga will find that for you.  May I ask why you are looking for her?”

“I’m afraid we can’t say.  It involves an ongoing investigation.”

“I see.  Well, it’s no stretch of the imagination that it involves Athena’s strong feelings.  She was brought up in a very religious community in Idaho.”

“They were very strict adherents to morality and believers in a patriarchal lifestyle,” said Elke. “That’s why we thought she might fit in here.”

“And you are all adherents to a patriarchal lifestyle?” asked Loginova.

“Not really,” replied Elke.  “We’re more of a pragmatic family.  We just thought that having grown up that way, Athena would fit in.  It just didn’t work out.  She was far too inflexible.”

“She thought that everyone had to believe the way she did,” added Angelina.

Andrews felt rather than saw Loginova cast a glance in his direction.

“Would you ladies mind if I spoke to Agent Andrews alone in my study?” asked Larkin.

Not waiting for a reply, he stood up and started for a door in the back of the room.  He turned to see that Andrews was following him, and said, “Inga will get that forwarding address for you, Agent Loginova.”

The study was a spacious room with large windows looking out over a huge swimming pool and beautiful lawn behind the house.  There was a large cherry wood desk near the back of the room and shelves filled with books along the wall.

“Would you like a drink?” asked Larkin.

“No, thank you.”

“Have you had a drink yet?”

Andrews grunted noncommittally.