"No. She helped, as I had. But he went on killing people as if they were flies. His private life never distracted him. When the disease ruined her mind and drove her away from him, many people expected him to fly into a rage and take it out on the city. He did not. It was business as usual, no matter how much he was hurting inside."
" Did she hurt him?" I asked.
"I think so. It is hard to tell with Dorry. He was certainly sullen when she left, and distant on occasion. But he did not grieve for her. I think he is incapable of grief. I cannot say how close he came to loving Conchita, but he was as far from loving her in the way you or I can love as this planet is from the sun. He has no true human emotions except for hate and rage."
Leonora fell silent after that and by the way she concentrated on her pineapple I knew she didn't want to talk about this anymore. I didn't mind. I'd already learned more about The Cardinal than I expected to. I gazed around the restaurant as I mulled over our talk. "Have you seen any sign of the Lap man today?" I asked.
She laughed. "Who on earth is the Lap man? "
"Y Tse," I chuckled.
"Who?"
I stared at her, heart sinking. "Leonora," I said, voice shaking, "don't you dare sit there and-"
She raised a hand. "Quiet." She thought for a few moments. "I want you to tell me about this 'Lap man.' "
"But you know-," I began angrily.
"Please," she snapped. "Humor me."
Sighing, I described him, then went on, "He used to be The Cardinal's right-hand man. He spends most of his time here, a lot of it with you. He acts crazy but he's not. The two of you are close friends. I have a feeling you might have been more than that once, though neither of you has ever said anything. His real name is Inti Maimi. Shall I go on?"
She was staring at the table, quiet as a corpse. When she looked up, her face was haggard. "I cannot remember anything about him." When my lips twisted into a sneer, her hands shot across the table and gripped mine. "Capac, I swear that name means nothing to me. I am not saying he does not exist. I do not doubt your description. But I do not remember him." She released me.
"It has happened before," she said softly. "But never so strong a sense of it. When I woke this morning, I felt something wrong, that something was missing. Like when you go into a room and forget what you wanted when you get there. There was a gap in my mind that I could not account for. I now know what it was."
"What are you saying, that you've forgotten him? That's impossible. You don't just forget a person. You can't."
She smiled bitterly. "You have much to learn, Capac. I have forgotten him. And it is not the first time. Conchita often mentioned names that meant nothing to me, people she insisted I knew. This was a long time ago. I thought it was her illness, that she had concocted imaginary friends. But as the years passed, I began to think she was the only one who did not have a problem.
"Conchita berated others in our circle, insisting we knew people when we did not." She shook her head. "I am old and have seen many strange things in my life. The brain is complex, twisted. It can be manipulated. I have seen men walk on live coals, hold their breath underwater for an hour, recall events that occurred before they were born." She finished the last of her pineapple and waited for me to speak.
"Y Tse remembered people too," I said. "He sometimes argued with you about it. He thought you were playing along with The Cardinal. I thought that of Sonja when Adrian-one of my friends-went missing." I looked at her pleadingly. "What does it mean, Leonora?"
She shrugged softly and rose. "I do not know what is happening, but only two people apart from you ever spoke of the people the rest of us had apparently forgotten-Conchita, who went mad, and your Y Tse, who has disappeared." She bent and kissed my forehead. "Dorry's world is darker and deeper than even I can imagine. Be careful, Capac."
I stared at her as she walked away, my head spinning. This was getting crazier all the time. I wanted to sit and pick at the puzzle all day but I had an appointment to keep. The Cardinal had summoned me the night before. I'd already kept him waiting and I knew he wouldn't be too happy about that. I'd hoped to clear my head before I faced him, but that evidently wasn't going to happen and there was no point delaying our meeting any longer. Pushing my chair back, I went to find Thomas and told him to drive me to Party Central.
The green fog was smothering the city again, so it took us longer than usual to get there. Ford Tasso was coming out of the building as I headed in. He grabbed my arm and jerked me to a halt. "Where the hell have you been?" he roared. "He's seething like the fucking Antichrist! Nobody stands up The Cardinal. What the fuck were you thinking?"
"I had other things on my mind," I said.
"You…?" He gawked at me but I didn't care.
"Do you want to drag me up to make it look like you tracked me down?"
He shook his head. "Just get the fuck up there quick as you can."
I took my time checking in my shoes-little rebel that I was-then took the elevator and paused outside his door. The secretary was eyeing me wickedly, ruffling her papers. I didn't care. After what he'd done to Conchita, I thought the bastard deserved a bit of comeback. I waited until I heard the secretary grinding her teeth, then knocked once and entered.
The Cardinal was prowling in front of the window like a bull. He even snorted when he saw me. "Well, Mr. Raimi," he growled, "you finally decided to grace me with your presence. I hope I haven't torn you away from anything important?"
I opened my mouth and let the words flow without thinking. "I'm late. Live with it." Then I sat.
The Cardinal stared at me flatly, then closed his eyes and rubbed the lids with his fingers. "Are you testing me, Mr. Raimi? Do you want to know how far you can push me before I snap?"
"No. I just don't have any sorry excuses to offer. I couldn't come until now. That's the end of the matter as far as I'm concerned."
He opened his eyes and scowled. "I've killed men for looking at me crooked. Why should I let you get away with insolence like this?"
It was probably a rhetorical question but I began to answer it. "Because you want me to be your…" Then I stopped, thinking I'd gone too far.
The Cardinal cocked his head. "To be my successor?" he said mockingly.
"Maybe," I said softly, deciding to push it now that the issue had been raised.
"You really think I'd choose you ahead of men I've known for decades, who've proven their loyalty a hundred times over?"
"Maybe," I said again, a whisper this time.
"Are you loyal?" he asked.
I thought of Ama Situwa. "When it suits me."
"A strange answer. But I like it." He smiled suddenly, startling me. "Yes, Mr. Raimi, I've singled you out as a possible heir." My heart rate shot up but he raised a cautionary finger before I got too excited. "But I hope to live a long time yet and others will undoubtedly come along. Plus there are several who already have a strong claim. Don't get carried away. I'm not about to hand the reins over anytime soon, certainly not to one so immature. We'll see how you progress over the next decade. If you're still going strong, if you still want it, we'll talk about it then."
"Of course I'll want it," I said.
"Don't be too sure. The man who replaces me must be cruel, heartless, self-centered. He must live for and love nothing more than this empire. Is there anybody you would die for, a mother, sister… friend? "
"Yes," I answered shortly, thinking of Conchita, maybe Ama too. "There is."
"In the end," he said softly, "you'll have to betray that person. If you hope to replace me, you'll have to learn to let go of those you love. Can you do that, Mr. Raimi, sacrifice those you are closest to, renounce your humanity and become a monster like me?"
I thought about it for a full minute before I answered. "I don't know."
"One day," he said, "you'll find out. On that day you'll learn if you are fit to succeed me." His eyes flickered as he added bitterly, "Pray for your soul's sake that you are not."
We discussed business after that. I told him about my deal with Reed, how I'd used his daughter to seal it. The Cardinal was worried I might have threatened her, but I assured him it had been aboveboard.
"He believed you could persuade her to marry you?" he asked incredulously.
"Who knows-it might prove to be the truth."
The Cardinal grinned wickedly. "Pursuing romance so soon after my warning about getting involved with people?"