“It requirestwomen?” asked Sterling approvingly.
“Well, someone with exceptional prowess can manage alone.” She winked at Mr. Left, who bowed humbly.
Sterling laughed, and her head throbbed.
Frau Thursday twisted her band. “The ring emits a focused ultrasonic pulse, activating Sergei’s device. The directional microphone records for an hour, storing the intercept on mini–magnetic tape. Sturdy stuff, polyester backed, requires only quarterly replacement. Afterward, the payload transmits to my ring via magnetic induction. My gentlemen transcribe it later.”
“Magnificent, darling,” said Sterling, applauding. “How’s it powered?”
“Piezoelectric quartz crystals embedded in the band generate energy from my movement, storing it in a precious, teeny-tiny capacitor. Ingenious.”
“Oh, how cute is that? My pocket watch had something like that, but it stopped ticking years ago.”
“That’s no surprise. Vieta made it,” said Frau Thursday.
“How do you know that?”
“She was Sergei’s daughter from a previous relationship. Who do you think introduced Vieta to Serafina?”
“Do you know where she is?” asked Sterling.
Frau Thursday shook her head. “Alas, we lost touch.” She sighed, twisting her ring. “It’s silly to be sentimental over a machine, but Sergei said the device was like me: refined, powerful, and beautiful.”
Sterling sniffled. “That might be the most romantic and geeky thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Now, don’t get upset, you truly did me a favor destroying it. In fact, to thank you, I’ve brought you a few things.” She handed Sterling a gold key. “This opens your new room lock, it’s more secure. We also installed a safe in your kitchenette. You can set the code yourself later,” she said. “Don’t use Fernando’s birthday, it will be any thief’s first guess.”
“Fair point.”
Frau Thursday unclasped her mysterious suitcase, the same she brought with her every time she visited. “The one problem with Sergei’s device was its location. The tunnel amplified background noise from Room 5, including some of what happened during my last visit.”
“When Hedy died,” said Sterling, accepting a bound stack of white pages.
It was a carbon copy of a typewritten transcript, made from audio recorded on the night of the murder. Most of the document was redacted, save for footnotes. Annotations of background noise, echoes from Room 5. In the footnotes, Hedy and David were labeledFemale 1andMale 1.
It began at 1:45 a.m., when they entered, with a description of a door creaking and a key turning in a lock.
01:46 Female 1: Join me for a drink?
01:46 Male 1: [Indecipherable speech, slurred]
The description mentioned the sound of sloppy kissing, before Female 1 giggled and told him to lie back and await her.
01:50 [Bathwater runs. Female 1 hums]
01:52 [Female 1 coughs]
There was a note of David’s soft snoring, soon silenced. After that, the document took a dark twist.
01:54 Female 1: Something’s wrong.
01:55 [Female 1 retches]
02:02 [Toilet flushes]
02:06 [Female 1 spits. Sink runs. Sink stops. Female 1 wheezes and coughs, wet.]
Hedy had vomited. She brushed her teeth. She coughed more. Her breaths rattled.
