Page 31 of The Paradox Club

“Is the president sitting comfortably by the pool in Florida?”

“He is not,” said Montag 5.

“Then everything is not going perfectly,” said Pilgrim 3. “What about the wife?”

“The president never had a wife,” said Lidenbrock 2.

“Not the president’s wife,” said Pilgrim 3, raising her voice. “Harry Maxwell’s wife.”

“Marie Maxwell? You know she never supported his actions in the first place,” said Nemo 7. “After the memorial service, we had no more contact with her. Lidenbrock 2 searched Harry’s office at the university before they emptied it, but he didn’t find anything.”

“And the house?”

“I searched that, too,” said Lidenbrock 2, “right after Harry died and before Marie got home. Nothing of interest.”

“I wonder if we should have been watching her all this time,” said Pilgrim 3.

“It’s not like we have a police force,” said Nemo 7. “Most club members have full-time jobs. We can’t exactly run a ten-year surveillance project. It was hard enough finding people to keep an eye on the president.”

“Don’t worry,” said Lidenbrock 2. “If anything happens, it will show up on the big board.”

“Don’t tell me not to worry,” said Pilgrim 3. But she did not go on to express her real concern. Pilgrim 3 wasn’t afraid that something would happen; she was afraid that something would happen without her. That somehow, from beyond the grave, Harry Maxwell would find a way to thwart her quest for power and fame. Because if the same thing happened on October 14 that happened on the other date Harry Maxwell had calculated—the date of his death—then Pilgrim 3 might have the opportunity to become very powerful and famous indeed.

“Keep watching that board,” said Pilgrim 3. “And be ready to go anywhere if it lights up.”

An hour later, from a quiet spot in the Ramble in Central Park, Nemo 7 called the president. In the past few days, Richard had paid for two mediocre spa treatments, read a poorly written thriller that someone had abandoned in the lobby, eaten twice in each of the resort’s two restaurants, and tried without success to find a decent place nearby to take a run. The pleasures of the Lakeside Hotel and Resort were wearing thin.

“Tell me something interesting?” he said when he heard Nemo 7’s voice.

“Not much to tell. Pilgrim 3 is as nervous as a two-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I’m not sure she suspects Valentine 6, but she certainly doesn’t trust her. She doesn’t know where you are, but she thinks your disappearance means something. And she’s asking questions about Marie.”

“Not about Vivian?”

“She thinks Vivian was Harry’s friend, maybe his mistress, but nothing more.”

“So, what, I’m stuck at this place until the fourteenth?”

“Would you like to explain to me why you left Florida?”

“Tess showed up at Vivian’s. Six days ago.”

“She just showed up?”

“Had some kind of mental breakdown and left school.”

“That timing can’t be a coincidence.”

“Exactly what I told Vivian.”

“If Pilgrim 3 finds out about her—”

“Then there may be no way we can protect her,” said Richard.

“Where are you now?”

“About two hours from Vivian by car. If anything shows up on the board, I’ll be able to beat Pilgrim 3’s goons there.”

“So, what do we do?” asked Nemo 7.