in front of him, barring his way. The other slipped in behind him. Burstone liked the new arrangement even less than the old. He had the ridiculous idea that at any moment the man behind might crouch, so that the tall one could push him back, make him fall over, like a small boy.
“What are you trying to say?” asked Burstone.
“Briefly,” said the man behind him, speaking close to his ear, “and without all the veiled threats, that Joth Magner followed you through that door a while ago, and he didn’t come back. We want to talk to you. Because we know about Joth Magner and the police don’t, we think you want to talk to us. All right?”
“I didn’t kill him,” said Burstone.
“What’s in the case?” asked the tall man, ignoring the protest. “And why?”
Burstone considered the situation. He hadn’t killed Joth Magner. Not quite. But he had wound up the cage, knowing that someone had gone down, and that the someone would inevitably be trapped. He knew what the Underworld was like. He knew what would happen to him if he came back one day to find that the cage had gone, and that there was no way home. He knew.
The worst thing was, he hadn’t an answer to his own question. He didn’t know why he’d done it. He’d been scared. He knew he’d been followed and he knew he was being watched. He could have just gone away and left it, but he was too frightened even to do that. He’d wound up the cage and solved the problem by elimination. He hadn’t known it was Joth Magner. He’d never seen the man who followed him. He hadn’t known. It was a momentary decision—almost a crazy decision. He regretted it now as he’d regretted it for a long time. He’d almost been expecting it to catch up with him. He knew that he was responsible for Joth Magner’s death. He felt it. He only wished that feeling it would tell him why.
“Who are you?” whispered Burstone.
“Does it matter?” asked the tall man.
“Does it have to be here?”
“No. You want to go home?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” said the other man, still behind him, still mouthing into his ear. “Let’s go.”
Burstone moved forward. The tall man stopped him by jabbing a key gently into his chest. “I’ll take the case,” he said.
Burstone surrendered the case. Then they went back to the cars, and he led the way home.
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