THE PROFESSOR WHO HAD ORGANIZED THE one-day seminar on publicity1 and self-promotion was Dr. Robert Vebbler. He preferred to be called Dr. Bob, as he was known on the motivational-speaking circuit, where he promised to turn ordinary, self-doubting men and women into doubt-free dynamos of self-interest and superhuman achievement.
Ethan and Hazard found the professor on the mostly deserted2 campus, in his office, preparing for a January speaking tour. The walls of the two-room space were papered with portrait posters of Dr. Bob in a size popularized by Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung.
He had a shaved head, a handlebar mustache, a red-bronze tan that established his contempt for melanoma, and laser-whitened teeth brighter than irradiated piano keys. With the exception of his red snakeskin boots, everything he wore—as in the posters—was white, including his watch, which had a white band and a plain white face without any numbers or checks to indicate the hours.
Dr. Bob managed so successfully to turn the answer to every question into a mini-lecture on self-esteem and positive thinking that Ethan wanted Hazard to arrest him on charges of felony cliché and practicing philosophy without an idea.
[445] He was just as quacky as Donald Duck, but he was no more a murderer than was that excitable mallard. He hungered to be famous, not infamous3. Donald had on occasion attempted to kill Chip and Dale, that pair of pesky chipmunks4, but Dr. Bob would instead motivate them to give up their rodent5 ways and become successful entrepreneurs.
He signed for Ethan and Hazard two paperback6 copies of his latest collection of motivational speeches and declared that he would be the first ever to pyramid a series of self-help books into a Nobel prize for literature.
By the time they escaped Dr. Bob’s office, located a trash can in which to ditch the paperbacks7, and returned to the Expedition, the instrument-panel clock and Ethan’s watch showed a synchronized8 3:41.
At five o’clock, the last of the household staff would leave for the day. Fric would be alone in Palazzo Rospo.
Ethan considered calling the guards in the security office at the back of the estate. One of them could go to the house and stay with the boy.
That would leave one man to monitor cameras and other detection systems, with no one to conduct the scheduled foot patrols. Ethan was reluctant to spread his resources thin in the current circumstances.
He continued to believe that Reynerd’s unknown partner, if still determined9 to act, would not do so until Thursday afternoon at the earliest, when the Face returned from the location shoot in Florida. Manheim’s whereabouts were public knowledge and much written about. Anyone sufficiently10 obsessed11 with the star to want to kill him would most likely know when he was expected to return to Bel Air.
Most likely ... but not absolutely.
The element of doubt, and Hazard’s intuitive sense that they didn’t have until Thursday, troubled Ethan. He worried that someone would discover a way to penetrate12 the estate’s defenses, regardless of how tightly the grounds were sealed, and lie in wait undetected until Manheim’s return.
[446] Even the most drum-tight security plan was a human enterprise, after all, and every human enterprise, due to the nature of the beast, was imperfect. A clever enough lunatic, driven by obsession13 and by a vicious homicidal impulse, could find a crack even in the wall of protection around a President of the United States.
From what Ethan knew of Reynerd, the man hadn’t been clever, but the person who had inspired the character of the professor in the screenplay might be a higher-caliber crackpot.
“You go home,” Hazard insisted as they drove off the university campus. “Drop me back at Our Lady of Angels so I can get my car, and I’ll check out the last two names myself.”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
“You’re not a real cop, anyway,” Hazard said. “You gave that all up for fortune and the chance to kiss celebrity14 ass15. Remember?”
“You’re only in this on account of me.”
“Wrong. I’m in this because of these,” Hazard said, and rang the set of three silvery bells.
The sound resonated in the fluid of Ethan’s spine16.
“Damn if I’m gonna have spooky shit like this in my life,” said Hazard, “or guys walking into mirrors. I’m gonna explain it somehow, blow all these hoodoo thoughts out of my head, and get back to being who I was, such as I was.”
The remaining two names were those of professors of American literature at yet another university. They had been put at the bottom of the list because Reynerd’s partial screenplay suggested that his co-conspirator would prove to be an acting17 teacher or an academic associated in some other way with the entertainment business. Stuffy18 professors of literature, lounging about in tweed coats with leather patches on the elbows, smoking pipes and discussing participles, did not seem likely to be celebrity stalkers or murderers.
“Anyway,” Hazard said, “I think maybe these two won’t pan out any better than the others.”
[447] He read from notes made during phone calls that he had placed en route between Professor Fitzmartin at Cedars-Sinai and Dr. Bob.
The storm had somewhat relented. The wind that had cracked trees now merely worried them and made them shudder19 in expectation of a sudden resumption of the tempest.
Rain fell with a brisk measured efficiency but no longer with destructive force, as though a revolution in the heavens had turned out the ruling warriors20 in favor of businessmen.
“Maxwell Dalton,” Hazard continued after a moment. “Evidently he’s on leave or sabbatical from the university. The woman I spoke21 to was some holiday temp, not too clear, so I’m supposed to see Dalton’s wife. And the other is Vladimir Laputa.”
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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chipmunks
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| n.金花鼠( chipmunk的名词复数 ) | |
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rodent
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| n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的 | |
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paperback
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| n.平装本，简装本 | |
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paperbacks
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| n.平装本，平装书( paperback的名词复数 ) | |
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synchronized
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| 同步的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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