Serpent (NUMA Files 1)

"I did, and I don't remember the rest of it any better than you do."

"I wasn't trying to get an A in poetry," Zavala said. "I was thinking. Maybe pre-Columbian isn't the key. Maybe it's Columbus.'

"Good point," Trout said.

"It is?"'Zavala replied. Even he wasn't so sure.

"Paul is right," Austin said. "You can't have pre-Columbian without Columbus."

Zavala grinned. "In fourteen hundred and ninetytwo . . ."

"Exactly. That dumb rhyme pretty much sums up what most of us know about Columbus. The date he sailed and the fact we get a three-day weekend in October because of him. But what do we really know about old Chris? Especially as it might apply to these murderous attacks."

Trout's analytical brain was at work "I think I see where you're headed. We know there's an indirect link between Columbus and these incidents. Ergo . . ."

"Keep on ergoing," Zavala encouraged.

"Ergo the question: Is there a direct link?"

They exchanged glances.

"Perlmutter," they uttered in unison.

Austin grabbed the phone and punched out a number. In a spacious Georgetown carriage house the private line gave off a ring like a ship's bell. The receiver was plucked from its cradle by a plump hand belonging to a man who was not quite as wide as a barn door. He wore plummy purple pajamas under a red and gold paisley robe. He sat in a chair reading one of the thousands of books that seemed to fill every cubic inch of every room.

"St. Julien Perlmutter here," he said through a magnificent gray beard. "State your business in a brief manner."

"Christopher Columbus," Austin said. "Is that brief enough for you?"

"My God, is that you, Kurt? I heard you've been fighting pirates off the Barbary Coast."

"Just a humble government servant doing my job. Somebody has to keep the seas safe for American shipping."

"Live and learn, my friend. I was unaware: that the U.S. Navy had been disbanded in favor of NUMA."

"We've decided to give them another chance to shape up. As you know, pirates aren't NUMA's usual business."

"Ah, yes. So you're interested in the Admiral of the Ocean Sea? You know, it's a wonder he ever made it west of the Canary Islands."

"Bad navigation?"

"Heavens, no. Dead reckoning was adequate for the task at hand. It would have been hard for him to have missed two continents connected by an isthmus even though that's what happened. I'm talking about the crew's food. Did you know that the basic ration was a pound a day of hard biscuit, salt meat, salt fish, and olive oil? Beans and chickpeas, of course, with almonds and raisins for dessert," he said with horror in his voice. "The only bright spot was the availability of fresh fish."

Austin sensed Perlmutter was drifting off onto a dissertation on fine food and wines, his burning passion for which was equaled only by his interest in ships and shipwrecks. Perlmutter was the classic gourmand and bon vivant. Weighing in at nearly four hundred pounds, his corpulent figure was a familiar and awe-inspiring sight at the most elegant restaurants, where he often hosted sumptuous dinners.

"Don't forget the weevils that developed in their food," Austin said, trying to move Perlmutter away from his favorite subject.

"I can't imagine what weevils would be like. I've tried locusts and grubs in Africa. Good sources of protein, I'm told, but if I want something that tastes like chicken, I'll eat chicken. You'll have to tell me precisely what you want to know. Why are you so curious about Columbus, if I may ask?"

Perlmutter listened quietly, his encyclopedic mind absorbing every detail, as Austin summarized the story, from the Moroccan murders to the blunted sting.

"I think I see what you need. You want to know why Columbus would inspire anyone to kill. It wouldn't be the first time Columbus excited tempers. He was an incredible survivor. He was wrong about discovering America, yet that is what he is famous for. To his dying day he claimed to have discovered China. He never acknowledged the existence of an entire continent. He started the slave trade in the Americas and brought the terrible glories of the Spanish Inquisition to the New World. He was obsessed with gold. He was either a saint or a scoundrel, depending on your point of view."

"That was then. I'm talking about now Why would somebody murder to prevent his discoveries from being discredited? All I need is one link."

"His voyages have produced tons of written material and millions of pages. What has been written about the old boy could fill an entire library."

"I'm aware of that, which is why I called. You're the only one I know who could brush away the dross."