soft, but it had acquired a harder edge. One I hadn’t heard before.
I said, “One of the keys to being a successful private investigator is to be an absolute screwup in pretty much every other aspect of your life. Nobody would trust a detective with a happy home and family. They would have no credibility.”
“Why not just say you’ve never been married? For a man your age, that seems to represent a certain level of failure.”
“That’s true, but it’s still not enough. The detective game is a tough business. I can’t afford to go for any half measures. This way, not only do I have a failed relationship in my past, but by keeping the picture of the wife that betrayed and humiliated me, I reveal that I still carry the torch. The clients love that sort of stuff. It allows them to feel superior, no matter the nature of their own problems. Cutting a wretched, broken, and tragic figure is the only way I can maintain the competitive edge I need. And I can assure you, Angel, I really need it.”
She was silent for a moment. Then she spoke.
“So why are you confessing this to me now? Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your credibility with me?”
“I have no interest in retaining that sort of credibility with you. The reason for this confession is simply to make a point.”
“What point?” She was still doing her best to sound like a sweet young schoolgirl, but that schoolgirl was growing up fast.
“When I pull that ex-wife routine on my clients, it’s because I want to give them a particular impression about myself. It’s an act, a character I hide behind so the client can’t find out too much about the real me. Now the most important part about putting on an act like that is making sure you don’t leave any gaps. Every possible aspect of the character must be covered, so nobody can see through it.”
“That all sounds very clever, but I don’t see why you need to make this point to me.”
“Because one of the advantages of becoming adept at this act is that it’s much easier for me to see through other people when they try to pull it on me. Especially when they’ve left gaps. Big ones.”
“What do you mean by that?” In the darkness, I could sense her pulling away from me.
“Before I saw Sally, I went to the library.”
She was sitting up now, her head propped on her hands. “You really have a strange style of conversation. Do you always prefer changing the subject, rather than explaining yourself?”
“Don’t you want to know what I found?”
“Is it pertinent to anything we’ve talked about so far?”
“I’ll leave that for you to decide. What I was looking for were historical records. Initially, I was only interested in one particular record, but as I searched I had the chance to see many others, and they revealed some very interesting details.”
“Such as?”
“Each of those records represented minutes from the executive meetings of the Heavenly Council. As far as I can tell, this council is comprised of God himself, His sons, St Peter, a number of less significant deities, and you angels. Certain members of the council seem to play a more prominent role in discussions than others. Peter, for instance, plays a relatively minor role, which given his work commitments is no surprise. Sally and Raphael, on the other hand, are both highly involved. However, oddly enough, motions presented by Raphael are rarely successful, while those put forward by Sally are almost never defeated.”
“That is interesting, but not all that surprising.”
“You’re right. It isn’t surprising at all. What is surprising is the total lack of involvement by someone who I would have expected to care quite a lot about how Heaven is governed, especially given the comments she made to me only yesterday. I didn’t see your name mentioned in any of the minutes. Not even once.”
Jessie sat very straight. I could feel her eyes boring into me.
“I guess there are some matters I’d rather leave to
I said, “One of the keys to being a successful private investigator is to be an absolute screwup in pretty much every other aspect of your life. Nobody would trust a detective with a happy home and family. They would have no credibility.”
“Why not just say you’ve never been married? For a man your age, that seems to represent a certain level of failure.”
“That’s true, but it’s still not enough. The detective game is a tough business. I can’t afford to go for any half measures. This way, not only do I have a failed relationship in my past, but by keeping the picture of the wife that betrayed and humiliated me, I reveal that I still carry the torch. The clients love that sort of stuff. It allows them to feel superior, no matter the nature of their own problems. Cutting a wretched, broken, and tragic figure is the only way I can maintain the competitive edge I need. And I can assure you, Angel, I really need it.”
She was silent for a moment. Then she spoke.
“So why are you confessing this to me now? Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your credibility with me?”
“I have no interest in retaining that sort of credibility with you. The reason for this confession is simply to make a point.”
“What point?” She was still doing her best to sound like a sweet young schoolgirl, but that schoolgirl was growing up fast.
“When I pull that ex-wife routine on my clients, it’s because I want to give them a particular impression about myself. It’s an act, a character I hide behind so the client can’t find out too much about the real me. Now the most important part about putting on an act like that is making sure you don’t leave any gaps. Every possible aspect of the character must be covered, so nobody can see through it.”
“That all sounds very clever, but I don’t see why you need to make this point to me.”
“Because one of the advantages of becoming adept at this act is that it’s much easier for me to see through other people when they try to pull it on me. Especially when they’ve left gaps. Big ones.”
“What do you mean by that?” In the darkness, I could sense her pulling away from me.
“Before I saw Sally, I went to the library.”
She was sitting up now, her head propped on her hands. “You really have a strange style of conversation. Do you always prefer changing the subject, rather than explaining yourself?”
“Don’t you want to know what I found?”
“Is it pertinent to anything we’ve talked about so far?”
“I’ll leave that for you to decide. What I was looking for were historical records. Initially, I was only interested in one particular record, but as I searched I had the chance to see many others, and they revealed some very interesting details.”
“Such as?”
“Each of those records represented minutes from the executive meetings of the Heavenly Council. As far as I can tell, this council is comprised of God himself, His sons, St Peter, a number of less significant deities, and you angels. Certain members of the council seem to play a more prominent role in discussions than others. Peter, for instance, plays a relatively minor role, which given his work commitments is no surprise. Sally and Raphael, on the other hand, are both highly involved. However, oddly enough, motions presented by Raphael are rarely successful, while those put forward by Sally are almost never defeated.”
“That is interesting, but not all that surprising.”
“You’re right. It isn’t surprising at all. What is surprising is the total lack of involvement by someone who I would have expected to care quite a lot about how Heaven is governed, especially given the comments she made to me only yesterday. I didn’t see your name mentioned in any of the minutes. Not even once.”
Jessie sat very straight. I could feel her eyes boring into me.
“I guess there are some matters I’d rather leave to
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