Cui Bono

V

            Andreas strolled to Speakeasy, looking around at frequent intervals to see if Katherine was around.

"We need to talk."

Andreas turned to see Mark standing next to him. "Now?"

"Now."

Andreas exhaled slowly.

"There's a quiet restaurant not too far from here." Mark led Andreas to his 'Craft, then piloted them to La Terrazza.

Once the men were seated, Mark began. "I've heard some things about you."

"From who?"

Mark shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm sworn to secrecy. But I'm a scientist, so I'm determined to find out how much, if any, of it is true." A server android placed glasses of water in front of them. "Katherine and I talked about the information we've each received about you, and what we got was strikingly similar. And Katherine did do some research into you before Cammy's birthday, and most of what she got from alleged first-hand sources wasn't good."

"What exactly did she tell you? Who did she talk to?"

"I have enough respect for Katherine to keep our private conversations exactly that—private. However, she did ask me to ask you, when next I saw you, about Brenda Morrison."

Andreas laughed. "Brenda Morrison? Are you serious?"

"Very. Brenda was one of Katherine's closest friends, despite the physical distance between them. Apparently, Greg Morrison used some of the money he stole from you to pay for Katherine's flight to New York so she could attend Brenda's funeral."

Andreas shook his head.

"So you think it's fine to abandon people in their hour of need?"

"Brenda was just so clingy."

"The way I heard it, you stole her from her boyfriend at the time, toyed with her emotions to get her into bed with you, then left her high and dry when she was dying."

"She was on her way out. How much fun could she have been to be around? And she was somehow still clingy."

"One day, you'll discover there's little to no amusement in playing with other people's lives. On that note, if you hurt anyone I care about, you will lose my goodwill. Permanently."

Andreas could remember only one other time when someone had given him such a stern look—and he had been a teenager at the time.

'"And now it's time for...Fantasy Death Match!"'

Mark sighed. "I forgot The Corky Ford Show is on tonight."

'"Let's see what this week's polls say."' Corky Ford flipped a switch, and looked at the screen in front of him. '"Ooh, this one's gonna be a doozy. But an overwhelming majority of you demanded it, so let's put it up."'

Andreas glared; on the PublicoVision screen were photos of a man named Sven Ericksen and none other than Katherine, pitted against each other in a fight to the death in the fevered imaginations of a portion of the population. The photos dissolved to make way for a cartoon enacting what might happen if Katherine and the man actually fought to the death, which ended with a scene in which the combatants were about to kill each other with the caption 'To Be Continued...' over the freeze frame.