His words of greeting were “Well? Have you found the useless moron?”
Adele noticed me and waved me to join her.
“Mr. Cole! Come see. You’ll enjoy this.”
Corbin grumbled.
“Adele, he doesn’t have time. For God’s sake.”
She waved me over again.
“Come look!”
Wendy and Corbin followed along behind me, but stopped well away. Adele leaned over the open hive and tugged me closer.
“The girls won’t hurt you. Look here. Tell me what you see.”
The box contained what looked like three or four thousand bees crawling over each other in an undulating brown mass.
I said, “May I show off?”
She looked amused.
“I hope so.”
“Western honey bees. Also known as Apis mellifera.”
She beamed and slapped my arm.
“Well done! I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be. A friend used to keep a hive in Santa Clarita. An apiculturist, like you.”
Adele peered into the hive again.
“Oh, I’m not an apiculturist. I don’t care for honey. I study how they make decisions.”
I glanced at Wendy and Corbin.
“We should talk about Josh. I’ve learned things you should know.”
Corbin seemed unsteady. He did a little sidestep stagger, as if he’d lost his balance, and clutched Wendy’s arm.
“He doesn’t care about the damned bees, Adele. Come away from there.”
Adele tugged me closer to better see, or maybe to avoid the news about her son.
“Singly, a bee responds to pheromones, temperature, what have you, with behaviors preset in her neural net, like commands in a software program, yes? When she encounters new stimuli, she can learn, but her software limits the complexity of her responses. Make sense?”
She was the professor at Stanford again and I was her student.
“Sure.”
Corbin said, “Adele, did you take your medication? Wendy, did she take it?”
Adele stared into the hive.
“But when the girls and the drones and the queen come together, something changes. A swarm intelligence emerges and the swarm is capable of much more complex behavior.”
She covered the hive and considered me.
“Think of them as tiny machines. Imagine if we could alter their software so the swarm could carry out even more complicated tasks. Drones wouldn’t have to be built, would they? We could grow them.”
I looked from Adele to Corbin and back to Adele. I wondered if the tasks she imagined included millions of wasps swarming a battlefield. Here they come, bro, pass the Raid.
I said, “Josh was involved with a woman named Rachel Bohlen. Ms. Bohlen is dead. She was murdered.”
Corbin’s face shriveled into something lined as a walnut.
“Did Josh kill her? Is he a murderer now?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible, but I don’t think so.”
Adele showed no reaction, as if we were discussing his shoe size.
“Joshua hasn’t killed anyone. Where is he?”
“He was in Los Angeles two days ago. I don’t know where he is now.”
Adele seemed surprised.
“He didn’t go to Nevada?”
Corbin’s nostrils flared and he gripped Wendy’s arm again.
“Of course he did, Adele. He’s with the damned aliens.”
She painted him with an icy glare.
“You would know.”
I interrupted.
“Adele, listen. Bohlen’s neighbors saw Josh at her apartment and heard them argue. Her apartment was ransacked. As soon as the police identify Josh, he’ll be named as a suspect. You need to prepare yourself.”
I looked at Corbin and Wendy.
“All of you.”
Wendy said, “Why did Josh search her apartment?”
“I don’t believe he did. Other people are looking for him besides me.”
Corbin glared at Adele.
“My lord, how many people did you hire?”
I pushed ahead over them.
“Do you know the name Chow Wan Li?”
Corbin flicked his hand, like waving away a bee.
“Why should I?”
“He’s a Chinese national from the People’s Republic. He runs a company called the Crystal Future Hospitality Group. They own hotels.”
“What does this have to do with Josh? Did he leave without paying his bill?”
“People in his employ have been watching Josh’s bungalow. They’ve entered his bungalow at least twice and planted surveillance equipment known to be used by Chinese intelligence agencies.”