The Copenhagen Connection Part 1

THE COPENHAGEN CONNECTION.

Elizabeth Peters.

THE PLANE lifted with a roar of jets, soaring into star-sprinkled blackness. The girl in seat 37-C sucked on the end of her ball-point pen and tried to think of a way to describe the aircraft's motion without using the words "silver" or "bird."

She wrote, "Seducer." Then she thought, "Oh, well, why not?" and added "silver" with a defiant carat.

Silver Seducer Rape The woman in the next seat, staring unashamedly, started in surprise. The girl didn't look like that kind of a girl. She was small and slender, with silvery fair hair that cupped her head in petal-like tendrils. Her horn-rimmed gla.s.ses were not fitted properly. They kept sliding down to the tip of her nose, and when she returned the pen to her mouth and gazed pensively over the rims of the gla.s.ses she looked no more than eighteen.

She was, in fact, twenty-six. The gla.s.ses were part of her business costume. She didn't really need them- sometimes they were an actual nuisance. But she hoped they made her look older and more efficient. Her name was Elizabeth Jones. She had been born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was currently employed by Frenchton and Monk, Publishers, in their publicity department. This was her first trip abroad. She had been saving up for it for three years. In her desk drawer at home were the ma.n.u.scripts of seventy-six poems. Six had been published in various obscure journals. Elizabeth had designs on Frenchton and Monk, but was waiting for the right moment. (This hope was, of course, naive and doomed to failure, but it shows what a nice, innocent girl Elizabeth was, even after three years in Manhattan.) She stared at the three words she had written. It was so hard to find new figures of speech. They had all been used. After a moment she went on.

Rape the virgin sky . . .

No. The sky could not be virgin. Hundreds of flights per week went out of LaGuardia, and it was only one of hundreds of airports. Quivering sky? Palpitant sky? Big blue sky . . .

A gush of unadulterated rapture filled her, starting in her toes and flowing upward to erupt in a broad smile. It was a big blue sky, and the plane was a silver bird-a phoenix, an eagle, a roc, carrying her to adventure and excitement. She had dreamed of this trip so long; why cultivate a false sophistication when there was n.o.body around to admire it?

Big silver bird, Listen to the word, Carry me away To a brighter day Where I'll sing and play. Hurray, hurray, hurray!

"Now that's real pretty," said her seatmate, in a flat Midwest tw.a.n.g. "Much nicer than all that stuff about- er-"

Elizabeth turned her head, her smile lingering. Her seatmate, mistaking the expression for one of affability, returned it with a flash of gold crowns. "Your first trip, honey?" she inquired.

"Oh, no," Elizabeth said promptly.

"Oh." Deprived of the pleasure of advising a novice, the older woman looked disappointed. "Well, it's a long ride, we may's well get acquainted. I'm Mrs. Hector Rawlings."

"Elizabeth Jones."

"Where you from?"

"New York."

"It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live there. All that crime. Now Jenkinsville, Indiana-that's my hometown-we don't do things like they do in N'Yawk."

She went on to tell Elizabeth how they did things in Jenkinsville, Indiana. Elizabeth's smile felt as if it had been glued into position. The seat-belt sign had gone out by the time Mrs. Rawlings paused for breath, and Elizabeth took ruthless advantage.

"Excuse me. The seat-belt sign is off-I've got to-I want to-"

"It takes some people that way," said Mrs. Hector Rawlings.

Apparently it did. There was a wait.

Elizabeth didn't mind. Her chief aim was to escape Mrs. Rawlings, and once she was out of the sound of that nasal voice her excitement returned. Here she was, on her way at last. If only she could have gotten a window seat. For most of the trip there would be nothing visible outside except darkness, but she could have turned her back on her fellow pa.s.sengers and reveled in the glorious daydreams that had been three years in the making.

The line moved forward. The man ahead of Elizabeth shot back his sleeve and consulted his watch-one of those elaborate affairs that measures every aspect of life that can be reduced to mathematical terms. Elizabeth smiled to herself. Some people couldn't stop rushing, even when there was nothing to rush toward.

Her eyes wandered on to the person who was now first in line, and her smile turned to a critical frown. Being only seven years away from her own teens, she had for that age group the intolerance characteristic of reformed alcoholics and former smokers toward those still suffering from the vice in question. Why, she wondered, did American teenagers have to look so messy? This girl's face was turned away, but the youthful roundness of her body betrayed her age. The said body was covered, but not entirely concealed, by a garment of Indian gauze printed in hideous shades of lilac, blue, and magenta, with touches of gold. It billowed madly down and out from her shoulders and was gathered in around her plump waist by a raveling piece of rope. The girl's most outstanding characteristic was her hair, an inchoate ma.s.s of tangled curls, whose color was . . . No. Some peculiarity of the cabin lights must be responsible. Green hair?

One of the lavatory doors opened, emitting a weary-looking woman carrying a fat, red-faced baby whose pursed lips made it look like W. C. Fields preparing to make a scathing comment about babies. The "teenager" made a smart left turn and disappeared into the lavatory.

Elizabeth's knees sagged. She caught the back of the seat next to her for support.

The profile had been visible for only a fleeting instant, but it was unmistakable. The n.o.ble Roman nose, the firm lips clamped shut over what had seemed, in certain photographs, a quite impossible number of teeth. . . . That was no teenager, that was Margaret Rosenberg.

If her native United States had awarded such honors, she would long since have been Dame Margaret. She did have two t.i.tles, neither of which she chose to use. Her doctorate was in the field of medieval studies, on which subject she had written several books that managed to combine impeccable scholarship and exquisite style in an almost unprecedented manner. As the widow of a distinguished Scandinavian diplomat, she was properly Countess Rosenberg. Scholar, feminist, and historian, she was also the top-selling novelist on the list of Elizabeth's publishers.

Elizabeth knew these facts and many more, just as she knew every feature of that homely but aristocratic face. Margaret Rosenberg had been her ideal ever since she had read Tower of Faith, which contributed to Margaret's winning the n.o.bel Prize in Literature in 1969. She had used every method short of a.s.sa.s.sination to get the job with Frenchton and Monk because Margaret Rosenberg was on their list. She had attained the job, but not the meeting she had dreamed of. Margaret never came to New York, and when it was necessary for her publisher to consult with her, Mr. Monk himself made the trip to Connecticut bearing gifts-not boxes of chocolate or flowers, but trinkets from Tiffany. These were not so much offerings to scholarship as an investment in future profits. In addition to her nonfiction writing, Margaret turned out a biennial historical novel that zoomed consistently to the top of the best-seller list, trailing all the longed-for subsidiary rights that gladden a publisher's heart and increase his bank account. Frenchton and Monk waxed fat and decidedly had no kick with Margaret Rosenberg.

Oh, G.o.d, Elizabeth prayed. Let her come out of that one before I go in the other one. I'll think of something to say; something cool and calm and witty and wonderful____ Of course it didn't work out that way. It never does. Elizabeth's only consolation was that by the time her turn came around, she had failed to think of a suitable remark. "Hey, aren't you Margaret Rosenberg?" hardly seemed to meet the standard demanded by such a momentous occasion.

When she emerged, the author was nowhere in sight. Elizabeth did not return to her seat but prowled the aisle, eyes darting from side to side. The bizarre green hair should have stood out like a stoplight-or go-light-but the seat backs were high, and the chubby figure had been short-much shorter than Elizabeth had expected.

She was finally halted in her quest by the juggernaut advance of the drinks cart. She had to retreat, but a last desperate glance located her quarry several rows ahead. Yes, it was-it was Margaret. She looked like nothing on this earth or any other planet, but there was no doubt as to her ident.i.ty.

When Elizabeth sat down, Mrs. Rawlings wondered audibly what she was doing, wandering up and down like that. Elizabeth heard her only as a buzzing in the background. She was planning her strategy. This was Karma -Kismet-Fate. She and Margaret were destined to meet. But perhaps Buddha or G.o.d or Allah helped only those who helped themselves. It was up to her to make the most of this heaven-sent opportunity.

As soon as the cart cleared the aisle Elizabeth was up, abandoning Mrs. Rawlings in the middle of a description of her most recent operation. (Gall bladder.) The reconnoiter was carried out with care, for fear of alarming the quarry. Margaret was notoriously shy of publicity; that was why Elizabeth had never been able to meet her.

The author was in the center of the three seats on the left side of the plane. Elizabeth knew why she was not traveling first cla.s.s; had she herself not written the publicity handout that described Margaret Rosenberg as extravagantly generous with needy friends and worthy causes but reluctant to spend money on her own comfort?

Spectacles riding low on her nose, Margaret was bent forward in absorbed perusal of a copy of Mad magazine. There could be no mistake; its format was as defiantly recognizable as was its reader. In the window seat was a young woman wearing gla.s.ses, a demure expression, and a drip-dry navy suit. That was all that could be said about the suit or its wearer.

The occupant of the aisle seat was male, blond, and not bad looking, if Elizabeth had been interested in that point, which she was not. It required no great stretch of the imagination to identify him as Margaret's son, whose existence was acknowledged, but not enlarged upon, in her biographical notices. The two profiles were comically alike. The outlines of the noses might have been double images of the same prominent object. Christian Rosenberg's lips were set tightly, and the quirk of humor that warmed Margaret's face was conspicuously lacking in his.

Maybe he's afraid of flying, Elizabeth thought patronizingly. He ought to be used to it by now; he and his mother were always crossing one ocean or another. He was half-Danish and probably had relatives there, though he had been raised in America after his father died, twenty years before. The date was a matter of public record and therefore known to Elizabeth. Her imagination insisted on viewing Count Theodore's death as a romantic tragedy, though she had nothing to base this impression on except his relative youth, and the fact that Margaret had never remarried.

Elizabeth returned to her seat. Mrs. Rawlings' medical confidences flowed on unheard as she considered her next move. She decided to try the obvious one first and departed again while Mrs. Rawlings was describing her sister's accouchement. "Thirty hours in labor, honey, can you believe that fool of a doctor, and then after all she had to have ..."

The big question was whether the young woman in the window seat belonged to Margaret's party. She could be a secretary or a companion, or even Christian's wife. However, the latest biographical handout had not mentioned a daughter-in-law. A fiancee, perhaps? If so, Elizabeth's first ploy was probably doomed to failure. No harm in trying, though.

Pa.s.sing Christian's seat, she swayed and reached out for support. It was not unreasonable to suppose that a staggering pa.s.serby might miss the back of the seat and rest a dainty hand on the occupant's shoulder. The fact that the plane was absolutely steady at that moment would, she hoped, escape Christian's attention.

He looked up when she touched him. His eyebrows were several shades darker than his corn-yellow hair. They rushed together in a formidable frown.

"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth cooed. "I'm not used to the motion of the plane."

"Sit down, then," Christian said. He returned to his newspaper.

Elizabeth scuttled back to her seat, pursued by cabin attendants bearing trays.

"Say, you sure are nervous," Mrs. Rawlings said disapprovingly. "If you'd sit still, you'd feel a lot better. I was going to tell you about my son having shingles."

Elizabeth was tired of Mrs. Rawlings. "I can't sit still," she said. "I have-er-quiesophobia. A morbid fear of remaining motionless for extended periods. If I can't move around, I start to perspire heavily and talk in a loud monotonous voice."

"Oh, reely? I never heard of that."

"In the final stage my arms and legs go into violent, uncontrollable spasms."

Mrs. Rawlings shrank away, overflowing onto the armrest of the next seat. The occupant, a young man with a bad case of acne, gave her a terrified look.

Elizabeth was unable to carry out her next move for some time, partly because she was pinned in her seat by a tray of miscellaneous inedibles, and partly because Christian Rosenberg's response had intimidated her. She took off her gla.s.ses and put them in her purse. Then she opened her compact.

The familiar face was suffused with a becoming glow of excitement. So maybe her nose was a little too big. It was not as big as Christian Rosenberg's. Experimentally she tightened her cheek muscles and produced a dimple. The new shade of eyeshadow made her eyes look green, and their wide, ingenuous expression was an accurate measure of her feelings. Not bad, on the whole; men had never flung themselves at her feet babbling poetry or abandoned their cars in Fifth Avenue traffic to pursue her on foot; but this was the first time a male of any age had looked at her as if she were a piece of rather stale fish.

She finished her meal and half a bottle of white wine, hoping the latter would provide inspiration. It didn't. With Margaret barricaded in the center seat, there was no easy way of getting at her. Elizabeth had given up on Christian. The only thing she could think of was to lie in wait for her idol and intercept her the next time she went aft-or was it forward?

However, she could not resist one more look. It was a silly, childish thing to do, and Fate (Karma, Kismet) repaid her as it usually repays folly.

So far the flight had been quite smooth. No doubt nervousness on Elizabeth's part contributed to the disaster, but as she approached the row where the Rosenbergs were sitting, the plane did dip slightly. Elizabeth found herself perched on the arm of Christian's chair. His tray had been removed, but he had kept his coffee cup. The contents formed a large damp patch across both knees of his immaculate tweed trousers.

Words were utterly inadequate, but they had to be spoken. "I'm sorry," Elizabeth gasped.

Christian retained his grasp on the now empty cup. He did not succeed so well with his temper. "I told you to sit down," he said, in a muted roar.

Margaret was working a Double-Crostic-in ink, Elizabeth noticed. Pen poised, she looked inquiringly at her son, and then at Elizabeth. Her bushy gray eyebrows rose.

"My dear boy, what a rude thing to say. Even if you two were previously acquainted.... You aren't? No; I see you aren't." She gave Elizabeth a broad smile, bulging with teeth. "Excuse him, my dear. He is a very bossy man. He's always trying to order me around. No, don't apologize. It was an accident, these planes are quite wobbly- small wonder, really-the whole process of flying has always seemed to me to be quite against every law of nature, a great heavy metal box like this, and nothing to hold it up. Cold water, promptly applied, will take care of the problem. Yes. Hmmm. 'A trigonometric function, one half the versed sine of a given angle or arc' Now that is unfair. Who on earth would know an absurd thing like that?"

She had returned to her puzzle, and was obviously talking to herself. Elizabeth fled. She managed to get back into her seat before Christian appeared, presumably in search of the suggested cold water. Squeezing her eyes shut in flagrantly false simulation of sleep she heard his steps pause and could almost feel the stare he directed at her bowed head. After a long moment he went on. When he returned, he pa.s.sed her seat without stopping.

Elizabeth was swamped in depths of humiliation possible only to the young. She had indeed succeeded in meeting her idol-and the memory of Margaret's tactful attempt to cover up her awkwardness made her writhe in a manner that caused Mrs. Rawlings considerable alarm. But what a meeting! She would never dare describe the encounter to friends, or mention it at Frenchton and Monk. If Christian ever learned she worked for the firm, he might suggest that she be fired. He appeared to be a petty, mean, vindictive man.

Common decency and self-respect demanded that she leave the Rosenbergs strictly alone from here on. Now, when it was too late, she knew what she should have done. She could simply have introduced herself, mentioning her position with Margaret's publishers; added a graceful sentence of appreciation; and retreated with quiet dignity. Instead she had behaved like a groupie chasing a pop singer.

She didn't dare cry. The eyeshadow had a deplorable tendency to smear. But she knew she wouldn't sleep a wink.

She awoke, dry-mouthed and rumpled, to see dawn racing across Europe to meet them. The memory of her hideous faux pas dampened her spirits momentarily, but they refused to stay soggy. So you goofed, she told herself. Forget it. That's Europe down there-old cathedrals, quaint cities, great art, handsome, suave European men-don't let one unfortunate incident spoil a trip you've been planning so long.

She was even able to smile at Mrs. Rawlings. Having forgotten her inspired fabrication of the previous night, she was surprised to find that lady subdued and monosyllabic. Little did she know that Mrs. Rawlings had stayed awake most of the night, watching in terror for the first ominous sign of ... whatever its name was.

One interesting incident enlivened the hours between waking and landing. After breakfast Margaret pa.s.sed down the aisle on her way to her ablutions. Elizabeth had intended to hide behind a magazine if this event occurred, but Margaret's slow and deliberate advance gave her the opportunity-her first, really-to observe the total ensemble. The effect was so peculiar she couldn't help staring. The greenish-gray hair looked as if busy fingers had been rumpling it. The blue-magenta-lavender tunic hung limp and wrinkled. Under it Margaret wore navy-blue slacks-conventional enough-but her feet were encased in aged sneakers, originally navy, now streaked lavishly with orange paint.

Meeting Elizabeth's fascinated gaze, Margaret gave her a full dental display and remarked, "Cold water. Nothing like it. Here we are, still up in the air. Amazing!" She pa.s.sed on, humming.

She was still humming when she returned. Had it not been for the sound, Elizabeth would not have recognized her. She wore a gray wool suit whose tailoring announced "Paris" as blatantly as designer jeans proclaim their origin, and the green hair was concealed under a black-and-white silk scarf, wound into a sleek turban. Elizabeth saw only the back of this creation as it pa.s.sed superbly by, balancing on neat black pumps and swinging the attache case into which the suit had presumably been packed. A few minutes later she identified the tune Margaret had been humming. "Long and Winding Road," by Paul McCartney.

When they landed at Kastrup Airport, Elizabeth was almost the last one off the plane. She wanted to give the Rosenbergs time to get well ahead of her.

But it was necessary for pa.s.sengers to wait for their luggage, and the Rosenbergs were among the crowd around the long, undulating belt when Elizabeth arrived. She got behind a large nut-brown gentleman wearing a turban and watched the proceedings.

She couldn't get over the transformation of the grubby teenager into a soigne woman of the world. The weird outfit was not the only thing that had misled her. Margaret was undeniably a trifle overweight, but her plumpness was the exuberant solidity of a girl who has not yet lost all her baby fat, not the sagging flesh of middle age. She could never have been a pretty girl. Those unfortunate teeth, and the nose like something off Mount Rush-more ... It was not even a cla.s.sic ugliness, the belle laide that attains a distinction superseding mere beauty. She was just plain homely.

But what a face it was! The years had given it humor and wisdom and patience and kindness; these qualities leave their marks just as suspicion and hate leave theirs.

So Elizabeth mused, romantically. As Margaret waited, shifting from one foot to the other, as if the smart black pumps were too tight, her remarkable countenance showed only the same boredom common to the other faces.

The mousy young woman was a member of the entourage-probably a secretary. She hovered close by Margaret and was totally ignored by Christian. He was in possession of a baggage cart, whose handle he gripped tightly, as if he suspected it was trying to get away from him. The scowl seemed to be his normal expression. The knees of his trousers were baggy.

Elizabeth grinned, and the nut-brown gentleman, who had been studying her interestedly, beamed back at her. Elizabeth did not notice. She was filled with malicious amus.e.m.e.nt. Christian Rosenberg was a pompous sn.o.b and she was glad (glad, glad, do you hear?) that he had to arrive in the city of his ancestors with droopy knees.

Gradually a pile of luggage mounted up on the cart Christian commanded, and Elizabeth realized she had not looked for her own suitcase. She had only one. Start out light, her friends had counseled. If you buy too many souvenirs you can always get one of those folding bags.

Her green-and-red-striped canvas suitcase went gliding by-for the third time, had she but known-and she swung it off the belt. For those few moments her attention was not on the Rosenbergs. She did not see what happened, but she heard the result-a scream, a crash, and an outburst of exclamations from the bystanders. When she turned, she saw the girl whom she had identified as Margaret's secretary in a motionless heap on the floor. Margaret crouched down beside her as Christian swung around toward a slightly built man in a worn gray sweater, whose hands were raised in a theatrical gesture of horror.

"You stupid idiot," Christian said.

"It was an accident. I regret-I am injured in my arm, it is weak-"

"So is she injured in the arm," Margaret said. "Get this monstrous object off her, Christian."

Later Elizabeth was to wonder whether her motives were entirely unselfish. At the time she moved without conscious thought, as she would have gone to the aid of any injured creature, human or animal. Abandoning her suitcase, she wriggled between two staring spectators and grasped the handle of the steel-bound trunk that pinned the fallen girl's arm. Its weight sullenly resisted her attempt to lift it.

"It's too heavy," she wheezed. "I don't want to drag it."

"No, don't," Margaret said. After one quick glance at Elizabeth she turned her attention back to the girl, who lay in the sprawled disorder of complete unconsciousness, her face waxen. "What the devil is the matter with you men? Do something!"

In fact, Christian had not been idle. A few sharp words had sent someone running for help, and even as his mother spoke he stepped to Elizabeth's side. His eyes flared with recognition, and she expected a sarcastic comment; but he said only, "Get back. I can manage better by myself."

With one smooth movement, which looked easy to someone who had not felt the weight, he shifted the trunk. The girl's arm was obviously broken. Blood soaked the navy-blue sleeve.

Things moved quickly after that-a doctor, an ambulance, police, and several agitated airport officials. The shabby little man had, not surprisingly, vanished from the scene. His lethal trunk was taken into custody. The injured girl was lifted onto a stretcher and rushed away. Margaret, her trim gray skirt wrinkled and dusty, started to follow.

"Go to the hotel," Christian ordered, barring her path. "You ought to rest."

"She'll want someone with her. A familiar face."

"I'm going. The sooner you stop arguing and do what I tell you, the sooner I can leave."

"Go on."

Christian sprinted off. Margaret stood staring after him-a little, middle-aged woman, her face haggard with shock and worry, all alone and abandoned with a huge pile of luggage. In fact she did not look at all pathetic, but Elizabeth was moved by the image her imagination had created instead of the one she actually saw. Impulsively she touched Margaret's shoulder.

"Can I help?" With some idea of establishing her bona fides, she added quickly, "I work for Frenchton and Monk-a.s.sistant publicity director. I knew you right away on the plane; I've admired your work so much. . . . But that's not important now. If you would like some help getting to the hotel-I'm not as clumsy as you must think."

Margaret turned to face her. Elizabeth was conscious of a peculiar thrill, like a mild electric shock.

In the past few hours she had met not one but several Margaret Rosenbergs. The face familiar to her from publicity photographs was remote and unsmiling. Now that she had seen Margaret's teeth she understood why she preferred not to display them to her reading public, but the impression left by the photos was one of awe-inspiring dignity and intellectual power. This persona had been supplanted by that of the green-haired girl, then by the sophisticated woman of the world. Now, as Margaret's cool gray eyes met hers, she saw another personality, as ruthless and appraising as that of a judge. The cold, hard look seemed to penetrate her very bones.

The impression pa.s.sed so quickly that Elizabeth thought she had imagined it. The toothy smile spread across Margaret's face, and she said pleasantly, "You weren't clumsy just now. a.s.sistant publicity director? Your name is Elizabeth, isn't it? What a nice coincidence! You are most kind to offer."

The kindness was unnecessary, as Elizabeth should have antic.i.p.ated. Margaret had been recognized. They had not gone far before they were joined by a bowing gentleman in uniform, who summoned porters and escorted them around the customs and pa.s.sport-control areas and into a waiting limousine. The efficiency of this performance was somewhat marred by what could only be described as a continual verbal wringing of hands. "Had you but told us you were coming . . . The Prime Minister will be much distressed.... I cannot express my regrets! ..."

He was still talking when the limousine started off.