Chapter 36 Section IX

"Don't you know what time it is, Decker?" his former boss complained.He had just been woken up from his sleep, his voice was muffled. "You can't wait until morning—" "Answer me." Decker demanded.He used a pay phone in a dark corner of the front of the theatre, which was empty. "Why are you spying on me?" "I do not know what you're talking about." "Why are your people spying on me?" Decker gripped the microphone tightly, his knuckles aching.The angry music rushed out of the theater, shaking his heart. "Whatever happens, it has nothing to do with me." His former boss' name was Edward.Decker remembered the slack cheeks of the 63-year-old.As long as he was nervous, his cheeks would immediately turn red. "where are you?"

"You know exactly where I am." "Still in Santa Fe? Well, if you're actually being watched—" "Do you think I could be wrong about something like this?" Decker tried to keep his voice down, despite his agitation, so that it wouldn't cross the field.He hoped that the increasingly sad and indignant singing could cover his angry voice. "You're overexcited," Edward said wearily on the phone. "Maybe this is just a routine review." "Routine review?" Decker carefully observed the empty venue to see if anyone was coming towards him. "That idiot I worked with 13 months ago runs the operation of this surveillance team, do you think this is a routine review?"

"13 months ago? You mean—" "Do you want me to name names on the phone?" Decker asked. "I told you that time, and I'll tell you now, I won't reveal the secret." "The man you worked with before you resigned—was he spying on you?" "You do sound a bit surprised." "Listen," Edward's old, husky voice grew louder, as if he was speaking closer to the microphone, "you have to make sure of one thing. I don't work there anymore." "What?" Now it was Decker's turn to be surprised. "I took early retirement six months ago."

Decker felt a throbbing pain in his forehead. "The condition of my heart is getting worse and worse, and my body is dying," Edward said. Decker noticed movement on the opera platform.He straightened his body, tensed his chest, and watched as a man walked down the platform and stopped before the stairs leading to the field. "I'm telling you the whole truth," Edward said on the phone. "If the guy you worked with last year is spying on you, I don't know who ordered him to do it or why." "Tell them I want them to stop watching," Decker said.The figure on the platform was Beth, and she was squinting in his direction.Then she wrapped her shawl tightly and walked down the stairs.The music got louder.

"I don't have any influence over them anymore," Edward said. Beth had come down the stairs to the edge of the field and started walking towards him. "You have to tell them to stop watching." He hung up when Beth came up to him. "I'm worried about you." A gust of cold wind blew Beth's hair, and she couldn't help shivering, reaching out her hand to wrap the shawl tighter. "When you never came back—" "I'm sorry, it's business. The last thing I want to do is leave you there alone." Beth eyed him puzzled. The singing in the theater reached the peak of grief, indignation and despair.Beth turned to look at the theater. "I think it was Scarpia's promise to Tosca that her lover would not be executed if she slept with him."

Decker felt parched, as if he had just swallowed ashes, but it was because he had lied. "Or, perhaps Tosca stabbed Scarpia to death." "So are you going to stay and finish the opera, or go home now?" Beth's voice sounded a little sad. "Going home? Jesus, no. I'm here to enjoy the opera with you." "Well," said Beth, "I'm glad." Just as they turned back to walk to the theater, the music reached an unprecedented climax.There was sudden silence in the theater, but then there was applause.Another intermission.All the doors were opened and the audience poured out.

"Don't you want another hot chocolate drink?" Decker asked. "Honestly, I'd like some wine right now." "I'll drink with you."