Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit

“Quincey! Hey, kid, I'm glad you escaped the JD types to come back to do your part."

“Forget it, Crawf," Temple said, sneering delicately. "I didn't want to waste the neck tattoo for nothing.”

She swept past him, heading for the stairs to the stage. "You gonna help me galumph up these stairs in this too-dead outfit? You owe me for this one. I hope you break a leg," she added nastily.

Nothing like family solidarity, right, Elvis? The heavy hair, the cataracts of veiling, dulled the sounds pounding off the stage. The show was underway.

As Crawford trumpeted the impersonators' names between acts, Elvis after Elvis attacked the ebony wood with his feet and voice and soul.

Temple watched from the wings, impressed, but not moved. All were mostly good. None shook the world.

Then Velvet Elvis came on, her holographic black jumpsuit crawling with phosphorescent constellations as the special lighting gels kicked in. Her voice was high, but clear, her angular moves impeccable.

The crowd roared as she finished her three-minute set and eeled off, tensile as a guitar string tuned to high E.

All the performers nodded to Temple waiting alone in the wings as they exited. She was the prize. The High Princess who would award the Sacred Belt.

It lay near her in an open box long enough to hold roses: a five-inch-wide length of inscribed metal that would look heavy even around Mr. T's 24-karat neck.

Temple felt cultural confusion. In a way the artifact was the Sword in the Stone. In a way it was the National Wrestling Federation trophy belt. It was Platinum Records and Latinum bars, a cross-cultural mélange of trophies both fictional and factual.

It meant nothing and everything, just as Elvis had. It meant life and death, just as Elvis had.

She was Priscilla, she was Guinevere. Both had feet of clay while they wielded belts of gold.

She was mortal, she was eternal.

The sword was in the lake, the sword was buried in a bejeweled back.

She was a symbol, she was a solver of symbols. She was nuts to be here.

Then the nine Fontana boys bounced onstage, each to a twanging guitar chord, each in a pose that reflected his version of Elvis.

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy," wailed the first.

“You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog," whined the second.

“Running Scared," howled the third.

“Farther Along," crooned the fourth.

“Find Out What's Happening," urged the fifth. "Any Day Now," moaned the sixth.

“Love Me Tender," whispered the seventh.

“Crying in the Chapel," blazed the eighth.

“Amen," intoned the ninth.

They got a standing ovation.

Temple was among the clappers who blistered the heels of their hands.

Then someone else was gyrating on stage. Kenny! Looking much larger than himself, larger than life.

“Do You Know Who I Am?" he wailed with savage passion, hips swiveling like a stopped-up pepper shaker on a humid, Gulf-coast restaurant table.

Temple jumped up and down in the wings. "Go, Kenny, go!" An exiting Elvis glowered at her. She wasn't supposed to show favoritism.

Temple settled down to look around. No one much noticed her. She really wouldn't come into play until she awarded the winner's belt.

If the killer was an Elvis freak, and if "Priscilla" was his next target, it didn't make sense to kill her until all the shouting was over.

“Hey!" Oversized paused by her. They had to whisper, which helped disguise her voice.

“You guys did good," she told him.

“Thanks. You okay, Miss Quincey?"

“Fine."

“You want some us to hang out by you?"

“Naw. What's to worry? I'm packing a really mean hair spray.”

Oversized laughed. "You always did. Well, if you're okay—"

“Go on. Wait for the rankings. I'm sure you guys got at least an eight."

“It's like the Olympics, right? Ten's the winner." "But eight's not to sneeze at. Go on."

“You're sure in good spirits, Miss Quincy. I can't see why Miss Temple wanted us to leave you to your own devices, seeing as how your own devices involve some pretty strange stuff."

“I'm fine." She pushed Oversized away, quite a feat given his bulk, and her lack of it. "Quincey" couldn't take too close examination.

She watched him join his brothers in passing behind the black velvet back curtain to the stage's other side, where Crawford held forth as emcee and the^y could watch him. It only Crawf were the target most likely . . . ! She felt terrible about deceiving them, but the show must go on.

The King of Kings' show wouldn't go on.

Temple lost her sense of time and place as she thought about Lyle. She had really liked him in the few minutes they had talked, and would probably never know what he had done to merit witness protection, or death. Maybe nothing but blow the whistle. Why would a man risk his life for recognition as someone he could never be? If the King of Kings had lived and won, a protected witness really couldn't afford that much attention. Nor could the "real" Elvis, if Lyle had been what Crawford thought he was.