“You bet.” She took his face in her hands and kissed him. “Don’t let me down on that, because I just had a really great time, and I won’t be able to invite you again if I can’t rely on your judgment.”

He kissed her back. “I’ll see you at six.” Then he said, “No, better not. But I’ll be up then doing some kind of work where people can see me.”

“There you go,” she said. “I knew you weren’t stupid.”

He dressed quickly, and they both stood on the mattress. “What is this, anyway? Your bed?”

“No,” she said. “I have a regular bed in the bedroom that I share with my husband. This is just a pad from a lawn chair. It means I don’t have to change the sheets and blankets before he comes home.”

“Does eleven thirty-seven have some meaning?”

“The opposite. No meaning. People who are meeting in secret usually meet on the hour or half hour.”

“Very practical,” he said. “I hope you get in touch with me soon. I’ll be thinking about you.”

“Don’t,” she said. “Let me do the thinking.”

He went out the back window and heard the slow, soft sound of it closing and then the latch turning to lock it. He made his way around the margin of trees and brush to the building he shared with Lonny Mann. He set his alarm and went to sleep.

33

Leah worked each day from early morning until late at night. She could not be as open and visible in towns as she would have liked, because during the raid on Weldonville city hall, all three fugitives had seen her. She tried to do much of her searching for them by car, driving up and down the streets near bars and restaurants, parking in the lots of supermarkets, and watching the checkout lines through the big front windows.

Every evening Leah explored night spots, usually restaurants, diners, and quiet places where there was a chance to overhear conversations. She also went to a number of fast-food and take-out places, because the Swift Sword people were probably not rich. After it was too late to order food, she would go to bars. She knew that some members of a religious group probably wouldn’t be drinkers, but some might be, and she also knew that she might hear more from people who weren’t members than from people who were. People gossiped about new neighbors and strangers who had secrets, not about themselves.