I didn't bother seeking out Seymour to bring him up to date. I wasn't in the mood for his grouchiness. Besides, I knew Mo would fill him in.

I met Sabrina for dinner and we spent the night together at her hotel. I think we were both feeling that this relationship was real, and not just a by-product of the adventure. In fact, other than a few moments of catch-up about the events and where we were going from there, our conversation was spent on the normal things that two new lovers talked about.

*****

The next day I found myself in the office of Richard Santos, in the botany department of Boston College. He was a throwback to the '60s and '70s, when college professors all tried to look like their students. The students he was trying to look like, though, were still from that era. He was in his mid-sixties, tall and lanky, with a gray ponytail halfway down his back. He was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt advertising some botanical conference, and Tevas. I had a feeling he desperately missed the hippie days.

He was looking at the picture of the painting Sabrina had emailed to me. He tried to increase the size on my phone, and finally had me email it to him so he could look at it on a normal-sized computer screen.

"The artwork sucks," he said.

"Yes, that's been established."

"I mean, really sucks."

"Got it. So can you tell me what the tree is?"

"It would help if I knew where the painting is set."

"That's the whole reason I'm here. We're hoping that by you telling us what the tree is, we'll be able to figure out where it is."

"Why's that important?"

I'm sure he was just making conversation and didn't mean anything by it, so I tried to be diplomatic.

"Kind of a long story." I left it hanging, and he picked up on it, quickly turning to the task at hand.

He peered closer, then shook his head. "Looks familiar. Painting sucks though," he repeated. He glanced at his watch. "Go get a coffee or something. Give me an hour. That's about as much time as I have. I can concentrate better without an audience, so get lost."

Subtle.

I got lost. I found a Dunkin Donuts a few blocks away and ordered an iced coffee and a bagel. Ten minutes later the bagel was gone and I was bored. I walked back to the campus and sat under a tree. It was sunny, but there was a nip in the air. A few minutes later I was cold. I looked at my watch. Forty-five minutes had elapsed. Close enough. I made my way back to his office.

He looked up from his desk when I walked in the door.

"That was a fast hour."

"Sorry. I'll stay out of your way and not say a word."

"No need. I know what it is. If it wasn't such a sucky painting, or if you could've given me a general location, I could have told you an hour ago. It's a Hevea brasiliensis."