“You just look like you could use a break someplace cool, Chief.” Harold takes my empty sports-drink bottle from me, studies it with a frown before tossing it in the trash. “You did notice this was expired?”

“Well that makes two of us, Harold. Thanks and you know where I’ll be.” I look down at my damp dirty scrubs, at my loathsome pumps. “I’ll see you back at the ranch.”

“Well I don’t know about you walking anywhere. You still look pretty hot to me … Oh dear.” As he’s pulling on a pair of gloves. “I didn’t mean that kind of hot. Anyway I’m not sure you should exert yourself in the least.” His concerned face appraises me too carefully.

“Don’t even think about it.” I wag a finger at him.

“We do happen to have a stretcher handy and it’s as clean as brand-new—”

“No. Thank. You.” I emphasize each word like a gunshot.

“Fine. But we’ll be bringing up the rear if you start feeling faint. It’s a bit of a hike, and there seem to be a lot of people. Law enforcement of one sort or another,” he adds, signaling that there are cops or agents in the park who weren’t here earlier.

“What about the media?” I ask.

“Oh no. They can’t get in. The park is completely sealed. They have the entrances blocked and have even closed off Bennett and Eliot Streets and University Road. Cruisers are all over the place, most of them with their emergency lights off, and there are a lot of unmarked cars lurking about. And I’ve been hearing a helicopter. Actually, it could be more than one.”

Then he goes on to give me an update in the same earnest soothing tone. He says my troops are being mobilized, and that confirms what I suspect. He realizes it’s not happenstance that Benton is here. Harold recognizes the signs of a coup on the way, and he’s taken it upon himself to mount a defensive front while the new day is still young.

My radiologist Anne has agreed to come in to work right away, he confirms. So has Luke Zenner, and Bryce is already there. Rusty has driven the mobile command center back to the CFC and returned with a van to transport Elisa Vandersteel’s body. Harold has saved me hours and possibly a lot more than that. This is one of many reasons why I couldn’t possibly replace him, and I tell him thanks.

“I can use all the help I can get,” I add. “I think the long night might have just gotten longer.”

“I’m afraid you’re right, Chief.” His smile is somewhere between unctuous and pious.