“Precedents,” Lucy announces as we reach the driveway. “Never forget the way their robotic rigid minds work. They think in precedents that have nothing to do with relevance or truth. It has to do with whatever else has been done, as opposed to what should be or could be done. What we think of as a cover your ass way of life. If you’re never an original thinker how can you possibly get in trouble? If you’re banal and unoriginal enough you’ll get promoted.”

We walk past surveillance equipment attached to lampposts and in trees. She doesn’t care in the appropriate prudent way she should. In fact she’s looking directly into the cameras.

“If a hidden safe room has been found in some other case then they’re going to list it no matter how ridiculous.” Lucy talks much too openly and snidely, and no signal I send her is going to do any good. “A couple years ago there was a drug bust in Florida that became a huge mess on appeal and was all over the news. The Feds were executing a routine search and found an escape tunnel and other hidden surprises they weren’t looking for and hadn’t included on the warrant. More recently there was a case involving an escape hatch. The popular thing to look for these days are secret rooms and tunnels. Especially in the drug business. You may also recall that tunnel dug from San Diego to Mexico. It even had train tracks.”

“The drug business?” I’m breathing hard from exertion, and the dew point and humidity must be almost the same. The air is saturated. It feels like a steam room. “Since when has that subject come up?” I ask. “Who thinks that?”

“They’re not thinking. What they do is harass and bully,” Lucy almost shouts, and I imagine Erin Loria watching and getting incensed. “They’re looking for anything that might give me the ability to disappear from here right under their nose. POOF! Because we all know I have a looking glass like Alice. I have a Bat Cave like Bruce Wayne and a phone booth like Clark Kent. The Fucking Bureau of Investigation is looking for anything that might give me the ability to make my getaway or hide something from them.”

The walk in this direction is downhill and that’s not easy for me either. I watch what I’m doing. I’m cautious about my body language and what I might say, and I wish Lucy would be the same way. She’s taken off like a bomber jet and I’m not going to stop her. Lucy has a point to make. Or maybe it’s more of a threat.

“You should try Benton,” she says. “It will be interesting to see if you get him.”