The door opened and the little old man with tufts of white hair standing on the other side of the threshold looked up crossly at him. “Do you know what time it is, young man?”

Knox hadn’t been called a young man in at least twenty years. He hid his smile and said, “I apologize. But I got in a lot later than I thought I would.”

“You mean you were heading to Divine?” the old man said incredulously.

“Is there a law against that?” Knox said, now smiling broadly and, he hoped, disarmingly.

“What do you want?” the man said gruffly.

So much for disarming. “Right now, a place to sleep, Mr. . . . ?”

“Just call me Bernie. Sorry, but I’m all booked up.”

Knox looked over his shoulder. “This the high season in Divine?”

“I’ve only got two rooms to let.”

“I see. Thing is, I was supposed to meet a buddy of mine up here. Maybe you’ve seen him, tall, lean guy around sixty with close-cropped white hair.”

“Oh, you mean Ben? He’s got one of the rooms, but he’s not there right now.”

“Any idea where he is?”

“Over at the hospital?”

“What’s he doing there? Did he get hurt?”

“Almost got his butt blown up. Killed Bob and Willie Coombs, and your buddy came real close to meeting his maker.”

Knox kept his voice calm and level. “So where is this hospital? I want to go see if he’s okay.”

“Oh, he’s okay. We’re all glad of that. Ben’s a real hero.”

“How’s that?”

“Helped a couple of our own. Danny Riker when he got in trouble on the train. And Willie Coombs when he almost died on drugs. Ben saved ’em both. Right good fellow. And then Danny got attacked here in town. And Ben saved him again. Beat up three guys, or so I heard.”

“Wow, that sounds like Ben all right. He was always in the middle of all the action. I’ll give him your best when I see him at the hospital. And where was that again?”

Bernie told him. “But visiting hours are long over.”

“I’ll try to talk my way in. But if I can’t, anybody else around here that can help me?”

“You can try Abby Riker out at her place, Midsummer’s Farm.” Bernie gave him directions. “From what I heard she and Ben got real tight.”

Knox slipped a twenty into the old gent’s hand when they shook.

“You’re welcome to sleep in the front room,” Bernie said, indicating the space behind him.

“Thanks, I might take you up on that.”