'But what about the early years?'

Bird had no idea.

'O.K., back the other way.'

I flipped to a clean page in my notebook. Every time an entry showed the replacement of one code name with another, I noted the date. It didn't take long.

In 1943, Ilus was replaced by Omega. Could that have been the year Birkby joined H&F?

In 1949, Narmer took over for Khaffre.

Pharaoh in, pharaoh out. Was it some sort of Masonic group?

I moved forward, added the year for each list.

Nineteen fifty-nine, 1972,1979, 1986.

I stared at the years. Then I flew to my briefcase, puled out other notes, and checked.

'Sonofabitch!'

I looked at my watch: 3:20 A.M. Where the hel was Lucy Crowe?

===OO=OOO=OO===

To say I rested poorly would be like saying Quasimodo had a bad back. I tossed and turned, hovering on the edge but never moving into real sleep.

When the phone rang I was already up, sorting laundry, sweeping the patio, snipping dead leaves, drinking cup after cup of coffee.

'Did you get it?' I almost shrieked.

'Repeat the punch line.'

'I can't tie up the line, Pete.'

'You have cal waiting.'

'Why are you phoning at seven in the morning?'

'I have to return to Indiana to reinterview Itchy and Scratchy.'

It took me a moment to connect.

'The Bobbsey twins?'

'I've downgraded them. I'm caling to tel you that Boyd wil be furloughed to the Granbar Kennel.'

'What? The towels were too rough here?'

'He didn't want to impose.'

'Isn't Granbar awfuly expensive?'

'Knowing I'm in Big Law, Boyd has come to expect a certain lifestyle.'

'I could work him in.'

'You like that dog,' he wheedled.

'That dog is a moron. But there's no reason to lay out bucks when I'm stil stuck with five pounds of Alpo.'

'The Granbar staff wil be crushed.'

'They'l work through it.'

'I'l bring him by in an hour.'

I was spray-cleaning the inside of the trash can when the phone rang again. Lucy Crowe's voice was taut with frustration.

'It's stil no go with the magistrate. I don't get it. Frank's usualy reasonable, but he got so angry this morning I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I backed off because I was afraid I'd kil the weasel.'

I told her what I'd found in the Veckhoff diary.

'Can you check on MPs from seventy-two and seventy-nine?'

'Yeah.'

A long silence roled down from the highlands. Finaly, 'I noticed a metal bar when we were out at that place, lying in the dirt by the front porch.'

'Oh?' My burglary tool.

Another pause.

'If wreckage is discovered on property within reasonable proximity of an airplane crash, my office has jurisdiction during the period of active recovery.'

'I see.'