“I’m sure you are. A family like yours keeps records: birth certificates, baptismal records, marriage covenants, title deeds—burial records too. It must be quite a collection after four hundred years—a small library, I would imagine. Somewhere in all that information there could be a mention of this graveyard. I’ve checked with the regional library in Endor—they have no grave registries for the area around the Patriot Center. Maybe you do.”

Braden looked at him without expression. “It’s Nick, isn’t it? Mind if I call you Nick?”

“Everybody seems to,” Nick said. “Sometimes I wonder why I got a PhD.”

“Well, Nick, I’m gonna tell you something—not because I need to, because the fact is you’re working for me and I don’t owe you a thing.”

“I thought I was working for the FBI.”

“You go right on thinking that. The truth is, this slowdown at the Patriot Center could cost me millions—and I don’t have millions to lose right now, because in case you haven’t heard, I’m running for president. That takes money, Nick—a whole lot of it. I don’t need deep roots right now, son; I need deep pockets. Nobody wants this fiasco taken care of more than I do, so yes—I have family records—and I’ve already been through them. If I had anything more to tell you, I would have told you already.”

Nick watched his eyes as he spoke.

“Any more questions?”

“Just one—but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

“I’ve got thick skin, son—I’ve been dragged across the Senate floor a time or two.”

“In your records, is there any mention of bad blood with some other family? Some kind of family feud, perhaps?”

“You’re asking about those four extra bodies—you’re wondering if someone in my own family might be responsible for that.”

“Whoever buried them had to know the graveyard was there. That limits the field considerably.”

“Yes, it does. But as I said, my family has no record of that graveyard— so that eliminates my family, doesn’t it?”

Nick paused. “If you say so.”

“Are we done here, Nick? Is there anything else?”

“Just one more thing: I understand your wife has pretty deep roots here as well.”

“Victoria? That she does.”

“She’s from the town of Endor, isn’t she? Would you mind if I spoke with her? She might know something that you don’t.”

Braden smiled. “I can promise you that. I doubt Victoria knows anything more about this graveyard matter, but you’re welcome to ask. She’ll be in her office; she usually is—Chris can take you to her. C’mon, I’ll walk you to the car.”

“Mind if I ask one last question? It’s a little off the subject.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why do humans hunt—for pleasure, I mean?”