On their way out, Fiji handed a piece of paper to the bouncer and introduced herself. He did not seem startled by this, but he nodded at her politely and introduced himself right back. “Travis McNamara,” he said. “You have a good night, you hear?”

“You, too,” Fiji said, with a sideways smile full of fun.

Manfred had never seen her look so—flirty.

“Could have gone worse,” Fiji told them, as she walked carefully across the gravel to Olivia’s car. She was talking about the bouncer, but Olivia answered about Deck.

“Yes,” Olivia agreed. “He looked like a guppy with a beard, but he could really dance. Plus, eventually he gave me all the information I needed to know.”

“Which was?” Manfred said, buckling his seat belt.

“That Price Eggleston and his buddies have a house about two miles east of Marthasville. Which you heard. But he narrowed down the location. It’s on the way home. It’s the MOL Big Secret Clubhouse. I bet they only let girls in if they put out for the membership.” Olivia looked calm, but it was an angry, tight-jawed sort of calm.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes’ drive out of the Marthasville city limits, there was a driveway on the right. As a ranch had to be, it was fenced, and the driveway was crossed by a gate that had to be opened and closed every time a car drove through. Also, like many ranches, the name of the place was on an iron sign arching over the gateway. MOL, it read.

“Nothing like being up front about it.” Manfred was leaning down in the front seat to look up at the sign. “And I see the gate is locked.”

“So what do we do with that information?” Fiji asked. “It’s good to know where the evil hatemongers hang out, I see that. But how are we going to stop them from coming after Bobo again?”

There was a moment of silence. Manfred couldn’t think of any procedure on earth that could be done openly and legally. And it was out of the question to kill the MOL members. At least, it was to Manfred. Maybe Fiji was thinking of freezing them all permanently.

“We’ll think of a way,” Olivia said. She was smiling, and it wasn’t a pleasant smile. Maybe Olivia had something else in mind.

To Manfred’s bemusement, Fiji looked at Olivia with a sort of exasperation, and said, “You can’t do that to all of them.”

Manfred, sleepy and puzzled, waited to hear some explanation.

But Olivia didn’t say a word.

19