“Well, I have,” she said. “Most of the money will go to hiring administrators and staff: counselors, school nurses, librarians, positions like that. Very little is devoted to new teachers.”

Jake shrugged.

“It’s the old game,” Glynis went on. “Tell the voters you’re giving them what they want, when in reality you’re giving the special interests what they want.”

Pushing himself reluctantly up from the couch, Jake asked, “You see the educational establishment as a special interest group?”

Glynis stood up beside him. “Don’t you?”

“I guess you’re right,” he agreed, “now that I think about it.”

As they walked down the corridor toward Jake’s office, Glynis said, “By the way, I think I know where Perez has hidden himself.”

“Nacho?” Jake stopped in mid-stride and grasped Glynis’s arm. “I don’t want you to have anything to do with Nacho Perez!”

She pulled her arm free. “Jake, he’s a murderer.”

“We don’t have any proof of that. And if it’s true, it’s all the more reason to stay away from him.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“You should be,” Jake insisted, ignoring her unspoken implication that he was frightened.

“I think he’s up in Vernon,” Glynis said.

“Vernon?”

“It’s the logical place for him to hide away. The whole town’s controlled by the gambling casino. I’ll bet that Captain Harraway is protecting him up there.”

Jake had to admit that she could be right. But he said, “You stay away from Vernon. If you’re right, the whole police force up there must be in on the deal.”

“We can’t let him get away with murder, Jake! If we can show that he was in town on the day Arlan and his wife were shot—”

“You could join the list of casualties.”

Glynis looked at Jake for a long moment, her face solemn, cold. At last she said, “Very well, Jake. I’ll have to go it alone, then.”

Before he could think of anything more to say, before he could reach out to her, to stop her, to protect her, Glynis wheeled around and strode down the corridor, away from Jake.

Fourth of July

FOURTH OF JULY

Cursing himself for seven kinds of a fool—and a coward, to boot—Jake went through the motions of the final preparations for the big Fourth of July celebration in Lignite. He phoned Glynis every day, getting her answering machine most of the time. When she did speak to him, it was brief and cool.

“No, I haven’t gone up to Vernon,” she said, her voice steady, steely. “I’m calling the hotels and boarding houses, trying to find out if Perez is staying in one of them.”

“You can’t expect them to tell you anything,” Jake objected.

“I tell them I’m from Senator Leeds’s office. That makes them cooperative.”

“Christ, Glynis, you’re heading for trouble!”