“Hi! I guess I am. I think I’ve got an issue that can get Tomlinson elected.”

“Wow! That’d be great. What is it?”

He hesitated. “It’s a little complicated…”

“Science stuff, huh?”

“It’s not just that. It could bring back the state’s coal industry, create lots of jobs.”

“And votes!”

“I think so.”

Her voice took on a new eagerness. “I want you to tell me all about it. I’ll be right over.”

“Not here! I … my place is a mess.”

“Don’t worry about that, silly. I’ve got your address. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, maybe less.”

Jake swallowed hard. “Okay. It’s … it’s not the best part of town, you know.”

“I’m not coming over to look at real estate.”

“Well … um, there’s a parking lot behind the building. Park there. It’s safer. I’ll meet you down there.”

With a light laugh, Amy said, “You’re very protective, aren’t you?”

“I grew up here, Amy.”

“All right. I won’t get out of the car unless I see you. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Jake launched himself into a frenzy of straightening up his living room. Most of the scattered papers and magazines he toted into the bedroom and stuffed into the clothes closet. He pulled the sheets up onto the bed and smoothed them a little. Shutting the bedroom door behind him, he looked over the place. Not all that bad. Needs a dusting, but what the hell.

Once he stepped out into the darkened parking lot he realized that the night had grown chilly. He looked up at the stars. Not much to see in the glare of the city’s lights. He made out Orion’s blazing Rigel and its belt of three blue giant stars. Sirius was hidden behind a factory tower. The Perseid meteor shower’s due next week, he realized. I could see them a lot better out in Lignite.

A car swung into the parking lot. That’s not her Jag, he said to himself. Then he remembered that it was Glynis who owned the Jaguar. Amy drove a silver BMW, and that was her car nosing into a parking slot by the building’s rear wall. He hurried over to the car as she turned off the rumbling engine.

Amy opened the door and stepped out, almost bumping into Jake, he was standing so close.

“No muggers out tonight?” she teased.

“You park that BMW out on the street and it’ll be stripped by the time you come back for it.”

“Really? It’s that bad?”

He shrugged, easing a little. “It can be. Sometimes.”

“It’s chilly,” Amy said.

Taking her by the arm, Jake led her to the building’s door, up the concrete stairs, and into his apartment.

She looked around. “Cozy.”

Jake thought that “cozy” was her word for “rat’s nest.”

“Can I get you something?” he asked.