Harraway interrupted his train of thought. “Now, what I need to know is, what’re you doing here? Why’d you come all the way up here from the university to see her?”

How much should I tell him? Jake wondered. How much can I tell him?

Harraway sat hunched over his desktop, his eyes focused on Jake like a pair of hunting rifles. The expression on his dark face seemed to say, I know just what you’re thinking, buster. Make your story a good one.

Jake sucked in a breath, then said, “I’m working with Franklin Tomlinson on his election campaign. I’m his science advisor.”

“What’s that got to do with Mrs. Sinclair?”

“Professor Sinclair runs the MHD program at the university and—”

“MHD? What the hell’s MHD?”

“It’s a new way to generate electrical power. Professor Sinclair heads the university’s program and Tomlinson is interested in its possibilities.”

“So?”

Thinking as fast as he ever had in his life, Jake said, “So I came up here to pay a call on Mrs. Sinclair. It seemed like a polite thing to do.”

“You drove two hours to pay a social call on Mrs. Sinclair.” Harraway’s voice rumbled with suspicion.

Jake nodded. “That’s right.” It was weak, but it was all he had.

The phone on the desk buzzed. Harraway glanced past Jake, out through his office window to the clerk sitting out there, then picked up the phone in his massive paw.

“Harraway,” he said. “Yes, Professor. Good of you to call. Yes, she tried to sneak out to the casino again, but the manager wouldn’t let her play. We got her home again all right. No trouble.”

He listened for several moments, his eyes flicking from Jake to the squad room beyond his office windows, then back to Jake again.

“She had a visitor and got him to drive her to the casino. Guy from the university, says he’s working with you. Dr. Ross. Ja—”

Even from across the desk Jake could hear Sinclair’s furious outburst on the phone. Harraway’s eyes went wide, then narrowed again.

“Yes, sir. Yes, I agree. I’ll tell him. He’s right here in my office, right this minute.”

More angry chatter from the phone. At last Harraway said a polite good-bye and hung up.

“The professor wants me to lock you up and throw away the key.”

Jake swallowed hard. “I only wanted to meet her…”

“He’s damned pissed at you, boy.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Harraway pointed a finger at Jake, like a pistol. “Let me give you some advice, Dr. Ross. Get out of Vernon. Get out now and don’t ever come calling on Mrs. Sinclair again. If we see you in this town again we’ll find a reason to arrest you. Vagrancy, littering, child molesting: we’ll find some charge and make it stick. Do you understand?”

Jake nodded dumbly.