Maybe there’s another way, though—an alternative to running and hiding that he’s too scattered and too panicky to see. What he needs to do is talk to someone with a clearer head, someone who can look at the mess he’s made and help him devise a plan to get out of it. What he needs to do is call Beaumont.

Monsieur Amadu Beaumont was born in Africa and turned there too. He claims to have met Jesus Christ, Attila the Hun, and William Shakespeare; to have lived in various countries that don’t exist anymore; and to speak three forgotten languages. He’s also acknowledged to be the oldest rover in existence, making him a respected figure among the turned. Hoping to benefit from his experience and wisdom, rovers seek him out for advice, regarding him as a mentor, judge, and sage.

Claudine introduced Jesse to him in St. Louis in 1903, a year before she died. She and Beaumont had traveled around Europe together before she came to the US, and after listening to the two of them wax rapturous about their adventures, Jesse suspected they’d been lovers. He asked Claudine if this was so, but all she did was make a joke, saying, “How dare you? Don’t you know you’re the first man I’ve ever been with?” What’s true is that when Jesse next saw Beaumont, this time in New Orleans in 1920 or thereabouts, and informed him that Claudine had been dusted, the man wept like a child.

He and Edgar visited him on a couple of occasions after that, the last time being twenty years ago when passing through Las Vegas, where Beaumont had been living for a while. They met at a bar, and Beaumont spent the entire evening reminiscing about Claudine, bursting into tears once again as he described her dancing on a beach in Spain. His recollections kicked open the door to Jesse’s own past, and for months afterward he was tormented by memories of Claudine. Unwilling to risk such anguish again, he hasn’t contacted the man since.

Now, though, he needs his guidance.

He leaves the room at sundown, goes to the motel’s pay phone, and dials the old number he has for the legendary rover. After three rings a deep, French-accented voice says, “Hello?”

Amadu Beaumont.

“How long’s it been?” Beaumont asks when Jesse identifies himself.

“Twenty years,” Jesse replies.

“Too, too long,” Beaumont says. “To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing from you now?”

Jesse is awkward on the telephone, has never gotten the hang of talking on it, so keeps the conversation short. He asks Beaumont if he knows of the Fiends.

“The motorcycle gang?” Beaumont says. “I’ve heard the stories.”

Jesse tells him what happened in Phoenix and says he’s calling in the hope he might have some ideas about how to handle the situation.