“The county board of supervisors and the sheriff’s office—the Bureau of Investigation too—they’re thinking that he may try another attack.”

“No! Hell, is it really a terrorist? That’s what Fox was saying. Was it O’Reilly? I don’t remember.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Between you and me, I’d think if it was terrorists, somebody would’ve taken credit for it. They do that.”

“True.”

“Anyway, sir, the county supervisors’ve issued a reg that requires any venues with events of over a hundred people to postpone or pass a special inspection.”

“Postpone?”

“Or pass the inspection. We’re making sure that what happened at Solitude Creek won’t happen again. I mean they could catch the perp first. That’s a possibility.”

“We can’t very well cancel. Tonight? It’s bringing in seven thousand dollars. It’s a book signing. The author’s publisher’s paying for it. You know the economy out here. We can’t afford to shut down.”

“Like I said, your choice.”

“What’s this inspection? I’ve got a current occupancy cert.”

“No, this is different. We have to make sure the fire doors can’t be blocked. You need to remove all the locks from the emergency exit doors, or tape the latches down and chain off the area around them from the outside, so nobody can block them.”

“Like that guy did at the roadhouse, with the truck.”

“That’s right,” Dunn said. “Exactly. Everybody inside at this event tonight has to be able to get out, unobstructed. Fast.”

“Chain off an area outside the doors?”

“And I mean chain off literally. Ten feet away. So he can’t block them. Frankly, it’d be easier to cancel the event.”

“You want me to cancel?”

“I’m just telling you the options.”

“But you’re leaning toward our closing.”

“Easier for everybody,” Dunn said.

“Not for us.”

Seven thousand dollars…

“Look. I’m just saying,” Dunn said. “Protect the exit area with chains and make sure the doors don’t latch, so everybody can exit quickly in an emergency. Or you can cancel.”

Shit on a stick. As if he didn’t have enough to do already. “No, I’m not canceling. But if people sneak in because we’ve left the doors unlatched, that’ll be on you.”

“It’s a book signing, right? You get a lot of gate-crashers at book signings?”

Meddle hesitated. “It’s not like a Stones concert, I’ll give you that.”

“So. There. Now your smoke alarms? They’ve been tested recently?”

“We had an inspection ten, twelve days ago.”

“Good. Still, I’ll double-check them.”

Meddle asked Dunn, “For the chain, to block off the perimeter, any type in particular? Brand names?”

“I’d probably pick one that a truck couldn’t break through.”

It sounded expensive. Meddle said, “I’ll go to Home Depot now.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m sure everything’ll be fine… What is this book thing anyway?”

Meddle explained, “Hot new self-help thing. About living for tomorrow. I read it, like to keep informed about who appears here. The author says people live too much in the present. They need to live in the future more.”