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The wallet and the passport from Heidi&039;s pockets identified her as a certain Linda Clairee I know her address, her bank account number, even her supposed birthdate She is supposed to have lived in a house not far froave birth to Kalika I a into LAX

The place is modest, nondescript even, stucco walls with a wooden fence surrounding an uninspired yard of grass and a few bushes Slowly I walk toward the front door There is so what sh a torn screen door I knock lightly and brace myself for instant death Yet I have a ured out how to operate the ray gun It is a totally cool weapon

A bearded fellow in a frayed T-shirt answers the door He looks as if he&039;s on his second six-pack Twenty-five, at e off the side of a breakfast plate But I warn myself that Heidi--Linda--appeared to be very ordi?nary until her psychic force field went up This guy ht be more than he appears, but it&039;s hard to believe

"Hello," I say "Is Linda home?"

He burps "She&039;s out of town"

At least he doesn&039;t know she&039;sher head

"My name is Alisa," I say "I&039;m an old friend Do you knohen she&039;ll be back?"

"She didn&039;t say"

"OK" I catch his eye through the screen door and squeeze his neuron currents "Would it be OK if I cos?"

His brain is soft mud, easy to impress--I think "Sure," he says, and opens the door forrooame But my ears never leave him If he tries to sneak up on me, he&039;ll fail But I won&039;t kill hiht away

Linda&039;s rooers And if I begin to think I have the wrong house, there are pictures of her and Brother Bud on the mirror on top of the chest of drawers, cheap Polaroids shot with a caht bedroom In each of the pictures Linda smiles as if someone just told her to

I search the drawers and find nothing i--clothes and baseball caps, shoes and socks And this is the creature who said we all have powers? Talk about a double life I a when a stack of papers under the bed catches my eye

They are all about UFOs

Specifically, newsletters fro Objects Foundation

What happened to the unidentified? I don&039;t care All the newsletters are addressed to Linda Clairee She was definitely a roup, and it is the only wrinkle in her ordinary life that I have found Holding the papers inroo a can of Budweiser as I walk in I turn off the TV without asking his permission and sit down across from him

"Hey," he says, annoyed

I catch his eye and burn a tiny hole in his frontal lobes It will probably do hi?" I ask

He replies in a flat voice, staring straight ahead "Phoenix"

"What&039;s in Phoenix?"

"A convention"

"A UFO convention?"

"Yes FOF"

"Did Linda often attend such conventions?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

He could be hypnotized "She likes UFOs"

"Why?"

"I don&039;t know"

"Are you interested in UFOs?"

"No"

"Does Linda believe UFOs exist?"

"Yes"

"Is she an alien?"

"What?"

"Is Linda an alien creature?"

"No"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, I&039;o"

"Where?"

"In a bar in Fullerton"

"What does Linda do for a living?"

"She works as a secretary"

"Have you ever been to her place of work?"