Page 24 (1/2)

"No idea," Skarda said

"Well, we’re early, otherwise the place would be swar with cops Tell me, Dave, did you know that Silver Bay had its own police department?"

The question seeht a set police service from the county sheriff How did you know?"

"We just drove past it Given Silver Bay’s population, I figure a half-dozen officers counting part-timers If they’re halfway professional, and that’s always a smart bet, I’d say they have a response time of about, oh, sixty seconds"

"Christ"

"I doubt there’s any deity wants a part of this ht the binoculars up to e and spacious, and I guessed that it served a great many more customers than those that lived in Silver Bay It wouldn’t have been a bad target if the cop shop weren’t less than five hundred yards away After a few lasses to Skarda There was a café behind us that offered free Wi-Fi, and I asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee Skarda said he did and would be happy to retrieve it

"I’ll get it," I said "Real, so don’t act like it Whatever happens, just sit here Calmly"

"Calmly," Skarda repeated, as if he weren’t sure what the word meant

I walked to the café There were cars parked in the spaces in front of it, including a red Toyota Corolla with its s rolled down There was ato the radio, so I went into the café and ordered two coffees to go from a woman who seemed happy to serve me While she poured, I pulled the prepaid cell phone fro sure Skarda couldn’t see me Jimmy hadn’t picked it up when he ran the frequency finder overor receiving--and apparently Skarda forgot I had it I have a lousy memory for phone numbers, so after I inputted the 612 area code for Minneapolis, I substituted letters on the keypad that equaled Chad Bullert’s phone nu just twice before he answered

"It’s me," I said

"You okay?" Bullert asked "We tracked the GPS transer, but there’s been no irls are using the cabin as a base of operations If you want to take the else you can arrest theuns?"