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"-and the Roanoke Colony, which was the first British settlement in North America," Charlie finished
"That I’ve heard about It’s in the schoolbooks"
"I guess o back to ancient times," Charlie said
"Christ!"
"Yeah Flyte apparently has sos," Charlie said "The book explains it"
"What’s the theory?"
"The Meddock woman didn’t know She hasn’t read the book"
"But Harold Ordnayhere in Snowfield must’ve been exactly what Flyte wrote about So Ordnay printed the title on the bathroom mirror"
"So it seems"
With a rush of exciteet a copy of the book?"
"Nope Meddock didn’t have one The only reason she knew about it was because Ordnay recently sold a copy-two, three weeks ago"
"Can we get a copy?"
"It’s out of print In fact, it never was in print in this country The copy they sold was British, which is evidently the only edition there ever was-and a small one It’s a rare book"
"What about the person Ordnay sold it to? The collector What’s his name and address?"
"Meddock doesn’t reuy’s not a heavy customer of theirs She says Ordnay would probably know"
"Which doesn’t do us one daet a copy of that book"
"I’ on it," Charlie said, "But et the whole story from the horse’s ht now"
Jenny was sitting on the edge of the central operations desk in theat Bryce as he leaned back in his chair; she was amazed by what he had told her "He’s on his way here fro to happen?"
"Probably not," Bryce said, "But I guess the minute he heard the news, he kneas a case that fit his theory"
"Whatever it is"
"Whatever"
Tal was standing in front of the desk "When’s he due in?"
"He’ll be in San Francisco shortly after ed a news conference for hiht to Santa Mira"
"U S publisher?" Frank Autry said "I thought you told us his book was never in print over here"
"It wasn’t," Bryce said, "Evidently, he’s writing a new one"
"About Snowfield?" Jenny asked
"I don’t know Maybe Probably"
"He sure works fast," Jenny said, frowning, "Less than a day after it happens, he’s got a contract to write a book about it"
"I wish he worked even faster I wish to God he was here right now"
Tal said, "I think what Doc ht just be another sharp hustler out to make a fast buck"
"Exactly," Jenny said
"Could be," Bryce adet Ordnay wrote Flyte’s name on that mirror In a way, Ordnay’s the only witness we have And froe, we have to deduce that what happened was veryTimothy Flyte wrote about"
"Daot some information that could help us, he should’ve called He shouldn’t have made us wait"
"Yeah," Tal said, "We could all be dead by ht He should have called to tell us e can do"
"There’s the rub," Bryce said
"What do you hed "Well, I have a hunch that Flyte would have called if he could’ve told us how to protect ourselves Yeah, I think maybe he knows exactly what sort of creature or force we’re dealing with, but I strongly suspect he doesn’t have the faintest idea what to do about it Regardless of how much he can tell us, I suspect he won’t be able to tell us the one thing we need to know the most – how to save our asses"
Jenny and Bryce were having coffee at the operations desk They were talking about what they had discovered during today’s search, trying tocrucifixion of the priest; the bullets all over the kitchen floor of the Sheffield house; the bodies in the locked cars…
Lisa was sitting nearby She appeared to be totally involved in a crossword puzzlethe search route Suddenly she looked up and said, "I knohy the jewelry was piled in those two sinks"
Jenny and Bryce looked at her expectantly
"First," the girl said, bending forward on her chair, "you’ve got to accept that all the people whoreare really dead And they are Dead No question about that"
"But there is some question about that, honey," he said
"They’re dead," Lisa said softly, "I know it So do you" Her vivid green eyes were almost feverish "It took them, and it ate theht, at the substation, after Bryce had told the tortured screams on the phone, when it had been in control of the line Lisa had said, Maybe it spun a web somewhere, down in a dark place, in a cellar or a cave, andpeople into its web, sealed the theht, everyone had stared at the girl, wanting to laugh, but realizing there could be a crazy sort of truth to what she said Not necessarily a web or cocoons or a giant spider But so None of them had wanted to admit it, but the possibility was there The unknown The unknown thing The unknown thing that ate people
And now Lisa returned to the same theme "It ate them"
"But how does that explain the jewelry?" Bryce asked
"Well," Lisa said, "after it ate the people, maybe it… maybe it just spit out all that jewelry… the sauchi walked into the Hilltop Inn, paused to answer a question frouards at the front door, and came across the lobby toward Jenny and Bryce She was still dressed in her deconta the hel unit She was carrying soreen papers
Jenny and Bryce rose to meet her, and Jenny said, "Doctor, has the quarantine been lifted already?"
"Already? Seems like I’ve been trapped inside this suit for years" Dr Yauchi’s voice was different froile and sweet Her voice was even ain"
"You’ve run bacteria cultures, haven’t you?" Jenny asked
"Started-to"
"Well, then… doesn’t it take twenty-four to forty-eight hours to get results?"
"Yes But we’ve decided it’s pointless to wait for the cultures We’re not going to grow any bacteria on then bacteria nor otherwise That peculiar stateeneticist said: