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"In Billings, too"

"They co else Sht of sushi, and now he’s reat"

"You get to Helena, you try Thai Pagoda Nice place" She frowned "Cheap rent, too Not like here You come back when you in New York, okay?"

"I will"

"You looking good," she said "Lost soht!"

"A couple of pounds"

"Alnize Then it comes to me Table seven! Thai iced tea! Papaya salad! Shriht"

"Very spicy! Make sure very spicy!"

Keller, back in his hotel roo NY1, the twenty-four-hour local news channel It was pointless, he knew; if somebody at Thai Garden did make the connection and felt compelled to rat hi it for at least a couple of hours But he sat there for a half hour anyway, and learned more than he needed to know about the sports and weather, along with ongoing coverage of the boot to hear the abbot thunder at the crowd, bidding them to disperse, and even spotted hiave him a turn, but he realized that no one could have identified him on the basis of what he’d just seen He was part of a crowd shot, seen from a distance, and he had his back to the camera If he hadn’t known he was there, he doubted he’d have recognized himself

There was, of course, no bole’s name turned out to be Ajax, which struck Keller as a pretty decent na or otherwise There was a brief intervieith Ajax’s handler, a light-side-of-the-news piece that Keller found reasonably interesting, and then the announcer’s voice turned serious as she talked about the criminal nature of bomb threats, and the need to respond to each of theh cost involved

"Every call reporting a boed, and every caller identified," she said "If you make a false report, it’s just a question of ti arm of the law reaches out and takes hold of you"

Well,arm of the law could reach all the way down into the sewers, and yank his phone out of the alligator’s belly

In the hotel’s business center, Keller logged on to the Peachpit site and checked the current status of the lots he was interested in With one or two exceptions, the opening bids were unchanged He noted the changes in his catalog and was ready to return to his roole Who could ile?

He was on the computer for fifteen minutes more, and made a few more notes Then he pulled down the History menu and deleted that day’s searches, his and everybody else’s

Then back to his room

Fifteen

I’d like to talk to Abbot O’Herlihy," Keller said His voice, he noticed, was pitched higher than usual He hadn’t planned on it It just came out that way

"That would be Abbot Paul," said theany calls"

"I think it would be a good idea for him to take this one," Keller said, and he could only hope he’d said it ohtful silence Then, "Perhaps you could tell me the nature of your business with the abbot"

"It was alo," Keller said, "and he wasn’t Abbot Paul then He was Father O’Herlihy, with a parish in Cold Spring Harbor And I was little Timmy Hannan, just ten years old, and, and--"

"I’ you on hold," the monk said, and Keller heard a click, and then spent a full five orian chants

Keller was just beginning to get into the music when it cut out in the middle of a phrase, and the voice that took over was very different from that of the mild-mannered chap who’d answered the phone He placed it at once, the tiue

"Who is this?"

"So Harbor"

"Tell me your name" Not What’s your name? but Tell ave orders to God

"Timothy Michael Hannan, Father, but you called me Timmy"

"Did I? And as this, by God?"

"Als"

"Bad things"