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The cashier was an androgynous twenty-so in black clothes, hair buzzed to a bristle, and s I asked for Linc Weber, and the cashier told me in a sweet feminine voice that Linc worked upstairs

I could al in the stacks as we crept along the narrow aisles and edged past custoically borderline In the back of the store was a plain wooden staircase with a sign on a chain across the handrails reading NO ENTRY

Conklin unlatched the chain, and we started up the stairs, which opened into an attic rooht feet high under the peak, tapering to about three feet high at the side walls In the back of the rooazines, papers, and books surrounded a coe screens

And behind the desk was a black kid, lasses, no visible tattoos, and no jewelry, unless you counted the braces on his teeth, which I sahen he looked up and smiled

My high hopes fell

This wasn’t Pidge The governor’s description of Pidge was of a stocky white kid, long brown hair

“I’m Linc,” the boy said “Welcome to CrimeWeb dot com”

Chapter 112

LINC WEBER SAID he was “honored” to meet us He indicated two soft plastic-covered cubes as chairs, and he offered us bottled water from the cooler behind his desk

We sat on his cubes, turned down the water

“We read your commentary on the Web site,” said Conklin, casually “We ondering about your take on whoever set the Malone and Meacham fires”

The kid said, “Why don’t I start at the beginning?”

Norood idea, but todaypoint, I just wanted two questions answered, and as succinctly as possible: Why did you use a Latin phrase on your Web site? Do you know soe?

But Weber said he’d never had a visit froitimized his purpose and his Web site beyond his expectations In fifteen minutes, he told us that his father owned Damned Spot, that he’d been a crih to read He said that he wanted to publish criot out of school

“Linc, you said ‘Have a nice day’ in Latin on your Web site Why did you do that?” I said, breaking into his life’s story