It was on the tip of Hodges’s tongue to ask who Hal 9000 is – it sounds like a gangbanger tag to him – but the thing about terrorist videos diverts him. ‘That actually happens?’

‘It’s been known to. And then …’ Jerome makes a fist and raps his knuckles against the top of his head. ‘Knock-knock-knock, Homeland Security at your door.’ He unrolls his fist so he can point a finger at the couple under the blue umbrella. ‘On the other hand, this might be just what it claims to be, a chat site where shy people can be electronic pen-pals. You know, a lonelyhearts deal. Lots of people out there lookin for love, dude. Let’s see.’

He reaches for the mouse but Hodges grabs his wrist. Jerome looks at him inquiringly.

‘Don’t see on my computer,’ Hodges says. ‘See on yours.’

‘If you’d asked me to bring my laptop—’

‘Do it tonight, that’ll be fine. And if you happen to unleash a virus that swallows your cruncher whole, I’ll stand you the price of a new one.’

Jerome shoots him a look of condescending amusement. ‘Mr Hodges, I’ve got the best virus detection and prevention program money can buy, and the second best backing it up. Any bug trying to creep into my machines gets swatted pronto.’

‘It might not be there to eat,’ Hodges says. He’s thinking about Mrs T.’s sister saying, It’s as if the guy knew her. ‘It might be there to watch.’

Jerome doesn’t look worried; he looks excited. ‘How did you get onto this site, Mr Hodges? Are you coming out of retirement? Are you, like, on the case?’

Hodges has never missed Pete Huntley so bitterly as he does at that moment: a tennis partner to volley with, only with theories and suppositions instead of fuzzy green balls. He has no doubt Jerome could fulfill that function, he has a good mind and a demonstrated talent for making all the right deductive leaps … but he’s also a year from voting age, four from being able to buy a legal drink, and this could be dangerous.

‘Just peek into the site for me,’ Hodges says. ‘But before you do, hunt around on the Net. See what you can find out about it. What I want to know most of all is—’

‘If it has an actual history,’ Jerome cuts in, once more demonstrating that admirable deductive ability. ‘A whatdoyoucallit, backstory. You want to make sure it’s not a straw man set up for you alone.’

‘You know,’ Hodges says, ‘you should quit doing chores for me and get a job with one of those computer-doctor companies. You could probably make a lot more dough. Which reminds me, you need to give me a price for this job.’

Jerome is offended, but not by the offer of a fee. ‘Those companies are for geeks with bad social skills.’ He reaches behind him and scratches Odell’s dark red fur. Odell thumps his tail appreciatively, although he would probably prefer a steak sandwich. ‘In fact there’s one bunch that drives around in VW Beetles. You can’t get much geekier than that. Discount Electronix … you know them?’

‘Sure,’ Hodges says, thinking of the advertising circular he got along with his poison-pen letter.

‘They must have liked the idea, because they have the same deal, only they call it the Cyber Patrol, and their VWs are green instead of black. Plus there are mucho independents. Look online, you can find two hundred right here in the city. I thinks I stick to chos, Massa Hodges.’

Jerome clicks away from Under Debbie’s Blue Umbrella and back to Hodges’s screensaver, which happens to be a picture of Allie, back when she was five and still thought her old man was God.

‘But since you’re worried, I’ll take precautions. I’ve got an old iMac in my closet with nothing on it but Atari Arcade and a few other moldy oldies. I’ll use that one to check out the site.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Anything else I can do for you today?’

Hodges starts to say no, but Mrs T.’s stolen Mercedes is still bugging him. There is something very wrong there. He felt it then and feels it more strongly now – so strongly he almost sees it. But almost never won a kewpie doll at the county fair. The wrongness is a ball he wants to hit, and have someone hit back to him.

‘You could listen to a story,’ he says. In his mind he’s already making up a piece of fiction that will touch on all the salient points. Who knows, maybe Jerome’s fresh eye will spot something he himself has missed. Unlikely, but not impossible. ‘Would you be willing to do that?’

‘Sure.’

‘Then clip Odell on his leash. We’ll walk down to Big Licks. I’ve got my face fixed for a strawberry cone.’

‘Maybe we’ll see the Mr Tastey truck before we get there,’ Jerome says. ‘That guy’s been in the neighborhood all week, and he’s got some awesome goodies.’

‘So much the better,’ Hodges says, getting up. ‘Let’s go.’

12

They walk down the hill to the little shopping center at the intersection of Harper Road and Hanover Street with Odell padding between them on the slack leash. They can see the buildings of downtown two miles distant, City Center and the Midwest Culture and Arts Complex dominating the cluster of skyscrapers. The MAC is not one of I. M. Pei’s finer creations, in Hodges’s opinion. Not that his opinion has ever been solicited on the matter.

‘So what’s the story, morning glory?’ Jerome asks.

‘Well,’ Hodges says, ‘let’s say there’s this guy with a long-term lady friend who lives downtown. He himself lives in Parsonville.’ This is a municipality just beyond Sugar Heights, not as lux but far from shabby.

‘Some of my friends call Parsonville Whiteyville,’ Jerome says. ‘I heard my father say it once, and my mother told him to shut up with the racist talk.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Jerome’s friends, the black ones, probably call Sugar Heights Whiteyville, too, which makes Hodges think he’s doing okay so far.

Odell has stopped to check out Mrs Melbourne’s flowers. Jerome pulls him away before he can leave a doggy memo there.

‘So anyway,’ Hodges resumes, ‘the long-term lady friend has a condo apartment in the Branson Park area – Wieland Avenue, Branson Street, Lake Avenue, that part of town.’

‘Also nice.’

‘Yeah. He goes to see her three or four times a week. One or two nights a week he takes her to dinner or a movie and stays over. When he does that, he parks his car – a nice one, a Beemer – on the street, because it’s a good area, well policed, plenty of those high-intensity arc-sodiums. Also, the parking’s free from seven P.M. to eight A.M.’

‘I had a Beemer, I’d put it in one of the garages down there and never mind the free parking,’ Jerome says, and tugs the leash again. ‘Stop it, Odell, nice dogs don’t eat out of the gutter.’

Odell looks over his shoulder and rolls an eye as if to say You don’t know what nice dogs do.

‘Well, rich people have some funny ideas about economy,’ Hodges says, thinking of Mrs T.’s explanation for doing the same thing.

‘If you say so.’ They have almost reached the shopping center. On the way down the hill they’ve heard the jingling tune of the ice cream truck, once quite close, but it fades again as the Mr Tastey guy heads for the housing developments north of Harper Road.

‘So one Thursday night this guy goes to visit his lady as usual. He parks as usual – all kinds of empty spaces down there once the business day is over – and locks up his car as usual. He and his lady take a walk to a nearby restaurant, have a nice meal, then walk back. His car’s right there, he sees it before they go in. He spends the night with his lady, and when he leaves the building in the morning—’

‘His Beemer’s gone bye-bye.’ They are now standing outside the ice cream shop. There’s a bicycle rack nearby. Jerome fastens Odell’s leash to it. The dog lies down and puts his muzzle on one paw.

‘No,’ Hodges says, ‘it’s there.’ He is thinking that this is a damned good variation on what actually happened. He almost believes it himself. ‘But it’s facing the other way, because it’s parked on the other side of the street.’