minutes, and it turned out that they hadn’t rented any trucks on the night in question.
The truck outlets themselves were, if anything, slower than the corner gas stations. Those places are all on computer now. This is supposed to make finding information faster and easier, but in real life it doesn’t turn out that way. Have you noticed how much longer you have to wait in bank lines, and at Target and Sears stores, since the computer came in? I hate computers, though I know that without them police work would be like toiling in a medieval zoo. After three hours of being told that the computer was down, that there were no such rentals, that they’d have to check and call me back, I was ready to adjourn to my favorite beanery. I couldn’t raise Carol, but when I’m that hungry I don’t mind eating alone.
Before I could get out of there, the phone rang.
It was Barbara Crowell. Her voice was quaking, terrified.
“Janeway! My God, I can’t believe you finally got off that phone!”
“Hello, Barbara,” I said without enthusiasm.
“Can you come over here?”
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s… him.”
“Ah,” I said.
“I know he’s out there.”
“Out where?”
“Somewhere outside. I saw him.”
“When did you see him?”
She breathed at me for fifteen seconds. Then she said, “I think I’m losing my mind. 1 see him everywhere. I don’t know what to do. Everywhere I look I see his face. Then I look again and he’s gone. Then he’s there again. I hear a sudden noise and I freak out. I’m afraid of the dark. The telephone rings and I jump out of my skin. I answer it and there’s no one there. I know it’s him. All of a sudden I’m afraid of the goddamn dark. I’ve never been afraid of anything and now I see shadows everywhere.”
“All right, calm down. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
I parked a block away from her place and walked over. I came up carefully, keeping in shadow. For a long time I stood across the street and watched her apartment, and nothing happened. Her light was a steady beacon at the top. I walked down the street and around the corner and came up from the back. There was no one around: I could see quite clearly. I skirted the house and went in through the front, and I stood in the dark hall and watched the street. It was quiet: people were settling in for the night.
I climbed the three flights to the top and knocked on her door.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me.”
She clawed at the locks and ripped the door open.
“Jesus, what took you so long?”
“I wanted to walk around and look the place over.”
“Did you see him?”
“Barbara, there’s nobody there.”
She closed her eyes and collapsed against me. I held her with one arm and closed the door with the other. Eventually I got her to the sofa and sat her down. Then I went through it all again, the same routine we’d done before: the coffee, the calming words, the lecture. She looked like a little girl, ready to explode in tears. I couldn’t help being angry and sorry for her at the same time.
“Jackie doesn’t need to torture you, honey,” I said. “You do a good enough job on yourself.”
“I know I saw him this morning. That’s what set me off.”
“Where did you see him?”
“I was on my way to work. I had stopped at a red light and he pulled up beside me. I could sense him there looking at me.”
“What do you mean you could sense him? What does that mean?”
“I couldn’t look at him.”
“It might’ve been the man in the moon sitting there for all we know.”
“It was him. I saw his car. There couldn’t be another car like that, so don’t tell me I’m imagining it. When the light turned green he pulled out ahead of me and turned the corner. I couldn’t be mistaken about that car.”
I left her alone for a while. I turned down the lights and went to the window and looked down in the empty street.
