Gibbons gave Haley a kiss, while keeping his distance from the drenched clothing, and ushered them inside. 'I've been watching the television. They're looking for you.'
Sam decided that if Gibbons were Ben's friend, then he was acting strangely serene under the circumstances.
Gibbons's house was meticulously appointed and arranged. Small brass light and coat-hanging fixtures gleamed, as did an antique brass ship's compass on a stand next to a stub wall that partially separated the living room from the entry. It was apparent that Gibbons paid attention to every detail of his life. They hung their coats.
The entryway led to an ornately furnished living room on the left and to a kitchen straight ahead, where Sam glimpsed a large wood-burning stove that was definitely an antique.
'Gibbons, you look really good,' Haley said.
'Thank you. Come on in. Get warm.' Gibbons led them toward the kitchen.
'We'd love to stay, but we're afraid Frick's trying to steal Ben's work,' she said. 'It's only a matter of time before he comes here-for Ben or his work. Do you have any idea where Ben is?'
Gibbons just kept walking. 'Do I have any idea where he is?' he repeated over his shoulder.
Sam always mistrusted people who repeated a question rather than answering.
As if pondering an answer, Gibbons turned and asked, 'You're sure no time for coffee?'
'We are really in a hurry,' Haley said. 'We don't have time. Do you know where Ben is?'
Sam saw something in his eyes. They glanced quickly and looked especially alert for a man acting so casually. Despite his demeanor, Gibbons was nervous.
'If I talk to you, I won't be charged with helping fugitives?'
'We've committed no crime,' Sam said. 'You're an accessory to nothing.'
'Well,' Gibbons said, 'I also know nothing-'
'Tell me this,' Haley cut in. 'What do you know about Ben's research on aging?'
'As far as I know, that was strictly confidential stuff.'
'This is Ben's life,' she said. 'I need you to tell me.'
'I would, but he didn't tell me. Look, I know you wouldn't hurt Ben,' he said as if rethinking his conclusion. 'I'm not trying to make this harder. Really.'
'What do you know about the microbe Archaea?' Haley said.
Lattimer's physical response told Sam that he knew plenty.
'Well, let's see. I actually went on a trip with Ben that involved Archaea. Arcs, he calls them for short. Ben wanted to look at mud from the bottom of the Black Sea. He wanted to measure the quantity of Archaea microbes.'
'What did you find?' she asked.
'We didn't find mud-it was solid microbes. Solid living mass on the bottom of the ocean.'
'What did he do with the microbes?'
'Studied their DNA.' Gibbons responded so quickly it sounded rehearsed.
'How did they help Ben understand aging?' Haley tried again.
'I haven't the faintest idea.'
'Does he use Arc DNA in any way?'
'I can't imagine that he does,' Gibbons said. 'But he studied Arc DNA from all over the world.'
Sam signaled to Haley by pointing at the papers tucked in his pants.
'Do you have any of Ben's research papers or lab records?' Haley asked.
Lattimer shook his head no, as if he didn't want to actually say the words.
'But, Lattimer, I know you and Ben talked about this kind of stuff. I think you even helped him in his work.' Haley tried to soften her voice. 'Please tell us.'
'You'll have to be more specific.' Gibbons wouldn't give up his maddening act.
'Okay,' Haley said. 'What about long-lived people? Didn't you help Ben study long-lived people?'
'We found a French family. Ben used them.'
'Any relation to the family of Madame Jeanne Clement?'
Gibbons smiled. 'Very good. You must have been following the subject.'
'Let me in on this,' Sam said.
'She was the longest-lived person in the world. Died at one hundred twenty-two. She's well-documented. Others are not,' Gibbons said. 'We didn't use her family. In another family, same region but seemingly no near-term genetic ties, the average age was actually higher, although the eldest was only one hundred eight.'
'What exactly did Ben do?' Haley asked. 'Did he take DNA from these people?'
'He grew skin fibroblasts.'
'So he got their genome. Did he isolate genes?'
'I don't know, and even if I did, I would feel uncomfortable telling. I was sworn to secrecy.'
'About what?'
'About everything!'
It seemed to Sam that Gibbons was close to losing his cool.
'He was dead serious about it,' Gibbons said. 'And excited. I was excited too. Who wouldn't be? Gout, low- back pain, can't pee right, have to do it two times a night, arteries going to hell, moles all over the place, hair growing out my ears.' He paused again as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. He looked at Sam, then at Haley.
'Death lies in the weeds. It's always there when you pass by. As the years overtake you, it creeps ever closer to the path. You start to sense it at first, hiding there, but you brush it off, banish it from your mind; then you start to smell it; eventually you begin to see it; at first just snatches of it as it follows you along. It's a demon. It's the universal truth and the great equalizer. I think of it as black as the blackest silk, and with eyes that shine. As you grow old, it slithers beside you and makes only the slightest rustle like a stalking cat. Death is everywhere, it's in everything, it comes too soon, and it is relentless.' He looked up at them as if he'd been having a dream.
Sam looked at Haley. Much passed between them in that glance.
'Lattimer,' she said, 'you don't look old at all.'
'As if it cares.'
Haley sighed audibly, frustrated at Gibbons's evasiveness, annoyed that the frustration was getting the better of her. Ben had been at peace with death as much as anyone she knew. He understood the order of things and he had always told her that she could find peace in the inevitable. Death did not slither for Ben. It was ordinary, Mother Nature's tax collector.
Gibbons was a different story entirely. Something was happening that Haley didn't understand, something she did not recognize from her earlier encounters with the man.
Something was happening inside Gibbons.
'Tell me this, then,' she began. 'You remember your arguments with Ben about the ocean being the lungs of the earth? You thought it would be great to attack the greenhouse effect by fertilizing the plankton in the ocean with iron particles in order to increase photosynthesis.'
'Mm-hmm. I've been following that. It's not working very well. Seems that not enough sequestered carbons actually make it into the bottom sediments to be stored, which is the whole idea.'
'Do you still have the articles?'
'They're over here.'
Gibbons walked into the living room and pulled a binder off a shelf. He paused for a moment.
'I thought you didn't have anything,' Sam said.
'I forgot about these.'
Another three-ring volume stood beside it.
'What's this binder?' Sam asked.
'Things I was involved with for Ben,' said Gibbons. 'I wouldn't call them research papers.'
'I see the word ARCLES,' Sam said. 'What does that mean? I assume it has to do with Archaea.'
'I have no idea.' Gibbons stiffened at Sam's questioning.
Haley gave it a try. 'These are in your house, all bound up, you've obviously looked at them, and you really have no idea?'
