Ballsard’s face flushed red, like it was the first time the idea had been raised.
“Get everybody out of Crystal Waters,” Till prompted, his eyes fixed on Ballsard.
Ballsard sputtered. “I don’t see-”
“Got a wife, Mr. Ballsard? Kids?”
“Yes, but-”
“They at home now?”
“Actually, they’re at my parents’-”
Till nodded, the corners of his mouth turning down. “Get everybody out. I can’t insist, because I have no standing right now, but if turning one switch can send your whole development into the sky, you’re fools not to evacuate.”
Ballsard’s eyes were wild as he looked toward the Bohemian. “You’ve got to do it, Bob,” the Bohemian said.
“When word gets out-”
“I understand, but Agent Till is right. You must get everyone out.”
“I’ll take it to the Board,” Ballsard said.
“Do it this evening, Mr. Ballsard.” Till picked up his watch and strapped it on his wrist. “That’s it, then. The chief and I will work together, with A.T.F. in an advisory capacity. Mr. Ballsard will inform his Board of Members that Crystal Waters must be evacuated. We will reconvene as the situation warrants.” Till stood and started for the door. Chief Morris scrambled to follow him. Ballsard,looking dazed, stood up then and also walked out, his lips tight over his Teddy Roosevelt teeth.
I started to get up, too, but the Bohemian motioned for me to sit back down.
“I wouldn’t want to be Bob Ballsard tonight,” the Bohemian said.
“I wouldn’t want to be Bob Ballsard any night,” I said.
“Vlodek-”
I held up my hand. “Why the hell didn’t he run out of here like Paul Revere, to alert everyone at Crystal Waters to get out?”
“He has considerations,” the Bohemian said.
“Bullshit.”
“The Members are not as resilient as you, Vlodek. They were not schooled in bouncing up and starting over, like you did. They would not know to bathe at a local health center.”
It was a small thing, but startling. “How do you know that?”
“Stanley apprised me of your status.” He shook his head. “Enough of that. How do we progress?”
“We’re out of it,” I said. “Chief Morris has the case, but that’s nominal. A.T.F. has the scent; they’ll follow it.”
The Bohemian shook his head. “Only until the next rumor of a terrorist threat aimed at a downtown skyscraper. Then we go on the back burner. No, Vlodek, we must pursue this investigation ourselves. Stanley, do you agree?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Chernek.”
“How, Stanley? You know law enforcement. A.T.F. has the databases, field agents, labs, and big-time experience. Things we don’t have.”
“Maybe, Mr. Elstrom, but like Mr. Chernek says, we’re just one terrorist alert away from being put on hold. You saw the way Agent Till was reluctant to commit to anything, how he wanted the chief to be in charge. Agent Till can’t commit resources to a threat against a gated community full of rich people, especially sincewhat’s been destroyed is an empty house and a lamppost. Think what would happen if the papers picked up on that, what they would say about Agent Till nursemaiding a place like Crystal Waters when he should be focused on the airports, the railroad stations, the skyscrapers downtown. No, we’ve got to stay on this ourselves, like Mr. Chernek says.”
“So you both believe we should continue our own interviews?”
They nodded.
I pulled out the contractor list the Bohemian had revised. “Do either of you remember anything about these electricians? Any problems, even little ones?”
“I just wrote the checks,” the Bohemian said. “The Safe Haven partners would have dealt with any problems.”
“I’ve been thinking of something this morning, Mr. Elstrom.” Stanley started drumming his fingers slowly on the tabletop. “At the tail end of the project, one of the electricians didn’t show up to wire something, and everybody was worried the final occupancy permits wouldn’t be issued on time. They had to scramble to get somebody else to finish the work.”
The Bohemian shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“Would it have had to do with wiring the fountain?” I asked Stanley.
His fingers stopped drumming. “Could be.”
“Ziloski, the electrician I brought to look at the lamppost, told me that’s why he was hired back then, to finish wiring the fountain for somebody who hadn’t shown up.”
Stanley nodded. “I remember the electrician going missing, and wondering if he might have had something to do with the bomb. But I called his employer and they said he had a family emergency, so I dropped it.”
“Do you remember his name?”
“James, I think. James something. But like I said, he came up clean.”
I picked up my contractor list. “Do you remember which company he worked for?”
“It was so long ago, Mr. Elstrom. And like I said, it was a dead end.”
“You looked for the man’s name on the parolee list?”
“I didn’t recognize any of those names.”
“Keep trying, Stanley. We’re chasing straws in the wind.”
Stanley reached across the table for my copy of the contractor list, circled two names, and gave it back. “You check those electricians. I’ll check the other two.”
We left the Bohemian sitting in his grand conference room and rode down in the elevator together and went to our cars.
The sun was going down as I got off the expressway. I didn’t want to eat alone. I didn’t want to think alone. I swung by Leo’s. His Porsche was parked at the curb in front of his mother’s bungalow.
“Want to go get something to eat?” I asked through the screen when he came to the door. Then I noticed the silvery, geometric-patterned shirt and the light green slacks. Dress duds. “Going out, or merely planning to change a tire on a dimly lit road?”
“I just dropped Ma at church for Friday night bingo. Endora and I are going to the movies.” He opened the door and stepped out onto the concrete porch. He studied my face in the glow of the yellow bug light. “You all right, Dek?”
“Peachy. Why do you ask?”
“Because you look like shit. When’s the last time you ate?”
I thought back. “Lunch, but I left most of it. I’m on a new diet: the Bad Nerves Diet. I’m going to write a book about it and get rich.”
He turned around and held the door open for me. “You hit the jackpot tonight, paclass="underline" pork, sauerkraut, and dumplings. A Polish Happy Meal.” I followed him into the kitchen.
He pulled a big plastic salad bowl out of a cabinet, opened therefrigerator, and filled the bowl with the leftovers. He stuck a fork and a knife upright, like two flagpoles, into the big chunk of pork and handed the bowl to me. It must have weighed five pounds, and it was still warm. “Mind if we sit outside? You’re such a pig, and I won’t have the time to hose down the kitchen after you’re done.” He grabbed two bottles of Pilsner Urquell out of the refrigerator, and we went outside to sit on his front stoop.
He opened both beers and set one on the cement next to me. “Now tell Uncle Leo what’s ailing you, but talk straight ahead, toward the street. I don’t want your food on this two-dollar shirt.”
I ate and told him about the extra wires under the lamppost and the meeting with A.T.F. at the Bohemian’s. When I told him my theory that all the D.X.12 in Gateville was wired together, he set down his beer bottle so hard I thought I heard a crack.
“One switch blows it all away?”
“Could be.”
“Why hasn’t he threatened that, then?”
“I think he’s playing with them, stringing them along, one explosion at a time. A cat with a mouse.”
“Or because he thinks he can extract more total money if he does it a chunk at a time.” Leo looked off down the street. “At least you’ve passed it off to the Feds,” he said.
“I’m still on it. Stanley remembered part of a name from 1970, one of the electricians. The Bohemian wants Stanley and me to chase it down, paralleling Chief Morris and Agent Till.”