Agent Garrett said nothing.
He hadn’t said anything since they had left the police station. He spent five minutes yelling back and forth with Clayton Iron-Horse, until the F.B.I. agent finally backed down. He stormed out of the Sioux Falls police headquarters, and agent Lewis was right behind him. She had been on the phone since they’d left Sioux Falls, and now they were zipping up Interstate 29 at eighty miles per hour. He shifted his eyes to her for a moment. She was leaning back in her seat, and she was drumming her fingers on her laptop over and over. “Anything” was the first word Garrett had spoken in almost a half hour, and Lewis just started at him for a moment.
“No.”
Garrett looked forward once again. “What’s the hold up?”
“I’m trying to get in touch with their chief or sheriff. I get the impression that unless we’re the F.B.I. or C.I.A. we have to wait a bit longer.”
“In their defense, the N.R.O. and N.G.A. aren’t agencies that often work with law enforcement around here.”
Lewis arched her body forward. Her free hand supported her head as she looked Garrett up and down. “You of all people are going to cut these people some slack? After how you treated the Sioux Falls police?”
“I gave them the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t live up to m-”
“Garrett, they’re a town of less than 200,000. I think they did very well, all things considered. The death of one of their own, missing people, a pile up and an explosion is a lot to take in.”
“You’re right. I’m just…that F.B.I. agent…I don’t know.”
“Relax. His record indicates he’ll refocus on this Dinkley person and that will be that. Phil and Bob and whoever else we find isn’t his concern.
Garrett frowned and flipped on his blinker. “I’m going to exit here. We have a long way to go, and I need some caffeine.”
***
Phil had thought about this day more times that he could remember. He’d daydreamed about meeting Michelle by random chance at the mall, at a restaurant, at a bar, and even at the Storybook Land park. He’d thought about what he’d say if he called her, if she called him, or if one of them was working in a call center and called the other. Phil even had thought of how to break the ice if they’d wandered into a chat room at the same time. He had not thought of what to say in the event of running into her while saving Bob from choking. His only comfort was that she looked as genuinely surprised as he felt and probably looked.
“What are you doing in Aberdeen?”
Phil froze for a moment. He had looked at her number in Kmart for ten minutes, but he’d never considered that he’d have to come up with a reason that he was in town once he talked to her. “Uh…we were just…passing through. I thought about calling…but…number…uh…”
“Michelle, come sit with us” Bob croaked from the floor.
