Part 41 (1/2)

'A lawyer. The best possible inside man. Privy to his client's secrets.'

'Did you know you were putting his life in danger?'

'Fracking is a dangerous business, Professor.'

'Fighting fracking can be dangerous as well. How'd you get into that business?'

'My dad was a roughneck. I followed him into the industry. Got an environmental engineering degree at Rice, worked at a major in Houston, thought I'd make the industry greener. But the only green they care about is the kind that folds nicely in a wallet. So I quit and went to the other side, joined an environmental group in Santa Fe. Been fighting the industry ever since. When fracking came on line, I knew it had to be stopped.'

'Did you know Nathan was gay?'

The sudden change of subjects didn't throw her.

'I figured.'

'Why?'

'He was friends with Kenni. Gays and straights don't pal around together in West Texas.'

'Did you know Billy Bob is a c.o.kehead?'

'Heard rumors to that effect. Who'd you hear it from?'

'Big Rick.'

'He's a disgusting p.r.i.c.k, all those young girls. But he hates Billy Bob almost as much as I do, and he donates to the cause.' Her eyes went to the rearview mirror. 'Aw, f.u.c.k.'

Carla had picked Book up at six in an old dark blue Ford pickup with b.u.mper stickers that read No Fracking Way and We Can't Drink Natural Gas. A shotgun was mounted in a window rack. Book looked in the side mirror. A Border Patrol SUV had pulled them over. Carla braked and steered the pickup truck to the shoulder of the highway.

'Billy Bob said you had a roughneck's vocabulary.'

'Hang around squirrels long enough, you'll start hiding nuts. h.e.l.l, I've been around roughnecks since I was a kid.'

She glanced in the rearview again and gestured back.

'They hara.s.s me every time, make me get out while they search the entire truck. I think Billy Bob puts them up to it.'

'Maybe that shotgun got their attention.'

'In West Texas?'

Two agents walked up to their windows, one on either side.

'What do you a.s.sholes want?' Carla said.

'Nice to see you too, Carla,' the agent said.

Book looked up to a familiar face.

'Whoops,' the agent named Wesley Crum said.

'We meet again,' Book said.

'Hey, Professor.' Agent Angel Acosta leaned down and rested his arms on the driver's side window frame. 'I finished your book. It was brilliant.'

'Thanks.'

Agent Crum was examining the short radio antenna on Book's side.

'Carla, why do you have this big ol' potato stuck on your antenna?'

'Antenna broke off,' she said. 'Potato gives the radio better reception. Don't ask me why.'

'I won't.'

'Well, you folks have a nice day,' Agent Acosta said.

They returned to their SUV and drove off. Carla watched them away then turned to Book.

'You must be really famous.'

Nadine Honeywell sat in her hospital bed running high on caffeine and working on the Welch brief on the laptop when the door opened and the professor and the woman named Carla entered the room. She tried not to look surprised. The professor held an open hand out to her. In his palm was her Purell bottle.

'Where'd you find it?'

'In the desert. You must've dropped it when you went flying off the Harley last night.'

'I was trying to block out that memory.'

She took the Purell. Ooh, there was still some gel left. She squirted it into her palm and rubbed. She loved the smell of ethyl alcohol.

'So, Professor-what did we learn today?'

'A, Nathan Jones was gay.'

'Told you.'

'B, he had a relations.h.i.+p with Kenni.'

'With an ”i”?'

The professor nodded. 'C, Nathan told Kenni about the contamination but never showed him any proof.'

'The lost proof.'

'And D, Billy Bob Barnett is a c.o.kehead. Allegedly.'

Nadine felt her mouth fall open.