|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the record, Lucy is a pint-sized, button-nosed, overly animated, pleasantly plump little blonde who has appointed herself guardian of my office, career and morals. Now she was giving me the needle about my female traveling companion. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Just for the record, little Miss Snoopy, her name is Brenda Cashman and she's a graduate student at the University of Michigan, one of Cosmo Leach's whiz kids." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I could tell Lucy wasn't impressed. She allowed the silence to stretch on. It was a level-one reprimand. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I take it you called me for a reason," I reminded her. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Similarities," she repeated flatly. "You wanted similarities, so here's what the trusty computer came up with. It seems that all four of the incidents in the file happened in some very remote, almost inaccessible location. All had low population density profiles. . . . " |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was scribbling notes frantically. "Got it. What else?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I suppose you've already taken note of the fact that each of these events took place on some sort of coastal terrain?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Chambers Bay has the same topographical features as the sites in those reports." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Rock composition, heavy forestation at the last three sites, and of course, the |
|
|
|
|
|