'Someone's called in a fire,'Julia said. 'I think we know where.'
They looked west, where rising smoke smudged the blue. Barbie thought most of it had to be coming from the Tarker's Mills side of the Dome, but the heat would almost certainly have ignited small fires on the Chester side as well.
'You want an idea? Okay, here's one. I'll track down Brenda - she'll either be at home or at Dipper's with everyone else - and suggest she take charge of the fire-fighting operation.'
'And if she says no?'
'I'm pretty sure she won't. At least there's no wind to speak of - not on this side of the Dome - so it's probably just grass and brush. She'll tap some guys to pitch in, and she'll know the right ones. They'll be the ones Howie would've picked.'
'None of them the new officers, I take it.'
'I'll leave that up to her, but I doubt if she'll be calling on Carter Thibodeau or Melvin Searles. Freddy Denton, either. He's been on the cops for five years, but I know from Brenda that Duke was planning to let him go. Freddy plays Santa every year at the elementary school, and the kids love him - he's got a great ho-ho-ho. He's also got a mean streak.'
'You'll be going around Rennie again.'
'Yes.'
'Payback could be a bitch.'
'I can be a bitch myself, when I have to be. Brenda too, if she gets her back up.'
'Go for it. And make sure she asks that guy Burpee. When it conies to putting out a brushfire, I'd trust him rather than any town firebarn leftovers. He's got everything in that store of his.'
She nodded. 'That's a damned good idea.'
'Sure you don't want me to tag along?'
'You've got other fish to fry. Did Bren give you Duke's key to the fallout shelter?'
'She did.'
'Then the fire may be just the distraction you need. Get that Geiger counter.' She started for her Prius, then stopped and turned back. 'Finding the generator - assuming there is one - is probably the best chance this town has got. Maybe the only one. And Barbie?'
'Right here, ma'am,' he said, smiling a little.
She didn't. 'Until you've heard Big Jim Rennie's stump speech, don't sell him short. There are reasons he's lasted as long as he has.'
'Good at waving the bloody shirt, I take it.'
'Yes. And this time the shirt is apt to be yours.'
She drove off to find Brenda and Romeo Burpee.
2
Those who had watched the Air Force's failed attempt to punch through the Dome left Dipper's pretty much as Barbie had imagined: slowly, with their heads down, not talking much. Many were walking with their arms about one another, some were crying. Three town police cars were parked across the road from Dipper's, and half a dozeri cops stood leaning against; them, ready for trouble. But there was rip trouble.
The green Chief of Police car was parked farther up, in the front lot of Brownie's Store (where a hand-lettered sign in the window read CLOSED UNTIL FREEDOM ALLOWS FRESH SUPPLIES. Chief Randolph and Jim Rennie sat inside the car, watching.
'There,'Big Jim said with unmistakable satisfaction. 'I hope they're happy.'
Randolph looked at him curiously. 'Didn't you want it to work?'
Big Jim grimaced as his sore shoulder twinged. 'Of course, but I never thought it would. And that fellow with the girl's name and his new friend Julia managed to get everyone all worked up and hopeful, didn't they? Oh yes, you bet. Do you know she's never endorsed me for office in that rag of hers? Not one single time.'
He pointed at the pedestrians streaming back toward town.
'Take a good look, pal - this is what incompetency, false hope, and too much information gets you. They're just unhappy and disappointed now, but when they get over that, they'll be mad. We're going to need more police.'
'More? We've got eighteen already, counting the part-timers and the new deputies.'
'It won't be enough. And we've got - '
The town whistle began to hammer the air with short blasts. They looked west and saw the smoke rising.
'We've got Barbara and Shumway to thank,' Big Jim finished.
'Maybe we ought to do something about that fire.'
'It's a Tarker's Mills problem. And the U.S. government's, of course. They started a fire with their cotton-picking missile, let them deal with it.'
'But if the heat sparked one on this side - '
'Stop being an old woman and drive me back to town. I've got to find Junior. He and I have things to talk about.'
3
Brenda Perkins and the Reverend Piper Libby were in Dipper's parking lot, by Piper's Subaru.
'I never thought it would work,' Brenda said, 'but I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't disappointed.'
'Me too,' Piper said. 'Bitterly. I'd offer you a ride back to town, but I have to check on a parishioner.'
'Not out on Little Bitch, I hope,' Brenda said. She lifted a thumb at the rising smoke.
'No, the other way. Eastchester. Jack Evans. He lost his wife on Dome Day. A freak accident. Not that all of this isn't freakish.'