'I need to get in touch with a man named Dale Barbara. Do you know this man?'
Of course she did. And had been surprised to see him at Sweet-briar earlier tonight. He was crazy to still be in town, and hadn't Rose herself said just yesterday that he had given notice? Dale Barbara's story was one of hundreds Julia knew but hadn't written. Wiien you published a smalltown newspaper, you left the lids on a great many cans of worms. You had to pick your fights. The way she was sure Junior Rennie and his friends picked theirs. And she doubted very much if the rumors about Barbara and Dodee's good friend Angie were true, anyway. For one thing, she thought Barbara had more taste.
'Ms Shumway?' Crisp. Official. An on-the-outside voice. She could resent the owner of the voice just for that. 'Still with me?'
'Still with you. Yes, I know Dale Barbara. He cook; at the restaurant on Main Street. Why?'
'He has no cell phone, it seems, the restaurant doesn't answer - '
'It's closed - '
'-and the landlines don't work, of course.'
'Nothing in this town seems to work very well tonight, Colonel Cox. Cell phones included. But I notice you didn't have any trouble getting through to me, which makes me wonder if you fellows might not be responsible for that.' Her fury - like her sarcasm, born of fear - surprised her. 'What did you do? What did you people do?'
'Nothing. So far as I know now, nothing.'
She was so surprised she could think of no follow-up. Which was very unlike the Julia Shumway longtime Mill residents knew.
'The cell phones, yes,' he said. 'Calls in and out of Chester's Mill are pretty well shut down now. In the interests of national security. And with all due respect, ma'am, you would have done the same, in our position.'
'I doubt that.'
'Do you?' He sounded interested, not angry. 'In a situation that's unprecedented in the history of the world, and suggestive of technology far beyond what we or anyone else can even understand?'
Once more she found herself stuck for a reply.
'It's quite important that I speak to Captain Barbara,' he said, returning to his original scripture. In a way, Julia was surprised he'd wandered as far off-message as he had.
'Captain Barbara?'
'Retired. Can you find him? Take your cell phone. I'll give you a number to call. It'll go through.'
'Why me, Colonel Cox? Why didn't you call the police station? Or one of the town selectmen? I believe all three of them are here.'
'I didn't even try. I grew up in a small town, Ms Shumway - '
'Bully for you,'
'-and in my experience, town politicians know a little, the town cops know a lot, and the local newspaper editor knows everything.'
That made her laugh in spite of herself.
'Why bother with a call when you two can meet face-to-face? With me as your chaperone, of course. I'm going out to my side of the barrier - was leaving when you called, in fact. I'll hunt Barbie up - '
'Still calling himself that, is he?' Cox sounded bemused.
'I'll hunt him up and bring him with me. We can have a mini press conference.'
'I'm not in Maine. I'm in D.C. With the Joint Chiefs.'
'Is that supposed to impress me?' Although it did, a little.
'Ms Shumway, I'm busy, and probably you are, too. So, in the interests of resolving this thing - '
'Is that possible, do you think?'
'Quit it,' he said. 'You were undoubtedly a reporter before you were an editor, and I'm sure asking questions comes naturally to you, but time is a factor here. Can you do as I ask?'
'I can. But if you want hini, you get me, too. We'll come out 119 and call you from there.'
'No,' he said.
'That's fine,' she said pleasantly. 'It's been very nice talking to you, Colonel C - '
Xet me finish. Your side of 119 is totally FUBAR.That means - '
'I know the expression, Colonel, I used to be a Tom Clancy reader. What exactly do you mean by it in regard to Route 119?'
'1 mean it looks like, pardon the vulgarity, opening night at a free whorehouse out there. Half your town has parked their cars and pickups on both sides of the road and in some dairy farmer's field.'
She put her camera on the floor, took a notepad from her coat pocket, and scrawled Col. James Cox and Like open night at free w'house. Then she added Dinsmore farm?Yes, he was probably thinking about Alden Dinsmore's place.
'All right,' she said, 'what do' you suggest?'
'Well, I can't stop you from coining, you're absolutely right about that.' He sighed, the sound seeming to suggest it was an unfair world. 'And I can't stop what you print in your paper, although I don't think it matters, since no one outside of Chester's Mill is going to see it.'
She stopped smiling. 'Would you mind explaining that?'
'I would, actually, and you'll work it out for yourself. My suggestion is that, if you want to see the barrier - although you can't actually see it, as I'm sure you've been told - you bring Captain Barbara out to where it cuts Town Road Number Three. Do you know Town Road Number Three?'
For a moment she didn't. Then she realized what he was talking about, and laughed.