“Thanks a lot,” Lem said.

Walt just smiled.

To Selbok, Lem said, “I’m sorry, Doctor, but I’m not at liberty to discuss the case. Anyway, nothing I could tell you would alter the treatment you’d give Tracy Keeshan.”

When Lem and Walt finally got into Tracy ’s hospital room, leaving Dr. Selbok in the corridor to time their visit, they found a pretty thirteen-year-old who was badly bruised and as pale as snow. She was in bed, the sheets pulled up to her shoulders. Though she had been given painkillers, she was alert, even edgy, and it was obvious why Selbok wanted to give her a sedative. She was trying not to show it, but she was scared.

“I wish you’d leave,” Lem told Walt Gaines.

“If wishes were filet mignon, we’d always eat well at dinner,” Walt said. “Hi, Tracy, I’m Sheriff Walt Gaines, and this is Lemuel Johnson. I’m about as nice as they come, though Lem here is a real stinker-everybody says so- but you don’t have to worry because I’ll keep him in line and make him be nice to you. Okay?”

Together, they coaxed Tracy into a conversation. They quickly discovered that she’d told Selbok she’d been attacked by a coyote because, though she knew it wasn’t true, she didn’t believe she could convince the physician-or anyone else-of the truth of what she’d seen. “I was afraid they’d think I’d been hit real hard on the head, had my brains scrambled,” she said, “and then they’d keep me here a lot longer.”

Sitting on the edge of the girl’s bed, Lem said, “ Tracy, you don’t have to worry that I’ll think you’re scrambled. I believe I know what you saw, and all I want from you is confirmation.”

She stared at him disbelievingly.

Walt stood at the foot of her bed, smiling down at her as if he were a big, affectionate teddy bear come to life. He said, “Before you passed out, you told your dad you’d been attacked by the boogeyman who used to live in your closet.”

“It was sure ugly enough,” the girl said quietly. “But that’s not what it, was, I guess.”

“Tell me,” Lem said.

She stared at Walt, at Lem, then sighed. “You tell me what you think I should’ve seen, and if you’re close, I’ll tell you what I can remember. But I’m not going to start it ‘cause I know you’ll think I’m looney tunes.”

Lem regarded Walt with unconcealed frustration, realizing there was no way to avoid divulging some of the facts of the case.

Walt grinned.

To the girl, Lem said, “Yellow eyes.”

She gasped and went rigid. “Yes! You do know, don’t you? You know what was out there.” She started to sit up, winced in pain as she pulled the stitches in her wound, and slumped back against the bed. “What was it, what was it?”

“ Tracy,” Lem said, “I can’t tell you what it was. I’ve signed a secrecy oath. If I violated it, I could be put in jail, but more important… I wouldn’t have much respect for myself.”

She frowned, finally nodded. “I guess I can understand that.”

“Good. Now tell me everything you can about your assailant.”

As it turned out, she had not seen much because the night was dark and her flashlight had illuminated The Outsider for only an instant. “Pretty big for an animal… maybe as big as me. The yellow eyes.” She shuddered. “And its face was… strange.”

“In what way?”

“Lumpy… deformed,” the girl said. Though she had been very pale at the start, she grew paler now, and fine beads of sweat appeared along her hairline, dampening her brow.

Walt was leaning on the footrail of the bed, straining forward, intensely interested, not wanting to miss a word.

A sudden Santa Ana wind buffeted the building, startling the girl. She looked fearfully at the rattling window, where the wind moaned, as if she was afraid something would come smashing through the glass.

Which was, Lem reminded himself, exactly how The Outsider had gotten to Wes Dalberg.

The girl swallowed hard. “Its mouth was huge… and the teeth..

She could not stop shaking, and Lem put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, honey. It’s over now. It’s all behind you.”

After a pause to regain control of herself, but still shivering, Tracy said, “I think it was kind of hairy… or furry… I’m not sure, but it was very Strong.”

“What kind of animal did it resemble?” Lem asked.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t like anything else."

“But if you had to say it was like some other animal, would you say it was more like a cougar than anything else?”

“No. Not a cougar.”

“Like a dog?”

She hesitated. “Maybe… a little bit like a dog.”

“Maybe a little bit like a bear, too?”

“No.”

“Like a panther?”

“No. Not like any cat.”

“Like a monkey?”

She hesitated again, frowned, thinking. “I don’t know why… but, yeah, maybe a little like a monkey. Except, no dog and no monkey has teeth like that.”

The door opened from the hall, and Dr. Selbok appeared. “You’re already past five minutes.”

Walt started to wave the doctor out.

Lem said, “No, it’s okay. We’re finished. Half a minute yet.”

“I’m counting the seconds,” Selbok said, retreating.

To the girl Lem said, “Can I rely on you?”

She matched his gaze and said, “To keep quiet?”

Lem nodded.

She said, “Yeah. I sure don’t want to tell anybody. My folks think I’m mature for my age. Mentally and emotionally mature, I mean. But if I start telling wild stories about… about monsters, they’re going to think I’m not so mature after all, and maybe they’ll figure I’m not responsible enough to take care of the horses, and so maybe they’ll slow down the breeding plans. I won’t risk that, Mr. Johnson. No, sir. So as far as I’m concerned, it was a loco coyote. But..

“Yes?”

“Can you tell me… is there any chance it’ll come back?”

“I don’t think so. But it would be wise, for a while, not to go out to the stable at night. All right?”

“All right,” she said. Judging by her haunted expression, she would remain indoors after dusk for weeks to come.

They left the room, thanked Dr. Selbok for his cooperation, and went down to the hospital’s parking garage. Dawn had not yet arrived, and the cavernous concrete structure was empty, desolate. Their footsteps echoed hollowly off the wails.

Their cars were on the same floor, and Walt accompanied Lem to the green, unmarked NSA sedan. As Lem put the key in the door to unlock it, Walt looked around to be sure they were alone, then said, “Tell me.”

“Can’t.”

“I’ll find out.”

“You’re off the case.”

“So take me to court. Get a bench warrant.”

“I might.”

“For endangering the national security.”

“It would be a fair charge.”

“Throw my ass in jail.”

“I might,” Lem said, though he knew he would not.

Curiously, though Walt’s doggedness was frustrating and more than a little irritating, it was also pleasing to Lem. He had few friends, of which Walt was the most important, and he liked to think the reason he had few friends was because he was selective, with high standards. If Walt had backed off entirely, if he had been completely cowed by federal authority, if he’d been able to turn off his Curiosity as easily as turning off a light switch, he would have been slightly tarnished and diminished in Lein’s eyes.

“What reminds you of a dog and an ape and has yellow eyes?” Walt asked. “Aside from your mama, that is.”

“You leave my mama out of this, honky,” Lem said. Smiling in spite of himself, he got into the car.

Walt held the door open and leaned down to look in at him. “What in the name of God escaped from Banodyne?”

“I told you this has nothing to do with Banodyne.”

“And the fire they had at the labs the next day… did they set it themselves to destroy the evidence of what they’d been up to?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lem said wearily, thrusting the key into the ignition. “Evidence could be destroyed in a more efficient and less drastic manner. if there was evidence to destroy. Which there isn’t. Because Banodyne has nothing to do with this.”