Dragon Town

  Chapter Twelve

  Sapphire drove along slowly, looking out for Argus. He wasn't hard to spot. He'd made it about halfway to work and was just crossing over the old freight tracks when she found him and pulled over. She hopped out of the car and hurriedly caught up to him. Argus was walking slowly but didn't alter his gait when she came alongside him.

  "You again," is all he said.

  "How about good morning?" she tried.

  "How about go away?" he replied.

  "You know I'm not going to do that," she said. Argus stopped and turned to face her.

  "Look, I don't want to be seen with you. The last thing I need is to be caught with a major TV personality. There's media all over this town. What are they going to think? What are you doing here anyway? No doubt you're covering this story. So why are you talking with this guy? And just who is this guy? Oh, he's who? Have we ever heard of this guy? What does he have to do with all of this? You get the picture?"

  "Then get in the car," she snapped, "and nobody will see you with me."

  "Except for them," Argus gestured at a car across the street.

  "They're the ones who sent me," Sapphire said without looking, knowing it had to be the FBI. "They don't want you attracting any attention either. It's the last thing they need."

  Argus sighed and shook his head. After a few moments of silence, he shrugged and gestured for her to lead on. They went back to the car and got in. Sapphire started up the engine and pulled out into the street.

  "The girl is gone," she informed him.

  "Figures," he said. "It wasn't getting anywhere where it was. It wasn't going to wait there forever."

  "You talk like you understand it," Sapphire said. "Margaret told me about her theory. Is it her theory, or is it yours?"

  "It's ours, I guess," he said, "although she's more convinced than I am."

  "What do you think?" Sapphire wanted to know. "What's your idea?"

  "It's blind," Argus mumbled. "That's what I think. Blind and dumb like a worm. It doesn't know what it's doing, and the whole thing has nothing to do with me whatsoever."

  "Nothing to do with you?" Sapphire nearly burst out laughing. "This crazy thing comes out of a smoking hole and it's got your name and here you are saying it's got nothing to do with you?"

  "It's nothing personal," Argus continued. "If it really wanted me, it would come and find me, don't you think? But it doesn't. It doesn't know how. It doesn't know a thing about me, really, just my name, and maybe some impression it once got, once upon a time. The thing reaches out. It gets some kind of image and then it just reaches out, like it did with Charlie, like it did with Henrietta, and God only knows who else. It got to Fulsom too, you know. He couldn't take it. Drove him insane. He was already half mad anyway. But I'm not going to let it get to me. I don't care what anybody thinks. I'm not going anywhere near that thing. I already wish I hadn't let them take me to see that girl. She didn't seem to know I was there, but I don't know that for certain. It was a mistake. I won't do it again."

  "I don't know," Sapphire said wearily, pulling into the parking lot of Hedgeley and Kirkham, Architects. "Nice place," she added, barely glancing at it. It was a cute little brick building, nicely trimmed, with pretty flower boxes beneath the windows, filled with lilacs and geraniums.

  "Thanks," Argus said, making ready to get out of the car.

  "Wait," she told him, and he settled back, as if he knew he wasn't going to be let off so easily.

  "You know your name is going to get out there eventually, in connection with all of this," she said. "I mean, the odds."

  "I know", he said.

  "SO why did you stay here?" she blurted out suddenly. "I mean, Margaret told me what happened, with Fulsom and all."

  "It's my home," Argus said. "I have my friends here, and my family. If there's one thing I've learned in my whole life, one thing. It's the people you care about that matter the most. My friends are the best. And my wife and my son, we all love it here. It's our home. And that thing? That sinkhole? That Snapdragon Alley? It's all the way across town. I never go anywhere near it. The thing, if it's really a thing, it's out there. Let it do what it does. Like I said, if it really wanted me, I've been here the whole time. Margaret, I know, she's upset, and as for me, I don't want the attention, but to tell you the truth, I really don't think there we have anything to worry about."

  "Not even that?" Sapphire pointed at the door of his office. There, standing on the front stoop, staring blankly ahead, was the girl.

  "Oh, man," Argus said.