With considerable apprehension, she put the plug in the socket again.
Nothing.
Five seconds. Ten. Fifteen.
Earl said, ‘Well, whatever it was—’
The radio snapped on.
The dial lit up.
The air was arctic again.
Laura stepped away from the counter, backed toward the table, afraid that the radio would fling itself at her. She stopped beside Melanie and put one hand on the girl’s shoulder, to reassure her, but Melanie appeared to be as oblivious of these strange events as she was of everything else.
The volume dial moved. This time, the dial didn’t peg out at the top, but stopped halfway. The latest piece of gangsta-rap crap thumped from the radio. The beat-heavy music was loud, although not unbearable.
Another knob spun as if an invisible hand were adjusting it. This one was the frequency selector. The red indicator dot glided fast across the luminous green dial, leaving the rap song behind, flitting rapidly to the right end of the scale, bringing them only flashes of songs, commercials, news reports, and deejay voices on a score of other stations. It reached the end of the radio band and moved back to the left, all the way, then swept to the right again, faster, so that the snatches of various broadcasts blended together in an eerie electronic ululation.
Earl moved closer to the Sony.
‘Careful,’ Laura said.
She realized it was ridiculous to be warning him about a mere radio. It was an inanimate object, for God’s sake, not a living creature. She’d owned it for three or four years. It had brought her music and kept her company. It was only a radio.
* * *
When Mondale got his hand back, he didn’t rub it or even try to flex the pain out of it. Like a simpleminded highschool jock with wounded pride, he went right on pretending that he was the toughest. He casually put his hand in his pocket, as if checking for change or keys, and he kept it there.
He poked his other hand toward Dan, pointed a finger at him. ‘Don’t you screw this up for me, Haldane. This is an important case. It’s going to mean heat, lots of heat. We’re gonna feel like we’re working in a damned furnace. I’ve got the press nipping at my heels and the FBI on my back, and I’ve already had calls from the mayor and from Chief Kelsey, wanting results. I don’t intend to screw this one up. My career might ride on this one. I’m keeping control, Haldane, tight control. I’m not letting some hotshot Lone Ranger type put my ass in a sling for me. If my ass ends up in a sling, it’ll be because I put it there. This is a team effort, see, and I’m the captain and coach and quarterback, all rolled into one, and anybody who can’t play it as a team effort just isn’t even going to get on the field. You got me?’
So this wasn’t going to be the final showdown, after all. Ross was just going to bluster and fume. He felt tough and important when he could point his finger at a subordinate, glower, and chew ass for a while.
Dan sighed with some disappointment, and leaned back in the office chair, folding his hands behind his head. ‘Furnaces, football fields … Ross, you’re getting your metaphors mixed up. Face it, old buddy, you’ll never be an inspiring speaker … or a disciplinarian. General Patton, you ain’t.’
Glaring at him, Mondale said, ‘At Chief Kelsey’s request, I’m putting together a special task force to handle this case, just like they did for the Hillside Strangler business several years back. All assignments come straight from me, and I’m assigning you to a desk at HQ for the duration. You’ll coordinate the files on some aspects of the investigation.’
‘I’m not a desk man.’
‘Now you are.’
‘I’m a deskophobic. You force me to work at a desk, I’ll have a complete nervous breakdown. It’s going to mean a major worker’s compensation claim.’
‘Don’t screw with me,’ Mondale warned again.
‘I’m scared of desk blotters too — and those can-type holders for pencils just spook the bejesus out of me. So I thought, first thing tomorrow, I’d start looking into this Freedom Now group and maybe—’