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week because of his job.”
    Felix picked up his fork. “Isn’t he the same fellow you told me a few weeks ago was planning a run for state senate?”
    “True,” I said. “That doesn’t mean C-SPAN is going to start doing live feeds of debates from up in Concord; but if he was in WITSEC for real, there’s no way his handlers would have put him here, with that job, with that exposure.”
    We ate in silence for a few minutes. Felix picked up Mark Spencer’s photo, glanced at it, put it back. He put his fork down, gently wiped his fingers with his napkin, and from his own coat pocket withdrew a handheld that could have been an iPhone or an Android or a Terminator, for all I knew.
    “This your only photo of him?”
    “Yes.”
    He took a few photos with his handheld, slid the photo back to me, where it went back into my coat pocket. “You really should consider joining the twenty-first century, Lewis. They have phones that take photos, little tablets that let you surf porn wherever you like, and units that can tell you your exact longitude and latitude down to a single meter.”
    “I like my phone just as it is. For making and receiving phone calls.”
    “You know it can send and receive a text, right?”
    “Hypothetically, I suppose you’re right. But I’ve never dug that deep into the instruction manual.”
    “You know all the cool kids laugh at you for using a phone with a flip-top.”
    “I don’t care.”
    He made a point of shaking his head and said, “Something has scared your girlfriend’s boy, that’s for sure.”
    “She’s not my girlfriend.”
    “So says you. Anyway, I’ll see what I can find out. If there’s a person or crew looking for this lawyer, they’ll be making little ripples out there. Some of my former associates and customers might have gotten wind of something. But those who might be looking for Mark Spencer, to scare him so much that he’s bailed out like this, those folks are going to be careful. Going against a lawyer and a town official, unless they do it very quietly and under cover of darkness, is eventually going to raise a lot of hell, a lot of attention.”
    “I’m sure.”
    “But a word of advice, and a word of warning. Which do you want first?”
    “Advice.”
    “You’ve started poking at something that wants to remain un-poked. So prepare yourself.”
    “Got it. What’s the warning?”
    Felix picked up his fork again. “I might be able to find out who’s chasing after Mark Spencer. But as to why, and to where he is . . . that’s probably going to be your job. Just make sure you want to take it that far.”
    Paula, I thought.
    “I’ll make sure.”
    When dinner, dessert, and coffee were consumed and then paid for by Felix, and the hefty bill and bundle of twenty-dollar bills taken away by a very grateful Corey, he once again offered me a couch or spare bedroom at his place, or the choice of any hotel room within a ten-mile radius. I gently declined; but as I backed my Pilot into my spot at the Lafayette Hotel’s parking lot, I was already beginning to regret my stubbornness. I felt fulland warm and fuzzy from a good meal and a shared bottle of wine, and after parking my rental Pilot, I stepped out into the cold November air.
    The sharp wind off the ocean cut right through me as I got out of the driver’s side and went to the rear, where I opened the hatchback. The lights from the Lafayette House looked even more inviting than ever before. Before me was the clammy sleeping bag and my meager provisions. Across the street was comfort and warmth and safety.
    All it would take would be a simple slide of a plastic card, and comfort would be mine tonight.
    I looked once more at the lights, climbed in, and closed the hatchback behind me.
    Later in the night, I woke up with a start. Something had disturbed me. I wasn’t sure what it had been, but my heart was thumping and my skin was moist. A bad dream? Some indigestion?
    A thump of some sort, coming from the