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be a food stain on the crown of his hat. He moved forward into the house, and Mandy smelled chili on his breath. He regarded George. “Assault?”
    “That’s right.”
    “You hurt?”
    “Mentally I’m seriously injured.” The phone rang. George rushed to get it while Mandy stared back at the deputy, whose eyes had filmed in an unpleasantly intimate way the moment he saw her. Once she would have hated him, but too many whistles and whispers and unwanted touches had taught her indifference to men like this. As she had matured, their sexual insecurity had become obvious to her. She thought of them as frightened kids, unable to grow up, trapped on the rock of adolescence.
    George’s voice rose and fell as he talked into the telephone.
    “Would you like a cup of coffee. Deputy?”
    “Yes, ma’am. It tastes pretty good about this time of night.”
    “Come on.” She led him to the kitchen, made him a cup of instant. She was just pouring the water when George burst into the room.
    “Just as I thought, the frog’s gone! That damn preacher got in there somehow and took it. And killed it. Shit!”
    The deputy shot Mandy a questioning glance. “There was vandalism at Dr. Walker’s lab,” she said.
    “Now, that’d be a college matter. We don’t go on the campus.”
    “It started there,” George snapped, “but it ended here. Come on.” He led the deputy into his bedroom. The remains of the frog lay on the white bed sheet, drying to dull green. “There is where it ended. Brother Pierce or one of his robots came in here in the middle of the night and dropped that thing on my face!”
    “Who did you say?”
    “Pierce! That fundamentalist lunatic! He hates me and my work. He preaches against me! He’s even led a demonstration.”
    The deputy put his coffee mug down. “You saw this man?”
    “Of course not. I was asleep.”
    “Now, if I understand you right, you’re preferring a charge?”
    “Of course I am! I’m charging that fanatic with destroying university property worth God knows how much, with breaking into my lab and my home, with throwing that thing at me with intent to harm me—”
    “Brother Pierce is a respected religious leader in Maywell, Dr. Walker. I don’t think you ought to just go charging him like this, with no witnesses or nothin’.”
    “He’s the obvious culprit.”
    The deputy glanced at Mandy. “The Lord will be on Brother Pierce’s side,” he said softly. His gaze returned to George, narrowed. “You just ought to know that. Not to mention the law.”
    “The law? I’m the injured party!”
    “You’re not hurt.” He ran his finger around the edge of the mug. Then he looked directly into George’s eyes. He smiled. “Not yet.” His voice was almost a whisper.
    Poor George. No judge of men. Mandy saw his mouth drop open, then saw understanding slowly enter his face. He shook his head. “The college supports this town. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”
    “You high-handed professors don’t run Maywell. And the college ain’t even the biggest employer. That’s Peconic Valley Power. Anyway, I’m just givin’ you some good advice. There’s penalties against preferring false charges. Stiff penalties, Doctor.”
    “Ah. So now I’m going to be arrested. That makes a great deal of sense.”
    “Listen, ma’am, why don’t you put him back to bed? And keep him off the hootch. It don’t do him no good.”
    The deputy moved to leave. In an instant George was on him, spinning him around, grabbing the front of his jacket.
    And staring into the barrel of his pistol.
    The gun had come up swiftly. It hung between the two men, its potential silencing them both. They looked down at it. Mandy could hear them breathing, could see sweat on George’s brow.
    “You take your hands off me, mister, and I’ll put my piece away.”
    Mandy closed her eyes in the long moment before the two men separated. She saw the deputy to the door. He was about to say something to her, but she