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paranoia seem like good common sense.
    I took a shower and nuked a frozen burrito, burnt my tongue and the roof of my mouth, and determined that I was unable to lift Jacob’s TV and unable to find mine. I’d run out of ways to do nothing, and had made up my mind to drive to Zigler’s house and wring some answers out of him in person when Jacob came home. It was past eight, nearly three hours after I’d spoken with Carolyn.
    “Hey. Carolyn was looking for you. Where’ve you been?”
    “At the gym.”
    For me, going to the gym ranks right up there with getting my teeth cleaned. To each his own, I guess. And I’ve got no complaints about the results. He was wearing his suit and overcoat, so I figured he’d showered there. My hair would’ve had icicles hanging off, but his towel-dried in a minute flat. “Are you hungry?”
    “No, I ate.” He pulled out his cell and hit Carolyn’s memory dial. “Yeah. Uh-huh. The gym.” He wove through a couple of stacks of boxes and headed toward the stairs. I felt vaguely bad for being such a lousy unpacker. I’d had the whole day to work on it and I’d achieved pretty much nothing. “No, I don’t think she’s delusional. Listen, I know it sounds far-fetched, but it could just be a matter of semantics.” It sounded complicated. I wondered what he meant. I followed him upstairs so I could hear some more.
    Jacob went into the bedroom and cradled his phone with his shoulder while he unbuttoned his shirt. “Look, it comes down to this. Are you going to trust a rape kit, or are you going to trust your talent? She says she’s been assaulted, and you say she’s not lying.” Jacob paused and listened for a long moment. “Then maybe we should find some Alzheimer’s patients and question them so that you do know how it feels when you X-ray them.” I heard Carolyn’s voice carry across the room, not the specifics of her reply, but the tone.

    Not happy. She must not have been keen on testing her abilities out on people with dementia. I didn’t really see the problem. It’s not like she’d cause any permanent damage.
    The next day, they’d forget they’d even spoken to her.
    “Just…sleep on it. Okay? You know I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
    That was an interesting choice of words. And it had to be true, since he was talking to Carolyn, who could even sniff lies through phone lines and cell towers. Thing was, I didn’t doubt that Jacob would never force any of his friends or colleagues to do anything. That didn’t mean we didn’t have to watch out for his powers of persuasion.
    I admired the way he handled Carolyn’s questions. If I had a partner who saw through all my lies, they’d probably get fed up and quit on me. But how much was Jacob holding out on me, so slick that I’d never even noticed? That was the big question. What did he know about my nonexistent Internet presence, and why hadn’t he ever told me? Did I even want to know?
    Jacob disconnected and put the phone next to the clock radio. “It’ll be a good night to turn in early,” he said.
    I still hadn’t put any sheets on the bed. I wondered how it would feel to slide around on the satiny polyester of the bare mattress while Jacob pounded into me, but I suspected he might have a hard time keeping my attention if I was busy wondering what he’d known all along, but hadn’t told me.
    “I think…” I faltered, then took a deep breath. “I think there’s something screwy about our Internet.” Oh God. Could I have come at it from a weirder angle?
    Jacob had everything off but his boxers. Navy. It was difficult to think with him mostly naked like that. “I’ll take a look at it soon. But tonight I’m running on fumes. I’d probably do more harm than good.”
    It wasn’t fair to press my advantage when Jacob was exhausted, but really, when else did I stand a chance of outmaneuvering him? “No, I mean, it’s hooked up and everything….” Jacob