“Anything for you,” Janie says, and blushes. “I mean…you know.”
She laughs and shakes her head, like she’s embarrassed. “Never mind.”
He’s smiling at her chest. “See you tomorrow.”
2:05 p.m.
Janie sits at her table and sneaks her cell phone out of her backpack.
She fires it up. Sends Cabel a text message to his phone. “Can you get
Durbin’s past Chem. 2 class lists?”
A few moments later she gets the reply. “Sure. CU@4?”
Janie leans forward and sees him. He winks. She smiles and nods.
3:15 p.m.
Janie calls Captain.
“I may have talked Durbin into taking a group to the chemistry fair. It’s next month. Way the heck up in Houghton.”
“Excellent job, Janie. He’ll have to take a female chaperone with him.
You should be perfectly safe.”
“He’s hosting a party for the Chem. 2 students too. I guess he does it every year in March and in November.”
Captain pauses. Grabs her notes. “Bingo. Call number one was March
5. Call number two was early November. I think we’ve got something here, Janie. Good work.”
Janie hangs up to a rush of nervous excitement. This is too weird, she thinks.
4:00 p.m.
At Cabel’s house Janie recounts the conversation with Durbin from memory, even though she took notes once she got to her next class.
Cabel refrains from getting upset, like he promised.
He has the previous semester’s list, as well as the one from last spring.
“Smart thinking, Cabe.”
“Tomorrow I’ll track the girls from these previous classes to see what they’re taking now.”
“Great,” she says.
Janie whips up a flyer for the Chem. 2 party. It’s set for Saturday night, March 4. She prints out fifteen copies. Hands two to Cabel. “One for you, one for Captain.”
“You don’t know how much I wish I could be there.”
“You’ll be nearby, won’t you?”
“Hell yes.”
She stands and gives Cabel a hug. “I’ve gotta go.”
He looks at her longingly. “Should I be feeling badly about the fact that you haven’t stayed overnight in three weeks?”
“How’s tomorrow night sound?”
He smiles. “Saturday too?”
“Yeah. You don’t have any ‘things’ to go to?”
“Not this weekend.”
“It’s a date.”
“Sweet,” he says. “See you.” He pulls her toward him for a kiss, and then she’s gone, sprinting across the snow.
6:37 p.m.
Janie tackles the Stubin files. She knows Captain wants her to get through them. And Janie’s had them for nearly a month. But everything is so interesting, and she’s learning like crazy. How to get information from a dream. How to know what to look for in one. Miss
Stubin could occasionally pause and pan dreams, as if she were a camera, and see the things behind her as well as in front of her. A few times Miss Stubin mentioned rewinding to see something twice. Janie hasn’t been able to do any of that yet. She’s trying, every study hall.
Maybe she’ll try it with Cabel this weekend.
10:06 p.m.
Janie’s nearing the end of the last file. She rubs her temples as she reads. Her head aches. She grabs an Excedrin and a glass of water from the kitchen, and returns to her reading.
She’s fascinated. Enthralled. Building up a list of questions for Miss
Stubin and planning a dream visit soon.
Finally she closes the last file and sets it aside. All that’s left are a few stray papers and a thin, green spiral notebook.
Janie glances at the papers. They appear to be notes, scrawled in illegible handwriting that doesn’t stay between the lines. All the other files were typed. Janie’s glad she didn’t have to try to read them all like this. They must have been written late in Miss Stubin’s career, after she retired and lost her eyesight.
Janie sets the papers aside and opens the spiral notebook.
Reads the first line. It’s written in a controlled, sprawling hand—it’s infinitely more legible than the notes on the bed next to Janie. It looks like a book title.