"And I'm going to throw in the keys to my Hertz car, which you may want to move out of your parking lot on the off chance that the FBI practices good police procedure and goes through the lot looking for our rental car." I gave him the keys and said, "There's a picnic lunch from The Point in the backseat, and it's yours."

"This deal is getting better. What's for lunch?"

"Probably snails. Also, if you want to cover your tracks a little with the FBI, you should call The Point and ask for us."

Major Schaeffer observed, "You'd make a good fugitive."

Actually, that's what we were at the moment, but there was no reason to remind him of that.

We were on the outskirts of Potsdam now, and Schaeffer asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"Just drop us off at a subway station."

I wasn't sure if Major Schaeffer appreciated or got my humor, but he said, "I guess you need a car."

"Good idea. Is there a rental place around here?"

"There's an Enterprise."

I waited for the rest of the list, but that seemed to be it.

We went through the center of town, then continued up Route 56, past the hospital where we'd seen Harry, and a few minutes later, we arrived at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Major Schaeffer parked near the rental office and said to us, "I don't know why you want to avoid Griffith, or what kind of trouble you're in. But if it wasn't for the fact that you lost a friend and partner here, and that your colleagues are freezing me out, I wouldn't be sticking my neck out for you."

I replied, "We appreciate that. Your instincts are good."

"Yeah? Well, I want you to prove to me that they are."

"We'll keep you informed."

"That would be nice for a change." He said to us, "Okay, I'm going to tell Griffith that I met you at the crime scene and that I delivered his message to you."

I reminded him, "Get rid of our rental car."

"Let me handle this, Detective."

Kate said to Schaeffer, "Be assured, Major, that John and I will take responsibility for any problems this might cause you."

"The only problem I have at the moment is hosting six Federal agents who are about to pull this case from me."

I informed him, "There are more on the way." Then I said, "Here's the way I think Harry Muller was murdered." I gave him my reconstruction of the murder as I thought it had probably happened. I concluded, "Look for signs that Harry may have been awake enough to kick the sides or roof of his camper."

Major Schaeffer stayed silent awhile, then said, "It could have happened that way. But that doesn't bring me any closer to finding the murderer or murderers."

Actually, his prime suspect was still Bain Madox whether he wanted to believe that or not. I said, "Well, when you find a suspect, you can shake him up with that description of how it was done. It's also good for your report."

He nodded and said thanks, but didn't offer me a job.

We shook hands all around, then Kate and I got out of the car and walked into the Enterprise office. I said to the lady behind the counter, "I'd like to rent a car."

"You're in the right place."

"I thought so. How about an SUV?"

"Nope. I got a Hyundai Accent ready to go."

"What kind of accent does it have?"

"Huh?"

"I'll take it."

I used my personal credit card since my employers had already paid for one rental car. Not to mention that I was on the run from them, and it would take them a while longer to trace my card than it would theirs.

Within fifteen minutes, I was behind the wheel of a little rice burner.

I drove back toward the center of town, and Kate observed, "It really doesn't take that long to rent a car, does it?"

I thought I knew where this was going. "No, especially if I'm not asking for a copy of all their rental agreements for the last four days."

"Not to mention the time you can save by not hitting on the rental lady."

Jeez. Here we were, up to our eyeballs in trouble, and some megalomaniac was about to start World War III or something, and she's busting my balloons about a little kidding around at the Hertz counter a long time ago. Well, yesterday. I refused to play this game and remained silent.

She informed me, "You're not single anymore, you know."

And so forth.

We got into the center of town, and I pulled into a parking space near a coffee shop, and said, "I need coffee."

"John, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah. I'm getting a coffee to go. What do you want?"

"Answer my question."

"I know what I'm doing."

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know."

"How long are we going to be doing it?"

"Until we break this case or until our colleagues catch us, whichever comes first."

"Well, I can tell you what's going to come first."