Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn Page B

“But it may very well prove vital for me to know of the existence of such details. I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say more right now.”
    For a moment the others mulled that over, while Tirrell crossed his fingers and prayed for Tonio to keep his questions to himself. “Well …” Somerset said, glancing at Ramsden, “of course we’ll be happy to cooperate as much as possible.” He paused, but Ramsden didn’t interrupt, and he continued, “I have an important appointment in five minutes, but I could probably cancel it if absolutely necessary.”
    Tirrell shook his head. “No, you can go ahead. Ms. Mbar can give me all the help I’ll need for a while. Just come back as soon as you can and don’t mention any of this to anyone else.” He shifted his gaze. “That applies to you and your secretary, too, Dr. Ramsden. Thank you for your time and help; I’ll let you know if I need any further assistance.”
    Ramsden nodded and, correctly interpreting the comment as a dismissal, squeezed past Somerset and disappeared. “I’ll be back in about an hour,” Somerset said and followed his colleague.
    â€œIf you don’t mind, Detective,” Cam said, rising from her chair, “I have to get something out of the autoclave before we begin. It’ll only take a minute.”
    â€œGo ahead.” Tirrell nodded, pressing himself back against the wall to let her by. Tonio dropped back to the floor as she left, took a quick look out the door, and turned to face the detective.
    â€œYou going to let me in on this game?” he asked in a low voice. “What does Jarvis’s recent work have to do with anything?”
    â€œIf he’s like most scientists I’ve known, he’ll have all his lab book entries dated,” Tirrell said. “Ramsden said he was often here on Saturdays; if we can prove he wasn’t here on the days Colin’s sitter and playmates remember seeing Oliver in Ridge Harbor, we may be able to persuade the Barona police to authorize our using direction finders to locate Jarvis’s convenient little hideaway.”
    Tonio frowned. “Why do we need to persuade them? He’s a material witness or something, isn’t he?”
    â€œNot really—all we know is that someone else says Jarvis once knew Oriana. That justifies our calling him and asking him to come in for questioning, but if he is involved in the kidnapping, that would tip him off and might even spook him into deeper hiding. And if Colin is still with him …” He left the sentence unfinished.
    An odd look flickered across Tonio’s face, but before Tirrell could ask about it, he heard the sound of returning footsteps. A moment later Cam appeared with a half-dozen thick binders. “Here are Dr. Jarvis’s lab books, Detective,” she said, sidling past him back to the desk chair. “What would you like to know?”
    Tirrell glanced back at Tonio, but the preteen seemed all right. I’ll ask him about it later, the detective decided, turning his attention back to Cam. “Let’s start with the first of March,” he told her, “and look at which Saturdays Dr. Jarvis was working.”
    The session took nearly an hour and a half, and by the time Tirrell and Tonio left, Barona’s four o’clock rush hour was already in progress. Fortunately, the city building wasn’t too far from the university campus, and they arrived with Tirrell’s temper still in good shape. Passing the front desk and the loungelike duty room, they went up the stairs to the third floor; but instead of going to the cracker-box office the Barona police had assigned them, Tirrell went to another office a few doors down.
    Hob Paxton, Detective Second of Barona, was not amused by the report. “Do you realize who you’re talking about, Tirrell? Matthew Jarvis. Probably Barona’s greatest claim to fame. I