way they do.”
CHAPTER 22
“N ext week,” I said to Jen. “Just give me until then.”
“Which day?” she asked.
“I’m still working out the exact time with his office. But he’s good . He’ll talk to Amy unofficially, and we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
“How come I can’t find this Dr. Frank on the Web?” she asked.
“He’s retired from regular practice now.” I pushed the earbud headphones deeper into my ears, so I could hear over the noise of the nearby server fans.
“But the school counselor gave me a list of child psychia—”
“Can you imagine what kind of private-practice failure has to rely on referrals from schools to stay in business?” Even though I’d left Cassie back in the lab, I walked to the edge of the sanctum and glanced around the server room to make sure I was still alone. “This is our daughter’s future we’re talking about here. Her life. ”
“They’ve given me a week. They won’t let her stay in school unless we take her to see someone, Trevor.”
“Please. A week is all I need.” I gripped the wire of the headphones tight and shut my eyes. “I’m begging you, Jen. Please.”
She sighed. “I stay with Amy for the whole call.”
“Of course.” I paused. “I’m sending you an iPhone to use.”
“But I still have my old one, and you just sent us another one two days ago.”
“I’m modifying the conferencing software on this new one,” I said. “The video needs to be crystal clear.”
• • •
Later that morning, I left Cassie optimizing the heuristic search convergence code and went over to the administrative wing. McNulty was sitting at his desk, staring out the window with glazed eyes. He had a phone in his hand.
“Still waiting for that call from Sweden?” I asked.
He jumped.
“McNulty, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but there’s no Nobel Prize for Administrative Paper-Pushing.”
His eyes narrowed, and he put the phone down on his desk with a clunk. “Please tell me you’ve come to hand in your two weeks’ notice.”
“Hardly. My new co-lead sent me to give you this.” I handed him the written justification for Frankenstein’s GPU-cluster upgrade. “She would have come herself, but you know how it is—she doesn’t want to waste her time talking to clerical admin types.”
McNulty gave it a quick scan. “Nine million? I guess you weren’t listening when we spoke about fiscal responsibility…”
“Linebaugh didn’t approve the larger grant amount just so you could sit on it.”
I had a week, and I could feel the minutes slipping away. I put my hands on McNulty’s desk and thrust my face toward his.
“You’ve had your fun,” I said. “Now, pull that rubber stamp out of your ass and make this happen .”
McNulty leaned back, an expression of distaste on his face. But I had seen something else underneath, too, in the brief flicker of a microexpression:
Fear.
I pictured the glazed expression on his face before I’d come in. McNulty had been staring out the window with the shocked look of a man who realizes he is doomed. Whatever problems he had gotten himself into—financial, marital, medical, or whatever—were none of my business. But this conversation wasn’t going according to plan. I needed to know why.
“What have you done?” I whispered.
“God damn it!” McNulty stood up, sending his chair bumping against the wall. He backed away from his desk. “Bad enough that I’m stuck out here in the middle of Bumfuck nowhere. But on top of that, I have to deal with…” He gulped, and I saw the fear again.
“With what?” I needed to know. “Just say it, McNulty. What is it exactly you’re dealing with? Just say it.”
“A goddamn maniac.” His eyes were bright. “I’m dealing with a goddamn maniac here. You, Trevor. I’m scared of you.”
CHAPTER 23
N ight. Lightning arced in the distance, a muted glow rippling through the gray clouds over the lake. Much closer,
CHAPTER 22
“N ext week,” I said to Jen. “Just give me until then.”
“Which day?” she asked.
“I’m still working out the exact time with his office. But he’s good . He’ll talk to Amy unofficially, and we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
“How come I can’t find this Dr. Frank on the Web?” she asked.
“He’s retired from regular practice now.” I pushed the earbud headphones deeper into my ears, so I could hear over the noise of the nearby server fans.
“But the school counselor gave me a list of child psychia—”
“Can you imagine what kind of private-practice failure has to rely on referrals from schools to stay in business?” Even though I’d left Cassie back in the lab, I walked to the edge of the sanctum and glanced around the server room to make sure I was still alone. “This is our daughter’s future we’re talking about here. Her life. ”
“They’ve given me a week. They won’t let her stay in school unless we take her to see someone, Trevor.”
“Please. A week is all I need.” I gripped the wire of the headphones tight and shut my eyes. “I’m begging you, Jen. Please.”
She sighed. “I stay with Amy for the whole call.”
“Of course.” I paused. “I’m sending you an iPhone to use.”
“But I still have my old one, and you just sent us another one two days ago.”
“I’m modifying the conferencing software on this new one,” I said. “The video needs to be crystal clear.”
• • •
Later that morning, I left Cassie optimizing the heuristic search convergence code and went over to the administrative wing. McNulty was sitting at his desk, staring out the window with glazed eyes. He had a phone in his hand.
“Still waiting for that call from Sweden?” I asked.
He jumped.
“McNulty, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but there’s no Nobel Prize for Administrative Paper-Pushing.”
His eyes narrowed, and he put the phone down on his desk with a clunk. “Please tell me you’ve come to hand in your two weeks’ notice.”
“Hardly. My new co-lead sent me to give you this.” I handed him the written justification for Frankenstein’s GPU-cluster upgrade. “She would have come herself, but you know how it is—she doesn’t want to waste her time talking to clerical admin types.”
McNulty gave it a quick scan. “Nine million? I guess you weren’t listening when we spoke about fiscal responsibility…”
“Linebaugh didn’t approve the larger grant amount just so you could sit on it.”
I had a week, and I could feel the minutes slipping away. I put my hands on McNulty’s desk and thrust my face toward his.
“You’ve had your fun,” I said. “Now, pull that rubber stamp out of your ass and make this happen .”
McNulty leaned back, an expression of distaste on his face. But I had seen something else underneath, too, in the brief flicker of a microexpression:
Fear.
I pictured the glazed expression on his face before I’d come in. McNulty had been staring out the window with the shocked look of a man who realizes he is doomed. Whatever problems he had gotten himself into—financial, marital, medical, or whatever—were none of my business. But this conversation wasn’t going according to plan. I needed to know why.
“What have you done?” I whispered.
“God damn it!” McNulty stood up, sending his chair bumping against the wall. He backed away from his desk. “Bad enough that I’m stuck out here in the middle of Bumfuck nowhere. But on top of that, I have to deal with…” He gulped, and I saw the fear again.
“With what?” I needed to know. “Just say it, McNulty. What is it exactly you’re dealing with? Just say it.”
“A goddamn maniac.” His eyes were bright. “I’m dealing with a goddamn maniac here. You, Trevor. I’m scared of you.”
CHAPTER 23
N ight. Lightning arced in the distance, a muted glow rippling through the gray clouds over the lake. Much closer,
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