A Crying Shame (70 page)

Thanks.”

Sheriff Saucier watched them leave the staging area: a fishing camp on the Fain River. Six men in three boats. They were all armed with sidearms and AR-15s, and they were, to a man, well-trained. Mike lifted a hand in farewell and wished them good hunting.

He wondered if he would ever see any of them again. Alive, that is.

 

So my brother believed some form of insanity was creeping into the strain?” Linda asked.

Had already done so,” Jon replied. He could feel Tammy's eyes on him. Something about her didn't jell. He couldn't pinpoint the feeling.
About three years ago a tourist stopped his car on highway 34, on the north edge of the swamp. A witness said a person answering the man's description was seen kicking the rear tire of his car. He was never seen again. When deputies got there, the car was still running, but the man was gone. Incidents such as that one have occurred three times in that many years. At least these are the ones that Paul could substantiate. God only knows how many hitchhikers have been taken. A conservative estimate would be—according to Paul's studies—twenty-five to fifty over the past three years.”

But no way to prove it?” Linda asked.

No.”

But . . .” Tammy paused, cocking her head, strands of blonde hair falling over one eye. Jon recalled that actress ... what was her name? Jan Sterling, he believed, used to do the same thing for effect. Damn! he thought. I'm getting old.
. . . The Links who are normal, so to speak—hell of a way to put it, isn't it?—are not responsible for any deaths. According to Paul.”

That is correct,” Jon told her.
Only those whose minds, or whatever you wish to call it, have been affected . . . become unbalanced. Paul felt that probably with this breeding season . . . or rather, this birthing season, which is now, if I recall his journals correctly, the Links might be able to produce a female baby.”

Human, or Link?” Linda asked.

Jon shrugged.
Who knows?”

Because the strain has been so diluted?” Tammy inquired.