Hurrying home through the darkness, Eddie went over in his mind the story he would tell his father. Perhaps it didn’t mean a thing. Perhaps his imagination simply was running wild, as his father had hinted. He had to admit to himself that he was prone to build rather normal incidents into deep mysteries. He had always been that way.
Even allowing for that, however, Eddie still believed there was a strong possibility that the events of the past weeks might tie in with the stolen radioisotope; perhaps even with the missing blueprints from Acme Aviation.
Right in the middle of those events the figures of the two men—Simms and Roy Benton—kept looming up in his mind. Anyway, he thought he should tell his father about it and let him decide whether there could be any possible connection.
It was not, however, to be that way. Upon arriving home well after dark, Eddie found his mother both irked and worried over his late return.
“You didn’t even ask me if you could go,” she scolded. “And you know better than to be getting home at this late hour.”
“I—I’m sorry, Mom,” Eddie said meekly. “I didn’t know I would be gone so long.”
Mrs. Taylor turned from the stove where she was warming his dinner. “After you eat,” she said firmly, “I want you to go right to bed. No television.”
It was a mild enough punishment, Eddie thought, and didn’t argue. His father would not have been so lenient. He looked around. “Where’s Dad?” he asked.
“Your father phoned a while ago,” his mother explained. “He’ll be home late. Feed Sandy now; then wash up for dinner.”
Eddie opened a can of dog food, went outside, and spooned half of it into Sandy’s dish. Capping the can with a plastic cover, he put it in the refrigerator, then went to wash.