"I've spent a year looking around. I know a hell of a lot more about Timmy Warden, the way he lived, the way his mind worked, than you'll ever know. And I can't find it."
"Then I won't be able to either, will I?"
"Then you better take off, Howard. Go back where you came from."
"I think I'll stay around."
He leaned forward. "Then you do have some little clue that I don't have. Maybe it isn't a very good one."
"I don't know any more than you do. I just have more confidence in myself than I have in you."
That made him laugh. The laughter stung my pride. It was a ludicrous thought to him that I could do anything in the world he couldn't do.
"You've wasted better than a year on it. At least I haven't done that," I said hotly.
He shrugged. "I have to be somewhere. It might as well be here. What's wasted about it? I've got a good job. Let's pool everything we know and can remember, and if we can locate it I'll give you a third."
"No," I said, too quickly.