She put a small hand in his, anxiously waiting.
“Do you live here?” he asked. “Do you know the town?”
“I've lived here all my life. I know it all.”
“Find us a hotel,” he directed then, “a big one.”
She hesitated only a moment and he could guess what she might be thinking. “Where are we now?” she asked him.
They picked their way to the nearest intersection and he turned the light on the street sign.
“Oh, yes,” she said then. “This way.”
* * *
The lobby seemed empty. He searched it carefully in the beam of the flashlight before advancing across it. The desk clerk was slumped on the floor behind his desk.
“This bombing,” Gary said, “did it come at night?”