The Hammer of Eden by Ken Follett

Author:Ken Follett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780307775115
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

10

Judy dreamed she walked along the seashore with Michael Quercus, and his bare feet left neat, shapely prints in the wet sand.

On Saturday morning she helped out at a literacy class for young offenders. They respected her because she carried a gun. She sat in a church hall beside a seventeen-year-old hoodlum, helping him practice writing the date, hoping that somehow this would make it less likely that in ten years’ time she would have to arrest him.

In the afternoon she drove the short distance from Bo’s house to Gala Foods on Geary Boulevard and shopped.

The familiar Saturday routines failed to soothe her. She was furious with Brian Kincaid for taking her off the Hammer of Eden case, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she stomped up and down the aisles and tried to turn her mind to Chewy Chips Ahoy, Rice-A-Roni, and Zee “Decor Collection” kitchen towel printed with yellow patterns. In the breakfast cereal aisle she thought of Michael’s son, Dusty, and she bought a box of Cap’n Crunch.

But her thoughts kept returning to the case. Is there really someone out there who can make earthquakes happen? Or am I nuts?

Back at home, Bo helped her unload the groceries and asked her about the investigation. “I hear Marvin Hayes raided the Green California Campaign.”

“It can’t have done him much good,” she said. “They’re all clean. Raja interviewed them on Tuesday. Two men and three women, all over fifty. No criminal records—not a speeding ticket between them—and no association with any suspicious persons. If they’re terrorists, I’m Kojak.”

“TV news says he’s examining their records.”

“Right. That’s a list of everyone who ever wrote asking them for information, including Jane Fonda. There are eighteen thousand names and addresses. Now Marvin’s team has to run each name through the FBI computer to see who’s worth interviewing. It could take a month.”

The doorbell rang. Judy opened the door to Simon Sparrow. She was surprised but pleased. “Hey, Simon, come on in!”

He was wearing black cycling shorts and a muscle T-shirt with Nike trainers and wraparound sunglasses. However, he had not come by bicycle: his emerald green Honda Del Sol was parked at the curb with the roof down. Judy wondered what her mother would have thought of Simon. “Nice boy,” she might have said. “Not very manly, though.”

Bo shook hands with Simon, then gave Judy a clandestine look that said Who the hell is this fruit? Judy shocked him by saying: “Simon is one of the FBI’s top linguistic analysts.”

Somewhat bemused, Bo said: “Well, Simon, I’m sure glad to meet you.”

Simon was carrying a cassette tape and a manila envelope. Holding them up, he said: “I brought you my report on the Hammer of Eden tape.”

“I’m off the case,” Judy said.

“I know, but I thought you’d still be interested. The voices on the tape don’t match any in our acoustic files, unfortunately.”

“No names, then.”

“No, but lots of other interesting stuff.”

Judy’s interest was piqued. “You said ‘voices.’ I only heard one.

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