Then he spun his chair around again to face Special Agent in Charge Samm, who was standing by the coffee machine across the room, and raised his voice.
"It's Glynes, sir."
"Good," Mr. Samm said, coming quickly across the room and snatching the telephone from Thomas. "Glynes?"
"Yes, sir."
"How is it that you were neither at the eight-thirty meeting or called in?"
"Sir, I was in the Pine Barrens. There was no phone."
"What are you doing in the Pine Barrens?"
"I've got something out here I think is very interesting."
"And what is that?"
"I've got six, maybe more, pay lockers, you know, the kind they have in airports and railroad stations, that, in what I would say the last week, maybe the last couple of days, have been blown up with high explosives."
There was a very long pause, so long that Glynes suspected the line had gone out.
"Sir?" he asked.
"Chuck, I have been trying to phrase this adequately," Mr. Samm said. "I confess that I have suspected you never even read the teletype. And that teletype isn't even twenty-four hours old, and you' re onto something."
What the hell, Special Agent C. V. Glynes wondered, is that little asshole talking about?
"You're confident, Chuck, that it is high explosives?"
"Yes, sir. Nothing but high-intensity explosives could do this kind of damage."
"Good man, Chuck," Mr. Samm said. "Thomas, pick up on 303. Get this all down accurately."
Tommy Thomas's voice came on the line. "Ready, sir."
"Thomas," Mr. Samm said, "with reference to that Request for All Information teletype of yesterday, Glynes has come up with something."
"Yes, sir," Thomas said, his tone of voice suggesting to Glynes that Thomas hadn't read the teletype either.
"Okay, Chuck," Mr. Samm went on. "Give Thomas your location. I'm going to get on another phone and get in touch with the Secret Service and the FBI."
"Yes, sir."
"And, Glynes, make sure you keep the scene clean. Keep the locals out."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Yes, sir."
"Good work, Glynes. Good work."
****
At two minutes past nine o'clock, Marion Claude Wheatley telephoned Mr. D. Logan Hammersmith, Jr., vice president and senior trust officer of the First Pennsylvania Bank amp; Trust Company and told him he had come down with some sort of virus and would not be able to come into work today, and probably not for the next few days.
Mr. Hammersmith expressed concern, told Marion he should err on the side of caution and see his physician, viruses were tricky, and that if there was anything at all that he could do, he should not hesitate to give him a call.