“Okay, then,” I said. “It’s a dull town. We got that much established.”

She laughed a little, mildly embarrassed. “Sorry. I guess I should’ve brought my cigarettes.”

“What’s really bothering you, Jo?” I asked gently. “Why do you need a detective?”

She swallowed and the confidence vanished; suddenly she seemed trembly as a bird, and the melodious voice took on an unexpected shrillness.

“It’s my boys,” she said. “Michael and Peter. They’re going to kidnap my boys.”

“Who is?”

“I’m … I’m not sure. This is going to sound crazy, Nate.”

“Try me.”

“Jim’s made a lot of enemies. You know, everybody talks about the Nazis, Hitler this, Hitler that. But in the great scheme of things, they’re nothing.” She clutched my hand; squeezed. “It’s the Reds we have to worry about, Nate-the Reds!”

“The Russians, you mean.”

“Yes, but more likely their … minions.”

“Have there been threats?”

“No, but they follow me. They listen to everything I say, they’ve tapped the phones, bugged our house. Why the hell d’you think I wanted to meet you in the fucking park?”

I thought, Because your house isn’t air-conditioned?

But I said, “Wise precaution.”

She was shaking her head; the black scythe blades of hair swung. “But it’s more, so much more than just the surveillance…. I’ve always been sensitive, Nate. Do you believe in extrasensory perception? Psychic powers?”

“Sure,” I lied.

The big dark eyes got bigger, brighter. “Well, I’ve had dreams … vivid dreams. And I have good intuition, I can sense danger, the way … an animal can. Like a horse knows when to rear up.”

“Instinctively.”

“Yes! And Michael and Peter, they’re just boys, they’re so helpless … Michael’s thirteen, Peter eleven, they’re off at private school, at Aiken School … that’s in South Carolina.”