Frankenstein

She’s a real good cook.”
    “I’ll call information, get the main number at Meriwether, and ask the receptionist to track down your mom for you.”
    Travis’s expression brightened. “That would be great.”
    At the nightstand, Bryce plucked the handset from the phone. Instead of a tone, he got a recorded message in a woman’s voice of such studied pleasantness that it irritated him:
“Telephone service has been temporarily disrupted. Please try again later. Thank you for your patience.”

    
chapter
34

    After Carson called Erika Five, Deucalion rose from the game table and placed Scout in her uncle Arnie’s arms. To Michael and Carson, he said, “Pack what you think you’ll need, but be quick. I’ll be waiting at the car.”
    “What I think we’ll need is guns,” Michael said.
    Carson said, “Big ones. But aren’t we flying to Rainbow Falls? We can’t take guns on a plane.”
    “We’re not going by a commercial airline. There won’t be any baggage inspection.”
    “A charter flight? You can arrange that?”
    “Just meet me at the car as quickly as you can.”
    Without using a door, a hallway, or stairs, Deucalion stepped out of the study and, apparently, into their garage.
    Michael said, “I sure wish
I’d
been born with an intuitive understanding of the quantum nature of the universe.”
    “I’d be happy if you just understood how to operate the washer and dryer.”
    “What do you expect when the manufacturer makes one look so much like the other?”
    “The poor repairman was sobbing.”
    “He was laughing,” Michael said.
    “He was laughing and sobbing,” Arnie said. “When you’re packed, Scout and I will be in the kitchen with Mrs. Dolan.”
    As Arnie carried her out of the study, Scout said, “Ga-ga-wa-wa-ga-ga-ba-ba,” and Michael said, “She’s
brilliant
.”
    Upstairs, they packed clothes and toiletries in two small bags, guns and ammunition in two big suitcases.
    “I hate this,” Carson said.
    “Ahhh, it’ll be fun.”
    “Nobody should have to slam down Victor Frankenstein twice in the same lifetime. And I can’t believe what I just heard myself say.”
    “It could be worse,” Michael said.
    “How could it be worse?”
    “Everywhere you look these days—movies, TV, books—everything is vampires, vampires, vampires. Booorrring. If this was vampires, I’d just shoot myself now and to hell with Montana.”
    Carson said, “Maybe we
should
just say to hell with Montana.”
    “And shoot ourselves?”
    “And not shoot ourselves.”
    “Well, you know, this isn’t about Montana.”
    “I know. I know it’s not.”
    “It’s about Scout.”
    “Sweet little Scout. And Arnie.”
    “And it’s about Mrs. Dolan,” he said.
    “It’s not that much about Mrs. Dolan.”
    “Well, it’s a little bit about Mrs. Dolan.”
    “A little bit,” she admitted.
    “And it’s about the future of the human race.”
    “Don’t lay that on me.”
    “At least we know we’re fighting for the right side.”
    “I think the jury’s still out on that one.”
    Snapping shut the latches on his large suitcase, he said, “I don’t have clothes warm enough for Montana.”
    “We’ll buy some jackets there, boots, whatever.”
    “I hope I don’t have to wear a cowboy hat.”
    “What’s wrong with a cowboy hat?”
    “I’d look like a dink in one.”
    “You’d look as adorable as ever.”
    “Adorable, huh. In the movies, this is where we go into a clinch, lock lips, and make mad passionate love.”
    “Not in a Frankenstein movie, it isn’t.”
    They carried their luggage downstairs, left everything in the back hall, and went to the kitchen.
    Mary Margaret Dolan was basting a tray of apple dumplings in a milk-and-egg wash and dusting them with cinnamon before putting the tray in the oven. Duke remained attentive to the nanny’s every move.
    “Do I have to say how foolish this is,” Mary Margaret said, “flying off to Montana on another case already? Then I will. It’s entirely foolish, you haven’t even slept.”
    “We’ll sleep during the flight,” Carson said.
    “And we’ll sleep on the job when we get there,” Michael said.
    Arnie stood at a counter, rolling out dough for more dumplings. “You’ll be all right. That’s what I told Scout. You’re always all right in the end.”
    He sounded worried.
    Alert to the boy’s mood, Mary Margaret said, “So you’re going out on another limb and sawing it off after yourselves, are you?”
    “We