The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

to jail. I should help with that?"
    "Yes," said Gabe.
    "Why?"
    "Because it's the right thing to do, and because it's important to me and you love me."
    Val stared at him,then dragged her purse off the bar. "I'll go, but you will all be getting hate mail from me when I'm in jail."
    Mavis looked at Catfish. "Well?"
    "Ya'll go on. I got the Blues on me."
    They started out the door. "Don't you worry, honey," Mavis called after them. "You're not going to jail. Mavis will see to it." twenty-nine Gabe Up until the time that Steve had come to town, the most fearsome prehistoric beast on theCentralCoast was Mavis Sand's 1956 Cadillac convertible. It was lemon-pie yellow with a neat chrome grill that seemed to slurp at the road as it passed and gold-plated curb feelers that vibrated in the wind like spring-loaded whiskers. The daytime regulars called it the "Banana" and in a fit of ambition had once even fashioned a giant blue Chiquita emblem, which they stuck on the trunk lid while Mavis was working. "Well," Mavis said, more than somewhat surprised by their efforts, "it ain't the first banana I've rode, but it takes the size record by at least a foot."
    Even in his youth, Gabe had never driven anything like the Banana before. It steered like a barge and it rocked and lurched over dips and potholes like a foundering scow. Gabe had activated the electric top when they'd first climbed in and hadn't figured out how to put it back up.
    Gabe spotted Val's Mercedes parked on the side of a hill off the main ranch road. There were six other vehicles parked next to it, all four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles: two Blazers and two larger Suburbans. A group of men in black jumpsuits were standing by the vehicles, the tallest watching them through binoculars and talking on a radio or cell phone.
    "Maybe we should have taken a more inconspicuous vehicle," Gabe said.
    "Why didn't we take your car, Howard?" Val asked. She was slouched in the passenger seat.
    Howard sat in the back, as stiff as a mannequin, squinting as if this was his first exposure ever to
    sunlight. "I own a Jaguar. Superior coach works, none like them in the world outside of Bentley and Rolls.Walnut burl on all the interior surfaces."
    "Doesn't run, huh?"
    "Sorry," said Howard.
    Gabe stopped the Banana at the cattle gate. "What should I do? They're watching us."
    "Go on up there," Val said. "That's why we're here." She had gotten brave all of a sudden.
    Gate wasn't quite so self-assured. "Someone tell me again why the sheriff won't just shoot us along with Theo and Molly?"
    Val was getting into the spirit of the thing, realizing that this might be the only way to atone for what she'd done to her patients. "I'm a psychiatrist Gabe, and you have a Ph.D. The police don't shoot people like us."
    "You're kidding, right?"
    Howard said, "Does one require an advanced degree to be immune to gunfire, or does a life of scholarship count as well?"
    "Go, Gabe," Val said. "We'll be fine."
    Gabe looked over at her and she smiled at him. He smiled back, sort of, and pulled the Banana into the pasture toward five heavily armed men who did not look happy to see them.
    Theo Theo had searched the rest of the cave, using the disposable lighter he'd forgotten to abandon with the rest of his pot habit. The cathedral chamber was closed, except for the entrance whereBurton waited.
    Theo gave the Sea Beast a wide clearance on his way back to Molly, who stood just inside the cave mouth.
    Burtonshouted from outside, "Crowe, we've got your friends locked up! This is your last chance to make a deal! I'll give you five minutes,then we're using gas!"
    Theo turned to Molly in a panic. "We've got to get these people out of here, Molly. As soon as the first gas grenade comes in, it's all over."
    "Don't we need hostages?"
    "For what?He's not going to negotiate. The only thing he wants is me – and probably you – dead."
    "Why don't you call someone and tell them what you know? ThenBurton won't have a reason to kill us."
    "All I know is what I've seen. With Leander dead, there's no one to connect him to the labs. I've already told Val and Gabe. Now he's got them. I was an idiot to bring them into this."
    "Sorry," Molly said.
    "Wait." Theo flipped open his phone and dialed. The phone rang eight times and Theo was glancing at the battery gauge, which showed only a quarter-charge, when a man answered.
    "Nailsworth," the Spider said, leaving the caller to guess that they had contacted the Sheriff's