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She gave him an exasperated look.
I m not just busting your chops, Bree. I m trying to
figure out if this guy could be someone who works there.
She put her slice of pizza down and sat back in the
plastic-resin chair Eric used for his dining set. She wiped
her mouth with a paper napkin, slowly, deliberately, but
Eric knew she wasn t simply stalling but rather thinking.
He didn t have any protective gear, she finally said.
No goggles, no hard hat. Just a long pipe or a club, maybe.
I couldn t tell from down below.
Maybe he didn t want to be bothered with all that
safety stuff.
No, there was something more. And she rubbed at her
262 ALEX KAVA
eyes, closing them tight as if that would help her to see the
man in her mind.
Eric sat patiently. He noticed the old woman s small
black hand cupped over Sabrina s right hand, flat on top
of the cheap plastic table. The woman had introduced
herself to him as Sabrina s neighbor, but Eric knew in
Chicago Sabrina barely let her neighbors know her name
and she had lived in the same building for over ten years.
She had told him once that she liked the anonymity. Same
thing with her students. He knew she kept them at arm s
length. Unlike other professors, Sabrina never socialized,
no coffees after class, no special-occasion pizza parties.
Eric had always envied her ability to compartmentalize
the people in her life, even if he didn t agree with it. In
these past two years when he desperately needed to do
exactly that to survive, he still found it difficult. His boss,
Howard, was a prime example. But Sabrina was either
good at it or made it look as though she was, with the ex-
ception of Miss Sadie.
The alarm, Sabrina said suddenly, almost jumping
out of her chair as if an alarm had literally gone off. I knew
there was something that didn t seem right. He didn t know
about the alarm.
What alarm?
Every reactor has a clear-water flushing tank. It s the last
stage in the process. Whatever runoff is left, which should
be only water, gets flushed and cooled before it s released
through a filter into the river. If there s any solid particles that
might clog up or break the filter, anything as big as& Her
voice trailed off and he recognized the look in her eyes. Post-
traumatic shock. He d seen it in Sabrina s eyes before, right
after their mother s accident. He didn t like seeing it again.
WHITEWASH 263
Anything as big as a body, he said, finishing her
sentence. Let me guess. It trips an alarm. Any chance he
thought he had shut off the alarm or tried to override it?
It s all computerized, Sabrina told him. Only one
person can change the process or override or shut off any
of it.
Her eyes met his and he watched the realization flood
them. It was the same look she d have when they were kids
and she figured out some puzzle for the first time, or dis-
covered the mystery ingredient in Pixie Stix. Only this re-
alization was tinged with a bit of fear.
What is it, dear? Miss Sadie saw it, too.
I was meeting the plant manager because Mr. Sidel
wanted to prove to me that Reactor #5 wasn t online.
So whoever sent this guy must not have known that the
reactor and the alarm were on. Eric left the squeaky futon to
pace again. Or they turned it on, wanting him to get caught.
The only person who can turn anything on or off has
been gone since Friday, Sabrina said.
Forget about on or off. Eric grew impatient. He was
tired. It was too easy to lose focus. More importantly, why
the hell would someone want you& He couldn t bring
himself to say dead. Why would anyone want you gone?
Instead of answering, Sabrina pushed away from the
table and wandered to her overnight case by the front door
where Eric had left it when he brought it in earlier. She
went through several zippered pockets before she found
and brought back a plastic bag. She set it down on the edge
of the table, away from Miss Sadie and away from the
pizza. Eric couldn t identify the contents. It looked like an
orange and cream colored glob with bits of metal.
I think this might have something to do with it.
264 ALEX KAVA
What is it? He picked up the bag and fingered the stuff
that felt like jelly with glitter.
I m not sure. Sabrina stared at it, but didn t attempt a
closer look. Whatever it is I fished it out of what s
supposed to be a clear-water runoff pipe just before it got
pushed out into the river.
69
Chattahoochee, Florida
Leon listened. He wasn t quite sure which parts of Arthur
Galloway s ramblings were true and which ones were
fantasy or hallucinations. He knew Galloway s wife,
Meredith, had been killed in a car crash about two years
ago. The poor schmuck still talked about her as if she were
alive and well, even meeting her for lunch. Leon didn t
want to interrupt, afraid he d derail the flow. And some-
where in the ramblings there was bound to be the infor-
mation he needed. So he listened.
Galloway stopped playing the piano while he talked
about his lovely Meredith.
She was the prettiest girl on campus, Arthur Galloway
told Leon, his tongue flicking in and out and around the
inside of his mouth. I thought I d have a heart attack the
day she noticed me.
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