Chapter 27

"So how did the shoot go Saturday?" Harper asked as McMullen sat down on the couch by the window.

"Slicker than swamp scum," the president of the Defenders of Gaea replied. "We could have gone with the first take, it was so quick. I've looked at the tape, and it's just beautiful. We're going to make a mint on that. Not only is that gal so beautiful that it takes your breath away, but she's a real pro. There's a temper under that pretty skin of hers, though."

"How's that?" Harper asked, only mildly curious.

"Oh, some weisenheimer from Hollywood Tonight, or something, wanted her to do an interview at her summer cottage, and she told him if he ever showed up in Spearfish Lake, she'd have her relatives feed him to the muskies."

"Yeah," Harper said. "Some of these kids come out of places that are really out in the backwoods, kind of inbred ... what was that town you said she was from?"

"Spearfish Lake, I think," McMullen said. He could see wheels turning in Harper's head.

"Spearfish Lake, Spearfish Lake," Harper said. "I know I've seen that name, somewhere recently. Let me think ... some damn proposal that came through a week or two ago."

That set McMullen to thinking, as well. "Something about a snake," he finally managed to contribute.

"Oh, yeah," Harper said, dragging it out slowly. "I think I remember." He flipped his intercom. "Mollie, would you bring the file of funding requests from the last month in here?" he said.

It took a few minutes to find the letter from Dr. Gerjevic of Athens University, requesting funding for television survey of the sewers in the town of Spearfish Lake. A snake that could be a specimen of a previously thought extinct species of water snake. The need was urgent, as the town was considering a major rebuilding of its sewer system, and the change in habitat caused by the rebuilding could be damaging to future samples. There was a picture of the snake, and a photostat of a local newspaper story about the sewer system.

"I remember looking at this, now," Harper said. "If this were in New York or Massachusetts or California, we could turn this into another snail darter, and make a mint," he said. "But upper midwest? They eat snakes out there."

"Yeah," McMullen said. "But if it's Jenny Easton involved, it isn't a midwest issue any more."

Harper was considering the possibilities rapidly. "If we can beat the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy to it ... God, Jenny Easton on point for us..."

"Maybe more than just on point," McMullen interrupted. "She might even have a chunk of change to throw at something that involves her old home town..."

"Yeah, but how do we get to her?"

"Her agent told me she can be damn tough to handle," McMullen said. "After that bit about feeding that producer to the fish in little pieces, I believe him. Maybe we'd better try it through him."

"You had Heather work on him, right?"

"Yeah," McMullen said. "I'll see if I can get her to go down on him again."