clean-shaven persona yet, except by some rats in the Queequeg's dumpster, but she didn't like the idea of him in an enclosed space like that for an hour. And maybe the authorities and whoever else was after Ted would be watching South Station and its adjacent bus depot.
"Hey!" Ted called from the couch. "Wanna watch Massachusetts Marriage? Twenty people in a gigantic house on Martha's Vineyard, and nobody knows who's straight or gay, but there will be at least five weddings at the end!"
"Can't talk. Working." Laura turned back to the computer, then turned back to Ted. "You made that up, right? That's not a real show, is it?"
"I swear to God!"
"I had a summer like that, except it was Nantucket, and nobody got married."
"No shit?"
"Well, there were only five of us, but one girl told me we could fool around, but we couldn't go out, because that would make her a lesbian."
"Whoa. Okay, drunk girls are making out on TV—I need to pay attention to this."
Laura turned back to the screen and her operational planning. She felt an excellent brain buzz coming on—the kind she thought she'd get running investigations at the FBI. Her mind felt electric instead of foggy as she thought out all the angles. If she were an evil conspirator searching for Ted, what would she do?
Okay. He'd need an apartment, but he couldn't rent the apartment, because then he'd have to put his social security number into circulation, and they had to assume that the Cazulu people had that from the hard drive at Queequeg's. So she'd get her bar ring (a big cubic zirconia engagement ring she'd bought for twenty bucks that helped her ward off male suitors when she was in a non-lesbian bar) and say she needed a place for her and her fiancé.
This was a good plan, but now she reached the problematic part. She was sure that she couldn't keep Ted from going to Providence, and going there would make him marginally safer from the Boston Police and FBI and whoever else was looking for him. But if the Cawhatever cult was real, and they really were in Providence, then they'd be looking for Ted while he was looking for them. And it just seemed very unlikely that Ted would be able to poke around so discreetly that no one would know he was poking around. So she would have to supervise any serious surveillance on the weekends. In the meantime, she needed to give him something to do that seemed like real work but would actually keep him out of harm's way.
She needed to do some research. She went to the kitchen, grabbed a container of Clorox wipes from under the sink, and wiped down the outside of her computer. Then she opened it and gingerly wiped down the keyboard. She replaced the Clorox wipes under the sink and found her screen-cleaning wipes in the top drawer of the desk. She wiped the screen clean and stuck her face up close to the computer to make sure the stench was completely gone.
"Did you just sniff your computer?" Ted called out. Laura gritted her teeth and fought back the tirade about how somebody had to make sure all the toxic filth was off of it.
Ted had said something about a temple, so Laura searched for Jewish houses of worship in Providence and found ten different temples scattered all over the city. If she put him on surveillance of each temple for a day, that would buy her two work weeks of Ted doing probably pointless stakeouts. During that time, she might be able to figure out whether it was worth going down there and doing any real investigating.
"Oh my God, you have to watch this! This girl Nadine has already made out with two women and a man, and it's only day 2! She's such a ho!"
Laura didn't even respond, because she didn't have the energy to lecture Ted about his outmoded patriarchal judgments of female sexuality. She printed the map of Providence with the locations of the temples circled and typed up detailed instructions for Ted about inconspicuous surveillance. She knew she was risking offending him, but she felt like she had to
"Hey!" Ted called from the couch. "Wanna watch Massachusetts Marriage? Twenty people in a gigantic house on Martha's Vineyard, and nobody knows who's straight or gay, but there will be at least five weddings at the end!"
"Can't talk. Working." Laura turned back to the computer, then turned back to Ted. "You made that up, right? That's not a real show, is it?"
"I swear to God!"
"I had a summer like that, except it was Nantucket, and nobody got married."
"No shit?"
"Well, there were only five of us, but one girl told me we could fool around, but we couldn't go out, because that would make her a lesbian."
"Whoa. Okay, drunk girls are making out on TV—I need to pay attention to this."
Laura turned back to the screen and her operational planning. She felt an excellent brain buzz coming on—the kind she thought she'd get running investigations at the FBI. Her mind felt electric instead of foggy as she thought out all the angles. If she were an evil conspirator searching for Ted, what would she do?
Okay. He'd need an apartment, but he couldn't rent the apartment, because then he'd have to put his social security number into circulation, and they had to assume that the Cazulu people had that from the hard drive at Queequeg's. So she'd get her bar ring (a big cubic zirconia engagement ring she'd bought for twenty bucks that helped her ward off male suitors when she was in a non-lesbian bar) and say she needed a place for her and her fiancé.
This was a good plan, but now she reached the problematic part. She was sure that she couldn't keep Ted from going to Providence, and going there would make him marginally safer from the Boston Police and FBI and whoever else was looking for him. But if the Cawhatever cult was real, and they really were in Providence, then they'd be looking for Ted while he was looking for them. And it just seemed very unlikely that Ted would be able to poke around so discreetly that no one would know he was poking around. So she would have to supervise any serious surveillance on the weekends. In the meantime, she needed to give him something to do that seemed like real work but would actually keep him out of harm's way.
She needed to do some research. She went to the kitchen, grabbed a container of Clorox wipes from under the sink, and wiped down the outside of her computer. Then she opened it and gingerly wiped down the keyboard. She replaced the Clorox wipes under the sink and found her screen-cleaning wipes in the top drawer of the desk. She wiped the screen clean and stuck her face up close to the computer to make sure the stench was completely gone.
"Did you just sniff your computer?" Ted called out. Laura gritted her teeth and fought back the tirade about how somebody had to make sure all the toxic filth was off of it.
Ted had said something about a temple, so Laura searched for Jewish houses of worship in Providence and found ten different temples scattered all over the city. If she put him on surveillance of each temple for a day, that would buy her two work weeks of Ted doing probably pointless stakeouts. During that time, she might be able to figure out whether it was worth going down there and doing any real investigating.
"Oh my God, you have to watch this! This girl Nadine has already made out with two women and a man, and it's only day 2! She's such a ho!"
Laura didn't even respond, because she didn't have the energy to lecture Ted about his outmoded patriarchal judgments of female sexuality. She printed the map of Providence with the locations of the temples circled and typed up detailed instructions for Ted about inconspicuous surveillance. She knew she was risking offending him, but she felt like she had to
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