The Long Remembered Thunder. Keith Laumer

the heads, skimmed an article here and there. The librarian went back to her desk. An hour later, in the issue for July 7, 1900, an item caught his eye:

      A Severe Thunderstorm. Citizens of Elsby and the country were much alarmed by a violent cloudburst, accompanied by lightning and thunder, during the night of the fifth. A fire set in the pine woods north of Spivey’s farm destroyed a considerable amount of timber and threatened the house before burning itself out along the river.

      The librarian was at Tremaine’s side. “I have to close the library now. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

      Outside, the sky was sallow in the west: lights were coming on in windows along the side streets. Tremaine turned up his collar against a cold wind that had risen, started along the street toward the hotel.

      A block away a black late-model sedan rounded a corner with a faint squeal of tires and gunned past him, a heavy antenna mounted forward of the left rear tail fin whipping in the slipstream. Tremaine stopped short, stared after the car.

      “Damn!” he said aloud. An elderly man veered, eyeing him sharply. Tremaine set off at a run, covered the two blocks to the hotel, yanked open the door to his car, slid into the seat, made a U-turn, and headed north after the police car.

      *

      Two miles into the dark hills north of the Elsby city limits, Tremaine rounded a curve. The police car was parked on the shoulder beside the highway just ahead. He pulled off the road ahead of it and walked back. The door opened. A tall figure stepped out.

      “What’s your problem, mister?” a harsh voice drawled.

      “What’s the matter? Run out of signal?”

      “What’s it to you, mister?”

      “Are you boys in touch with Grammond on the car set?”

      “We could be.”

      “Mind if I have a word with him? My name’s Tremaine.”