"Just suppose," said Morgan, "that I did believe you. Justfor argument." He glanced up at the man across the restauranttable. "Where would we go from here?"
The man shifted uneasily in his seat. He was silent, staringdown at his plate. Not a strange-looking man, Morgan thought.Rather ordinary, in fact. A plain face, nose a little too long,fingers a little too dainty, a suit that doesn't quite seem to fit,but all in all, a perfectly ordinary looking man.
Maybe too ordinary, Morgan thought.
Finally the man looked up. His eyes were dark, with ahunted look in their depths that chilled Morgan a little. "Wheredo we go? I don't know. I've tried to think it out, and I getnowhere. But you've got to believe me, Morgan. I'm lost,I mean it. If I can't get help, I don't know where it's going toend."
"I'll tell you where it's going to end," said Morgan. "It'sgoing to end in a hospital. A mental hospital. They'll lock youup and they'll lose the key somewhere." He poured himselfanother cup of coffee and sipped it, scalding hot. "And that,"he added, "will be that."
The place was dark and almost empty. Overhead, a rotaryfan swished patiently. The man across from Morgan ran a handthrough his dark hair. "There must be some other way," hesaid. "There has to be."
"All right, let's start from the beginning again," Morgansaid. "Maybe we can pin something down a little better. Yousay your name is Parks—right?"
The man nodded. "Jefferson Haldeman Parks, if that helpsany. Haldeman was my mother's maiden name."
"All right. And you got into town on Friday—right?"
Parks nodded.
"Fine. Now go through the whole story again. What happenedfirst?"
The man thought for a minute. "As I said, first there wasa fall. About twenty feet. I didn't break any bones, but I wasshaken up and limping. The fall was near the highway goingto the George Washington Bridge. I got over to the highwayand tried to flag down a ride."
"How did you feel? I mean, was there anything strange thatyou noticed?"
"Strange!" Parks' eyes widened. "I—I was speechless. Atfirst I hadn't noticed too much—I was concerned with the fall,and whether I was hurt or not. I didn't really think about muchelse until I hobbled up to that highway and saw those carscoming. Then I could hardly believe my eyes. I thought I wascrazy. But a car stopped and asked me if I was going into thecity, and I knew I wasn't crazy."
Morgan's mouth took a grim line. "You understood thelanguage?"
"Oh, yes. I don't see how I could have, but I did. We talkedall the way into New York—nothing very important, but weunderstood each other. His speech had an odd sound, but—"
Morgan nodded. "I know, I noticed. What did you do whenyou got to New York?"
"Well, obviously, I needed money. I had gold coin. Therehad been no way of knowing if it would be useful, but I'dtaken it on chance. I tried to use it at a newsstand first, and theman wouldn't touch it. Asked me if I thought I was the U.S.Treasury or something. When he saw that I was serious, hesent me to a money lender, a hock shop, I think he called it.So I found a place—"
"Let me see the coins."
Parks dropped two small gold discs on the table. They wereperfectly smooth and perfectly round, tapered by wear to athin blunt edge. There was no design on them, and no printing.