WESTCHESTER COUNTY

OCTOBER 26

"Mr. Sullivan?"

Patrick looked up from the box he'd just folded closed. He was nearly finished packing up the books in his office. Strangely enough, he wasn't the least bit sad about leaving Payes & Hecht. And from the cool reception he'd received in the hallways, he gathered the feeling was mutual.

Only Maggie seemed genuinely sorry to see him go. She was out now, scrounging up more boxes for him, so there'd been no one to intercept his visitor.

He saw a thin, aging woman in a faded blue flowered dress and a rumpled red cardigan sweater. She wore a yellow scarf around her head, babushka style, and clutched a battered black handbag before her with both her bony hands. Her pale hazel eyes peered at him and she nodded vigorously.

"Yes, you're him," she said. "I recognize you from the TV."

"Yes, ma'am?" he said. "Can I help you, Ms....?"

"Fredericks.Miss Alice Fredericks." She offered a smile that might have been girlish had she possessed more teeth. "I wish to retain your services, Mr. Sullivan."

The poor woman didn't look like she had enough for her next meal. Not that it mattered. He was no longer with the firm.

"I'm afraid I - "

"I want you to sue SimGen for me. I can tell you're a brave man. You're taking on the company on behalf of those poor dear sims, so I figure you're just the man, in fact theonly man with the guts to tackle them for me."

This was interesting.

"That's very gratifying. On what grounds would you wish me to tackle them, may I ask?"

Her face screwed up, accentuating her wrinkles, and she looked as if she was about to cry. "They took my baby!" she wailed.

Baby? Patrick stared at her. A warning bell clanged in his brain. SimGen might have some skeletons in its corporate closets, but he doubted stealing babies was one of them. And this woman was long, long past the baby-bearing years.

"When did this happen?"

She sobbed. "Years and years ago! I...I'm not sure how many. Things get fuzzy..."

"Why have you waited so long to go after them?"

"I've been to every lawyer in New York City and no one will take the case. They're all afraid!"

"I find that hard to believe, Miss Fredericks. There are literally thousands of lawyers in the city who would get in line to sue SimGen."

"Sure...until they hear about the space aliens."

Oh, Christ. No need for a warning bell anymore. There it was, right out on the table: a big, multicolored bull's-eye withLooney Tunes scrawled across it.

Patrick didn't want to ask but had to. "Aliens?"

"Yes. Space aliens abducted me, impregnated me, and then when I delivered, it was a sim. But I loved him anyway. That didn't matter, though. They took my baby boy away from me. And do you know who they handed him to? Right in front of me? Mercer Sinclair! Mercer Sinclair took my baby and I want him back!" She sobbed again.

She wasn't scamming. Patrick had a sensitive bullshit meter and it wasn't even twitching. This poor woman believed every word.

"I sympathize, Miss Fredericks, but - "

"And you know what Mercer Sinclair did with my son, don't you? He made the whole race of sims from him. And he did it for the aliens so that earth can be repopulated by a slave race that the aliens can use around the galaxy."

Patrick blinked. A living breathing talking issue ofWeekly World News had walked into his office. It might be funny if the woman weren't so genuinely upset. And he might be tempted to sit down and listen to her - purely for entertainment - if he didn't have such a burning need to put this place behind him.

"Tell you what, Miss Fredericks. I'm leaving the firm, so I won't be able to help you. But you could try one of the firm's associates. I suggest you go down the hall and find Mr. Richard Berger's office and tell him your story. And tell him I referred you."

"Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. I'll do that right now."

That should teach Berger to call him Sim-Sim Sullivan.