He shook his head, hesitated. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“Did… the Neanders do it?”
“You mean, murder Willy Grooms?” She shook her head. “No. He was killed by regular oldHomo sapiens.”
“Really?” Drewe, to her surprise, looked disappointed. “You think they’re still in the Flat Tops, or do you think they went north like everyone says?”
“The FBI’s taken over the investigation,” she said, “so I’m not up on the latest.”
“I hope,” he said, almost to himself, “that they never catch them.”
Cash was startled. “And why do you say that?”
At this Drewe flushed. “There’s something… I don’t know,thrillingin having real live Neanderthals living in the Colorado Rockies. I mean, we drove them to extinction once, but now we’ve brought them back to life. It’s sort of like…atonement.”
Cash said nothing—but she wondered how many others thought that way.
