CHAPTER 20SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7
Ben was reading a comic book in his room when Throckmorton knocked on the door frame and entered. “Pack a change of underwear and your jammies in your backpack, Ben. You’ll have dinner at Mrs. Heath’s tonight. I’ll be at dinner with a . . . friend.”
“Can I stay the night?”
“That’s why you’re packing your jammies, kiddo. It’ll be late by the time I get back. You don’t mind staying overnight, do you?”
Ben shook his head emphatically. “Mrs. Heath makes great breakfasts, and she’s got boxes and boxes of her son’s old toys.”
Throckmorton dropped him off at Mrs. Heath’s Saturday afternoon, washed his car, and cleaned the interior. He’d never been a neatnik about his car—a friend had called it a rolling landfill—but tonight he wanted to make a good impression.
