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HE CRACKED THE TOP off a can of beer and stood at an openstaring down at the dark quiet street She&039;s been late before but not like this The bus never ran this late

He&039;d tried the grill but it was past closing and no one answered the telephone Maybe the bus had broken down No, she would&039;ve called Maybe sheway Maybe she&039;d had an accident; or otten crazy like she had before when she didn&039;t co in the park, doing nothing but just sitting

Shit Why does she do these things to me? He drank the beer down and placed the can on the splintery sill She&039;s more than two hours late More than two hours and where can she be this tiht? He picked up the telephone and started to dial her parents&039; apartment in Jersey City but then he recalled hervoice He put the receiver back on its cradle Not yet

Out in the distance, above the packed dirty rows of square-shouldered buildings, a police siren wailed Or was it an ambulance? He&039;d never learned to tell the difference like so in the dark s fro had happened

And he stood waiting and frozen until someone knocked at the door But he kneould not be her; no The police officer with an impassive acne-scarred face simply said, "I have a car outside"

In the car on the way to the hospital he asked, "Is she all right? I mean"

"I&039;m sorry, Mr Raines," the police officer said "They askedroom on the seventh floor and clenched his hands Hit by a car That was it Oh Jesus God hit by so to her bus stop

Even at this early- hour, Bellevue moved at a frantic life-and-death pace He watched the doctors and their nurses consulting charts in low-keyed, serious voices And a sight that chilled hi down the hospital corridor, his shoes clat-clat-clatting on the linoleum He sat and watched these private dra beside him

"Mr Joseph Raines?" soray hair He said, "I&039;e and Joe rose from his seat

"No, no Sit down Please" Hepeler man&039;s shoulder and eased him back down into the chair He sat beside him and drew his own chair closer, as if he were a friend about to advise him on a personalhad happened," said Joe, staring into his palrill but no one answered the phone" He looked up "A hit-and-run driver?"

Hepelmann&039;s deep-set blue eyes were calm and untroubled He was used to scenes like this "No, Mr Raines I don&039;t knoho told you that, but she was not struck by a car Your wife has been assaulted She&039;s safe now but still in shock She uy off and chased hiot away"

"Assaulted? Assaulted? What does that htened This was the uy rahs "There was sexual penetration, Mr Raines," he said softly, as if sharing a secret

Raped Jesus Christ Jesus Holy Christ Raped He looked directly into Hepelot the sonofabitch?"

"No We haven&039;t been able to get a description Probably it&039;s some nut who has a history of violations When Mrs Raines recovers we&039;ll get her to page through our uy"

"Oh man Oh man oh ? Here A cigarette"

He took the cigarette the lieutenant offered "Christ," he said weakly "But she&039;s okay, right? I ?"

"No broken bones" Hepel in the other man&039;s ear "I&039;ve worked a lot of these cases, Mr Raines These things happen a hundred tih, yes But you adjust to it And usually the wo&039;s okay now It&039;s over"

The man didn&039;t react to this statement as Hepelarette, his eyes boring down the tunnel-like hospital corridor So a Dr Holland on the address system