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"I don't know"

"Will's taking his tiest he's let it slide, isn't it? Between the open letter and the payoff Maybe it's because Adrian's better protected, harder to get to"

"Maybe"

"Or he could be tired of the game Or for all we know he could have stepped in front of a bus"

"Or he could have been sitting on a park bench," I said, "and somebody could have shot him by mistake"

"Somebody who didn't even knoho he was"

"Why not?"

"Why not indeed? You're not thinking about that friend of a friend you unned down on Horatio Street"

"Well, that's probably where the park bench came from," I admitted, "but I think we can safely rule out Byron Leopold It was a full day's work for him to walk across the street and pick out a bench to sit on"

"So you've ress, my friend You've ruled one man out"

"I've ruled you out, too"

"Decent of you"

"And myself," I said, "because if I was Will I'd re like that I'm sure she would have told me"

"Because the two of you have an open and honest relationship"

"Absolutely," I said "And Marty McGraw"

"What kind of a relationship have you got with hi a dinner of Police Athletic League supporters while Will was taking out Patsy Salerno up in the Bronx, and he was right here in New York when Roswell Berry got his in Omaha"

"Aborted in the fourth trimester," Ray said "He mention this in a column? I must have missed it"

"I checked hi about Marty wanting an exclusive interview," I said, "and in the next breath explained he'd wanted to do it over the phone, not face to face But that put the idea in ured the police would have checked him out six different ways, but I couldn't see hoould hurt to see for ood for McGraw, hasn't it? I can see how he'd want to keep the pot bubbling But he didn't do it"

"I'm afraid not"

"And neither did you or I or Elaine, or all the guys recovering froot shot, but it could have been so Will, the world's foremost anonymous killer, could have been iced by somebody who didn't even knoho he was"

"There's irony for you"

"He could have died some kind of anonymous death, and we'll never knoho he was Be a hell of a thing for Adrian, wouldn't it?"

"How do you figure that? He'd be off the hook"

"Think about it"

"Oh"

"You're only off the hook if you know you're off the hook," he said "How long before you let the bodyguards go? How ht about Whitfield, and after dinner I gave hient, I said, and evidently he took me at my word, because I didn't hear froh There'd been no develop him for comments It was the sae of the Post

He was on the news again the following evening, but this tio to the jury in a week to ten days, had been abruptly settled, with his client agreeing to plead to a lesser charge

I went to athe little elephant around withto leave on the break but I'd been doing that a lot lately, so I made myself stay to the bitter end It ot ho

"Matthew Scudder," he said "Adrian Whitfield"

"I'o on the news"

"Which channel?"

"I don't knoatching two or three of the, eh? A popular indoor sport Well, I think we'd have won if it went to the jury, but I couldn't adviseoff with ti it the wrong way?"

"And there's always that chance"

"Always You never knohat they're going to do You ht they were going to convict Richie Volle's instructions ruled that out"

"Yes, but he stopped short of a directed verdict of acquittal They wanted to convict, and more often than not a jury will do what it wants to do"

"A conviction wouldn't have stood up"

"Oh, no way Judge Yancey could very easily have thrown it out on the spot If he'd let it stand I'd have knocked it out on appeal"

"So Richie was going free no ht would happen-do you want to hear all this?"

"Why not?"

"I thought Yancey would let it stand, knowing the appeals court would reverse it That way he wouldn't be the o off to prison, where some public-spirited psychopath would kill hih Like the fellow in Wisconsin Well, it a, doesn't it? Except the psychopath who actually did kill Richie isn't a convict, and it turns out he's a serial killer hiht," he said "It takes soo to court toet whenever soe You lad it's over, but at the same time you're a little bit sorry" His voice trailed off Then he said, "Well, nothing lasts forever, right? What goes up comes dohat starts stops That's the way it's supposed to be"