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What he said was, "That cop fra bastard When I get out I got big plans for hi his head to point his long jaw atto finish, you and et even, same as they're all innocent, they were all frauilty ever went to prison

He sounded as though he meant it, but that's how they all sound And none of it ever co like a dozen years ago It was another two or three years before I left the police force, for reasons that had nothing to do with Elaine Mardell or Jah perhaps not the cause, for ton Heights I was having a few quiet drinks at a tavern there when two men held up the place and shot the bartender dead on their way out I ran out into the street after the one of theirl I don't know that she had any business being there at that hour, but I suppose you could have said the saet any flak over the incident, as a nition, but from then on I had no heart for the job or ave up trying to be a husband and father and moved into the city I found a hotel room, and around the corner I found a saloon

The next seven years are soh God knows they had theirthe line it stopped working, but I drank it anyway because I see detox wards and hospitals and losing three or four days at a tis happened

What it used to be like, what happened, and what it's like now…

"He's out there," she said

"It seeo It bothered ave hi"

"I didn't want to worry you But he got one-to-ten, so he could have been on the street in less than a year I never figured that would happen, he didn't strike et released after serving a ure him to be out in three or four years, say five at the rudge But if he served five years that wouldfree air for seven years now Why would he wait this long to go after Connie?"

"I don't know"

"What do you want to do, Elaine?"

"I don't know that, either I think what I want to do is throw soet a cab to JFK I think that's what I want to do"

I could understand the impulse, but I told her it struck me as a little pre," I said "It's possible he did so and wound up back in the joint It'd be silly to fly to Brazil if he's locked up in Green Haven"

"Actually I was thinkingthe lines of Barbados"

"Or if he's dead," I said "I thought at the tiood candidate to co He's the type to make enemies, and it doesn't take a lot for someone to stick a knife in you"

"Then who sent ?"

"Let's not worry about that until we see if we can rule hiht?"

"Sure"

"I know I' silly but I'll feel better You don't mind?"

"I don't mind"

She made up the couch for me with a couple of sheets and a blanket and a pillow She'd offered me half the bed but I said I'd be more comfortable on the couch, that I felt restless and didn't want to worry about disturbing her with"You wouldn't disturbto take a Seconal, I take one about four tiisters less than seven on the Richter scale You want one? It's just the thing if you're wired You'll be out cold before you even have time to relax"

I passed on the pill and took the couch instead She went to bed and I stripped to ot under the covers I couldn't keep hts of Queens across the river A couple of tiret of the Seconal not taken, but it was never really an option As a sober alcoholic, I couldn't take sleeping pills or tranquilizers or er than aspirin They interrupt sobriety and seem to undercut a person's commitment to recovery, and people who use theain

I suppose I slept soht After a while the sun ca-roomand I went into the kitchen and lish muffin and ate it and drank two cups of coffee

I checked the bedroo, curled on her side with her face pressed into the pillow I tiptoed past the bed and went into the bathroom and showered It didn't wake her I dried off and went back to the living rooot dressed, and by then it was time to make some telephone calls

I had toto reach the person I had to speak with I stayed at it until I found out what I needed to know, and then I looked in on Elaine again She hadn't changed position, and I had a moment of wholly irrational panic, convinced that she was dead He'd let hio, I decided, and he'd ta the capsule with cyanide Or he'd let hihost, slipping pasther in the heart and stealing away

Of course it was nonsense, as I learned soon enough by dropping to a knee alongside the bed and listening to her steady shallow breathing But it gave me a turn, and it showedrooes, and ot there around ten I'd explained to hi several models for me to look at He went to work in the kitchen first, and he was halfway through in the living roo I went into the bedrooht you were using the vacuu so to come to close to four hundred dollars Do you want to write a check?"