Page 10 (2/2)

"That's right, and there were follow-up stories the next day or two, but they won't tell you anything Nothing else caht, so there wasn't much for them to write about Just that people were surprised, no indication he was under that kind of stress The usual things you get frohbors"

"What kind of a workup did your y over at the hospital does ourat the bodies and confir that the wounds were consistent with the e read the case Why?"

"You still have the bodies on hand?"

"I don't believe they've been released yet I don't know that we're clear on e're supposed to release the specific inif he'd happened to check for semen"

"Jesus God You think he raped her?"

"It's possible"

"No signs of a struggle"

"Well, he's very strong, and sheabout corroborative evidence If there were semen traces, and if the lab work established the semen didn't come from Sturdevant-"

"That'd be corroboration, wouldn't it? Youthe se to apologize for not ordering a check for pecker tracks That's about the last thing that would have occurred to et hiuess she happened to douche in the past few days, do you?"

"I wouldn't think so"

"Well, let's find out," he said "Let's see if we can catch the doc before he goes hoot to be hell on a h I seeut and flashed a rueful grin "Let's go," he said "Maybe we'll get lucky"

The pathologist had left for the day "He'll be in eight o'clock to over, didn't you, Matt?"

We were Matt and Toht the following day

"The Great Western's the best place to stay," he said "It's east of town on Lincoln Way If you like Italian food you can't go wrong at Padula's, that's right at First Street, or there's a restaurant at the motel that's not bad Or here's a better idea, let me call my wife and see if she can't set an extra place at the table"

"That's decent of you," I said, "but I think I'ht and I'ht fall asleep at the table Suppose you let ue about who takes who, but it's a date You want to o see the doc? Is eight o'clock too early for you?"

"Eight o'clock is fine," I said

I got my car from the lot where I'd left it and found ot a room on the second floor and took a shower, then watched the news on CNN They had cable reception and pulled in thirty channels After the newscast I worked the dial and found a prizefight on some cable channel I'd never heard of A pair of Hispanic welterweights were spending most of their time in clinches I watched until I realized that I wasn't paying any attention to what I was seeing I went to the restaurant and had a veal chop and a baked potato and coffee and went back to the room

I called Elaine Her machine answered, and when I identifiedfine, she said, sitting behind her barricades and waiting So far there'd been no untoward phone calls and nothing unlikely in the day'sthe pathologist in the , that I'd ask him to look for semen traces

"Make sure he checks in back," she said

We talked a little ot back to the city, and then I rang off and worked rabbed ot my book from my briefcase It was The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Ji a couple of lines that had sounded interesting, and one day I'd stopped at the Strand and picked up a used copy of the Modern Library edition for a couple of dollars I'd been finding it slow going I liked sos he said, but a lot of the tiument, and when I did hit a sentence that resonated for me I would have to put the book aside and think about it for a half hour or so

This tie: Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly

I closed the book and put it on the table next to ine the events at the Sturdevant hoo I wasn't sure what order he did theument I decided he'd taken Sturdevant out first because he'd have presented the greatest danger

Still, the report of the shotgun would have awakened everybody else Sohis way down the hallway,the two boys and the girl in turn

Then Connie? No, he'd have saved her for last He'd wash up in the bathrooot her husband into the living rooun, then went back and did Connie And raped her while he was at it? Well, I'd found out tomorrow, if you could still detect the presence of semen a week after the fact

Then a phone call, and then a quick trip through the house to get rid of fingerprints And, finally, a quick and silent exit through a , and he was on his way Five people dead, three of theo a woainst a man who'd forced himself on her