Page 32 (2/2)

"Just a slip of the tongue And then, the next tione frooing to make ave him the chloral hydrate I didn't know any reason not to, for God's sake He ca to have any coffee because he told uess there was so to tell you about, but he didn't give any indication what it was"

"And?"

"I told him decaf wouldn't keep him awake, and that this particular brand seemed to help people to sleep, at least it had that effect on me And then I put a couple of drops of the chloral hydrate in his cup but didn't let hiht down and went up to bed, and the next time I saw him hen I walked in there with you and he was dead"

"And the reason you didn't say anything-"

"Was because I thought I'd killed hiave him made him drowsy, and then as a result he lost consciousness while he was half strangling himself, and that hy he died And by this tiether, and I was terrified you'd hold it against me, I knehat a fanatic you are about sobriety, and I couldn't see what purpose it would serve to adht have contributed to his death" She held her hands at her sides "That , Matt But it doesn't ? Do you see what-"

"What I'ood you are at i under false colors for all those years, putting up one front after another for your neighbors and co-workers Itabout the lies I told earlier I'uess I've learned to lie as a reflex And now I have to learn a neay of behavior, now that I'm involved with soame now, isn't it, and I-"

"Cut the shit, Willa"

She recoiled as if from a blow "It won't work," I told her "You didn't just slip him a Mickey You knotted the clothesline around the neck and hanged him from the pipe It wouldn't have been hard for you to do You're a big strong woht once you'd knocked hie nicely, you stripped hiood story Where did you buy the azines I didn't do any of the things you just said"

"One of the clerks down there et that many female customers in the first place I don't suppose it would take a whole lot of legwork to turn up a clerk who remembers you"

"Matt, if you could hear yourself The awful things you're accusing me of I know you're tired, I know the kind of day you've had, but-"

"I told you to cut the crap I know you killed him, Willa You closed the s to hold the ser, to make the medical evidence a little less precise Then you waited for someone to notice the stench and report it, to you or to the cops You were in no hurry You didn't really care how long it took before the body was discovered What mattered was that he was dead That way his secret could die with hi with The one you didn't dare let him tell me About all the other people you killed"

I said, "Poor Mrs Mangan All her old friends are dying while she sits around waiting for her own death And the ones who don't die areaway There was a landlord around the corner whoso that they would terrorize his rent-controlled tenants He got fined for it He should have gone to jail, the son of a bitch"

She looked right aton behind it

"But a lot of people have been ly," I went on "Their landlords buy theive up their apartet offered more to vacate an apartment than they've paid all their lives to live in it Of course, once they take the money, they can't find a place they can afford to live in"

"That's the system"

"It's a funny system You pay steady rent on a couple of roouy ns the building pays a s on to a good steady tenant, but then the sa happens in business Co bonuses to take early retireet the hell out That way they can replace the kids who'll work for lower salaries You wouldn't think it would work that way, but it does"

"I don't knohat you're getting at"

"Don't you? I et hold of the autopsy report on Gertrude Grod She had the apartht around the tiet sober She had just about as much chloral hydrate in her as Eddie did And her physician never prescribed the drug for her, and neither did anyone on staff at Roosevelt or St Clare's I figure you knocked on her door and got her to invite you in for a cup of tea, and when she was looking the other way you dosed her cup On your way out you could have ates were unlocked, so that Eddie could slip in a few hours later with a knife"

"Why would he do this for uess is you had a sexual hold on hiet sober and he wasn't a ood at getting people to do what you want the the old lady a favor I've heard you rap on the subject, how nobody should have to grow old that way And she'd never knohat happened to her, the drug would keep her fro All he had to do was go out his , cli woman"

"Why wouldn't I just knife her ot her to drink a dose of chloral"

"You wanted it to go in the books as a burglary Eddie couldHe could lock her door from the inside and put the chain latch on before he went back out theI saw the police report They had to break the door down That was a nice touch, made it look a lot less like a possible inside job"