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"Oh, I really don't think so," he said "Do you realize how many cards are involved? This is a 635-roohteen thousand cards a ht"

"The average stay is three nights Even so, that's over six thousand registration cards a month, twelve thousand cards in twoit would take to look at twelve thousand cards?"

"A person could probably do a couple thousand an hour," I said, "since all he'd be doing is scanning the signature to see if it's in script or in block caps We're just talking about a couple of hours I could do it or you could have some of your people do it"

He shook his head "I couldn't authorize that," he said "I really couldn't You're a private citizen, not a policeman, and while I did want to cooperate there's a limit to my authority here If the police shoulda favor"

"If it were the sort of favor I could grant-"

"It's an imposition," I went on, "and I'd certainly expect to pay for the time involved, the time and inconvenience"

It would have worked at a shi if the police made the request for me, and this time I let it lie I asked instead if I could borrow the Jones registration card long enough to have a photocopy rateful to be able to help "Just wait one moment"

He came back with a copy I thanked hi he was confident there wouldn't be I said I'd like a look at the room she died in

"But the police have quite finished there," he said "The room's in a transitional state now The carpet had to be replaced, you see, and the walls painted"

"I'd still like to see it"

"There's really nothing to see I think there are workone, I believe, but I think the carpet installers-"

"I won't get in their way"

He gave ratulated myself on my ability as a detective The door was locked The carpet installers looked to be on their lunch break The old carpet had been removed, and new carpet covered about a third of the floor, withinstallation

I spent a few minutes there As theto see The room was as empty of traces of Kiht with fresh paint and the bathroom fairly sparkled I walked around like soh the tips of ers If there were any vibrations present, they eluded me

Thefaced don, the view chopped up by the facades of other tall buildings Through a gap between two of thelimpse of the World Trade Center all the way don

Had she had time to look out the ? Had Mr Jones looked out the , before or afterward?

I took the subway don The train was one of the new ones, its interior a pleasing pattern of yellow and orange and tan The inscribers of graffiti had already scarred it badly, scrawling their indecipherable es over every available space

I didn't notice anyone sot off at West Fourth and walked south and west to Morton Street, where Fran Schecter had a small apart her bell, announced h the vestibule door

The stairas full of s smells on the first floor, cat odor halfway up, and the unht that you could draw a building's profile fro for ht brown in color, framed a round baby face She had a button nose, a pouty mouth, and cheeks a chipmunk would have been proud of

She said, "Hi, I'm Fran And you're Matt Can I call you Matt?" I assured her that she could, and her hand settled on my arm as she steered er inside The aparte room with a pullman kitchen on one wall The furniture consisted of a canvas sling chair, a pillow sofa, some plastic milk crates assee waterbed covered with a fake-fur spread A framed poster on one wall over the waterbed showed a roo from the fireplace

I turned down a drink, accepted a can of diet soda I sat with it on the pillow sofa, which turned out to bechair, which must have been more co what happened to Kim," she said "He said to tell you whatever you want to know"

There was a breathless little-girl quality to her voice and I couldn't tell how much of it was deliberate I asked her what she knew about Kim