Page 13 (1/2)

"They think I killed him, don’t they?" Merodie said

"Killed who?" G K was testing her Merodie had been fading in and out all through our conversation At one h to answer G K’s questions clearly; at the next she was unsure who G K was

"Eli," Merodie answered "Eli Jefferson They think I killed hi across the tiny room--four steps, turn, four steps, turn When I first met her outside her home she had reht of the Living Dead--the original, not the remake--incoherent, oblivious even to where she was Now, even though her eyes were red and blotchy and her face still had the sareen jumpsuit that she wore, she moved like a woman alive with hope More than that Clean and sober, she was pretty, and I noticed for the first ti--no older than thirty-five--and that her features seemed delicate, as if she could be bruised by a hard wind

It’s aht’s sleep can do, my inner voice concluded

"Who is Eli Jefferson?" G K asked

"My fiancé"

"Did you kill him?"

"I don’t think so"

"No Uh-uh From now on, if someone asks you if you killed Eli Jefferson, you answer"

"No" Merodie’s shout bounced off the walls

"Exactly"

"I mean it," Merodie insisted "I didn’t do it"

"What did you do?"

Merodie hesitated before answering in a low, childlike voice "I hit him with a bottle"

"What did you say?"

"I hit him with a bottle"

"What kind of bottle?"

"What kind? I don’t know A bottle, you know, a beer bottle"

"How?"

"What do you mean, how?"

"Tell me what happened," G K said

"I threw a bottle at him and I hit him"

"Where?"

"In the kitchen"

"No, I mean where did the bottle hit him?"

"In the kitch-- In the head Not the head He lifted his arm up in front of his head and the bottle hit hilass from the bottle, they went everywhere"

"What happened next?" G K asked

"He started bleeding here" Merodie touched the inside of her upper aruess"

"Then what did you do?"

"I told hiuess not"