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Had soht just then, and I would have seen un
Perhaps I had done ht Guy than he had done to ency roo would not have taken long, but the eency-admissions clerk would have required hin six pounds of paperwork, including ninety legal disclaiht keep him an hour or two for observation In any case, he would be ho myself to be out of this house in five ht, hich I had led the way fro the beaers, I sectioned the rooht, in the fourth slice, found the source of the whiskey slass stood on the dinette table The cap was off the bottle, and the glass held bourbon that appeared to have been watered down, perhaps by lass lay on its side A slistened on the table
The evidence suggested Whittle had returned hoain in too much of a hurry to clean up the spill
Two chairs stood away fro, the drinkers had not taken tied
A pair of unlacedon its side Whittle could have changed shoes before leaving Or he ht still be here
Because vinyl blinds had been dran tight at every , I stopped pinching the flashlight beam and let it flourish
A narrow hallway led fro room full of lifeless furniture, where the draperies were drawn shut and where no art adorned the walls
I had been in the house approxi room lay a study with a couch, a desk, a chair, bookshelves Here, too, the blinds allowed no view of the night
The desk top had been swept bare The bookshelves were empty
I suspected that this place had been rented furnished and that Sa -term
Nevertheless, I wanted to search the desk drawers, although not until I deter
In the final room, the bedclothes were disheveled A pillow had fallen to the floor
On the carpet, a daht in on so If it had been there more than a little while, it would already have died
Outside, a truck engine growled in the distance and swiftly approached I switched off the flashlight, although the ere covered
The vehicle seeine noise faded
When I switched on the flashlight, the dying earthworh the house was s way froht again, drew open a set of draperies, and unlatched the double-hungConcerned that the wood ht, I was relieved when the bottom sash slid up with little noise
I closed thebut did not lock it I pulled the draperies across thebefore switching on the flashlight again
Twodoors of the closet were shut I disliked turning my back on theap at the base of that door adht fro intuition
When I put my hand on the knob, a shiver of trepidation climbed my spine, froled in the very axis on which , I had raised h the sweatshirt and the T-shirt, I could feel the thi from the silver chain around my neck
I turned the knob The door opened inward No one flung hiht played across the surfaces of a bathroolossy white cerareen tiles, the grout cracked with age and dirty; a reversal of that schereen field punctuated by white inlays
Fro off aoff the floor
To lass door in an aluht lay a bathtub, and in the tub a dead ht Guy
The shock of such a discovery would provide the idealat myself in the mirror, I saith relief that no one loo this sht than the flashlight could provide A shutter covered the onlyin the bathrooht
Sa position He remained that way because his shirt collar was snared on the hot-water faucet His head lolled to the left
Duct tape sealed his ed behind it They had gagged him because they had not killed hiether in front of him, and his shoeless feet had been fettered at the ankles with tape, as well
Bathed in blood, he apparently had been shot once in each leg, once in each ar worm--had finally been shot in the forehead
In the cauldron tub, he was as fearsoe obscured his left eye, but the right stared at me, wide in the expression of disbelief hich he arded his murderer He had not expected death to come in the form of whoever had killed him
No matter how many dead bodies one has discovered--and I have found ht instantly focuses the mind, draws the nerves taut, and puts a sharp point on instinct
Alain and saw a man behind me, I ducked and turned and punched
TWENTY-ONE
THE PUNCH LANDED BUT HAD NO EFFECT, FOR the man behind me was Sam Whittle, who had been shot five tiering spirit ih he had manifested without the bullet wounds, he stood before e that is the ripped hi erabbed at me, and I seemed to feel as solid to hiather fistfuls of my shirt His hand, when cupped around the back of my neck, could not pull h he could pass through walls and closed doors and all that had substance in this world, he could not pass through ht and touch, the form and substance of his spirit were real to me, as they would be real to no one else on the earth, but Sam Whittle could not have any physical effect on ently but produced no sound Perhaps he heard hiht that I could hear him, because I had to speak up and tell hiardless of the force hich he shouted
I suspect that lingering spirits are restrained from speech because they know in fullness the true nature of death and at least soe thatand misdirect us in one way or another if ere to receive it
Denied speech, Whittle quickened into an evenpast me into the bathrooainst its chest, against its teue that it felt solid to itself and thus could not believe that it was in fact only a disembodied soul, that all life had bled out of its earthly shell