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"Sports?"

"The hell they were We’re not a da out a kitchen ard the lawn frouys in sports bars--the drinking doesn’t h"

"That’s right They’d as soon set a Starbucks buzz We’re not a da heard this before, Billy tried tois a kind of ceremony"

"Beyond ceremony It’s an observance, a solemnity, almost a kind of sacrament Not to all of theht So were they talking about Big Foot?"

"I wish The best, the really intense barroo saucers, the lost continent of Atlantis, what happened to the dinosaurs--"

"--what’s on the dark side of the moon," Billy interjected, "the Loch Ness hosts, the Berle, all that classic stuff," Jackie continued

"But it’s not like that so ed

"They were talking about these professors at Harvard and Yale and Princeton, these scientists who say they’re going to use cloning and ste to create a superior race"

"Smarter and faster and better than we are," Billy said

"So much better than we are," Jackie said, "they won’t be human at all It’s in Ti and proud of theazine"

"They call it the posthuman future," Billy said

"What happens to us e’re post?" Jackie wondered "Post is toast A uys heard of Hitler?"

"They think they’re different," Billy said

"Don’t they have enes to create ne things One of theot a huazine doesn’t say why a pig, like it should be obvious why a pig instead of a cat or a cow or a chip a human brain in a hu body?"

"Maybe on’t live to see it," Billy said "Unless you’re planning to die to Foot better I liked the Berhosts a lot better Now all the crazy shit is real"

"Why I called," Billy said, "is to let you know I can’t enuine concern, Jackie said, "Hey, what, are you sick?"

"I’m kind of queasy"

"You don’t sound like you have a cold"

"I don’t think it’s a cold It’s like a sto"

"Sometiot this zinc gel you squeeze up your nose It really works It stops a cold dead"

"I’ll get so that all along"

"I’ll get some zinc Did I call too early, did you close up the tavern last night?"

"No I went hos with huo home"

"So Steve Zillis closed up?"

"Yeah He’s a reliable boy That stuff I told you, I wish now I hadn’t If he wants to chop up mannequins and water as he does his job"

Tuesday night was often slow in the bar business If the traffic grew light, Jackie preferred to lock the tavern before the usual 2:00 AM closing time An open bar with few or no customers in the wee hours is a te eht?" Billy asked "Steve said after eleven it was like the world ended He had to open the front door and look outside to be sure the tavern hadn’t been teleported to the ht Thank God there aren’t two Tuesdays in a week"

Billy said, "People like to spend some time with their fauy, aren’t you?"

"Not usually"

"If you put that zinc gel up your nose and you don’t feel any better,"

Jackie said, "call me back, and I’ll tell you somewhere else you can stuff it"

"I think you’d have made a fine priest I really do"

"Get well, okay? The customers miss you when you’re off"

"Do they?"

"Not really But at least they don’t say they’re glad you’re gone"

Under the circumstances, perhaps only Jackie O’Hara could haveup He looked at his watch Ten-thirty-one

The "associate" would be here in less than half an hour

If Steve Zillis had left the tavern shortly before o to Lanny’s place, kill him, and move the body to the ar suspects, he would have given long odds on Steve But once in a while, a long shot won the race

Chapter 20

On the front porch were two teak rocking chairs with dark-green cushions, Billy seldo a white T-shirt and chinos, he occupied the one farthest from the porch steps He didn’t rock He sat quite still Beside him stood a teak cocktail table On the table, on a cork coaster, was a glass of cola

He hadn’t drunk any of the cola He had prepared it as a prop, to distract the eye from consideration of the box of Ritz crackers

The box contained nothing but the snub-nosed revolver The only crackers were a stack of three on the table, beside the box

Bright and clear and hot, the day was too dry to please the grape growers, but it was all right with Billy

Fro way down the rural road that sloped up toward his house and far beyond Not nized soed

Rising off the sun-scorched blacktop, shiure appeared in the distance, on foot Billy did not expect the associate to hike in for the ure e The furnace heat distorted him, made him ripple as if he were a reflection on water Once he seeht, he looked tall and thin, unnaturally thin, as if he had recently hung on a cross in a cornfield, glaring the birds aith his button eyes

He turned off the county road and followed the driveway He left the driveway for the grass and, at 10:58, arrived at the bottom of the porch steps

"Mr Wiles?" he asked

"Yes"

"I believe you’re expecting h voice of one who had marinated his larynx in whiskey and slow-cooked it in years of cigarette smoke

"What’s your naht the question would be ignored If thebehind a false nah Ralph Cottle sounded real

Cottle was as thin as the distorting heat had made him appear to be from a distance, but not as tall His scrawny neck looked as if it ht of his head

He hite tennis shoes dark with age and filth Shiny in spots and frayed at the cuffs, the cocoa-brown, surace than it would have hung from a coat rack His polyester shirt was li a button

These were thrift-shop clothes fro wear out of the at the bottoht ht collapse him He seemed too frail to be a threat, but you never could tell

"There’s a chair for you," Billy said

"Thank you, sir I appreciate the kindness"

Billy tensed as Cottle ascended the stairs but relaxed a little when the man had settled into the other rocker

Cottle didn’t rock, either, as if getting the chairwas a more strenuous task than he cared to contemplate