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"Before you could dial 411 for inforht"

"After your conversation with the 911 operator--"

"Rosalyn"

"Yes After your conversation with her, did you then call 411?"

The telephone coe for each call If he had placed one, they would have a record of it

"No," Billy said "I felt like such a bonehead I needed a drink"

The reference to a drink had co to sell theht he had sounded s

Napolitino said, "What number would you have asked for if you had called 411?"

Billy realized that these inquiries were no longer related to his welfare and safety A veiled antagonism colored Napolitino’s questions, subtle but une this developuilty

"Steve," he said "I needed Steve Zillis’s number"

"He is… ?"

"He’s a bartender at the tavern"

"He covers your shift when you’re sick?" Napolitino asked

"No He works the shift after mine Why’s it matter?"

"Why did you need to call him?"

"I just wanted to warn him that I was out, and when he came on he’d have abar alone"

"Jackie?" Napolitino asked

"Jackie O’Hara He’s the owner He’s covering my shift Jackie doesn’t continually tidy the work bar, the lower bar, like he should The clutter and spills just build up till the guy following hiet the set-up workable again"

Every tier, more explanatory answer, he heard a shakiness arise in his voice He didn’t think that he was ieants could hear it, too

Maybe everyone sounded this hen talking to on-duty cops for any substantial length of ti was not natural, however, especially not for Billy During his longer answers, he found hi his hands tooto appear casual, he slipped his hands into the pockets of his chinos In each pocket, his fingers found three 38 cartridges, spare ammunition Napolitino said, "So you wanted to warn Steve Zillis he’d have a ht"

"You don’t know Mr Zillis’s phone nued in an innocent Q and A anyation yet, but they were on the down escalator Billy did not quite understand why this should be the case--except that perhaps his answers and his deht "Isn’t Mr Zillis’s nuuess so But sometimes it’s just easier to call 411"

"Unless you mistakenly dial 911," Napolitino said

Billy decided thathimself for idiocy, as he had done earlier If the situation deteriorated to the point where they decided to search hies in his pockets He wondered if he’d be able to explain the bullets with another facile and convincing lie At the moment, he couldn’t think of one But he couldn’t believe it would ever come to that The deputies were here because they had been concerned that he er He had only to convince the that he had said--or had not said--left theht words, the o away Now, here, he chafed again at the lie in Napolitino’s attitude see it The strain of disguising his anxiety had bent his perceptions, had made him a little paranoid

He counseled himself to be still, to have patience

"Mr Wiles," said Napolitino, "are you absolutely sure that you yourself dialed 911?"

Although Billy could parse that sentence, he couldn’t quite rasp the intention behind the question, and considering everything that he had told them thus far, he didn’t knohat answer they expected from him

"Is there any possibility whatsoever that someone else in your house placed that call to 911?" Napolitino pressed

For an instant Billy thought somehow they knew about the freak, but then he understood He understood

Sergeant Napolitino’s question was phrased with an eye toward eventual legal challenges to police procedure What he wanted to ask Billy wasso enough to dial 911, and did you tear the phone out of her hand and hang up, hoping a connection had not been made?

To ask the question more bluntly than he had done, Napolitino would first have had to inforht to re

Billy Wiles had become a suspect

They were on the brink A precipice

Never had Billy’s mind calculated options and consequences so feverishly, aware that every second of hesitation uiltier Fortunately, he did not have to counterfeit a flabbergasted expression His jawhis ability to fake anger or even indignation with any conviction whatsoever, Billy instead played his genuine surprise: "Good Lord, you don’t think… You do think I… Good Lord I’uy I’d expect to be

Neither did Sobieski

Their eyes were as steady as the axis of a spinning gyroscope

"Of course you’d have to consider the possibility," Billy said "I understand I do It’s all right Go inside if you want Have a look around"

"Mr Wiles, are you inviting us to search your house for an intruder or others?"

His fingertips resting on the cartridges in his pockets, hison the shadowy form of Cottle in the knee space of the desk…

"Search it for anything," he said affably, as if relieved to understand at last anted of hi to search your residence You do see the situation?"

"Sure I know It’s okay Go to it"

If they were invited to enter, any evidence they found could be used in court If instead they entered uninvited, without a warrant or without adequate reason to believe that soht be in jeopardy, the court would throw out the saard Billy’s cooperation, happily given, as highly suggestive of innocence

He felt relaxed enough to take his hands out of his pockets If he was open, relaxed, sufficiently encouraging, they o aithout bothering to search the place

Napolitino glanced at Sobieski, and Sobieski nodded

"Mr Wiles, since you would feel better if I did so, I’ll take a quick look through the house"

Sergeant Napolitino rounded the front of the patrol car and headed toward the porch steps, leaving Billy with Sobieski

Chapter 30

Guilt spills itself in fear of being spilt, someone had said, perhaps Shakespeare, perhaps OI Siht so well in words, but he realized the truth in the aphoriseant Napolitino cli over the pint bottle and whatever spilled whiskey had not yet evaporated

"Too Joe Friday," Sobieski said

"Excuse ives you those flat eyes, that cast-concrete face, but he’s not really the hardass you think"