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She was so wrenchingly innocent of the world and its ways, so unaccusto with people, that she couldn’t function unless she restricted herself to the house, to a private world without hu about social interaction She had not even been capable of holding a polite conversation with Garrison Dilworth, Aunt Violet’s attorney-Nora’s attorney now-during their s to settle the estate She had answered his questions as succinctly as possible and had sat in his presence with her eyes downcast and her cold hands fidgeting in her lap, crushingly shy Afraid of her oyer! If she couldn’t deal with a kind man like Garrison Dilworth, how could she ever handle a beast like Art Streck? In the future, she wouldn’t dare have a repairman in her home, no matter what broke down; she would just have to live in ever-worsening decay and ruin because the next ht be another Streck-or worse In the tradition established by her aunt, Nora already had groceries delivered froo out to shop, but now she would be afraid to let the delivery boy into the house; he had never been the least aggressive, suggestive, or in any way insulting, but one day he ht see the vulnerability that Streck had Seen

She hated Aunt Violet

On the other hand, Violet had been right: Nora was a mouse Like all mice, her destiny was to run, to hide, and to cower in the dark

Her fury abated just as her craer, and she wept quietly

Later, sitting with her back against the headboard, blotting her reddened eyes with Kleenex and blowing her nose, she bravely vowed not to becoe to venture out Into the world more than she’d done before She would hbors that Violet had more or less shunned She would make friends By God, she would And she wouldn’t let Streck intimidate her She would learn how to handle other proble as well, and in time she would be a different woman from the one she was now A pro the telephone, thus foiling Streck, but she was afraid she ht need it What if she woke, heard so in the phone fast enough?

Before turning out the lights and pulling up the covers, she closed the lockless bedroom door and braced it shut with the armchair, which she tilted under the knob In bed, in the dark, she felt for the butcher’s knife, which she’d placed on the nightstand, and she was reassured when she put her hand directly upon it without fu

Nora lay on her back, eyes open, wide awake Pale ah the shuttered s The ceiling was banded with alternating strips of black and faded gold, as if a tiger of infinite length were leaping over the bed in a jump that would never end She wondered if she would ever sleep easily again

She also wondered if she would find anyone who could care about her- and for her-out there in the bigger world that she had vowed to enter Was there no one who could love a ently?

Far away, a train whistle played a one-note dirge in the night It was a hollow, cold, and mournful sound

7

Vince Nasco had never been so busy Or so happy

When he called the usual Los Angeles number to report success at the Yarbeck house, he was referred to another public phone This one was between a frozen-yogurt shop and a fish restaurant on Balboa Island in Newport Harbor

There, he was called by the contact with the sexy, throaty, yet little-girl voice She spoke circu words but e in a court of law She was calling from another pay phone, one she had chosen at random, so there was virtually no chance that either of the Brother world where you didn’t dare take risks

The woman had a third job for hi traffic inching past on the narrow island street, the woave hiuna Beach Hudston lived with his wife and a sixteen-year-old son Both Dr and Mrs Hudston had to be hit; however, the boy’s fate was in Vince’s hands If the kid could be kept out of it, fine But if he saw Vince and could serve as a witness, he had to be eliminated, too

"Your discretion," the woman said

Vince already knew that he would erase the kid, because killing wasIt had been a long ti one, and the prospect excited hi Vince a little nuts with her breathy pauses, "that this option must be exercised with all due speed We want the deal concluded tonight By to to swing, and they’ll get in our way"

Vince knew the "co paid to kill three doctors in a single day-doctors, when he had never killed a doctor before-so he knew there was so the cops would pick up on when they found Weatherby in the trunk of his car and Elisabeth Yarbeck beaten to death in her bedroom Vince didn’t knohat the link was because he never knew anything about the people he was hired to kill, and he didn’t really want to know anything It was safer that way But the cops would link Weatherby with Yarbeck and both of theht, the police would be providing the man with protection by tomorrow

Vince said, "I wonderdo you want the option exercised in the same way as the other two deals today? You want a pattern?"

He was thinking round with them in it to cover the murders

"No, we absolutely do want a pattern," the woman said "Same as the others We want them to knoe’ve been busy"

"I see"

"We want to tweak their noses," she said, and laughed softly "We want to rub in the salt"

Vince hung up and walked to the Jolly Roger for dinner He had vegetable soup, a has, coleslaw, chocolate cake with ice creaht) apple pie, all of which he washed doith five cups of coffee He was ordinarily a big eater, but his appetite increased dramatically after a job In fact, when he finished the pie, he wasn’t full Understandable In one busy day, he had absorbed the life energies of Davis Weatherby and the Yarbecks; he was overcharged, a racing engine His ear; he would need more fuel for a while, until his body stored the excess life energies in biological batteries for future use

The ability to absorb the very life force of his victim was the Gift that made him different from all other , vital, alert He would live forever

He had never divulged the secret of his splendid Gift to the throaty-voiced Woman or to any of the people for whoh to consider seriously such an a talent Vince kept it to himself because he was afraid they’d think he was crazy

Outside the restaurant, he stood on the sidewalk for a while, just breathing deeply, savoring the crisp sea air A chilly night wind blew off the harbor, sweeping scrap paper and purple jacaranda blosso the pavement

Vince felt terrific He believed he was as much of an elemental force as were the sea and wind

Frouna Beach At eleven-twenty, he parked his van across the street frole-story hoe of ocean views He saw lights in a couple of s