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Behind Ken, so thumped

He cried out and turned to face the threat

But the hall to the right and the breakfast area to the left were both deserted

The sound had come from the front of the house Even as the echo of it died away, he knehat he’d heard: the front door being closed

Another sound broke the stillness, not as loud as the first butengaged

Had the killer departed and locked the door froet a key? Off the foreman that he had murdered? And Why would he pause to lock up?

More likely, he had locked the door from inside, not merely to delay Ken’s escape but to let hi the flashlight because it pinpointed hilow at the as purple-gray and did not reach into the house at all Without the flashlight, he would be blind

How the hell was the killer finding his way in this steadily deepening darkness? Was it possible that a PCP junkie’s night vision ith increased to that of ten el dust?

The house was quiet

He stood with his back to the hallall

He could suely metallic odor

Click, click, click

Ken stiffened and listened intently, but he heard nothing more after those three quick noises They had sounded like swift footsteps crossing the concrete floor, taken by so boots with hard leather heels-or shoes with cleats

The noises had begun and ended so abruptly that he had not been able to tell where they were coain-click, click, click, click-four steps this ti in this direction, toward the hall in which he stood

He i to face the adversary, dropping into a crouch and thrusting both the flashlight and the revolver tohere he had heard the steps But the hallas deserted

Breathing through his open mouth to reduce the noise of his own rapid respiration, which he feared wouldthe hall, into the foyer Nothing The front door was closed all right, but the den and the living rooallery above were deserted

Click, click, click, click

The noises arose from an entirely different direction now, from the back of the house, in the breakfast area The killer had fled silently out of the foyer, across the living roo rooh the house, co the hall that Ken had just left And though the guy had been silent while flitting through the other rooain, obviously not because he had to make them, not because his shoes clicked with every step the way Ken’s shoes squeaked, but because he wanted to ain, wanted to taunt Ken, wanted to say: Hey, I’m behind you now, and here I come, ready or not, here I come

Click, click, click

Ken Diood cop who had never walked away from trouble He had received two citations for bravery in only seven years on the force But this faceless, insanely violent son of a bitch, scurrying through the house in total darkness, silent when he wanted to be andsounds when it suited hieous as any cop, he was no fool, and only a fool would walk boldly into a situation that he did not understand

Instead of returning to the hall and confronting the killer, be went to the front door and reached for the lever-action brass handle, intending to get the hell out Then he noticed the door hadn’t th of scrap wire had been wound around the handle on the fixed door and around that on the active door, linking theether He would have to unwind the wire before he could get out, which ht take half a minute

Click, click, click

He fired once toward the hallithout even looking and ran in the opposite direction, crossing the e Co room and was al to make a break for the family room and the patio door by which Tee! had entered, he heard the clicking co from in front of hi roohtless hallway and was coa, he seemed just about to enter the breakfast area, which would put only the width of the kitchen between hiht there, decided to bloay this psycho the ht- Then the killer shrieked

Clicking along the hallway, still out of sight but co toward Ken, the attacker let out a shrill inhue and hatred, the strangest sound that Ken had ever heard, not the sound a ht of confrontation, pitched his flashlight into the kitchen to create a diversion, turned away froh not back into the living rooaht across the dining roolow of twilight He tucked his head down, brought his arainst his chest, and turned sideways as he slalass Theexploded, and he fell out into the rear yard, rolling through construction debris Splintery scraps of two-by-fours and chunks of concrete poked painfully into his legs and ribs He scrambled to his feet, spun toward the house, and emptied his revolver at the brokenin case the killer was in pursuit of hiuring he had not scored a hit, he wasted no ti the side of it, and out to the street He had to get to the patrol car, where there was a radio-and a puun

3

On Wednesday and Thursday, the second and third of June, Travis and Nora and Einstein searched diligently for a way to improve hu had alun to chew up furniture in frustration However, Nora proved to have enough patience and confidence for all of the, the fourth of June, she was less surprised than either Travis or Einstein

They had purchased fortyfrom Time and Life to McCall’s and Redbook-and fifty books of art and photography, and had brought the room of Travis’s rental house, where there was space to spread everything out on the floor They had put pillows on the floor as well, so they could work at the dog’s level and be comfortable

Einstein had watched their preparations with interest

Sitting on the floor with her back against the vinyl sofa, Nora took the retriever’s head in both hands and, with her face close to his, their noses al, she said, "Okay, now you listen to s about you: where you ca, what you were afraid of in the woods that day Travis found you, why you sohtened of so Lots more But you can’t talk, can you? No And so far as we know, you can’t read And even if you can read, you can’t write So we’ve got to do this with pictures, I think"

Fro’s eyes never wavered fro down, motionless He not only see him, but he appeared to be electrified by the experiment

How much does the mutt really perceive, Travis wondered, and howbecause of pure wishful thinking?

People have a natural tendency to anthropomorphize their pets, to ascribe human perceptions and intentions to the animals where none exist In Einstein’s case, where there really was an exceptional intelligence at work, the tey twitch was even greater than usual