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"Ahhh," Tony said softly
Frank scowled at the lawn at his feet, as if he were trying to wither the grass
"He left the house all doubled up," Prewitt said "He was holding his sto kind of hunched over, which fits in with Miss Thomas’s statement that she stabbed hio?" Tony asked
"We have a witness who saw hie van two blocks south of here He drove away"
"Got a license number?"
"No," Prewitt said "But the word’s out There’s a want on the van"
Frank Howard looked up "You know, maybe this attack isn’t related to the story she fed us last night Maybe she cried wolf last night--and then thisshe really was attacked"
"Doesn’t that strike you as just a bit too coincidental?" Tony asked exasperatedly
"Besides, it must be related," Prewitt said "She swears it was the same man"
Frank met Tony’s stare and said, "But it can’t be Bruno Frye You knohat Sheriff Laurenski said"
"I never insisted it was Frye" Tony said "Last night, I figured she was attacked by someone who resembled Frye"
"She insisted--"
"Yeah, but she was scared and hysterical," Tony said "She wasn’t thinking clearly, and sheIt’s understandable"
"And you tell ustedly
At that moment Officer Gurney, Prewitt’s partner, came out of the house and called to him! "Hey, they found him The man she stabbed!"
Tony, Frank, and Prewitt hurried to the front door
"HQ just phoned," Gurney said "A couple of kids on skateboards found hio"
"Where?"
"Way the hell down on Sepulveda In soround beside his van"
"Dead?"
"As a doornail"
"Did he have any ID?" Tony asked
"Yeah," Gurney said "It’s just like the lady told us He’s Bruno Frye"
Cold
Air conditioning thruushed froreen autuh to ward off a chill She hugged herself and shivered
Lieutenant Howard stood at her left side, still looking soht The rooue It was ine that the bone-freezing cold of deep space lay just beyond the gray walls The steady hu could be the distant roar of rocket engines They were standing in front of athat looked into another room, but she would have preferred to see endless blackness and far-away stars beyond the thick glass She ale instead of in ato identify a ht
Those words, ringing in her mind, seeo
She glanced at her watch
3:18
"It’ll be over in a ly
Even as Cleht a wheeled litter into the room on the other side of theHe positioned it squarely in front of the glass A body lay on the cart, hidden by a sheet The attendant pulled the shroud off the dead man’s face, halfway down his chest, then stepped out of the way
Hilary looked at the corpse and felt dizzy
Her mouth went dry
Frye’s face hite and still, but she had the insane feeling that at any moment he would turn his head toward her and open his eyes
"Is it him?" Lieutenant Clemenza asked
"It’s Bruno Frye," she said weakly
"But is it the man who broke into your house and attacked you?" Lieutenant Howard asked
"Not this stupid routine again," she said "Please"
"No, no," Clemenza said, "Lieutenant Howard doesn’t doubt your story any more, Miss Thomas You see, we already know that man is Bruno Frye We’ve established thatWhat we need to hear from you is that he was the man who attacked you, the man you stabbed"
The dead , but she could rerin into which it had curved
"That’s him," she said "I’ I’ll have nightue attendant beyond the , and the ht struck her: What if it sits up on the cart and throws the sheet off?
"We’ll take you home now," Clemenza said
She walked out of the room ahead of thehly relieved and even delighted that he was dead
They took her home in the unmarked police sedan Frank drove, and Tony sat up front Hilary Thomas sat in the back, shoulders drawn up a bit, arms crossed, as if she was cold on such a war excuses to turn around and speak to her He didn’t want to take his eyes off her She was so lovely that he reatdone by one of the old ave hiht conversation She rapped up in her own thoughts,out the side , mostly silent
When they pulled into the circular driveway at her place and stopped in front of the door, Frank Howard turned to her and said, "Miss Thoy"
Tony was not startled by the admission, but he was somewhat surprised by the sincere note of contrition in Frank’s voice and the supplicatory expression on his face; est suits
Hilary Thomas also see your job"
"No," Frank said "That’s the proble it well"
"It’s over now," she said
"But will you accept ies?"
"Wellof course," she said uncomfortably
"I feel very bad about the way I treated you"
"Frye won’t be bothering uess that’s all that really ot out of the car and opened her door She could not get out by herself because the rear doors of the sedan had no inside handles, a deterrent to escape-minded prisoners Besides, he wanted to accompany her to the house
"You may have to testify at a coroner’s inquest," he said as they approached the house
"Why? When I stabbed hi my life"
"Oh, there’s no doubt it’s a simple case of self-defense," Tony said quickly "If you have to appear at an inquest, it’ll just be a formality There’s no chance in the world that any sort of charges will be brought or anything like that"
She unlocked the front door, opened it, turned to hiht, even after what the Napa County Sheriff said"
"We’ll be checking into hi to do If you’re interested, I’ll let you knohat his excuse is"
"I am curious," she said
"Okay I’ll let you know"
"Thank you"
"It’s no bother"
She stepped into the house
He didn’t move
She looked back at hi eise?" she asked
"As a matter of fact, yes"
"What?"
"One more question"
"Yes?"
He had never felt so aith a woman before
"Would you have dinner with me Saturday?"
"Oh," she said "WellI don’t think I can"
"I see"
"I mean, I’d like to"
"You would?"
"But I really don’t have much time for a social life these days," she said