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"If you know, then you can just let ed bodies, didn’t you?"

She stared at hiot out of the Thoirl, didn’t you?"

She wasn’t crying any htly that it had seared away her tears

The bitch

The rotten bitch

"Did you really think you could foolyou’ve done to nize you?"

Terror reverberated in her voice "I haven’t done anything to you You’re notsense Oh, Jesus Oh, my God, my God What do you want from me?"

Bruno leaned toward her, put his face close to hers He peered into her eyes and said, "You’re in there, aren’t you? You’re in there, deep down in there, hiding from me, aren’t you? Aren’t you, Mother? I see you, Mother I see you in there"

A few fat droplets of rain splattered on the ht wind moaned

"I still don’t understand why Frye chose me," Hilary said "When I came up here to do research for that screenplay, he was friendly He answered all my questions about the wine industry We spent two or three hours together, and I never had a hint that he was anything but an ordinary businessman Then a feeeks later, he shows up atto that letter in the safe-deposit box, he thinks I’m his mother in a new body Whyat you and thinking"

"What?"

"Maybe he chose you becausewell, you look just a bit like Katherine"

"You don’t ot another look-alike on our hands," Tony said

"No," Joshua said "The reseht"

"Good," Tony said "Another dead ringer would be too ot up, went to Hilary, put one hand under her chin, lifted her face, turned it left, then right "The hair, the eyes, the dusty cohtfully "Yes, all of that’s sis about your face that res, so er on the resemblance And she wasn’t as attractive as you are"

As Joshua took his hand away froot up and walked to the attorney’s desk

Mulling over what she had learned in the past hour, she stared down at the neatly arranged iteht

"Is so?" Tony asked

The orked up into a brief squall Another burst of raindrops snapped against the

She turned around, faced the ot this straight"

"I don’t think any of us has it straight," Joshua said, returning to his chair "The whole daht line"

"That’s what I’ up to," she said "I think maybe I just found another twist"

"Go ahead," Tony said

"So far as we can tell," Hilary said, "shortly after his ot the idea that she had corave For nearly five years, he has been buying books about the living dead fro in fear of Katherine Finally, when he sawBut why did it take hi?"

"I’m not sure I follow," Joshua said

"Why did he take five years to fixate on soet for his fears?"

Joshua shrugged, "He’s a ical and decipherable"

But Tony was sensitive to the implications of her question He slid forward on the couch, frowning "I think I knohat you’re going to say," he told her, "My God, it gives oose pimples"

Joshua looked fro sloitted in s to this old codger?"

"Maybe I’ht was his mother," Hilary said "Maybe he killed the others before he caaped at her, "Impossible!"

"Why?"

"We’d have known if he’d been running around killing woht at it!"

"Not necessarily," Tony said "Homicidal maniacs are often very careful, very clever people Some of them make meticulous plans--and yet have an uncanny ability to take the right risks when so unexpected throws the plans off the rails They aren’t always easy to catch"