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"It seems to me she made them endure a whole hell of a lot!" Joshua said "She drove them mad!"

"Inadvertently, yes," Hilary said "She didn’t intend to drive the as best for them, but her own state of mind didn’t hed wearily "It’s a wild theory you’ve got"

"Not so wild," Tony said "It fits the known facts"

Joshua nodded "And I guess I believe it, too At least most of it I just wish all of the villains in this piece were thoroughly vile and despicable It see, somehow, to feel so much sympathy for the skies, they went straight to the county sheriff’s office and told Peter Laurenski everything At first, he gaped at theradually his disbelief turned into reluctant, astonished acceptance That was a pattern of reactions, a transformation of emotions that Hilary expected they would all witness a few hundred tieles Police Department He discovered that the FBI already had contacted the LAPD in regard to the San Francisco bank fraud case involving a look-alike for Bruno Frye, now believed at large in the LAPD’s jurisdiction Laurenski’s news, of course, was that the suspect was not h another genuine article was dead and buried in the Napa County Memorial Park He informed the LAPD that he had reason to believe the two Brunos had taken turns killing women and had been involved in a series of murders in the northern half of the state over the past five years, although he could not yet provide hard evidence or name specific horisly but logical interpretation of the safe-deposit box letter in light of recent discoveries about Leo and Katherine and the twins; the fact that both of the twins had made attempts on Hilary’s life; the fact that one of the twins had covered for the other last hen Hilary had first been attacked, which indicated complicity in at least attempted murder; and finally the conviction, shared by Hilary and Tony and Joshua, that Bruno’s hatred for his mother was so powerful and hter any woined was his mother come back to life in a new body

While Hilary and Joshua shared the railback bench that served as an office couch, and while they drank coffee provided by Laurenski’s secretary, Tony took the phone at Laurenski’s request and spoke with two of his own superiors in LA His support for Laurenski and the corroboration of facts that he provided were apparently effective, for the call concluded with a promise that LA

authorities would take i under the assu a watch on Hilary’s horeed to establish around-the-clock surveillance on the Westwood house

With the cooperation of the Los Angeles police assured, the sheriff quickly co the basic facts of the case, for distribution to all law enforceencies in Northern California The bulletin doubled as an official request for infor, attractive, brown-eyed brunettes, in jurisdictions beyond Laurenski’s, during the past five years--and especially anydecapitation, mutilation, or evidence of blood fetishis orders to clerks and deputies, and as she thought about the events of the past twenty-four hours, she had the feeling that everything wastoo fast, like a ind, and that this wind--filled with surprises and ugly secrets, just as a tornado is filled with swirling clods of uprooted earth and chunks of debris--was carrying her toward a precipice that she could not yet see, but over which sheShe wished she could reach out with both hands and seize control of time itself, hold it back, slow it down, take a few days out to rest and to consider what she had learned, so that she would be able to follow the final feists and turns of the Frye mystery with a clear head She felt sure that continued haste was foolish, even deadly But the wheels of the la engaged and rolling, could not be blocked And time could not be reined in as if it were a runaway stallion

She hoped there was no precipice ahead

At 5:30, after Laurenski had gotten the law enforce, he and Joshua used the telephone to track down a judge They found one, Judge Julian Haras fascinated by the Frye story Harwey understood the necessity of retrieving the corpse and putting it through an extensive battery of tests for identification purposes If the second Bruno Frye was apprehended, and if he sohly unlikely but not altogether impossible, then the prosecutor would need physical proof that there had been identical twins Harilling to sign an exhumation order, and by 6:30, the sheriff had that paper in hand

"The workrave in the dark," Laurenski said "But I’ll have the at the crack of dawn" He made a few more phone calls, one to the director of the Napa County Memorial Park where Frye was buried, another to the county coroner who could conduct the exhumation of the body as soon as it was delivered to hie for him to transport the corpse to and froot off the telephone, Joshua said, "I iine you’ll want to search the Frye house"

"Absolutely," Laurenski said "We want to find proof thatthere, if we can And if Frye really had murdered other women, ood idea to go through the house on the cliff, too"

"We can search the new house as soon as you like," Joshua said "But there’s no electricity in the old place That one will have to wait until daylight"

"Okay," Laurenski said "But I’d like to have a look at the vineyard house tonight"

"Now?" Joshua asked, getting up from the railback bench

"None of us has had dinner," Laurenski said Earlier before they had told hie and Rita Yancy, the sheriff had called his wife to tell her he wouldn’t be hoet a bite to eat at the coffee shop around the corner

Then we can head on out to Frye’s place"

Before they left for the restaurant, Laurenski told the night receptionist where he would be and asked her to let hieles police had arrested the second Bruno Frye

"It’s not going to be that easy," Hilary said

"I suspect she’s right," Tony said "Bruno has concealed an incredible secret for forty years He oing to lay hands on him that fast They’ll have to play a lot of cat-and-ht had begun to fall, Bruno had closed the attic shutters again

Now there were candles on each nightstand There were two candles on the dresser The flickering yellow fla

Bruno knew that he should already be out looking for Hilary-Katherine, but he could not find the energy to get up and go He kept putting it off

He was hungry He suddenly realized that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday His sto

For a while, he sat on the bed, beside the staring corpse, and he tried to decide where he should go to get some food A few of the cans in the pantry hadn’t swelled up, hadn’t burst, but he was sure that everything on those shelves was spoiled and poisonous For al to think of where he could go to get so to eat and still be safe from Katherine’s spies They were everywhere The bitch and her spies Everywhere His state of h he was hungry, he had difficulty keeping his thoughts focused on food But at last, he remembered there was food in the vineyard house Thethe past week, and the bread would have gotten hard But his own pantry was full of canned goods, and the refrigerator was stocked with cheese and fruit, and there was ice creaht of ice cream made him smile like a sood supper would give hi for Hilary-Katherine, he left the attic and h the house with the aid of a candle Outside, he snuffed out the flame and tucked the candle into a jacket pocket He descended the cru switchback stairs on the face of the cliff and strode off through the dark vineyards

Ten minutes later, in his own house, he struck a match and relit the candle because he was afraid that he would attract unwanted attention if he switched on the lights He got a spoon froallon, cardboard tub of chocolate ripple from the freezer, and sat at the table forspoonfuls of ice creaht out of the carton, until at last he was too full to s even one more bite

He dropped the spoon in the half-emptied carton, put the ice creaht to pack up canned goods to take back to the clifftop house He ht not be able to find and kill Hilary-Katherine for days, and during that time he didn’t want to have to sneak back here for every meal Sooner or later, the bitch would think to have some of her spies put a watch on this place, and then he would be caught But she’d never look for him in the cliff house, not in a ht to have his food supply