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I went to the reference department My personal table had been rudely preempted by someone other thanin the chair and then crossed to the section where the Polk and Haines directories were shelved I pulled volumes for 1966 and 1967, then loaded the city directories for the same years on top I added the current telephone book and carried the stack to the table I sat down and arranged the references in front of h the Thoes devoted to Horton Ravine I looked up the name Corso in both the Polk and the Haines for 1966 and 1967 There was only one Corso listed, that being Lionel M on Ocean Way I made a note of the address and then checked the current telephone book Lionel Corso was still listed at that address I was under the i across his name in the obits, but it was possible his , if he had one, still owned the house

I looked up Walter McNally’s old address in the same two crisscross directories In 1967 McNally senior had owned a hostrom Hill, just outside Horton Ravine and connected by a street called Crescent Road, in easy range of the Corsos’ place Walter must have sold the family home when he moved to Number 17 Juniper Lane in the Valley Oaks Senior Settlement I pulled out a pencil andthe 1967 addresses for the Kirkendalls on Rahs on Via Dulcinea, the McNallys on Bergstrom Hill Road, and the Corsos on Ocean I didn’t care about the Suttons, who’d lived on the western edge of the Ravine On the day in question, Michael had been dropped off at the Kirkendalls’, whose lot touched the Unruhs’ at the bottom of the hill

I returned the reference materials to the shelves, and left the library and drove into Horton Ravine to the Home Owner’s Association There I appealed to the two kind woave h the Ravine I sat inwheel, while I studied the warren of trails linking the properties of all the principals If I affixed the trail map to the wall and used a pushpin for each of the relevant locations, a string running around the lot of them would form a crude circle

Now all I had to do was persuade Cheney Phillips I was on the right track I went back to the office and called

"Lieutenant Phillips"

"Hey, Cheney This is Kinsey Are you tied up at the moment?"

"I’m here at my desk for another twenty minutes What’s up?"

"YouI want to run past you"

"Can’t wait," he said

"See you shortly"

My office o blocks from the police departut When it ca air and sunshine, a theory with nothing concrete to back it up This put me in the saround The pieces fit together, but where was the glue? Michael’s claims had been shot out fro the facts without a shred of proof

I went into the lobby at the station and waited for Cheney to come out and accompany me to his cubicle He looked especially handsome that day--expensive loafers, dark slacks, and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up On anyone else it would have been standard office attire, but Cheney came from money and I knehat he paid for clothes

He sat me down and since his time was limited, I had no choice but to launch into h the spiel and I could tell by his expression he wasn’t buying it He heardbreath Nothing like telling a story with passion and conviction while the guy on the receiving end is so clearly skeptical

"Interesting," he said "I can see where you’re co from, but what am I supposed to do?"

"I don’t know, Cheney Think about it, I guess I went to high school with these guys"

He held a hand up "I’ is there’s not enough to act on I can’t bring either one of those guys in for a chat Based on what? Speculation and guesswork and all of it circumstantial Is there any reason to think Corso or McNally even knew the Fitzhughs or the Unruhs?"

"Deborah Unruh says Greg and Shelly srass constantly She knows there were at least two dopers who hung out with them She never actually saw them, but someone supplied the weed and Walker was a dealer, or so I heard"