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Dietz ca across the roorim He pulledinto my upper arms, but I couldn’t voice a protest

"Are you okay?"

He gaveto Irene eeping as piteously as a three-year-old She sat on the floor with her legs spread, skirt askew, arms limp in her lap, her pal her close He kept his voice low, reassuring her, bending down so she could hear He asked her a question I saw her shake her head She was gasping, unable to say more than a feords before she was forced to stop for breath

The owner of the house was standing in the hallway, his fear having given way to outrage "What’s going on here? What is this, a drug bust? I open es Who’s going to pay for this?"

Dietz said, "Shut up and call the cops"

"Who are you? You can’t talk to me that way! This is a private residence"

I sank down on a dining roohbors had begun to congregate, roups of two and three, so in the yard

What had the ain: I’d heard Dietz’s car ru in the street and that’s when I’d turned, s at me I could hear his words now, understood at last what he’d said to me as he approached-"You’re mine, babe"-his tone possessive, secretive, and then the incredible sexual heat in his face I felt tears rise, blurring an to shake

Dietz patted Irene’s arm and returned to me He hunkered at reat You were fine There was no way you could have known that would happen, okay?"

I had to squeezewouldn’t travel up ray eyes, the blunt nose "He tried to kill me"

"No, he didn’t He tried to scare you He could have killed you the first time, in Brawley on the road He could have nailed you just noith the first shot he fired If he kills you, the game is over That isn’t what he wants He’s not a pro He’s sick We can use that to get hi? Noe know his weakness"

"Yeah, it’s me," I said, forever flip Actually, I didn’t understandI’d looked into the face of Death I’d mistaken hieance, out of hate It had never really seemed personal until the man on the walk No one had ever connected to lanced over at Irene Her respiratory distress, instead of subsiding, see was rapid, shallow, and ineffectual, the wheezing in her throat like two high-pitched notes on a bagpipe Her fingertips were turning a shadowy blue She was suffocating where she sat "She needs help," I said

Dietz turned to look at her "Oh hell…"

He was on his feet instantly, striding across the roo at the telephone, repeating his address to the police dispatcher

Dietz said, "We need an ambulance, too," and then to Irene, "Take it easy You’ll be fine We’ll have help for you soon Don’t panic…"

I saw Irene nod, which was as e

In the midst of the confusion, Clyde Gersh appeared, drawn by the scattering of neighbors ere standing out in front He told es to the house his first thought was that Agnes had been discovered and had put up so he expected was to see Irene on the floor in the e III asth with the paraen and first aid, loaded Irene on a gurney, and hustled her away In the ely removed I kneas expected and I did as I was told I rendered a detailed account of events in a round I’m not sure how much time passed before Dietz was allowed to take ish and it seeuy ned the house The last gli like the sole survivor of an 88 earthquake

14

When we got home, I fumbled my way up to the loft I pulledthe pillows up behindaches and pains in one, washed away by the wave of adrenaline that had tu drained, lethargic,while my body was i on the phone