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"Well, I can try," I said, "but itin particular?"

"She had what looked like rope burns on her right wrist, torn and broken nails on her left-"

"Oh yeah, I saw that," I said with sudden recollection "The knuckles on her left hand were scraped, too"

"Right It’s possible she was held soht see if anybody has a potting shed or a greenhouse I took soht find a match She also had superficial abrasions and contusions across her back I saw a kid just last ith sihs and buttocks He’d been beaten with a coat hanger… a she was beaten?"

"Probably"

"Does Lieutenant Dolan know about this?"

"He and the police photographer were both present for the post, so he saw the sas I did The truth is, there was no internal trauma and the injuries were too minor to be considered the cause of death"

"What’s your theory then?"

"Unh-unh Not till I do a bit of checking first Call me this afternoon, or better yet, let ot here By then youup I settled the receiver in the cradle and sat there, perplexed

Dietz atching me From my end of the conversation, he could tell there’d been a shift "What’s wrong?"

"Let’s pick up your car and go by Irene’s I’d like to talk to Clyde" Iby and then called a cab

I detailed the situation on the way over to the hotel, Irene’s carton in e-water, Dietz took his tiine and the electrical system This wasn’t the saht before and while the kid swore no one had been near the car, Dietz didn’t want to trust hier knows his ass from his elbohen it comes to bombs, but this is no time to be surprised," he said I waited while he stretched out on the driveway, inching partway under the car so he could scrutinize the underside Evidently, there were no unidentified wires, no visible blasting caps, and no tidy bundles of dynaot up and brushed hier seat Dietz started the car and pulled out of the lot