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There was a silence I had to struggle not to ju and whine I just couldn’t picture us in aor a shootout with Mark Messinger My presence was redundant I had other fish to fry Rochelle was loading her gun-both cha about it gave ut

I could see Dietz debate my request In an odd flash of ESP, I knew he’d have felt safer if I were going with hi eye contact "Take ht spot us if we pull into the hotel parking lot in it We’ll take the rental car What I said before goes Nothing dumb"

"Same to you," I said, perhaps more sharply than I intended "I’ll meet you out at the charter place"

"Take care"

"You too"

26

It was 4:42 when I turned into the entrance to Mt Calvary for the second ti line of eucalyptus trees laid lean shadows across the road I passed through theates as I woundarea near the office and pulled in beside a splashing stone fountain in a circle of grass Bright orange goldfish darted aae I locked the car The tall carved wooden doors to the nondeno open The stone interior was dark

I passed a double row of flat raniteHard to decide which I preferred at such a quick exalass door The reception area was empty, the desk bare except for a neat stack of postcards depicting the crematorium What kind of person would you write to on one of those? I spotted a discreet sign saying press buzzer for service attached to a device about the size of an electric letter opener I pressed a lever Magically, a woman appeared from around the corner I wasn’t really up on the fine points of cemetery ethics so, of course, I told a lie "Hello I wonder if you could helpthe sa She was in her forties, dressed in priray wool dress with a touch of white at the neck I was sporting my usual jeans and tennis shoes "I certainly hope so," she said She kept her judgment in reserve just in case I was rich and had a passel of dead relatives in need of lavish burial

"I believe my aunt is buried here and I need to know the date she died Myhome and she’s worried because she can’t reive me the name"

"The last name is Bronfen Her first name was Anne"

"Just a moment" She disappeared It was hard to picture how she’d find the information Was all this stuff on a computer somewhere? In some old file cabinet in the back? If the date and place of death didn’t coincide with Bronfen’s story, I was going to do so and see if I could coht mean a few phone calls to Tucson, Arizona, but I’d feel better knohat had really happened to Anne

She returned in a re a white index card which she passed to me There wasn’t much on the face of it, but it was all pertinent I soaked up the typed information in a flash Surnae, forty Birthdate, January 5, 1900 Sex, female Color, white Place of birth, Santa Teresa, California Place of death, Tucson, Arizona