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"All the blood on the wall for one"

The pause was of the wrong length "What blood? That’s a redwood stain I refinished a piece of porch furniture and knocked the can off on the floor Stuff sprayed all over, went everyplace You never saw such aeffect" I tro sound, and washed allon of ice creae boxes of frozen vegetables His rhyth is in conveying nonchalance

I dried ht have been a part of a pillow case, a paint rag, or a diaper "I drove over to Mt Calvary and looked for Anne’s grave"

"Make your point I got work to do She’s buried with the family on the side of the hill"

"Not quite," I said I leaned against the counter, watching hioods "I went into the office and asked to see the interht her a stone, but there’s no body in the grave Anne left toith Irene in January nineteen forty"

He tried to get huffy, but he couldn’ther all the way from Tucson, Arizona If she wasn’t in the coffin, don’t tell me about it Ask the fellow on the other end who said he put her there"

"Oh, come on," I said "Let’s cut to the chase There wasn’t any husband in Arizona and there weren’t any little kids You made that stuff up You killed Charlotte and Emily You killed Sheila, too Anne was alive until late last night and she told me most of it She said Emily wanted to sell the house and you refused She must have pressed the point and you were forced to eliot Emily out of the way, there was only Anne to worry about Have her declared dead and you collect the whole estate…"

He began to shake his head "You’re a crazy wo to say to you"

I crossed to the wall-mounted telephone near the hall door "Fine with me I don’t care You can talk to Lieutenant Dolan as soon as he gets here"

Noilling to argue the point, any means to delay "I wouldn’t kill anyone Why would I do that?"

"Who knohat your uess I don’t knohy you did it I just know you did"

"I did not!"

"Sure you did Who are you trying to kid?"

"You don’t have a shred of proof You can’t prove anything"

"I can’t, but somebody can The cops are really smart, Patrick, and persistent? My God You have no idea how persistent they are where y will be brought to bear Lab techs, ot experts out the wazoo and what do you have? Nothing A lot of hot air You don’t stand a chance Fifty years ago you ht have fooled ’em, but not these days You’re up shit creek, pal You are totally screwed…"

"Now see here You wait alady I won’t have that kind of talk used in ot standards You’re not going to tolerate a lot of sht?" I turned back to the telephone I had picked up the receiver when theshattered in the back The two acts caether, it looked like cause and effect I pick up the phone, thebreaks out Startled, I juain as the handset thuh the shatteredand reach around to unlock the door One savage kick and the door swung back abruptly and banged against the wall I had grabbed er appeared, his own gun drawn and pointed at me The suppressor created the illusion of a barrel fourteen inches long

This time there was no smile, no aura of sexuality His blond hair stood out around his head in damp spikes His blue eyes were as cold and as blank as stone Patrick had turned, heading toward the front door in haste Messinger fired at hih to forer Spwt! The sound of the silenced45 semiautomatic was almost dainty compared to its effect The force of the bullet drove Patrick into the here he bounced once before he fell Blood and torn flesh bloomed in his chest like a chrysanthe like the calyx of a flower I was staring at hi my face up within an inch of his He shoved the barrel of his gun underso hard it hurt I wanted to protest the pain of it, but I didn’t dare move "Don’t shoot me!"