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The tape rewound itself and Bobby caer touch the nape of my neck when I realized who it was

"Hi, Kinsey This is Bobby I’o I know you were just trying to cheercaht I’d pass it on anyway I think the name Blackman ties into this Soave the little red book to or the guy who’s after s Anye can put our heads together later and see if it ot some stuff to do and then I have to see Kleinert I’ll try to get back to you Maybe we can have a drink or soht Bye for now, kid Watch your backside"

I flipped the machine off and stared at it

I reached in my top drawer for the telephone book and hauled it out There was one Black to avoid obscene phone calls I believe in trying for the obvious first I mean, why not? Maybe Sarah, or Susan, or Sandra Blackman knew Bobby and had his little red book, oron and I could wrap the whole thing up with one phone call The nuain, just to double-check The saht still pertain Maybe S Blackman had left town or died mysteriously

I punched the replay button, just to hear Bobby’s voice again I was feeling restless, wondering how to get down to brass tacks on this thing I checked back through Bobby’s file I hadn’t yet talked to his forirl friend Carrie St Cloud, and that seemed like a reasonable possibility Glen had told me she dropped out of the picture after the accident, but shefroivenwho I was and why I wanted to get in touch with her Carrie had apparently o and into a little apartment of her own that she shared with a roo full-time now as an aerobics instructor at a studio on Chapel I made a note of the two addresses, her work and hoed the coffeepot, locked the office, and trotted down the back stairs

The day was overcast, the sky a low ceiling of white A pale gray haze seemed to permeate the streets with chill air After the insufferable heat of the last feeeks, it see from the norm of late It used to be that you could count on clear sunny skies and a ta behind theelse The rains came dutifully in January, teeks of constant downpour, after which the countryside turned e across the face of the town like gaudy makeup Nowadays, there are enexplicable rains in April and October, chilly days like this in August when the te, the sort of climatic alteration associated with the eruption of South Sea volcanoes and ru penetrated by hair sprays

The studio was only half a block away, housed in a forone belly-up once the passion for racquetball had passed With aerobics co in, it made perfect sense to convert all those plain narrow roo ovens for women who yearned to be lean and fit I asked if Carrie was teaching and the woman at the desk pointedmusic that made further conversation unlikely at best I followed the end of her finger and rounded the corner Onan aerobics class in full swing one floor below

The acoustics were griallery while the e female bodies in town exercised with a fanaticisht the class at its apex They were doing buttocks lifts that looked obscene: woht leotards, doing hip thrusts and bun squeezes as if unseen partners were grinding away at theested a second runner-up for a Junior Miss pageant, oractress whose real name is Wanda Maxine Sood looks, the tri white teeth, maybe a little tendency to tap dance She was none of these things

She couldn’t have been more than twenty-tith a body builders , like Greek statuary, with a full mouth, rounded chin The leotard she as a pale yellow Span-dex, defining the wide shoulders and lean hips of a gymnast If she had an ounce of fat on her, I didn’t spy it anyplace She had no breasts to speak of, but the effect was intensely female anyway This was no beach bunny She took herself seriously, and she knehat fitness was about, breezing through the exercises without even breathing hard Every other worateful that all I have to do is jog three ood as she, but it didn’t seem like a bad trade