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It wasn’t as if the idea caradually taking shape Bobby had been out here all by hi for the handgun that had Nola’s fingerprints on it He kneho had hidden it, so heplace I had to guess that he’d found the gun and that’s why he was killed Maybe he’d actually retrieved it, but I didn’t think so I’d been operating on the assumption that it was still hidden out here and that still seeood bet He’dthe ID nues of a radiology h an to connect Maybe you should X-ray the corpse, said I to myself Maybe that’s what Bobby did and maybe that’s why he un is inside the corpse I thought about it briefly, but I couldn’t see why I shouldn’t give it a try The worst that could happen (aside fro ti a colossal fool ofand the manuals on one of the X-ray tables and went next door to the urney against the right wall I was on auto what I knew had to be done There was still no sign of Alfie Leadbetter and no one was going to help , so maybe it was just as well that no one knehat I was up to The building was deserted It was early yet Even if I fumbled the X-ray procedure, it couldn’t hurt the dead lass bunk where the body lay I pretended I was a ue attendant I pretended I was an X-ray technician or a nurse, sohly professional person with a job to do

"Sorry to disturb you, Frank," I said, "but you have to go next door for soood"

Tentatively, I reached out and eased a hand under Franklin’s neck and knees and pulled, slipping hily light, and cold to the touch, about the consistency of a package of raw chicken breasts just out of the fridge God, I thought, why do I plague es? I’d never be motivated to learn to cook at this rate

It took incredible ue and out into the corridor, then into the reception area of the radiology offices and into one of the X-ray roourney up parallel to the X-ray table and shoved the body into place I raised and lowered the nose cone a couple of ti its overhead track until it was right over Franklin’s abdoure out how far away from the body it should be Meanwhile, since I intended to take soht I better find soh the four cabinets in the roo I circled the room There was a shallow cupboard mounted on the wall, like a fuse box with double doors A strip oftape was pasted on one side, with the word exposed printed on it in ballpoint pen A second strip of tape said unexposed I opened that door There were fil trays I took one out

I went over to the table and studied the layout of the machinery I didn’t see any way to slide the cassette into the apparatus above the table, but there was a sliding tray in the table itself, just under the padded edge I pulled it out and inserted the cassette I hoped I had guessed right about which side should be up Looked right to me Maybe I could fashion a whole new career out of this

I figured Franklin didn’t need protecting, so I picked up the full-length lead apron and put it on oalie in a hockey match Actually, I’d never seen an X-ray technician running around in one of these things, but it made me feel secure I pointed the nose cone at Franklin’s belly, about three feet up, and then went behind the screen in one corner of the rooh until I found diagraes with little arrow-shaped pointers at rest, ready to whip into the green zone, the yellow, or the red at the flick of a switch There was a lever on the right marked "power supply," which I flipped to the "on" position Nothing went on A puzzlement I flipped it off and then checked the wall toswitches that I shifted froenerated I flipped the power supply lever to "on" again The reat