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"bronze nicely, and co just like an Adonis!"

They all laughed, but Stephanie did so uneasily

Clay Barton didn’t just look like he’d suffered sunburn, or even a reaction like a rash He looked as if he’d char-broiled--and just on the arm

The arm where he’d had saltwater

The police came

They took picture after picture

Everyone spoke excitedly--so tears Maria had been a beautiful young girl

No otten to her," Carlo said, shaking his head sadly

Grant thought that was a very curious conjecture

Had the animals chewed her up--and then reburied her?

She’d been ripped to shreds--yes, that much was obvious But still, hoas it that she had been buried in a mound of dirt?

He was certain that the police had to be asking the same questions

A nu different policemen from different local areas Word would be put out across all of Calabria, Sicily, and the rest of Italy, and even over to Greece that the police should be on the lookout for a psychotic killer There had been soument between the lawmen, and Carlo told Grant it was because certain of the officers wanted the body taken as far away as Naples for an autopsy, but the local authorities were ada to be hysterical enough She was traditional and Catholic, and the body needed to reher state authorities would prevail

They didn’t Maria’s body would relance, the local coroner--as an MD and a respected medical man--could only tell them that he would assuns, it appeared that she had been dead before heror even before she would have been at the job where her ht she had been all day

And after that… ?

And as to the condition of the body… ?

There had been sothat Grant hadn’t even noticed the last arrival He was sitting on a log with a bottle of water, just feeling the misery of their find, when the person he least expected--and least wanted to see--found a place beside hi out here?" he asked Clay Barton

"We had a break I figured if I drove out, and traffic was good, I’d have about fifteenback," Clay replied He gazed tohere they were just taking the girl’s remains from the earth "So they found her"

"Chewed to smithereens," Grant said dully

"Did you see the body?" Clay asked hi found it"

"How… did she die?"

"Are you kidding? I don’t think that an entire forensic team could tell you that She’s chewed… in pieces

I don’t knohat the hell kind of an ani--but we’re talking… limbs barely still attached"

"Did you see… her neck Her throat?" Clay persisted

Grant turned to stare at him "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did It was crusted with dried blood--like the rest of her Chewed Gnawed What the hell? Are you into practicing soe forered by the question, strange eyes flashing a warning sign Fine Bring it on Grant was dying to throw a punch at his jaw More than that He was dying to tear into hi to control his te to do the sa

"I’ve heard of other such deaths," Clay said

"Maybe you should talk to the police The place is crawling with them Carlo can be your interpreter"

Clay Barton cast hilance, which seemed to carry contempt "No need," he said simply

To Grant’s amazement, the other irl

He began to speak in Italian, rapidly, and it seemed that his accent was perfect For soely against the raw edges of his temper

He was further astounded when the cops and forensics people replied to him, stepped back and away, and allowed hiave hiloves It seeer--an actor, for God’s sake--had asked to see the corpse And inspect it

Then Maria Britto was zipped up, and there was shouting, and she was taken to a an to drive away

Clay walked back to hi to the rehearsal?"

"Oh, you bet," Grant assured hiripped him and headed for his own rental car There was no way in hell he wasn’t going to be there--ahead of Clay--for the rehearsal

Word reached Stephanie regarding the horrible discovery of Maria Britto as soon as she entered the club through the backstage doors

Dreas there, and he looked ashen "They found the girl," he told her

"The young Italian girl?"

"Maria Britto"