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"You going in now?" Knox asked

"Yes," Sean said

"You wait here,with me, Detective," Sean said "She’ll be with h Knox’s frown ue "This case is looking more and more like an in-house situation, Detective Madison knows all the players on the stage now, and I may not She probably knows the killer, and I would say fairly well"

"In-house," Knox ent Cauess you’d call that in-house"

"Coood detective or you wouldn’t be on this And you knoell as I do that what’s most obvious isn’t always the truth"

"In this case? I don’t know I really don’t" Knox wasn’t being a wiseass, Madison thought; he was serious The subdued way he spoke scared her for Eddiewith obvious We’re investigating Madison is fa of this studio and the cinema, inside and out She’s with me" The last was quiet and firue was clearly there, but he didn’t persist She wondered what kind of power Sean and his people had--exactly who they were, she wasn’t sure

Knox nodded "Hands gloved, feet bagged," he said

"Of course," Sean agreed

At the entry there was a box of supplies Madison followed suit as Sean put plastic covers over his shoes and pulled latex gloves on his hands She fuloves on, perhaps because Knox was behind the her every move

The three of the, a plastic box filled with vials in his arh the theater, she saw that Sean looked at everything, fros, the cinema itself--and the office As they reached the tunnel, she heard two of the techs talking

"Hazmat will have fun with this one," so! You should’ve seen that murder site up on the hill The killer wrote in blood everywhere Wonder if that place will ever sell," another voice responded

"This is Hollywood--you can sell anything," the first man said "Let’s finish up here I’m ready for a drink"

The techs nodded as they passed Knox, Sean and Madison

"Your tea?" Knox asked

"Sir, if we covered any more, we’d have to take the walls," the man said

"Good"

As theyin on thehway, th

When they reached the tunnel, she felt dizzy The s

TheIt was an hoone era of film, one that played an ih Madison preferred romantic comedy, fantasy, adventure and horror, she loved the feel of the little museum She’d learned new respect for film noir because of it, and she was impressed by the accuracy and detail of the old tableaux

Today, it was different The artistry seeone; it was merely a tunnel with props and policerapher was still snapping photos and tape outlined the place where the body had fallen The last tableau at the rear, the Saraphed, fingerprinted and invaded

Madison focused on that tableau, not wanting to see the blood on the floor

It wasn’t prop blood It wasn’t chocolate, as Hitchcock had used for the black-and-white murder scene in Psycho It was real blood, and the person who’d shed that blood was now dead

Thankfully, the body had been taken to the ue Despite what Madison had said, and despite all the ti creatures that were sometimes heroic anddown here She wondered if she’d ever be able to co about what had happened last night

She’d come for a reason! she reminded herself She had to be here

She stood several feet from the tape that marked the position of the body and tried not to see the re techs or pay attention to Sean Cameron as he moved about the room Eventually he came to theas still as she was, as if he felt the air and aiting for soe that would speak to hirapher packed up his equipment and told Knox he was done Soon the other techs left, too, and then there were just the three of them For a moment, the silence around them seeyptian Museu at the tableau "And Alistair Archer swears that so--came out of that tableau and attacked Jenny Henderson"

"The priest--Amun Mopat, I understand," Madison said

"Indeed, the priest And he’s still wearing his robe"