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I spent the next two nights at Motel 6 tossing and turning I hate sleeping in unfamiliar beds Whenever I shut my eyes, I saw Ed’s body and the knife And all that blood

I returned toon the couch Not for all the money in the world would I enter the bedroo crew had rendered the cri that the stateht not have made sense Restless and fretful, I called my husband’s office Brant answered I asked if Ed had shown up for work thehe’d been murdered, and when he’d left

“Yes, he was here,” Brant said, in his condescending nasal way “But he le

ft around nine-thirty-ish for aI told the cops”

“But you didn’t go with him? Any reason?”

“No,” Brant snapped “He said it was personal I have no idea where he went, if that’s your next question”

“So you were there all ?”

There was a long pause “No,” he said Wariness had crept into his voice “I got a phone call and had to leave for a while”

My head was spinning, but I pressed on “When was that? What time”

“Right after your husband left” His words were strained, as if spoken through clenched teeth “And it’s none of your beeshere I went and what I did”

“Okay” I hung up on him Rude, but who did he think he was?

The doorbell rang I checked the peephole It was Roz In all the exciteotten about her

I opened the door She rushed in and squeezed“Are you okay, sweetie?” she asked “Is there anything I can do?”

“I’ll be okay, Roz” My voice was small and flat Roz shut the door and, arm around me, walked me to the sofa “Sit, sit,” she said “Tell me what happened”

I recounted it the best I could—the parts the police said I could tell, anyway—about finding Ed’s body, the knife, the blood, the photos—while ih asp at the appropriate moments When I was finished, she said, “Oh, sweetie I had no idea Ithose photos with men in them”—she made a face—”that must have been quite a shock” She looked pained