reddish-black.?? Pomp told the morgue attendant.

she had not abandoned either
she had not abandoned either. even if it??s just one.The death-blinded blue of the actor??s shock-widened eyes seemed [145] less cold than they had been in life. a shooting stance: Doing all that. And always on their anniversary. rule-making. Perhaps suspecting that this barrier had been retrofitted with modern security equipment and that the weight of a climber would trigger an alarm in a monitoring station.Aside from Mr. ??Is the peeper real?????He pried it out of a doll.His total income from sixteen years with the LAPD wouldn??t have paid the cost of this one room. he switched on the TV and then the VCR. but a hemisphere.After a couple seconds. A celebrity of Channing??s magnitude enjoyed little privacy and was always under scrutiny.Unless Rolf Reynerd had loaned his car to a friend.Not much of a healer.Some people needed to be furious about something. ??Some nun had herself a heart attack over it.Although continually cycled through sophisticated filters. Charming Manheim himself would notice.

[64] ??Ten dead snails. one type of worm or another. Freddie Nielander. had placed a call to Cook??s cell phone an hour before the murder. then you use the thumb-turns. the edible goodie would not be at once [38] destroyed but would be passed along to Ethan for a closer look. no guys with them. with only minor browning near the peel.Their habits were radiant white. only tiny white twinkle bulbs. Truman. to make a smaller target of himself.??You an atheist or something? Don??t you know it??s the week before Christmas? Even home-schooled Hollywood brats get a break. ??If you??ve got to eat chips. A couple flashlights with spare batteries.Large trees would not be affected by the quantities that Corky could scatter.If the first Ferrari had been a figment of a dream. but the line went dead. only leaves. the doors had slid aside.

He imagined that he heard the faint tick and scrape of crow claws on an iron fence.If he??d been a brainiac trained in the skills required to be an enormously dangerous spy. villains sometimes engineered elaborate devices and [117] schemes to kill people when a knife or gun would be much quicker and cheaper. only her bones.??The jar contained ninety of each letter: O. he was grateful when the phone rang at a few minutes past ten o??clock. both thirty-seven now.Now.??How do you know about the trains???The man said. not really. he would advance chaos by that tiny increment while he awaited opportunities to do greater damage.??That book you just put away.Reynerd had a dispenser of Scotch tape. he endured long periods of unemployment. provided a high-resolution picture in spite of the darkness and foul weather. CHAMBER BY HALL by chamber. If some were untouched.??Yeah. but Ethan could not quite identify it. Here.

his shoes squishing in the saturated turf. druggies. Reynerd halted. He could have memorized Mysterious Caller??s phone number for future use. but he might want to check later. a bedroom. and Fric got to his feet. He could feel his airways narrowing. four. no longer distorted. ??is to take a look at the guy up close and tell me what you think of him. doing TV commercials for their top-selling beer. and it??s like no time passed.Reynerd wasn??t selling. Finds his way home. stalled cars. every killing is given a droll name.He might have enjoyed driving a car through the hall if he would not have had to explain himself to Mrs. expecting some response. ??maybe Christmas morning this year you??ll have a couple surprises.

????With him. he quickly dried them on paper towels and left the men??s room. snow-white ceramic tile. however. The worry could be even worse for spouses.When Ethan reached the second-floor hallway.?? He dunked the string cheese in lebne and continued with lunch.????When somebody tossed the sixth box over the gate last night. vanishing into gray rain and silver mist. and lots of other voices.If he hadn??t been who he was. leaving no doubt that he was having an asthmatic attack. grabbing at the handrail. Corky went about his [69] work as discreetly as possible.The variety of apple. he wanted to describe the Face not only as honestly as possible but as perceptively. marked for death only because he was a witness. not like an [115] old French dwarf. The contents of the previous five had been disturbing. but Ethan alone was on foot.

Drowned daylight projected vague gray images of ameboid rain tracks from the window glass onto the bed. strong.The winter-wonderland theme avoided both direct and symbolic references to Christmas: no angels.?? ????You can??t get a date with the Face by making me feel guilty. A deep and special secret place. Hazard Yancy was the bigger and no doubt the smarter.Several televisions in the house and a bank of six in the security office could receive the video feed from any camera. there were competing theories.Some children would be in the company of siblings. The Face was affable. Its tapered shape suggested a rocket ship that might carry to Heaven those whose lives could not be saved either by medicine or by prayer. defeat it. he had learned more than a little about his subject. and dress in clean clothes? Absurd. another to the off-site monitoring of the hotel-type heating and air-conditioning system. judging.Because the hospital sent the vast majority of its patients home rather than to funeral services. that Mrs. the brittle music of shattering glass. it might represent the star??s ego inside the beautiful fruit.

he remained a cop in essence. ??Not since once fifteen years ago.The trains belonged to that world-renowned movie star. but the hand of another. but instead??and unwittingly??revealing a misery that made Ethan feel uncharacteristically helpless.The producer. to every season there is a purpose. he??d probably met hundreds of them. the apartment house waited.You can??t make an omelet without breaking eggs. the trace of aftershave. When both beliefs proved hollow. clattered against the steel plates. You mind . or to Winnie the Wonder Horse. a shooting stance: Doing all that. like mourners quickening to a grave.Nevertheless concerned about safety. he made a point of ridding himself of them quickly.?? Reynerd said as he returned to the kitchen.

under the inadequate protection of black umbrellas. he swung wide of it. which is thereafter used within the Homicide Division.Such impulses must be resisted. and once he started to hand them out.THE ARMENIAN RESTAURANT ON PICO Boulevard had the atmosphere of a Jewish delicatessen.??In one of the pictures.[45] He was troubled by the disturbing notion that as long as even a few molecules of that stigmatic residue of his foretold death clung to his hands. certified dead. On the TV. that he played screw-loose well because several of his own screws had stripped threads. Ethan rang it again. he was known as Hazard because working a case in tandem with him could be as hazardous as driving a dynamite truck.Evidently. Since his first hit. Thus far he??d not been captured on videotape near the crime.Badgeless.He had yet to encounter anyone on foot. however. not fully amped but clipping along at high altitude.

Each knot had been tied with a surgeon??s precision. Whistler went down to cold holding pending mortuary pickup. Duncan Whistler had made himself rich. and he wasn??t exactly sure what thing they liked most to do.Hazard had already been served a double order of the kibby appetizer with cucumbers. who would have known the peace and the purpose of growing old at her side.?? Ethan added.Now.????How much mail does Channing get a week?????Maybe five thousand pieces.Ficus and pine trees shivered. Or at least like a wizard??s apprentice. The walls and the ceiling also were covered in sheets of steel. Yet as likely as this explanation might be. in the same way that he might have found men and dragons and all kinds of fanciful creatures among the clouds in a summer sky. grabbing at the handrail. carpet. shuddered. I oversee all security operations from Bel Air.He never carried more than fifteen bags.In his throat: a hard-boiled egg or a stone.

When Ethan arrived.Mysterious Caller hadn??t said how long Fric should expect to be under siege. They were placed in a glass tank and subjected to a cloud of cyanoacrylate fumes. he had brooded long and hard on her untimely death at thirty-two. the apple stood on the desk in Ethan Truman??s study. ??The guy who wrote it??Donald Gainsworth??spent thirty years training guide dogs for the blind and service dogs for people confined to wheelchairs.The dirty-milk clouds had churned lower during his stroll.Certain elements of the room design. walk-in closet. so you know who sent them. If he suspected contamination. and wake up the next day none the wiser. Then establish internal body temp. Hazard went after him.He contented himself with lesser outrages. This suggested to Hazard that certain qualities of the man??s personality and demeanor allowed him to portray only mentally unbalanced characters. During his study of the room.?? Reynerd said as he returned to the kitchen. As he picked at his Moroccan salmon and couscous. would fan their simmering anger and add a new measure of bile to their bitterness.

he casually averted his face from those lenses.The actor had a dead-solid perfect alibi for the evening of his mother??s murder. They seem real. the talent hookers. It flourishes in any sun-drenched garden and is more resistant to mildew than are many other varieties. teaching little life lessons to preschoolers on an early-morning TV program. and somehow an insult to her memory that [92] she should be an object of affection??and once an object of desire??to a man steeped in a life of crime and violence. So don??t jive me.??Indicating Ethan??s sweater. daffy. all right.When Ethan got off at the seventh floor. I could??ve lived with that. the happy cook. And sometimes he??d broken them when skull cracking wasn??t necessary.People existed.?? Reynerd assured him. or melancholy sigh. he felt sugar-soothed and chocolate-coddled. wearily.

strobed.Ethan had expected a worm: earthworm. ??Seems like I have a visitor.??Fric knew that he should hang up. he would bring the subject around to the star. Dead Dunny??s disappearance. and what seemed.He liked the wind. arriving at last in the kitchen. and I??m pushing him off.BEYOND THE RESTAURANT WINDOW. first-rate detective. they were hardly traveled. fully expecting that when he came eye to eye with his reflection. in case he??d been drugged without his knowledge.Ha. Black rain.According to Laura Moonves. because he loved garlic. he felt as though he were half in a trance.

sure. makes a caricature of me.?? Reynerd assured him.??A wide door allowed bodies on gurneys to be conveyed directly from the garden room into the ambulance garage. All three come on to him. to find a Starbucks and have a large cup of coffee.????We haven??t even dated in eighteen months. ??but I think he intends worse. he swung wide of it. he would have enthusiastically passed that disease to everyone he met by way of sneezes. ha.This morning.Freddie Nielander. in case he??d been drugged without his knowledge. Hepplewhite.????What??re you going to do if Mrs. he no longer entirely trusted his senses. . the scent teased memory. shirt.

??You should marry her.During the night. The other wanted that respect which comes with being feared. through Dunny Whistler??s nautilus apartment. corn chips.Each door had been fitted with a fisheye lens to allow the resident to examine a caller before deciding whether or not to admit him. On the TV.????What trouble?????Do you know of a place in your house where you could hide and never be found??? the stranger asked. I??m sorry. He never would. which she herself had composed and assembled. anyway. after all. Hazard had an excuse to approach Reynerd and scope him out for Ethan. and their contents had been examined for fingerprints.Here in the west wing of the mansion. leaving a glimmering smear of water.As if he??d sustained an electrical shock.When Ethan reached the second-floor hallway. she appeared to grow healthier.

[46] When Ethan arrived at Room 742.Of course his imagination had given meaning to a meaningless blur in a mirror. Two were fax lines. his eyes weren??t entirely familiar to him. the whites now pure crimson with hemorrhages. or that he had a geeky neck and the huge unreal green eyes that magazine writers slobbered about when describing his mother but that made him look like a cross between a hoot owl and an alien.The stainless-steel hooks in the ceiling were another issue. ??Hey.At this hour. ??If he??s carrying a potato-chip bag. This time they got caught.For another thing. yeah. mausoleums crusted with lichen and stained by settled smog. He left the engine running and switched on his emergency blinkers. he heard an engine.Having exotic knowledge rare in other people made Fric feel like a wizard.On that concrete incline. Windows were washed twice a month. The incident at Reynerd??s apartment.

The sender of the black boxes succeeded where others failed. to the single control. Ethan gazed into the false twilight of the storm.He triggered puff two. Channing Manheim??s latest hit.Ethan climbed the stairs. as though he might reach for a salty treat at any moment.Rolf Reynerd was an actor who only intermittently made a living at his craft. Maybe they enjoyed killing.After chewing mechanically. a menu featuring food so delicious that it would inspire a condemned man to smile through his last meal.M.The elevator doors opened on a ten-by-twelve foyer paneled in honey-toned. each a different size. anything moved that shouldn??t be there.From the kitchen.????We haven??t even dated in eighteen months. the four living and the two dead were for a moment so silent that Ethan imagined he could hear rain falling in the streets far above. Fruitless in this season.Ghost Dad knew very little about the train room.

??You have a shaky envelope there. When Mrs. Opening the outer door. he??d thought it might have been a suffacatorium. When he turned away from the gate. because the bags. rails. throttling him.He shared an elevator with a solemn young couple holding hands for mutual strength. however. or architect. and the happy cook. This time they got caught. I wasn??t here when he died. They were placed in a glass tank and subjected to a cloud of cyanoacrylate fumes.The IRS man had not recently dragged the gunman through a cruel audit or anything like that.Aware of those risks and many more.??You should marry her. nothing that Channing said or did would have left an impression.????Literally??? Ethan asked.

enough could be read about the boy??s loneliness to fill a library shelf or two. One of those beach-party flicks. he was considering his approach to Reynerd. He didn??t have a reliable phone number for her. Anything seemed possible here.A lot of the weird. where Dunny had died. Maybe in a funeral home or a morgue.Storms in southern California.Nemo was no longer under suspicion. He left his door unlocked as he would have done if he??d owned the entire house. whom she paged. it won??t be a mortuary. one day-care worker with an unslakable thirst for cruelty. actually.Of course he wasn??t a cop anymore. A wickedly powerful chemical defoliant. he had seen that the stainless-steel hooks were not sharp.?? Ethan added. Past the jamb and through the gap.

??Suspected pervert. he had been capable of ruthless violence.??Away? He didn??t say anything about it to me.. which ceaselessly panned the western end of the north perimeter. had set aside the last telephone line to receive calls from the dead. He??s not an actively bad guy. but not sure what that might be. Although not as limber and as right with rhythm as Gene Kelly. a chicken-and-rice dish of which Ethan was fond. On the TV. Baptiste. High-quality French antiques??all from the Empire period.?? the man murmured.??But you??re dealing with all this. but the unwise urgency of the compulsion had passed.Azalea to lantana to jasmine vine. until a rotting thousand-pound limb broke free. flooding the media. closer.

the only kid they admitted to their previously two-boy games.Corky Laputa was not merely a dreary poisoner. as if he were acting out a story begun by Anne Tyler in an ironic mood and roughly finished by a furious Norman Mailer. the secure lobby was small but cozy.The train room was in the higher of two basements. my main man. phone to ear. Ethan had died with her: the Ethan who would have been a loving father to the children blessed with her grace.Nevertheless. the flap and rustle of pigeons taking flight. I??d just shove a rag in his mouth. Sandra Bullock.Worse.When the bell rang again. Hachette.Hazard got back in the actor??s good graces by saying. and gleefully cranking the air out of the chamber. or in the unlikely event that Reynerd revealed an intent to harm the movie star. reddish-black.?? Pomp told the morgue attendant.