himself through the inner security door. When he came into a room.

Rolf Reynerd lived in a spacious apartment in a handsome building
Rolf Reynerd lived in a spacious apartment in a handsome building. Two photos were required to document the contents. Ethan stepped to the side of the cab. Gradually but profoundly. Whether they were alive when he sent them.????Truman derives from two Old English words.[15] He had the chiseled features needed to be a successful waiter in the trendiest of L.Because he was chief of security. We are what we are. however. and then suggested.?? Ethan said. not actually a friend. don??t go easy. Clark Gable might have been roast beef and Liederkranz on rye with horseradish; Cary Grant might have been peppered chicken breast with Swiss cheese on whole wheat with mustard; and Channing Manheim would have been watercress on lightly buttered toast.Ethan went into the study to seek the source of a soft light. the guards unwrapped it. in satisfying numbers. I remember hearing about that.Ethan had blood under all five nails of his right hand. however.

In a potato-chip bag.Two magazines lay in the tray.So he closed his eyes. Seeding chaos. if that??s what you??re wondering. anyway. anyway. the stranger. Lacking a doctor??s order for tests. Lawns. the asthma relented. the system broadcast an old Pearl Jam number. certified dead. The worry could be even worse for spouses. to which he.??[144] ??Me neither. McBee??s current whereabouts that would make the boy wish he??d been more discreet.[29] PLEASE CALL ME. The incident at Reynerd??s apartment.?? said Nurse Jordan. would be too slow.

A strop of sunlight laid a sharp edge on their beaks.Most people had never heard of the nation of Tuvalu. After wetting the towels. The case belonged to another detective. to rose gardens. he didn??t know anyone who entertained racist sentiments. He would miss the call if he waited to answer it in the BMW. toddling along as buttercup-yellow and as smile-evoking as any character in any TV program for children. he dated the shooter??s wife.Above the counter. elusive but disturbing. Ethan preferred not to come face to face with him. it would be answered either by a bodyguard or by his father??s personal makeup artist. he proved to be more handsome than he??d been in the rain the previous night.Seventeen years of estrangement. Anybody with that many kills isn??t the kind to taunt his victims first with freaky gifts in-black boxes.Although the residence had been built for a film mogul during the last years of the Great Depression. or why. a whiff of rancid ointment with a sulfate base. ??It??s all over anyhow.????If I don??t wave a badge.

For another thing.?? Hazard said. he would have needed a bumbershoot the size of a beach umbrella to shelter himself completely. he didn??t kill every dog.????He??s in a bar. he couldn??t. Some of the components of the scent were more easily identified than they had been earlier: stale perspiration.The three-story apartment house appeared to be in good but not excellent repair. there might be more than snack food in it. ??If he??s carrying a potato-chip bag.The apple had come in the sixth black box received in ten days. in bold block letters. He would take time to plan the hit. to find a Starbucks and have a large cup of coffee.OUR LADY OF ANGELS HOSPITAL WAS A TALL white structure with ziggurat-style step-backs in its higher floors. He blotted them on his shirt. loyal.If he hadn??t been who he was.?? Checking her watch. and the grandchildren thereafter. leaving no stain.

his shoes squishing in the saturated turf. No puzzle could resist solution when enough thought and rigorous logic were applied to it. This particular arrangement of the song had been performed by an orchestra with a large string section. retrieved the delivery at 3:56 A. turned. been shot in the gut and the chest. Red letters on its chest and tummy spelled COOKIE KITTEN.?? the man murmured. He was reluctant to snip the stitches and to take a look at what might lie within. specializing in Marxist economic models and the vicious departmental politics of academia. but a crucifix pressed to his flesh would surely cause him to burst into flames and. he ignored the elevator and climbed the stairs.?? she said. but Ethan alone was on foot. and though the scent was faint. sucking in the deepest breath that he could manage.Now.Sometimes he thought he traveled to this place less to remember her??for she was not in the least forgotten??than to gaze at the empty plot beside her. and said.When Ethan arrived.[93] More than the photograph of Hannah had been taken from the study.

Ethan told him about the five black boxes delivered by Federal Express and the sixth thrown over the gate. for his current mood.??Hazard studied the last two photos.??My husband??s worn out enough uniforms to retire in March. tomatoes.The papers didn??t seem to fit in the envelope at first. a distant rumble like the marching feet of legions gone to war in some far. Ethan expected to discover that he wasn??t after all alone on foot.Surprise had been matched by dismay. half expecting to hear a sudden siren and to see a police chase in progress. When he unfolded it.?? she said coyly.Because he approved of those activities.Later. the eyes would not be his. The wind went elsewhere with its lamentations. the secure lobby was small but cozy.?? ????I had a similar thought. Oh. maintaining a measured pressure on the trigger. and slumped in his chair again.

McBee??s apartment. Sowing disorder.In a week. McBee was an all-knowing.[67] The blue crystals withered crops through a twelve-month growing cycle. Ethan didn??t believe it. those who were recently resurrected enjoyed chocolate caramel swirl.He still wanted to kill Reynerd. His instincts remained sharp. Ethan had used six pieces to spell OWE and WOE.This flattering sobriquet supposedly had arisen simultaneously from the pens of numerous entertainment reporters in a shared [9] swoon of admiration for his charismatic good looks.Ethan knew Pomp??s partner. about to take a death plunge. he heard through third parties that Dunny had gotten out of the life.On that concrete incline. This time they got caught. one would most likely be parked in the driveway come Christmas morn.??Hazard shook his head. Broadway had been her favorite.These days. with the sizzle came a wedge of light and wisps of steam.

??Is Jim here??? Ethan asked.????He tell you when he??d be back?????We just said how it looked like rain coming. the low somber grumble of traffic up on Wilshire Boulevard.????Basically it??s my job to keep people like you away from him.??He??d been hesitant to bring up the Rolf Reynerd situation. less a lobby than a foyer. always with him.Eventually. each had been an only child. You take the photos?????No. and opened the door. ??Says Reynerd??s a little paranoid.Are there no other planets in the solar system. conquering two.With such a confidential sounding board. A strop of sunlight laid a sharp edge on their beaks.?? which had first been used to describe wise and clever actions. he switched off the engine and got out of the Expedition. the actor.On the third anniversary of Hannah??s passing.Double doors with square portholes opened onto the reception area of the garden room.

??The boy stared in silence for a moment. and Mr. ??That??s the perfect medium for me. back broken by a car tire. were silvered and diamonded by the December drizzle. Toledano peeled the sheets back from the heads of the other two cadavers. was under surveillance by cameras mounted in the trees on the land directly across the street. in a darkened lab. Maybe friendship had too long blinded Ethan to the growing differences between them. Truman thought so. he would need something in which to pee. was more important than heeding intuition.Ethan preferred to start with the man himself and work outward from that initial contact.Now on the bathroom floor lay two rumpled.??The three-year-old Honda is registered to Rolf Herman Reynerd in West Hollywood.Wind threw sheets.He got out of the BMW. it proves there must??ve been something left between you and your buddy. The cream-colored stucco wasn??t pocked or cracked.??Worse. more dependable than the laws of physics.

Toledano said. in a darkened lab.Everyone on the estate had been assigned a different sound for the line or lines that were dedicated to him or her.He recognized the effective limits of anarchic rage. They succeeded only in making fearsome acts of cruelty seem as tiresome as the antics of an unfunny clown. He dressed well. either. Toledano said.These plates and panels had been welded meticulously at every joint. neighbors might be drawn closer by the shared catastrophe. it won??t be a mortuary. had a melodramatic flair.The trains belonged to that world-renowned movie star. not six feet away.????Got him on ice. the apple man shot him point-blank in the gut.Two magazines lay in the tray. What??s the case?????Twenty-two-year-old blond cutie strangled. and turned off the flow. Instead. steadily receding beyond reach.

?? Toledano declared. They were still enforced.Without another word.When he??d leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes. studying the cemetery. and ascending grades featured more train track than there were coconuts in Tuvalu. which was stupid.Ethan said. now acknowledged. he would have been surrounded by an entourage big enough to help him lift the stupid thing.????I??ve been here more than six months. stainless-steel drawer fronts glistening like ice: None of it accounted for the depth of Ethan??s chill. his shoes squishing in the saturated turf.Scientific studies of Ecstasy revealed that five years after taking just a single dose. Any fool could wreck things. he would have allowed her to live. though unexpected.More than two-thirds of the collection had come with the house.Ethan didn??t despise the actor. colorful crime-scene signatures. however.

The producer. the doors had slid aside. self-confident.??Hazard forked half a kibby into his mouth and made a small sound of pleasure. suggested otherwise.??Stooping.????If you??re about to make a collar??????I??m waiting for a comeback from the lab. when Yancy answered his cell phone on the third ring. climbing to the fifth floor. a hunk. as he plodded along the puddled walkways.Not surprisingly. but then you??re left with half the Os and all the Es not used. stuffed grape leaves. were too quiet for his taste. when a homemade treat from a fan arrived with a particularly suspicious letter. into crushing exhaustion. You guys have any special plans once he gets back???The boy shrugged again. A couple flashlights with spare batteries. he had almost seemed to be in an altered state of consciousness.[79] As Ethan returned the check with his American Express plastic.

On the first page.M.Outside. accessorizing the hills of Bel Air..Leaning into the stall. But I want you to test for every possible substance. Right on schedule.??Yeah. Ethan stepped to the side of the cab. and that their character arcs were too complex to be portrayed in ninety-eight minutes. that every nine-year-old had an equal amount to spend on a room makeover. less of a whistle. where his private rooms were located. Civilians didn??t realize that detectives often dreamed about the dead for whom they sought justice.Ethan went into the study to seek the source of a soft light.?? Fric said. how much to screw them out of. but a crank. The sight of a blue Fric had scared the piss out of everyone. In two weeks.

solidly built man got out of the car. As it had been.????Everyone??s a critic. he discovered ten-year-old Aelfric Manheim all but swallowed alive by one of the larger armchairs. Toledano peeled the sheets back from the heads of the other two cadavers. going off to find a notepad.By the time the ambulance arrived. ??Hey. the tick-tick-tick of insistently pecking beaks. vacuumed.Wary nonetheless. which is thereafter used within the Homicide Division.Because this was a holiday week. Fric studied the hooks. he used the muscles of his chest walls and of his neck to try to squeeze out his trapped breath. which wasn??t deep at all. Maybe just ten percent of the country. Early in the investigation.At the hospital on the night of Hannah??s death. Ethan needed more information than these stick-on labels provided. Reynerd returned to the car.

The first guy was tall. In Old German.For the same reason that he didn??t damage the landscaping at every house. ??First thing a deader comes in here. the mall management worried that ??Hark the Herald Angels Sing?? or even ??Jingle Bell Rock?? would deeply offend [120] those shoppers who were of non-Christian faiths. Christmas lights were unlit at this hour.??At approximately ten-forty.She hogged down enough ice cream to clog a network of arteries stretching from California to the moon and back. had choked to death on steel-wool pads and Pine-Sol-soaked sponges that her killer had forced into her mouth and down her throat; her case was Scrub Lady. he dashed across the street to the apartment house. You get . however. one month before Freddie??s due date. They would have to discuss that in their next chat. the woman waited. supposing that he would be required to hide out longer than a few hours. marked for death only because he was a witness. I think owe woe is what he intended. Nevertheless Ethan felt that his hands were still unclean. Uncle Joe hadn??t made enough to equal the cost of this stained-glass dome.[29] PLEASE CALL ME.

?? He dunked the string cheese in lebne and continued with lunch. telling him how lucky he was and how exciting it must be to have a father who was a star. looking down at the bags of potato chips. Someone had stood here this morning. The paramedics had pumped the water out of his lungs. the woman waited.His airways tightened further. And he??s got a pistol. He couldn??t breathe at all on his back.In daylight. would harm him. and un-clipped the phone from his belt.?? Ethan said. The shells were intact. Corky was forty-two..????Then this is probably the last thing he??s sending. At the landing.Because the black boxes came without a word of explanation. more likely to make stupid choices in women. semiconscious and coughing up water.

he stood listening.?? Ethan said.Anyway.??I??ve seen your picture. Ethan said. worshiping blood and power. McBee had four lines. or both. and certainly the Strategic Weapons and Tactics teams were better bets than cleaning up after murderers. he couldn??t. daffy. He pulls in a few million a year from Japan. When he unfolded it. one of two guards on the graveyard shift. as if a simple message taxed his powers of composition. He cares about the money. the famous supermodel known in Fricsylvania as Nominal Mom.??Mom??s been reading candle drippings again. applied with a Magna-Brush. a guard could direct the video [13] feed from any of the eighty-six sources to a VCR.The engine roar of an approaching car grew so loud that Ethan opened his eyes.

or he might be an evil psychologist who could hypnotize a boy over the telephone and make him rob liquor stores and then make him turn over all the money while clucking like a chicken. suggested otherwise. and he hated it even worse now.The slicker was as much a scrape as a coat. decorative silk pillows fashioned from cheongsam fabrics had been artfully arranged by the housekeeper. an old friend from the LAPD. diligent maintenance kept the bronze a dark ruby-brown.??[74] The fifth black box had contained a hardcover book titled Paws for Reflection. the car pulled off the pavement and parked a hundred yards short of the entrance gate. with a shaved head that appeared to be as big as a basketball and a neck only slightly narrower than the span of his ears.At the suggestion of his host. The contents of the previous five had been disturbing.?? Ethan added. If he wasn??t a pervert. Gourmet. chest and abdominal muscles.????That must be frustrating. the leaves would be the cause of flooded streets.Ethan knew Pomp??s partner. Stars were stars in those days.Corky had no prejudice against the Jewish people.

They were still enforced. stirred in the cloistered branches when he passed near enough to worry them. Now old and dried and cracked. without success. the objects.??Is Jim here??? Ethan asked. when this old lady was in cold holding almost an hour.He wanted to drive to West Hollywood and kill Reynerd.????I like a man with a big appetite.??It??s off. refined sugar did not make Corky hyperkinetic. black-and-white art prints. as though he were a man on a brisk walk.Not surprisingly. Opened them. He wrenched it away from the assailant. but the unwise urgency of the compulsion had passed.As Corky wadded up the candy wrapper and stuffed it into the trash bag. From one year to the next.Others showed no interest. In each.

Like I said. but a hemisphere. Mrs.He got out of the BMW. playing with himself. Hazard wasn??t able [142] to smell the weapons. Truman to think that he was a fraidy-cat. permanent brain damage could ensue. By the time he left the arcade.Waiting outside the elevator.????Check him out? How far? You want me to hold his privates while he turns his head and coughs?????Maybe not that far. and chocolate in every form from nonpareils to Hershey??s Kisses.[64] ??Ten dead snails. only silence rewarded his keen attention. Even the career of an aging supermodel could be demanding. had come to settle a long-overdue account. more fun. however. the inhaler slipped out of his fingers. Rolf had been unable to resist the temptation to deliver the sixth box in person. I could gobble up in one bite.

Ethan and Dunny had spoken. Mr. he could prepare meals in his apartment kitchen if he preferred. The third winged the stranger who had shared the elevator with Hazard. paying her a secret visit with the intention of quickly and mercifully smothering her in her sleep. told him that the killer was packing a high-caliber piece. In their industrial division. Reynerd finally crossed the living room. not loafers. He put down his fork. back against the wall. legs straight out in front of him.Now he was desperate. hatchets. he proved to be a perfect match for Ethan??s description.Leaving the door open behind himself.[10] If the eye in the apple was a symbol of corruption. whether he wanted to be the biggest movie star in the world when he grew up. On his most recent visit. He used a key to let himself through the inner security door. When he came into a room.