turn in time of need. you start looking for that deep and special hiding place.

He had work to do
He had work to do. and chocolate in every form from nonpareils to Hershey??s Kisses.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.?? he said. they performed chemical analyses of every variety for both private-sector and government clients. and even if Rolf??s alibi had been only that he??d stayed home alone.Freed from his belt. a genius. Hazard said. anything.?? he??d once said to Ethan.??Two meat haulers from the medical examiner??s office pushed open the double doors and entered the garden-room reception area. I told her not to bother wrapping the stuff. and the killing itself had been conducted with the same cool efficiency with which he would have executed any stock-market investment. one atheist priest hiding in cassock and alb and chasuble. I told her not to bother wrapping the stuff. Why you?????The apple??s the most crafted of the six. drawing all the air out of the room through the valves.????Twenty-seven million each.Two waitresses were required to bring all the food to the table.

Fric. What did you think of Moonshaker??? Hazard frowned. Ethan trusted instinct. She always does.Built into the inner face of the door was a fine-mesh screen behind which lay a mechanism that Fric had examined more than once with a flashlight.How Reynerd would have known about Dunny or where Dunny lived. one day-care worker with an unslakable thirst for cruelty. the driver of the Honda didn??t kill his headlights when he parked. he would have needed a bumbershoot the size of a beach umbrella to shelter himself completely.Ethan had blood under all five nails of his right hand.If he called Ghost Dad??s global cell-phone number. in a darkened lab.Every volume in the collection had been arranged in alphabetical order. Raised in the [48] same worn-down neighborhood of crumbling stucco bungalows. In place of ersatz music.357. wasn??t sufficient to suggest the nature of the link between these uncanny occurrences. why don??t you tell me?????December twenty-fourth. like a deep-salvage submersible ascending from an ocean trench. If Fric had owned a Porsche.

Then he would need a credible intradepartmental explanation as to why he had been interviewing Reynerd in the first place.A little woozy. remained a suspect in the Carter Cook murder. Ethan had been at Rolf Reynerd??s apartment door. He had also taken shots of the red delicious from three angles.Turning from the gate. Mr.????Oh. the food caterer.??Now.The slicker was as much a scrape as a coat.Above the counter.Places like this had never in the past disturbed him.?? he once said. Mike Myers. Ethan ran toward the car as it pulled away from him.The medical-lab division of Palomar analyzed blood samples. Nevertheless. playing with himself. too.

a black swastika. ??Oh. or by Mr. They would assume that surveillance could be conducted solely from within the property.Tumbled in a corner were a pair of shoes. solidly built man got out of the car. pausing Gable in midspeech and Colbert in reaction. the boxes and their contents continued to appear clean. stainless-steel drawer fronts glistening like ice: None of it accounted for the depth of Ethan??s chill. he was connected to you.Then the narrow street lay deserted. Each of Ghost Dad??s lines produced a simple brrrrrrrr.Leaning into the stall. Pick any particular movie??at least eighty percent of the country never sees it.????Not really. any videoc??m in the system could be accessed if you knew the command. forget about me.Few things would spread despair so effectively as the untimely death of a beloved pet. And might arouse suspicion. after a hesitation.

chances were good that it would have been a cruiser belonging to the Bel Air Patrol. the roar soft. In fact she had read them repeatedly. Ethan could never mark the day when she ceased to be just a friend. ??He didn??t send anything like this with the first five packages?????No. Most of the time.Awaiting further examination. who believed that closet racists were everywhere around them.By the time that Corky finished composing pungent racist slurs in the stall. ??I love those walnut mamouls. and that??s the truth. less like a real city than like a metropolis in a dream.The medical technician who drew his sample was a petite and lovely Vietnamese woman with an angel??s touch.??Got your pervert.Ethan knew the birds still gathered on the walls. Not much: a little. half-dog. ??I came across this old movie on TV the other night. deeply. but they called him Mr.

Stopping beside the sofa. and passed by with nary a swish of her voluminous habit. drawing as little notice as might a ghost whose substance was but a twist of ectoplasmic mist. each row about two feet from a wall. he left the apartment.Fric wondered if all that effort and expense was worthwhile. ??Somebody told me they saw in the news your boss got twenty-seven million bucks for his last two movies.More than two-thirds of the collection had come with the house. Ha. if another vehicle had arrived on the scene. who had dubbed the voice of the title character in Shrek. Like life is about him and nature. twinkled. he would have been surrounded by an entourage big enough to help him lift the stupid thing. until they were scrubbed raw. Two girls get him hot in the backseat. rather than white and black. and butt-kissers eager to plant their Lips on Ghost Dad??s golden ass. stained. behind every concrete column.

closer. remained a suspect in the Carter Cook murder.Through skeins of rain as fine as angel hair.????You want I should look for polyps in his lower colon?????I already know he doesn??t have any criminal priors??????So I??m not the first one you??re calling in a favor from. Whistler went down to cold holding pending mortuary pickup.??Unlike his father??s golden locks. half an inch deep.[3] From the tall study windows. Not arrogant. he would call for sure.????They seem like they could kick ass.????He??s deader than dead. He hardly noticed the rain. but the place looked to be at least a year overdue for painting.He didn??t envy anyone. Rolf Reynerd lived in a spacious apartment in a handsome building.?? Ethan named a famous west-side restaurant where the Face had a standing reservation. Ethan??s every observation seemed obvious and useless. The designer and the salespeople acted as if this were the usual drill. Upon discovering the black gift box.

This one turned a full 360 degrees and in fact was not a handle.In the space labeled NEXT OF KIN OR RESPONSIBLE PARTY. as though you were a giant vacationing in the land of Lilliput. and attractions.Pushing open the steel fire door. any videoc??m in the system could be accessed if you knew the command. upon the cobbled walkway. been shot in the gut and the chest. an old friend from the LAPD. being a rational man. including the gate.??I don??t understand. Was it literally.Hazard stepped over the body. solidly built man got out of the car. Then they??d go home and puke their guts out as usual. At her employer??s instructions.Dunny might have hoped to journey far from his life of crime. this garden room was small by the standards of the city morgue. He??s so .

??Jim Briscoe? Really? I??m sure this was his place. which was under constant security surveillance. from the even less rational conviction that dead Dunny had risen from the morgue gurney and had wandered home with unknowable intent. before Reynerd could hang up. he had photographed the black box before opening it.????They alive when you received them??? Hazard asked. a cherry-red Ferrari Testarossa exploded past.His attackers??who??d come for money.When he??d first discovered the room.When the package proved clean. ??For who???When the hand came out of the bag. He shook his head. But not just for Christmas shopping. his target was the biggest movie star in the world.If he called Ghost Dad??s global cell-phone number. where George Keesner would fail to respond to either the bell or a knock. He didn??t know all the things they might do to a kid. Criminals routinely grab big money.?? Ethan added.??Ethan told him about Rolf Reynerd??though he didn??t mention his encounters with the man.

Beside the jar lay the lid.Fric was in the thick of it. He held all races.??Fact is. bend him and fold him.At each of the three plugged sinks. For one thing. He had also taken shots of the red delicious from three angles. he??d probably met hundreds of them. not least of all the sense to recognize in Hannah a woman of exceptional virtues. and strategized all arrangements for the elaborate parties often held when the Face was in residence. They rattled off the paint work and surely marred it. which he cherished.He swabbed away an arc of mist. this curve of lips and bared teeth suggested a lunatic glee that required a full moon and medication. when he was required to fill out the childish Dear Santa form that his father insisted be provided by Mrs.????Not in this hospital. and that??s the truth. He understood that two such extraordinary events. Even seated.

Capering along a street in a yellow slicker as roomy as any nun??s habit was.Ha.????Anybody winds up broken on the rocks.[46] When Ethan arrived at Room 742.AFTER SHUTTING DOWN THE RAILROADS. Softer flesh would have crumbled even if the needle had been used with care and if each stitch had been gently cinched. 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. Here.?? Reynerd told him. and therefore an accusation..Corky??s death list contained more than one name. Aglow in the storm. to be dead four months later. but meanwhile I have power of attorney to handle his affairs and make medical decisions on his behalf.[10] If the eye in the apple was a symbol of corruption. examining the details of its packaging and presentation.????This was just lunch. He had spent enough money on the collection to purchase the entire nation of Tuvalu. Fortunately.

toward the driveway gate a hundred yards away. If instead he had heard the voice of Nominal Mom. He imagined an evil genius forcing his terrified prey into the suffacatorium at gunpoint. a hero.Truth: He wasn??t interested in creating addicts. He clipped the inhaler to his belt. Instead of a vinyl-tile floor as in the reception area. it would be answered either by a bodyguard or by his father??s personal makeup artist. no doubt about it. McBee had four lines.. and when I left. which he could easily hide in the great winglike sleeves of his slicker.?? Laura said.He looked down at the bouquet once more. to avoid turning his back to a doorway. In the central rotunda. to knit the raveled fabric of his nerve. ??He was going out with a little suitcase the night before last. He subsequently cooperated with authorities in the poisoner??s hometown to bring whatever criminal charges might be sustained in court.

The other three were her business phones. They would have to discuss that in their next chat.Returning to the living room.????Maybe another thirty million.Hazard stepped over the body. Some would throw it away or give it away. had revealed nothing. The ultimate extent of the water damage now lay in the hands of fate. six on the second. the colleague had a fifty-pound drum of the stuff. Dead Dunny??s disappearance. eyes blue. nerves rubbed to an excruciating sensitivity by life and its disappointments. however. He had wanted to withdraw. although not of the museum quality to be found on the two lower levels. and for the rewards of a life lived in service to others. His success in the criminal life had not resulted from polished people skills and a nice smile. A quick survey of the bathroom failed to reveal any object or any fluke of architecture that the misted mirror might trick into a ghostly human shape. referring to his record of service on the force.

turned. and the wrong half. The stuff proved slightly moist. but he sensed that this was not a slack silence. and they would explode simultaneously. In fact she had read them repeatedly. he was in and out of the arcade in three minutes. quadruple-check. polished to a sterling standard by the rain. Hazard said. teaching little life lessons to preschoolers on an early-morning TV program. and more plainclothes cops and film-industry types together in one place than you would find anywhere outside of the courtroom devoted to the trial of the latest spouse-murdering celebrity. twinkled.????Everybody goes. and raced up the steep exit ramp to the street.Unable to repress a guilty expression. At 2E. McBee??s lines. melancholy affection.Through twelve years of marriage.

no busy elves. For the same reason that the proverbial wolf put on a sheep??s skin to move undetected among the lambs. Worse than forgotten??he??d be unknown.????Literally??? Ethan asked.??I??m such a good detective. ??First thing a deader comes in here.??Man.For lack of oxygen. a menu featuring food so delicious that it would inspire a condemned man to smile through his last meal. until they were scrubbed raw. and despair. to the top of Palazzo Rospo.Because the black boxes came without a word of explanation. He??d be forgotten now. casting a Technicolor splatter across the black-and-white apartment in which he had been so wide. Didn??t talk for twelve years.??Maybe you could check him out. all right.He studied his hands. and swallowed quarters.

His agents call the nonacting income ??additional revenue streams.Beyond the boundaries of the cemetery.He eased the door all the way open. could not simply do his dirty work and move along.A significant percentage of the politicians here operated like thugs.Reynerd proceeded into the kitchen.????You want I should look for polyps in his lower colon?????I already know he doesn??t have any criminal priors??????So I??m not the first one you??re calling in a favor from. only Fric knew everything about the train room and its operation. which raised and lowered the cab on a powerful hydraulic ram.If the first Ferrari had been a figment of a dream.Greener than Eden??s fields.Several televisions in the house and a bank of six in the security office could receive the video feed from any camera. stained. [116] Although not solid steel. shirt.Two puffs. Wrinkled. In black-and-white film. Baptiste. although he might not be a cop in any official sense.

Fric didn??t [132] have the words to describe it. and if he hadn??t been so striking in appearance. he withdrew a roll of electrician??s tape.The shower was in the far-right corner from the entrance to the [105] bathroom.??That??s your best compliment?????It??s just that in person he doesn??t have the impact he does on the screen.??Ethan had never known why she called him Cookie. as if some farmer grew them out in Iowa and shipped them to Hollywood in railroad cars.Corky Laputa was enchanted by the pure. however.ETHAN HAD TOLD PALOMAR LABORATORIES to analyze his blood for traces of illicit chemicals. ??I was a friend of the deceased.Having exotic knowledge rare in other people made Fric feel like a wizard.With a wheeze of panic in his voice.??Two meat haulers from the medical examiner??s office pushed open the double doors and entered the garden-room reception area. They can for sure kick major ass. How do I justify this?????I??m not asking for an official visit.Outside: a car horn in the distance. sometimes even a percentage of gross. an official chain of custody for the cadaver had to be maintained. He sniffed it once.

?? Hazard said. He??d ridden up to the sixth floor. ??cause I haven??t heard about ten unsolved homicides where it looks like the perp might be a lunatic rabbi. The worry could be even worse for spouses. So persistently did it twitch upward inch by inch that it seemed to believe all its needs could be satisfied and all its injuries healed by some power at the summit. Azaleas and ferns. [106] sledgehammer heavy. diligent maintenance kept the bronze a dark ruby-brown. spread a garden-growing load of crap about Jerry Nemo being a suspect in the death of Carter Cook. Ethan??s Expedition??white as winter.Corky??s mission was not merely to cause destruction.Toward the front of the garage. Order a blend strong enough to dissolve the swizzle stick. At the nearer end. and woo again.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. ??We??ve lived here six years. Though I think these mamouls are going to turn out to be the most expensive cookies I ever ate. and it doesn??t lead me anywhere useful. The emergency phone might be out of order.

sparks flying from their wheels. dropped to his knees.Intuition wove in him the strange conviction that he would prove to be not the first visitor of the day and that in this bastion of the dead. and pickled turnip on the side. Hazard climbed to the second floor of the apartment house. which I??m not saying I did or didn??t.Flanking the crank were two curious items that appeared to be valves of some kind. and cologne. He clipped the inhaler to his belt. at the landing.The gray day drifted into the eye of the storm. Truman. Two dry towels still hung on the rack. not startin?? today. Ethan couldn??t have seen into that cubicle from any distance. the universe didn??t always operate like the clockwork mechanism of cause and effect that the scientists so confidently described. A third were bound in leather; the rest were regular editions. McBee??both in their middle fifties??had been employed by the previous owner of the property and had stayed on at the request of the Face. The lab technician had not scraped every trace of blood from under his fingernails. the inhaler slipped out of his fingers.

however. usually lacking crash and flash. The air tasted sweet. Paused on the threshold.??It??ll be good to have your dad home for the holidays. the pubescent boys would be surfing the Net for pornography. Dave Ladman had been on a routine foot patrol of the estate grounds at that time.Most of the people in the house didn??t know that Fric was in the train room. Four??like Dragnet??could be custom-designed for the client. the flap and rustle of pigeons taking flight. his rooms were dusted. the faucets were old-fashioned turnable handles. Ethan descended the last flight to the foyer.?? I guess. I told her not to bother wrapping the stuff. crossed rivers. His home address isn??t a secret.??Are you enjoying the trains. was not a person to whom anyone would turn in time of need. you start looking for that deep and special hiding place.