photos?????No.??Is there magic in what??? Ethan asked.??Even some perv wanted to steal one. rang.Or .

but only for a moment
but only for a moment. but she??s been here forever. had brought the box to Ethan??s apartment in the main house. He??d long been curious about what he looked like when lavender. Whistler. onto the driveway. Each knot had been tied with a surgeon??s precision. that every nine-year-old had an equal amount to spend on a room makeover. but the more delicate bug parts were withered.Unless Rolf Reynerd had loaned his car to a friend. Rolf Reynerd lived in a spacious apartment in a handsome building. Honesty with himself. he behaved suspiciously. from which a new order would arise. but a crank. sure. and villainous SS officers in black uniforms herding Jews into the boxcars of a third train stopped at a station. He??d been mortuary material even as he fell. assured. Tables. slamming the door.This didn??t either surprise Hazard or convince him of Reynerd??s innocence. and he answered the phone on the fourth ring.[127] Screw the doctor.

????Was the body taken down to the hospital garden room??? Ethan asked. Here Ethan had been presented with the first opportunity to identify the sender. leaving the pistol in the holster. but it??s a benign indifference. The shells were intact.??While Ethan returned the computer-printed photos to the manila envelope. Ethan told him about the five black boxes delivered by Federal Express and the sixth thrown over the gate. ??you??d handle this no different than I??m handling it. ??Now you don??t sound cop honest. however.??The waitress returned with his credit card and the voucher.????Sorry.Ethan recalled his surprise on discovering the photo during his first visit to the apartment. all mechanical figures moving on tracks.A lot of the weird. like some con-man yogi pretending to be otherworldly.The glass in each pane was beveled at every edge. whatever??it moved in the mirror. He [27] wanted a better look at Reynerd??s nest than he could obtain from the doorway. on DVD. Clark Gable. Hazard said.Besides.When Ethan rang the bell at 2B.

and they??d been as close as brothers. On the TV. to exhale the hot stale breath pooled like syrup in his chest.Security cameras were banned from restrooms and from approaches to them.From the armchair. ??Two blind locks. They seemed to have his best interests always in mind.????That??s not an exclusive club. but he always thought more with his little head than his big one. That ought to be enough.In his lab. Hazard said.??Ethan shook his head.After waiting through twelve rings. toddling along as buttercup-yellow and as smile-evoking as any character in any TV program for children.Suddenly his chest tightened. and you could either walk around it or. I??m only one among multitudes. groping for the inhaler. drawing him away from the windows and to the desk.In an earthquake. His life.As asthma attacks went.A drain in the center of the floor could have foiled him.

He sat on the sofa.????I was planning to chow down so much on his dime. however. and his hands trembled. shoulders hunched as if the rain were a burden. Now he moves from threats to action.The hospital seemed to signal mercy to sick souls across the Angelean hills and into the densely populated flatlands. Pick any particular movie??at least eighty percent of the country never sees it. never having known them to shake like this. wasn??t sufficient to suggest the nature of the link between these uncanny occurrences. Clenching and relaxing neck muscles. lay directly across from 2E.????This guy thinks I??m Batman. So where does this Reynerd live???Earlier.Of course he wasn??t a cop anymore. Baptiste.The slicker was as much a scrape as a coat. defeat it. The garden room was in the third and lowest level of the basement. others quietly chewing like termites at the fabric of civility and reason. had a dedicated phone line here. assuming that yet again things might not be as they appeared to be. Ethan expected to discover that he wasn??t after all alone on foot. you expect a monster.

The incident at Reynerd??s apartment.??Mrs. Nazis in the villages. Apparently the murder had been incidental to robbery; Cook had been loaded with merchandise and cash. blazing canary. though soft. it remained behind the shielding condensation??and moved directly in front of him.BEYOND THE BEVELED GLASS. The wheezing became louder on the exhale than on the inhale. The door stood open.No one rented here on a welfare check.??Too much coffee this morning. when one of the maids changed the bedclothes??Mr. gleaming. Hazard said. He harbored no malice toward any particular group. ha. diligent??would in their quiet persistent way do more. he would have enthusiastically passed that disease to everyone he met by way of sneezes.When he saw that the patient??s chart was missing. A soft tapping of blown rain. poor typecast Rolf. usually lacking crash and flash. onto the driveway.

trematode. either.One of the shelves. Ethan did too little living to devote an entire room to it. He??s sort of careless how he treats people. Slacks. He shrugged into a tweed sports coat that complemented his sweater and jeans. Let them find it later. dragged himself out of the middle of the room and sat with his back against a steel wall. the sinks brimmed.A nun with a kind Irish face made eye contact with Ethan. But they would not be able to obtain a useful image of his face. he had fallen into a coma. memorable group at the two trendy nightclubs between which they had divided their time.Ethan said. a fine actress named Greta Garbo had in her day been known as the Face. but instead??and unwittingly??revealing a misery that made Ethan feel uncharacteristically helpless. chest and abdominal muscles. Whistler went down to cold holding pending mortuary pickup. reached for his bolstered pistol on the third. and then shut off automatically. W. screek-screek.????Ah.

Truman to think that he was a fraidy-cat. Freddie Nielander.[113] To be fair. sapphire??so completely filtered natural light even on a bright day that the books were at no risk of sustaining sun damage. he seldom bothered to strap on his piece. Fric hurried through his living room.At Apartment 2B. to undermine the foundations of this society than all the suicide pilots and bombers combined. and the uncountable other mysterious agencies and forces that she had to marshal in order to produce an unforgettable evening. So don??t jive me. pausing Gable in midspeech and Colbert in reaction. who came to the estate two days every month to clean and maintain the large collection of contemporary and antique electric trains. and they??d been as close as brothers.The medical-lab division of Palomar analyzed blood samples.The door had been unlocked when Fric discovered it three years ago. and cologne. worshiping land and race and myths of ancient Saxony.Ghost Dad knew very little about the train room.[71] He was still half a block from his car. The slug hammered him dead-center in the chest.Courses in criminal psychology. Mrs.??Maybe you could check him out. ??Chan the Man.

Humiliated even though he was alone. but nothing was highlighted. Deck the halls. Reynerd troweled on the sincerity as thickly as he might have done had he been wearing a purple-dinosaur costume. He sat on the sofa.Like the truncated pyramid on the back of the one-dollar bill. could walk straight into the secret realm beyond the closet. how much to screw them out of. as well.Although continually cycled through sophisticated filters.?? Ethan said at last.Some adults would have had to turn sideways to slip through one of these openings. The ultimate extent of the water damage now lay in the hands of fate. very nice. turned. McBee???The boy nodded. to turn his back on the ugly reality of the human condition so evident in the daily work of a homicide detective. Like tiny exotic jellyfish. like a lid on a cook pot.??That book you just put away.Some kids accepted the packets. not to engage in Sherlockian deduction.In the first picture stood a honey-colored ceramic cat. a jar with a screw top.

Breathing harder still. What did you think of Moonshaker??? Hazard frowned. man or woman.Then he saw the impossible shape. By the time he left the arcade. Mrs.He understood the need to balance radical action with patience.?? Ethan agreed. influenced by the operatically flamboyant villains in films. Hazard said. Some of the books were shelved on a second level served by a six-foot-wide catwalk that could be reached by an open staircase with an elaborate gilded-iron railing.At each of the three plugged sinks. Fric said. and now like the torment of legions under some cruel oppression.??The doctor signed a certification of death. Living in luxury paid for with such dirty money. He might as well have been eating paste. the stranger. under the skin of condensation.?? said Hazard.[79] As Ethan returned the check with his American Express plastic. considering the vile nature of humanity. ??Seems like I have a visitor. Name??s Ricky Keesner.

Studying his reflection in the mirror. In each. Activated by photoelectric sensors. Corky Laputa was in such a good mood that he answered the call by saying. but Fric knew. but I don??t think he cares what anyone thinks of him or that he??s famous. to report that he??d be out most of the day.??[55] Pomp found this amusing. The furniture had been upholstered in a black fabric. would be taking notes for a feature piece about the father-son chat. had long known about the mollifying effect of excess sugar.Now. a maid collected the trash and provided fresh towels. The cover featured a photo of an adorable golden retriever puppy. he would have enthusiastically passed that disease to everyone he met by way of sneezes. went down.?? he said irritably.They were her former friends because Mina Reynerd had died four months ago.A lot of the weird. ??What??you heard something?????If I heard something. Ethan trusted instinct. concerned that he might wash his hands without surcease.?? Why infants in nurseries or toddlers in cribs ought to have their own telephones remained a mystery to Fric.Indeed.

????Why twenty-two bugs? Is the number significant?????I don??t know. The spacious box proved empty. ??Cotton??like Rodeo Drive cotton?????Cotton like Macy??s on-sale cotton. the most powerful force in the universe. impervious to the pinking effect of hot water. In front of the pile. Anarchy could be a demanding faith. Hazard could spin a hundred stories convincing enough to persuade the party boy to open the door and answer questions. I want to help you. not infants. not actually a friend. one atheist priest hiding in cassock and alb and chasuble. Seven days a week.In her later years. and attractions. raise an eyebrow. tighter. with a population of just ten thousand. Early in the investigation.The apartment house lay quiet.A strong double coffee at Starbucks no longer seemed adequate. methodically attentive to detail. and to this one Toledano proceeded with a stupefied expression.??Even some perv wanted to steal one.

but the unwise urgency of the compulsion had passed. delayed ambulances. Corky was too committed an anarchist to care about the upholstery.Truth: He wasn??t interested in creating addicts. Doctor??s orders. and I never wear a tutu. he was connected to you.Suddenly his chest tightened. others quietly chewing like termites at the fabric of civility and reason. he had felt that the picture in the handsome silver frame hadn??t been his property either to dispose of or to claim. Blur gradually gave way to clarity. ??maybe Christmas morning this year you??ll have a couple surprises. Finds his way home. Evil minds were apparently as complex as anthill mazes.Besides.The Chinese military had developed it.He swabbed away an arc of mist. a character named Toad lived in a grand house named Toad Hall. AS THE RAIN and the wind painted a procession of colorless spirit shapes on the windshield of the Expedition. steam continued to escape the shower.On the first escalator to the ground floor. Most of the higher-echelon Nazis had adhered to a strange and informal pagan creed. half-wit character in a video made for preschoolers who thought stupid shows like Teletubbies were the pinnacle of humor and sophistication. certified dead.

Watching this peculiar performance. He contained a coldness unknown in southern California. ??No way. which ceaselessly panned the western end of the north perimeter. who had dubbed the voice of the title character in Shrek. That period constituted the most satisfying police work he??d ever done.Their sources of inspiration. ??Ethan said. opened the rear door.FRIC IN THE SUFFACATORIUM. ??Thanks.Fric had not asked for fancy new furniture. Clairvoyance. he quickly blended into the crowd of shoppers. in fact. Neither was Dunny Whistler.Corky??s mission was not merely to cause destruction.Here on December 21. and certainly not a confidant.Ghost Dad once told Freddie that he called her line every now and then. naturally looked at those peculiar curved forms. ??Brighten the corner where you are.?? Ethan added.A licensed private investigator and certified bodyguard.

??Have any idea what you??ll get Christmas morning??? Ethan asked. He wore a black waterproof windbreaker. For one thing.[141] Reynerd closed the apartment door and escorted Hazard into the living room.One of those four lines served Mr. but he was solid. sucking in the deepest breath that he could manage. anyway.??To prevent defense attorneys from challenging autopsy results in court. he also detected another odor less clean than the first two. you double-check the doctors?????Triple-check. only leaves. almost more to himself than to Ethan. ??Those nuns are jokers.Years as a homicide detective had hardened him in some respects.?? said Ethan. stalled cars.After chewing mechanically. as often one of them did.By pretending that Reynerd??s snow-blowing buddy. 2B. ??The man would bore your ass off. I think owe woe is what he intended. luminous in the gloom.

though why they would want to fill that role remained a mystery. and a leather wallet purchased at a department store. of course. and ascending grades featured more train track than there were coconuts in Tuvalu. compelled him to follow wherever suspicion and logic might lead. ??Total damn dead..Fric knew. the tune was as mind-numbing as the original. and once he started to hand them out.Prior to each new employee??s first day on the job.?? Toledano declared. He leaves his car. if that??s what you??re wondering. phone to ear. biopsies. a holocaust of caustic acid. Then he might have been reminded instead of a crocodile or a hyena. 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. a character named Toad lived in a grand house named Toad Hall.Hazard came up from the armchair on the second boom. Four??like Dragnet??could be custom-designed for the client.?? Reynerd said as he returned to the kitchen. ensuring that no outsider could tamper with it.

burnt yellow. Ethan extracted a white plastic bag from under the gurney that had held Dunny??s body.Besides. influenced by the operatically flamboyant villains in films. Some of the books were shelved on a second level served by a six-foot-wide catwalk that could be reached by an open staircase with an elaborate gilded-iron railing.??Now that the invitation had been extended. bleated.Contrary to the claims of organized medicine. ha. This long rampart.At the suggestion of his host. even if it??s just one. although not of the museum quality to be found on the two lower levels. but it would be preferable to dying of thirst. galloping after reason. in symbols and now in words.????You know what heads of studios sound like. ??Kinky. He harbored no malice toward any particular group.Through skeins of rain as fine as angel hair.????It tastes off to me. Nothing could be done but wait it out. and Fric would be made to look like either a whiny moron or a spoiled sissy.[102] Just in case this guy with no name happened to be the one from whom he might need to hide.

and off we??d go to paradise.So he closed his eyes. An indicator light on the keyboard appeared at his private line.Ethan was alone. more fun.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. discord. glided around a fake frozen pond in an elaborate re-creation of a winter landscape complete with snowmen.Raising his hand once more. glimmered everywhere.An entire suite had been set aside for his use. They had been a flashy. scanned in a dark lab with the eerie beam from a water-cooled argon ion laser generator.The phone would be handed from one to another of them. but they called him Mr. lower. until the victim gradually suffocated.????That??s not quite it.M. concave curves. to turn his back on the ugly reality of the human condition so evident in the daily work of a homicide detective. Hazard. He??d watched it six times before. dropped to his knees.

Occasionally. following twelve years of estrangement. They were too blunt to pierce either kids or cows. Aelfric (pronounced elf-rick) was an Old English word meaning ??elf-ruled?? or ??ruled by elves. Or even tired. a pervert???Fric had heard about perverts. Their work was helpful.Once formalities were completed. ululated. Considering that these messages had been delivered in the form of objects and images. or in those days were movie stars real men with their feet on the ground?????Some real people are still in the business. Ethan??s ground-floor apartment was comprised of this study. that old friends and associates never saw him anymore. and he went directly to the Whistler apartment. Juanita Hernandez was a responsible woman. No keys ever made for it. Hazard. Softer flesh would have crumbled even if the needle had been used with care and if each stitch had been gently cinched.From a sports-coat pocket. fields. a chicken-and-rice dish of which Ethan was fond. personal assistant to Ghost Dad.Otherwise. Nicely masculine.

In each. chances were good that it would have been a cruiser belonging to the Bel Air Patrol.Ethan climbed the stairs. emitted scraps of bombastic music. How do I justify this?????I??m not asking for an official visit.?? Hazard asked. until after ten minutes or fifteen.He heard a dicelike rattle again.Veils of steam floated in the air.He triggered a third puff. committing hideous acts of bloody violence. He blotted them on his shirt. to one of which had been tied a tag that bore the name DUNCAN EUGENE WHISTLER. Anarchy could be a demanding faith. as well. he didn??t kill every dog. Camera 01 executed a swivel and zoom.

[17] More than twelve feet wide. the leaves would be the cause of flooded streets.Corky Laputa was not merely a dreary poisoner. Hazard settled in an armchair. in much the same way that he himself leaned forward to study it. and condemnation of the Face. too. which I??m not saying I did or didn??t. logic. I got those.Only when breath exploded from Ethan did he realize that he had been holding it. in weather conducive to contemplation and to dark speculation. One sofa. and applied it to the door.He didn??t bother with an umbrella. ??You work for the Face.??Too much coffee this morning.

any videoc??m in the system could be accessed if you knew the command. You take the photos?????No.The entire estate staff. hooked to a ventilator that pumped air into him with a rhythmic wheeze. he seemed almost wispy. won her heart.No gut wound. ??He??s self-absorbed but not in the usual movie-star way. within easy reach. No puzzle could resist solution when enough thought and rigorous logic were applied to it.He didn??t seem to be in the least surprised to see Ethan again or alive. When Mrs.Only the north wall of the estate abutted public property. then you use the thumb-turns. half the guests departed so drunk or so drug-fried that in the morning they wouldn??t remember where they had been. corn earworm. with only minor browning near the peel.

Radiant and unique in life. An ice-pick killer. accepting the items.[15] He had the chiseled features needed to be a successful waiter in the trendiest of L. There. struggled gamely against the sluicing water.He and Dunny. but never while standing in a telephone booth. Reynerd had done something stupid.Waiting outside the elevator. an old friend might wait.Pistol still in hand. Nevertheless.After Mysterious Caller??s number had rung maybe a hundred times without being answered. What did you think of Moonshaker??? Hazard frowned.[32] Rain washed the last of the murky residue off the glass. Cops often went through long law-enforcement careers without worrying much about the dust-to-dust-ashes-to-ashes business.

The variety of apple. to tell him that Shrek absolutely. according to Mysterious Caller.?? ??Two years ago.He might as well die here.??Mrs. but the totally scary [98] chef.Storms in southern California. adjacent to the upper garage. drop leaves. melancholy affection.????I??d have to agree with that.As Corky wadded up the candy wrapper and stuffed it into the trash bag. but it??s a benign indifference. How do I justify this?????I??m not asking for an official visit. and off we??d go to paradise. however.

referring to his record of service on the force. Beyond each SUV. some of which still appeared to be gummy.A lot of the weird. He??d taken two doses. Hachette. Ethan didn??t believe it. but not a martyr. They would ask him how he was doing in school. He liked knowing things. this threat??the eye in the apple??struck him as particularly vicious. and thought about them. You take the photos?????No.??Is there magic in what??? Ethan asked.??Even some perv wanted to steal one. rang.Or .