"Nice little cabins, up the hill."

"Yeah," he said nostalgically. "And an incredible view. Dina said that on a clear day you can see all the way to Prince William Sound. But I think she was fooling me."

"That why you killed her?" Kate said, asking her first question of the interview.

His head snapped up and he stared at her out of wounded eyes. "I don't know," he said, his voice strained.

"You mean you didn't kill her? You didn't try to kill Ruthe?"

"I don't know. The way he found me, I must have—" He closed his eyes and what little flesh was left seemed to melt away from his face. "I don't remember doing it, but I must have," he whispered.

"Ever do anything like this before?"

"I don't know. Sometimes—"

"Sometimes what?"

"Sometimes I lose time."

"You lose time?"

"I just blank out. One minute I'm walking down the street, and the sun's out, and the kids are playing in the school yard, and the next minute I'm in the shelter, lying on a bed, wrapped up in a blanket."

"You had the knife in your hand when you were found. Did you blank that out, too?"

"I don't remember any knife," he said helplessly. "I don't remember anything after—" He stopped.

"After what?"

He didn't answer.

"If you didn't kill Dina, who did?"

"I don't know!"

"Pretty convenient, your not knowing."

"7 don't know! Oh god! Oh god!" He moaned and put his hands over his ears. "Can you hear it? Can you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"They're coming!"

"Who's coming?"

"Incoming!" he screamed, and took her down in a diving tackle. Mutt was on her feet in an instant, barking wildly.

Jim was through the door a heartbeat later, to find Higgins trying to drag Kate beneath his bunk, screaming "Incoming*. Incoming!" at the top of his voice. Kate was trying to fight him off, and Mutt had her teeth fastened on the back of Kate's sweatshirt and was pulling with her legs braced, growling all the time.

She let go as soon as she saw Jim and started barking. The cement walls of the cells rang like a tocsin. Jim got one arm around Kate's waist and hauled her up. For a moment, Higgins wouldn't let go, and then he did and scuttled beneath his bunk. Jim deposited Kate unceremoniously in the hallway, said, "Out!" to Mutt, and went back into the cell. Higgins was curled into a ball, his knees to his chest and his arms over his head, moaning and crying and sobbing. "Oh God, I'm so scared, I'm so scared. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!"

"Riley," Jim said. Higgins kept rocking and moaning. "Riley. Riley! It's all over. The attack's over, Riley. It's safe to come out now."

Higgins's sobbing slowly ceased.

"Come on, Riley." Jim held out a hand. He could hear Higgins snorting back mucus.

"I'm going to stay here for a while. If that's okay?"