Todd looked. At first he couldn’t see anything. Then he registered it. A police car, by the sidewalk. A cop talking to a broad woman in a housecoat.

“Isn’t that Billy’s place?” said Sara.

Drive on, Todd’s mind said.

“You’re right,” Todd said. “Pull over.”

Todd walked up to the cop.

“Can I help you, sir?” said the cop. He had a blond mustache and a really small nose.

“Is this something to do with Billy Cairns?” said Todd. “Only I’m a friend of his.”

“We both are,” said Sara, slipping her arm in Todd’s.

The cop narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah?” he said. “When’s the last time you saw him?”

“Not for a while,” said Todd. Sara nodded.

“You ain’t kidding,” said the cop. “He’s been up there for weeks like that.”

“Like what?” said Sara.

“Dead,” said the woman in the housecoat, like she was trying to be helpful. “I found him. I’m his landlady.”

“Oh no,” said Sara. “Poor Billy.”

“I guess you’ve been too busy to look in on him,” said the cop. “Despite being friends and all.”

“Hey,” said Billy’s landlady. “We all have things to do. I like to leave my tenants alone. Until, you know, they get too behind with the rent.”

“Or they start to stink,” said the cop. “And I do mean stink.”

“Oh Lord,” said Todd. He enfolded Sara with his arms. “Wait for me in the car,” he murmured.

Todd watched Sara go. Then he turned to the landlady and said, “Pardon me for asking but—was there anything unusual about Billy’s death?”

She looked at him quizzically. Todd felt an explanation was required.

“Because,” he said, “it was weird for Billy not to be in touch. He was a buddy, you know? A pal. And it would have taken something big for him to stay away.”

“There was something odd,” said the landlady. “Apart from not leaving his apartment, that is.”

“Save it for the station,” said the cop. He turned to Todd. “This is a police matter.”

Todd realized he had one chance. “What was odd?” he asked Billy’s landlady.

“When I went in,” she said, “there was all rice on the floor.”

“Save it for—” said the cop.

“Be quiet, you,” said Billy’s landlady.

“Rice?” said Todd.

“I thought it was rice, anyway,” said Billy’s landlady. “It looked like rice, and it felt like rice under my feet. But when I bent down, I saw it couldn’t be. It was too big, and too hard.”

She shivered, cold under her housecoat.

“It wasn’t rice at all,” she said. “It was teeth. It was Billy’s teeth.”

*  *  *