“Oh. Okay, then, thanks for seeing me.”

“Right. Good luck. You’re cleared to travel.” And he strode out, white coat flapping around his legs. He was delighted that I was leaving town, there was no two ways about it. Tolliver came over to help me down from the examining table, and we left in silence, paying on the way out. I glanced at the big filing cabinet in the receptionist’s area. If I were a daring detective, I would think of way to get the receptionist and the nurse out of the way and look through the files of the dead boys. But I wasn’t, and there wasn’t an excuse on this earth that would get the receptionist, the nurse, and the doctor out of the way long enough for me to do more than roll open the relevant drawers. Women did this all the time in movies and on television. They must have better scriptwriters. Real life didn’t afford chances to examine private records unless you just broke in at night and read them, and I wasn’t about to do that. My need to know who had done this would only carry me so far. I wouldn’t risk going to jail myself.

And, I asked myself, why was I even concerned? The law enforcement people on hand were trained and efficient, and they had all the labs and their own expertise at their beck and call. They would find who’d done this, I had very little doubt. And the deaths would cease. Someone would go to jail after a long and lurid trial.

“There’s something nagging me about this,” I said. I had to break the silence or burst. “There’s something wrong about this whole thing.”

“Something wrong, aside from eight dead kids?” Tolliver’s voice was level, but his words were edgy.

“Yes. Something wrong.”

“Like what?”

“I just think that someone’s in danger.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. There’s just…where are you going?”

“Back out to the cabin.”

“Are we leaving?”

“The doctor said you were good to go.”

I turned on the car radio. After the warmth of the morning, the temperature was dropping sharply, just as predicted.

“And what’s the weather news, Ray?” asked a female voice on one of the local stations.

“In a few words, Candy, the news is…stay home! There’s an ice storm on the way, and you don’t want to get caught in it. The highway patrol is advising all motorists to stay home tonight. Don’t try to travel. Wait until the morning, and get another road advisory then.”

“So, Ray, we should bring in a lot of firewood and rent a lot of old movies?”

“Yeah, you can watch ’em until your electricity goes out!” Ray said. “Get out your board games and flashlights and candles and stock up on water, folks.”