"I don't remember what we had for dinner. but it would have been something fairly simple. I might have baked something, but I don't remember. I think I went to get some chocolate chips, and we made cookies. It must have been earlier in the day because I might have given some cookies to the workmen. I think we did. Maybe that was another time, but it could have been that time. I remember we did that once. And that's the kind of thing I would have gone to get. I wouldn't have had any chocolate chips, and I think that's what I went to get. I wanted to get a paper and I wanted-yes, I remember that. And I said, 'Why should I wait when I have a bicycle?"'

"So you and your son had dinner together. the two of you?"

"Yeah."

"What time would that be?'

"Six or so. [Sounds perplexed.] I don't remember dinner. Were we invited somewhere? I don't think so"

"And what time would you be putting him to bed?"

"Around eight. Seven-thirty."

"Something you were not looking forward to?"

"Well, it's hard being all alone all day with a .kid and I'm tired at night. and I'm not usually the one who puts him to bed. And I'm not as good at reading stories as Whitley is, and I don't look forward when Whitley's gone to putting him to bed."

"But it went all right?"

"Yeah... I don't remember. No... I couldn't have watched TV because we had no TV

reception. But we had the VCR. I don't think I had a movie to watch. I don't remember. I remember Whitley came back and it was earlier than I thought."

"When was that?"

"The next day."

"Do you remember anything that night, when you were sleeping alone?"

"No — I — well, no."

"Did your son call you during the night?"

"I don't think so."

"You slept your usual sound sleep?"

"I think so. But it's lonely going to sleep in the country alone at night. I might have heard some noises. It seems like maybe I did, but they weren't any thing because I had the doors locked."

"And you have a burglar-alarm system?"

"Yeah."

"Do you often hear steps... sounds?"

"Not steps... I doubt if it was steps. You don't always hear sounds. It was pretty quiet.

Not noisy."

"All right, so let me give you one more minute to concentrate. I want you to concentrate as hard as you can because you have this very special brand of concentration ability right now, this capacity to concentrate. I want you to just concentrate on that night from sundown on."

"Funny. I remember the afternoon but I don't remember the night. I don't remember after the workmen left. [Long pause.]"