He slipped a pack of Camels from the breast pocket of his white shirt and dug a book of mate from, his faded denim jeans. A pocket watch was attached to a belt loop by a leather thong, and I noticed a number of things as he slid it out to glance at the time and then lit the cigarette. His hands trembled, his fingers were swollen, and broken blood-vessels covered his cheekbones and nose. He had no bothered to empty ashtrays, but he had collected bottles and glasses and had been careful to carry out the trash.

“This is fine. You don’t, need to move anything else,” Wesley said. “If we do, we’ll put it back.” “

And you said this chemical you’re using won’t damage anything and isn’t toxic to humans?”

“No, it’s not hazardous. It will leave a grainy residue similar to when salt water dries,” I said to him. “We’ll do our best to clean up.”

“I really don’t want to be here while you do this, Patter said, flaking a nervous drag on the cigarette. “Can you give me an approximation of how much time it will require?”

“Hopefully, no more than two hours.”

Wesley was looking around the room, and though his face was completely devoid of expression, I could imagine what was going through his mind.

I took off my coat and didn’t know where to put it, while Vander opened a box of film.

“Should you finish before I get back, please shut the door and make sure it’s locked. I don’t have an alarm to worry about.” Potter went back out through the kitchen, and when he started his car it sounded like a diesel bus.

“It’s a shame, really,” Vander said as he lifted two bottles of chemicals from a box. “This could be a very nice house. But inside it’s not much better than a lot of slums I’ve seen. Did you notice the scrambled eggs in the skillet on the stove? What more do you want to pick up here?”

He squatted on the floor. “I don’t want to mix this up until we’re ready.”

“I’d say we need to move as much, out oEU here as we can. You’ve got the picture. Kay?” Wesley said.

I got out Robyn Naismith’s scene photographs “You’ve noticed that our professor friend is living with her furniture,” I said.

“Well, then we’ll leave it here.” Vander said as if it were common, for furniture from a ten-year- old murder scene to still be in place. “But the rug’s got to go, I can tell that didn’t come with the house.”

“How?”