I thought I did it rather well, too —but Sergeant Doakes did not agree. I saw him glaring at me from the ranks, as if he thought I had personally strangled Coulter, which was absurd; I had never strangled anyone. I mean, a little noose play now and then, but all in good fun —I don't like that kind of personal contact, and a knife is so much cleaner. Of course, I had been very pleased to see Coulter pronounced dead and Dexter therefore off the hook, but I'd had nothing at all to do with it. As I said, it's just nice when things work out, isn't it?

Life staggered back onto its feet and lurched into its old routines once again. I went to work, Cody and Astor went to school, and two days after Coulter's funeral Rita went to a doctor's appointment.

That night after she tucked the children in she settled down beside me on the couch, put her head on my shoulder and pried the remote control out of my hands. She turned the TV off and sighed a few times, and finally, when I was mystified beyond endurance, I said, “Is something wrong?”

“No” she said. “Not wrong at all. I mean, I don't think so. If you don't, um, think so.”

“Why would I think so?” I said.

I don't know” she said, and she sighed again. “It's just, you know, we never talked about it, and now ...”

“Now what?” I said. It was really too much; after all I had gone through, to have to endure this kind of circular non-conversation, and I could feel my irritation level rising rapidly.

“Now, just” she said. “The doctor says I'm all right.”

“Oh” I said. “That's good.”

She shook her head. “In spite of” she said. “You know.”

I didn't know, and it didn't seem fair that she expected me to know, and I said so. And after a great deal of throat-clearing and stammering, when she finally told me, I found that I lost the power of speech just as she had, and the only thing I could manage to say was the punchline of a very old joke that I knew was not the right thing to say, but I could not stop it and it came out anyway, and as if from a great distance, I heard Dexter's voice calling out: You're going to have a WHAT?!

THE END

Sin determinar

THE END

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS3

ONE4

TWO12

THREE18

FOUR25

FIVE32

SIX39

SEVEN46

EIGHT58

NINE66

TEN72

ELEVEN81

TWELVE88

THIRTEEN96

FOURTEEN107

FIFTEEN117

SIXTEEN126

SEVENTEEN136

EIGHTEEN141

NINETEEN148

TWENTY155

TWENTY-ONE160

TWENTY-TWO172

TWENTY-THREE181

TWENTY-FOUR187

TWENTY-FIVE195

TWENTY-SIX201

TWENTY-SEVEN211

TWENTY-EIGHT218

TWENTY-NINE230

THIRTY242

THIRTY-ONE252

THIRTY-TWO261

THIRTY-THREE270

THIRTY-FOUR277

THIRTY-FIVE287

THIRTY-SIX294

EPILOGUE299

THE END304

Table of Contents

Sin determinar

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

EPILOGUE

THE END