“To the man-woman.” There’s a word for that, Babineau used to know it, but now it’s gone. Like the name that goes with it. Or what he ate for dinner. Each time Brady comes into his head, he takes a little more when he leaves. Babineau’s memory. His knowledge. His self.

“That’s right, the man-woman. Or, to give her sexual preference its scientific name, Ruggus munchus.”

“No.” The whine has become a whisper. “I’m going to stay right here.”

Brady raises the gun, the barrel now visible within the blown-out remains of the makeshift silencer. “If you think I really need you, you’re making the worst mistake of your life. And the last one.”

Babineau says nothing. This is a nightmare, and soon he will wake up.

“Do it, or tomorrow the housekeeper will find you lying dead next to your wife, unfortunate victims of a home invasion. I would rather finish my business as Dr. Z—your body is ten years younger than Brooks’s, and not in bad shape—but I’ll do what I have to. Besides, leaving you to face Kermit Hodges would be mean of me. He’s a nasty man, Felix. You have no idea.”

Babineau looks at the elderly fellow in the mended parka and sees Hartsfield looking out of Library Al’s watery blue eyes. Babineau’s lips are trembling and wet with spittle. His eyes are rimmed with tears. Brady thinks that with his white hair standing up around his head as it is now, the Babster looks like Albert Einstein in that photo where the famous physicist is sticking his tongue out.

“How did I get into this?” he moans.

“The way everybody gets into everything,” Brady says gently. “One step at a time.”

“Why did you have to go after the girl?” Babineau bursts out.

“It was a mistake,” Brady says. Easier to admit that than the whole truth: he couldn’t wait. He wanted the nigger lawnboy’s sister to go before anyone else blotted out her importance. “Now stop fucking around and look at the fishies. You know you want to.”

And he does. That’s the worst part. In spite of everything Babineau now knows, he does.

He looks at the fish.

He listens to the tune.

After awhile he goes into the bedroom to dress and get money out of the safe. He makes one more stop before leaving. The bathroom medicine cabinet is well stocked, on both her side and his.

He takes Babineau’s BMW, leaving the old Malibu where it is for the time being. He also leaves Library Al, who has gone to sleep on the sofa.

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