Maybe the same person who'd bisected Richard Dada, maybe not. Any similarities between the two cases could be explained by abnormal psychology: psychopaths weren't that original. Confront enough evil and you smell the same garbage over and over.

No voices in the head here. Maybe Pelley was now sane enough to pull it off, maybe not. In any case, I couldn't help thinking we were up against something coldhearted, orchestrated.

Murder for fun. A production.

There was nothing more I could do, so I drove home, spent some time outdoors, weeding, pruning, feeding the fish, netting leaves out of the pond.

Just before five, my service patched Heidi Ott through.

"Doctor?" She sounded buoyant. "I can't believe it, but Peake's talking again, and this time Swig can't accuse me of being hysterical. I got it on tape!"

Chapter 19

"Tuh."

"What's that, Ardis?"

Tape buzz. I clocked it. Twenty-two seconds-

"What did you say, Ardis... ? You just said something . .. because you want to talk to me, right, Ardis . . . ?" Thirty-two seconds.

"Ardis? Could you open your eyes . .. please? " A minute. Ninety seconds, a hundred ... Heidi Ott held up her finger, signaling us to be patient.

It was just before midnight, but her eyes were bright. She and Milo and I were in an interrogation room at the station- a hot, Lysol-smelling yellow closet barely large enough for the three of us. Heidi's hair was tied back and styled with a shark clip. She'd come straight from Starkweather and the clip of her I.D. badge protruded from a breast pocket. The recorder was a tiny black Sony.

"Just a bit more," she said, tapping her fingers on the steel table.

Her voice on the tape said, "Okay, Ardis. Maybe tomorrow."

Thirty-three seconds. Footsteps.

"Tuh."

"Tuh, Ardis? Two? Two what? "

Twenty-eight seconds.

"Ardis? "

"Tuhguh."

"Togo?"

"Tuh guh choo choo bang bang."

"Togo choo choo bang bang? Whatdoes that mean, Ardis? "

Fifteen seconds.

"Choo choo bang bang, Ardis? Is that some sort of game? "

Eighteen seconds.

"Ardis? What's choo choo bang bang? "

Thirty seconds, forty, fifty.

"What does it mean, Ardis? "

Eighty-three seconds. Click.

She said, "At that point, he turned away from me, wouldn't open his eyes. I waited awhile longer, but I knew it was all I was going to get out of him."

" 'Choo choo bang bang,' " said Milo.

She colored. "I know. It's pretty stupid, isn't it? I guess I shouldn't have gotten so jazzed. But at least it's something, right? He's talking to me. Maybe he'll keep talking."

"Where'd you keep the recorder?" I said.

"In my pocket." She pointed to the navy photographer's vest she'd draped over her chair. "I tried yesterday, too, but nothing happened."

" 'Choo choo bang bang,' " said Milo. " 'Bad eyes in a box.' "

"I've been trying to figure out some connection," said Heidi. Suddenly, she looked very tired. "Probably wasting your time. Sorry."

"No, no," said Milo. "I appreciate your help. I'd like to keep the tape."