He lowered his arm. Looked her over, eyes narrowed, as if changing his mind. The silence was worse than the threat of the knife. She needed to fill it.

“Why’d you kill Muriel?” she asked.

His voice was petulant. “I told you. She blamed me for the puppy. I never did it. I was scared in the cellar. I cried and cried. But she wouldn’t believe it. And she began to suspect … things. That’s why she ran away. Then just when I thought it was all right, she changed her mind, she got mad again. She threatened to tell on me.” He licked his lips nervously. “Women have power, don’t they?” he asked.

Rose stared straight into his eyes. “Yes.”

He looked away. I’ve got him, she thought triumphantly. It was so easy, he was just crazy, he was a little like Wallace, they couldn’t concentrate on anything . .. they …

“I’m going to kill you right now,” he said. With one hand he pressed her back against the chair. She was astonished at his strength. “You talk too much. Like the other one. I had to shut her up. Sometimes they were quiet and I could make it slow, so that the blood ran in beautiful rivers. But some talk and it must be fast.”

Thank God it would be fast, Rose thought, not the slow, painstaking death.

“But I like you. It would be better slow.” He pressed the cold blade against her throat. It tickled at first, and she had a horrible thrillish desire to laugh and scream No, don’t do it! and then he pressed harder, and she could feel death against her flesh and it made her gag.

“Scared now?” he asked.

Slowly, he drew a red flower from beneath the cloak.

If she really had any power she could do something to stop him. I’m going to die, she thought. Well, it won’t be so bad because it was lovely on the other side, but now at the hour of my death I feel like sticking around. Nancy, help me.

Somebody was breathing hard, Rose or him, it didn’t matter, their breath was mixed up together. They could smell each other, feel each other, killing was a very intimate act. The river was running fast now. Their minds flowed together, thoughts and memories mixed. Rose felt a cold dark place, felt the tremors of a child’s fear as it stared at a dead puppy. And he felt the long stretch of time that bound him to her, and he was angry. Now, he was thinking, I want it to be now. Suddenly Rose felt pain, saw the pinpricks of the stars, the rush of black space coming very fast as one of them lost consciousness.

“Many hurts I have had!” a voice cried, and a tap dancer’s baton came crashing down on Iver’s head.