Death was in that poisonous wave, And in its gaff a fitting grave I finished reading the last poem at from o'clock in the morning- I had found Only One more correlation between the poetry and the suicide notes. The line attributed in the reports to Dallas detective Garland Petry'Sadly, I know I am shorn Of MY strength"-was taken from a poem entitled 'For e."

But I found no match of the last words attributed to Beltran, the Sarasota detective, -with any poem that Edgar Allan Poe had written. I began to wonder if through my fafigue I had simply missed it but knew that I had read too carefully, despite the lateness of the hour. There simply wasn't a match. "L4Drd help my poor soul." That was the line. I now thought that it had been the last true prayer of a suicidal man. I scratched Beltran from the list, thinking that his words of misery were truly his.

I studied my notes while fending off sleep and decided that the McCafferty case of Baltimore and the Brooks case of Chicago were too similar to be ignored. I knew then what I would do in the morning. I would go to Baltimore to find out more.

That night my dream came back. The only recurring nightmare of my entire life. As always, I dreamed I was walking across a vast frozen lake, the ice blue-black beneath my feet. In all directions I was equal distances from nowhere, all horizons were a blinding, burning white. I put my head down and walked. I hesitated when I heard a girl's voice, a call for help. I looked around but she was not there. I turned and headed on. A step. Two. Then the hand came up through the ice and gripped me. It pulled me toward the growing hole. Was it pulling me down or trying to pull its way out? I never knew. In all the times I'd had the dream 1 never knew.

All I saw was the hand and slender arm, reaching up from the black water. I knew the hand was death. I woke UP.

The lights and the television were still on. I sat up and looked around, not comprehending at first and then remembering where I was and what I was doing. I waited for the chill to pass and then got up. I flicked the TV off and went to the minibar, broke the seal and opened the door. I selected a small bottle of Amaretto and sipped it without a glass. I checked it off on the little list they give you. Six dollars. I studied the list and the exorbitant prices just to give myself something to do.