Musacco, I said. You dumped Nick Musacco. Is it always by six forty-five? I spoke with... Brad. But its all one deal with the contractor? For the next fifteen minutes I walked around. I overheard policemen, average people, reporters. Every once in a while you hear useful things this way. In my army days Id worked briefly out of Honolulu, where a man whod been an informant for us had been stabbed to death on the beach at night. Id been following him but was waylaid by a major traffic accident. By the time I got there, he was dead. But there’d been a party on that section of beach that night so I’d walked around, listening to people talk. A young woman had complained to her friend that a man had practically knocked her down as she was leaving the restroom and her shoulder hurt badly. I’d got his description and we were able to find the killer two days later. All the people on the hit list worked there at one time or another, except me. I just serve on their board. I have no memory of Sig. Im impressed, Stone said. That was a cover story, so he wouldnt be besieged by his relatives. Anyway, he dumped them all and abandoned his house without a trace. In my line of work, you tend to remember things pretty exactly. Too many people and too much confusion and bad camera angles to rule everybody out. And that includesyou. Why dont we work on that in an actual bed, Stone replied. He picked her up and headed for the elevator. Koontz now sat with us in a booth staring morosely into his glass of vodka and tonic.That gave em a little boost, he said finally, looking up at Murfin and me, “but it wont last. Theyll get home and start thinking about it and wondering what might happen the next time if they’re damn fools enough to stick their necks out like that. Or they’ll start wondering about what might happen if a couple of those guys catch ’em somewheres by themselves. He shook his head. “Well, at least you guys saw for yourselves.” The Magazine. I mean, isnt that clever? Although thats the translated name. Its something else in Dutch. I don’t think I could speak Dutch. The words are too long and there are too many consonants. You dont believe me. Is that why you left the military? Im sorry, but thats impossible..