Drake said,The last reports we had hed picked up a fare and — wait a minute, heres something coming in now. Its dinnertime. How long was it? Mason heard the clink of glasses, saw her moving about the small cabin, then heard the splash of liquid, and a glass was thrust into his hand. Good lord! he exclaimed impatiently. I dont want notoriety. And Im trying to do the right thing—if youll only let me. Mason and his secretary were silent for some seconds after the door had closed. Yes, sir. Then notice the guy whos taking his wife out for a celebration. Thats more dancing and exercise than hes had in ten years. She’s enjoying herself, but they’re both going to be stiff in die morning and by tomorrow night at this time the doctor will coil up the stethoscope, shake his head gravely, and tell the fellow he has to remember he’s thirty-five years older and forty pounds heavier than he was when he was voted the best dancer in his college class. Sam told me about you finding her and then mentioned you were up here replacing some lights. Probably the same way NYPD did. Devine ran a finger in a vertical line over his neck. Straight-line ligature mark versus an inverted mark is the key telltale sign. Strangulation always has the first, hanging always has the second, because of gravitys force on the body. And the dead guys fingernails also had rope hemp in them. So what happened was the killer strangled him with a rope from behind and the victim fought back, digging into the rope and getting fibers under his fingernails. That also made for the straight-line ligature because no gravity at work. Then the killer strung him up with the same rope to make it look like suicide. But the Army CID agents found the straight-line under the inverted ligature mark. And the inverted was made postmortem, because the guy was already dead. They can tell when something happens postmortem, but then you know that already. candice michele naked Then, as we rushed along the side of the building, Ted said,Katherines back in the dressing room with Jess. I told her to give Jess two Xanax. I need to talk to the press. The only thing Abby said was,I dont believe any of this. Go on, Mason said, lets have it. He was looking past my shoulder. Even without turning around I knew that he was looking for a savior. What are you afraid of? Mason asked. Do you think Id get her to tell a lie? Would she perjure herself at my request? A stunned Devine slowly opened it and started to read what was inside. I … well, I cant tell you where he is now. I can tell you where he was..