Yes, I went to see him. Cowls phone? Why not? Mason asked. He read the rest of the letter. How would you really know whether or not youre the father, if you had sex with her? Out of the frying pan and right into the pits of hell. Barrington, All right. I want you to do exactly as I say. Do you have some woman whom you can trust? Now, she said, Im going to have a drink of whisky and youre going to have a drink of whisky. Then youre going to be a gentleman and turn your back. I can’t close the doors of the cabin with the canoe in here and there’s enough moonlight so… Suddenly the lawyer reached for the telephone, dialed Paul Drake and said,Paul, get a four-wheeled truck of the kind used by bellboys to transport baggage. Take the wheels off, remove all oil from the axles and put on some rosin or something so theyll squeak to high heaven. Chapter Eight Sometime just after dusk, Karens car had skidded off a narrow road up on top of one of those steep limestone cliffs in the eastern rural part of the town. A passerby had noticed a stray beam of light angling up from the creek far below the cliff. Hed gotten out of the car to see what had happened and inched his way down inthe stinging downpour. Hed related all this to the reporter in excited tones. The car had been crushed in on itself from rolling over two or three times. He said he’d seen a woman trapped inside. There was no way he could extract her. He’d brought a flashlight with him. From what he could see of her bloody face, he’d assumed she was dead. He’d called 911. They’d needed the jaws of life to extract her. He’d been surprised to hear the ambulance tech say she was still alive. Devine slugged the man on the head with the butt of his gun and Hancock fell unconscious to the floor. Then Devine looked at Cowl.You were saying? And how doeshe feel? Mason faced the sheriff and said,By using a waterglass, you saw this womans purse lying on the bottom of the bay? She kissed him.Ive been wanting to do that ever since I saw your ass, she said. Again his head teetered to the right.Yeah, I guess maybe I am..