Where were you last night between midnight and three? I went back through my story about the mysterious phone caller. I told her Showalter believed it might be a prank. No, both his secretary and his ex-wife, who know him better than anyone else, say hes just not of the nature to attract enemies. His name might as well have been drawn from a hat. You fuckin right it is. And when did she have the procedure done? Harlan! he called. I did. Because he gave me a look that I cant explain. I mean, why would the guy even know who I am? Well, Pete Cadiz pointed out, there isnt a great deal of outside money comes in, so I aim to be pretty self-sufficient. I make a few lobster traps and when I get ready to make them I dont have money to go buy lumber. I find my lumber in the form of driftwood. I get around and catch abalones, sell some abalone-shell ornaments, I pick up odd bits of driftwood, sell a few knickknacks here and there to yachtsmen. I drift around wherever I happen to want to be. Sometimes I have to pour some gasoline into the engine but for the most part I use the wind. The wind is free and itll get you there. Not always on schedule, but what the hell is a schedule? Living the sort of life I live you don’t have to worry about clocks and calendars. In your dreams, she said. And what would that be? Well, my partner who ran the cab before I did was a little early getting in, about ten minutes early — we like to have them right in on time, but of course you cant help it sometimes when youre out on a call. You have to learn to take things like that; if theyre not over ten or fifteen minutes late, nobody ever says anything. But we try to be on time or perhaps a little early. Of course, each driver wants to get as much use out of the cab as he can. I have to have it back in the lot there at twelve o’clock midnight. I want to get as much out of the bus as I can in the line of trips and tips, but I also want to give the next driver a break. If a man is over fifteen minutes late or if he makes a habit of being late, why then, you sometimes make trouble, but this time the man before me came in a little early. I nodded. I dont think Ill leave the house until next Tuesday, he replied. Well, Della said, the police finally decided to open the door a crack, hold a rope with a noose in it get the dog out of there and see if perhaps the maid could make him track down the person who had committed the murder. In the event the dog wasnt tractable, theyd have the rope around his neck. Let me put it this way, Eagle said, in court, Id rather be the defense attorney than the assistant DA prosecuting. All right, what happened? I dont think that was it. Hed served in the Army during Vietnam. He wasnt West Point. He got drafted. He came back pissed off and against the war. But he fought. He did his job. And the country treated those vets like shit. Not fair to fight your heart out, survive, and come back to that..