Betty closed her eyes obediently as he walked over to pick up the syringe that had fallen out of the nurse’s hand. Used to her bedtime shots, she hardly seemed to feel it as he slipped the needle into her vein and depressed the plunger. “Good night, Betty. And good-bye.”

He pulled the nurse’s body into the bathroom and shut the door. Betty might open her eyes again and there was no need to upset her. When he went back into her room, her breathing was slow and even. Mission accomplished. The double dose would push Betty into unconsciousness, and soon it would be over. There was a satisfied expression on the Caretaker’s face as he went down to Jack’s apartment to retrieve his shortwave radio.

Moira reached out to flick on the light, then shook Grace’s shoulder. “Wake up, Grace. I finally figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Grace opened her eyes and groaned.

“The bodies, Grace, think about Alan and Laureen’s bodies.”

“Do I have to?” Grace mumbled, blinking groggily. Moira sounded very excited.

“Did they look as if they’d fallen only one floor?”

Grace winced. “I’m not sure. I tried not to look.”

“Well, I think they fell a lot farther than that. Besides, we live above them. How could they bang into our wall if they fell from their own floor?”

“You’re absolutely right.” Grace perked up. “I never thought of that before. What shall we do?”

Moira sighed. “I hate to even think of it, but we’d better go up to Jayne and Paul’s to see if Alan and Laureen were staying with them.”

“Wouldn’t they have mentioned it?”

“Not necessarily. We were all so stunned. And it never occurred to me to ask. Come on, Grace. Let’s go.”

“Do you really want to walk up seven flights of stairs?”

Moira shook her head wearily. “No, Grace, I don’t. But I’ll never be able to get to sleep if I don’t find out. You can stay here if you’re too tired, but I’m going.”

“Then I’ll go with you.” Grace got out of bed and grabbed her clothes. There was no arguing with Moira once she’d made up her mind.

Betty was shaking as she reached for the remote control. Her arm still hurt where he had poked it with the needle, but she’d seen most of the medicine squirt out of the syringe when he’d knocked it out of the Nurse-bird’s hand and she hadn’t made a sound. The drawing she’d made of the doll-lady’s slippers had reminded her and she’d remembered what rabbits did when they were cornered. They froze and hoped for the best. Now he was gone and she had to see if the other actors and actresses were all right.

Something was happening on forbidden channel two. The nice actresses were coming out the door. Betty hoped they wouldn’t use the elevator and she held her breath until she saw they were going through the door to the stairs. She couldn’t see them as they climbed from channel to channel, but she could catch them on the landings. She switched to forbidden channel three and waited. Yes, there they were. And now they were climbing up to channel four.

Suddenly Betty knew she should go out to the landing for channel six and stop the actresses as they passed by. It would be difficult because she wasn’t very good at walking, in fact, she’d heard Nurse tell her secret friend that she was almost as weak as a baby. Remembering that gave Betty a wonderful idea. She knelt down on the rug. Babies crawled and she could, too. At least she hadn’t forgotten how to do that.

It seemed to take a long time to get from the bed to the door. But even though she was weak, her head seemed much clearer now, clearer than it had been in a long time.

It was strange being down here on the rug, and Betty smiled as she crawled through the bedroom doorway and out into the living room. Here the rug was brown, a beautiful rich chocolate brown.

Betty giggled. Everything was very different from this vantage point. No wonder babies were always smiling! She crawled past the coffee table and past her swivel rocking chair. She’d never realized that the living room was so large before, and it seemed to take a long time to crawl the length of the room to the front door.

The front doorknob was too high. What should she do? Stand up, of course. She needed something to hold. Using a table by the door, Betty pulled herself up. Her hands seemed to recall the motions and she slipped off the chain, turned the knob, and opened the door to the empty hallway stretching out before her.

Betty took one step forward, then dropped back down to her knees. It would be faster, and she wouldn’t hurt herself if she fell. The stairwell seemed a very long way away.

TWENTY

Getting out of bed, Ellen pulled on an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, looked back at Walker, sleeping peacefully, and sighed. At least someone was getting some rest. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Laureen and Alan, crushed almost beyond recognition at the bottom of the elevator shaft.

She went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of hot chocolate and carried it into the workroom. She was so on edge, she doubted that anything could relax her except work and there was plenty of that. Walker had found the missing box of mannequin parts and there were still a half dozen to assemble.

As she walked past the big metal bin in the corner, she caught sight of the damaged mannequin inside. It had been returned from a store in Los Angeles and she’d saved it to use for spare parts since only the head was smashed. She shuddered as she stared down at it. Just like Alan and Laureen.

Chiding herself for being so morbid, Ellen lifted the mannequin up to her workbench. She’d take it apart, put all the pieces in the appropriate boxes, and throw the rest away.

She was removing the head when she noticed a thin film of white powder coating the inside surface. She used no powder in her molding process, only liquid plastics. Touching the top of her finger to her tongue, she noticed a bitter taste followed by a strange sensation.

Ellen gasped out loud as she realized that the powder could mean someone was using her mannequins to transport drugs. But no one touched those mannequins except her. And Walker . . . but it was disloyal to even think it. Still, there were all those new contracts he’d arranged, a whole distribution network that stretched across the country.

With a sinking heart, she went to the spare bedroom where he had stored his things. The backpack was there and she looked inside. Pajamas, toothbrush, a disposable razor, and . . . a gun. She forced herself to stand there and think calmly. Many people carried guns. It could be perfectly legal. But why had he brought it up here unless he intended to use it? Something else caught her eye, something glittering at the bottom of the backpack. She reached down to retrieve it, her hands starting to tremble as she recognized Vanessa’s diamond earring.

Calm. She had to stay calm. Walker had been with her the night Vanessa died, except when she sent him up to borrow a can of tomato sauce from Jayne. Had he been gone long enough to kill Vanessa and drag her down to the freezer?

She didn’t like the path her thoughts were taking her, but she couldn’t seem to stop them. He’d been up at the spa all alone the night that Clayton and Rachael had left. And he’d been gone again the night that Hal had died. What if all these awful accidents weren’t accidents at all? Tonight, while she’d soaked in a nice, relaxing bath, he would have had plenty of time to sabotage the elevator.

With her heart pounding so hard she was almost afraid it would wake him, Ellen tiptoed to her bedroom and peeked in. Still asleep. Then she turned and went out, blinking back tears of grief and fright. The man she’d been learning to love was a killer. She had to warn the others about him.