Phathar decided this might be true. He retrieved the purse. He held it out to Jano. "You take it. Throw it someplace."

"No way. I don't want to get caught with it. Why don't you burn it?"

"I can't. My dad'd whack me again. Maybe I'll hide it under the porch and some night when he's playing cards I'll burn it."

The terrible, glass-splintering crash came from the living room. The boys each stared at the dirt-smeared wall through which the sound had come. Philip dropped the purse into the empty popcorn bag and wadded it, along with some trash, into a green plastic garbage bag, which sat in the corner of this room. They stepped into the hall.

Philip's mother was on the floor, on all fours, her knees spread out, skirt up to her trim waist. The eyes in her pretty face were nearly closed and her head lolled as the muscles in her smooth arms tried to keep her shoulders from dropping to the ground. Mr. Halpern stood above her, his hands gripping the stained orange blouse, saying desperately, "It'll be all right, it'll be all right. No, no, it'll be all right."

And she was repeating louder and in a shrill soprano, "Lemmealone, lemmealone!" In her hand was a white wad of cloth. On the stained carpet was a fresher stain of vomit. The smell of sour gin was thick in the air. Philip started to cry.

"Mrs. Halpern," Jano whispered.

Philip's father looked up. "Get the fuck out of here, both of you."

Jano said, "But she's sick."

Whimpering, Philip said, "She's not sick."

"Get the fuck out!" his father shouted. "Both of you. Out out out!" He stamped his foot as if he were spooking dogs.

Philip said to Jano, "Please."

"But -"

"Please," Philip said. His friend fled outside. Staring out the front window Philip heard the scuffling of his mother's shoes. His father had lifted her into an armchair and was whispering to her. Philip walked past his parents and out the back door then he slipped under the porch.

Philip hid the bag containing the purse under a mound of soft black dirt. He rocked back and forth in the crisp dusty leaves.

Oh, he was tired.

He was tired of so much. His father wore torn T-shirts and made the handy man visit. His mother packed him greasy sandwiches for lunch – when she made his lunch – and forgot to wash the clothes. There were enemies everywhere, everywhere you looked. His sister was a 'ho, he was fat. She was Halpern, he was Philip. Phil-lip. He got a D in phys ed and a B in biology and, while another glass shattered somewhere in the house above him, a single thought centered in his head – an image of a shy young girl leaning on a lab table and telling him how brave he was while Philip stuck a needle way deep into a frog's brain then slit its belly open and watched the slick lump of a heart continue to beat on and on and on.

Bill Corde was sitting in infamous Room 121 of the Student Union. He was alone, surrounded by the now familiar scents of fatty meat, bitter paper and burnt coffee.

More students, more three-by-five cards. Today's questions were similar to last week's but they were not identical.

Today he was asking about two victims.

Corde took notes, jotting down the boxy oriental letters, but the hours were unproductive; he heard variations on what he had already learned or pointless, obscure details. "Emily wore this yoked dress a lot then one day it got stolen from the laundry room. That was just before she was killed. I mean, like the day before." Corde nodded and recorded this fact, unsure what it might mean or what he would ever do with it but afraid to let the item get away. He had this feeling often.

Many thoughts intruded on the interviews, not the least of which was a vague disquiet about Charlie Mahoney, the mysterious consultant. Ribbon had introduced them but the man had said little to Corde and been in a hurry to leave the office. Corde had not seen him since.

When Corde asked Ribbon what "real helpful insights" Mahoney had provided, picking up the sheriffs phrase from the Register, he'd been as elusive as Corde expected. "Mahoney's here as an observer is all. What I said was mostly for public relations. Trying to calm people down a little."

Well, who the hell got 'em un-calm in the first place, with all this talk of a Moon Killer?

"I don't want a civilian working on this case," Corde said.

"I know you don't," Ribbon had answered cryptically and returned to his office.

Now, in Room 121, Corde looked at his watch. Four p.m. He wandered out to the cafeteria and bought an iced coffee. He finished it in three swallows. He was eager to go home. He nearly did so but his resolve broke – or discipline won – and he stepped to the door and waved a final student inside then told the others to come back tomorrow.

It was just as well that he did not leave. This last student was the one who told him Jennie Gebben's secret.

She was round and had thick wrists and was worried about a double chin because she kept her head high throughout the interview. With that posture and the expensive flowered dress she seemed like an indulged East Coast princess.

The lazy Southern drawl disposed of that impression quickly. "I do hope I can help you, officer. It's a terrible thing that happened."

Did she know either of the murdered girls? Just Jennie. How long had she known her? Two years. Yes, they shared some classes. No, they had never double-dated.

"Do you know either Professor Sayles or Brian Okun?"

"Sorry."

"Do you know who Jennie might have been going out with?"

The fleshy neck was touched.

It reminded him compellingly of Jennie's throat.

Corde looked from the white flesh back to the paler white of his three-by-five cards.

"Well, would you be speaking of men she went out with?"

"Students, professors, anyone."

"… or girls?"

The tip of Corde's pen lowered to a card.

"Please go on."

The girl played tensely with the elaborate lace tulle on the cuff of her dress. "Well, you know 'bout Jennie's affair with that girl, don'tcha?"

After a pause he wrote "Bisexual?" in precise boxy letters and asked her to continue.

The girl touched her round pink lip with her tongue and made a circuit of Corde's face. "Just rumors. You know how it is." The plump mouth closed.

"Please."

Finally she said, "One time, the story goes, some girls were in a dorm across campus and saw Jennie in bed with another girl."

The flesh was no longer pale but glowed with fire.

"Who was this other girl?"

"I was led to believe their… position in bed made it a little difficult to see her. If you understand what I'm saying."

"Who were these girls who saw it?"

"I don't know. I assumed you knew all about this." The frown produced not a single wrinkle in her perfect skin. "You know of course about the fight she had?"

"Tell me."

"The Sunday before she died. Jennie was on the phone for a long time. It was late and she was whispering a lot but I got the impression she was talking to somebody she'd dumped. You know that tone? Like where you have to get meaner than you want to because they're not taking no for an answer. They all were carrying on and my room is right near the phone and I was going to go out and tell her to hush when I heard her say, 'Well, I love her and I don't love you and that's all there is to it.' Then crash bang she hung up."

"Loved 'her'?"

"Right. I'm sure about that."

"The call, did she make it or receive it?"

"She received it."

No way to trace. "Man or woman?"

"She sounded like she was talking to a man but maybe I'm projecting my own values. With her, I guess it could've been either. That's all I know."

"Nobody else has said anything about it."