So part of those three hours had been spent consuming a sandwich. Did Ellerbee go out for it? In that weather? Doubtful. He probably went down one floor to the kitchen and made himself a snack. But that wouldn't use up many minutes of that three-hour period.

The gap in the victim's time schedule bothered Delaney. It was not neat, ordered, logical-the way he liked things. Too many unanswered questions:

1. Why didn't Ellerbee tell his wife the name of the late patient and when he or she was expected?

3. If the late patient was expected at, say, seven o'clock, then Ellerbee could have left for Brewster at eight. But he told his wife he'd be leaving at nine. Ergo, the patient was expected at eight o'clock. But if that was so, how come the autopsy showed he had eaten an hour before death? It was ridiculous to suppose he munched on a sandwich while listening to a troubled patient.

4. How did Ellerbee spend the time from six to eight o'clock, assuming the late patient was scheduled for eight?

5. Those two sets of tracks-did the doctor expect two late patients that night?

It was, Delaney acknowledged, probably much ado about nothing. But it gnawed at him, and he suddenly decided he'd take on this puzzle himself.

He couldn't sit in his study all day, waiting for phone calls and reports from his task force.

He'd hit the street and do a little personal sleuthing.

He started by searching through the records for the name and address of Doctor Simon's receptionist. He finally found them: Carol Judd, living on East 73rd Street. Clipped to her card was Boone's report on her alibi for the night of the murder: She said she had been shacked up with her boyfriend in his apartment. He confirmed.

Delaney looked up her phone number in the Manhattan directory. He, called, mentally keeping his fingers crossed. It rang seven times and he was about to hang up when suddenly the receiver was lifted.

"Hello?" A breathless voice.

"Miss Carol Judd?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"My name is Edward X. Delaney," he said, speaking slowly and distinctly.

"I am a civilian consultant with the New York Police Department, assisting in the investigation of the death of Doctor Simon Ellerbee. I was hoping you-2' "Hey," she said, "wait a minute, let me put these groceries down. I just walked through the door."

He waited patiently until she came on the line again.

"Now," she said, "who are you?"

He went through it again.

"I was hoping you might give me a few minutes of your time. Some questions have come up that only you can answer."

"Gee, I don't know," she said hesitantly.

"Ever since my name was in the papers, I've been getting crazy calls.

Real weirdos-you know?"

"I can imagine. Miss Judd, may I suggest you call Doctor Diane Ellerbee and tell her that you have received a call from me and that I'd like to ask you a few questions. I'm sure she'll tell you that I am not a weirdo. I'll give you my number and you can call me back. Will you do that, please?"

"Well… I guess so. It may take some time getting through to her if she has a patient."

"I'll wait," Delaney said and gave her his phone number.

He cleared the clutter from his desk, replacing all the records back in their proper file folders. He kept out the time schedule and read it over again. That three-hour gap in Ellerbee's activities still intrigued him, and he hoped Carol Judd could supply some answers.

It was almost twenty minutes before she called back.

"Doctor Diane says you're okay," she reported.

"Fine," he said.

"I wonder if I could come over now; I'm not too far from where you live."

"Right this minute? Gee, you better give me some time to straighten up this place; it's a mess. How about half an hour?"

"I'll be there. Thank you."

That gave him time for a Michelob and a "wet" sandwich, eaten while leaning over the kitchen sink. It consisted of meat scraped off the bones of leftover chicken wings, with sliced tomatoes and onions and Russian dressing-all jammed into an onion roll as big as a Frisbee.

Then, donning his hard black homburg and heavy overcoat he set out to walk down to East 73rd Street.

It was the kind of day that made pedestrians step out: cold, clear, brilliant, with sharp light dazzling the eyes and a wind that stung.

The city seemed renewed and glowing.

He strode down Third Avenue, mourning the passing of all those familiar Irish bars, including his father's saloon. There was now a health food store where that had been. It was change all right, but whether it was progress, Delaney was not prepared to say.

Carol Judd lived in a fourteen-story apartment house that had glass doors, marble walls in vestibule and lobby, and a pervasive odor of boiled cabbage. Delaney identified himself on the intercom and was buzzed in immediately. He rode up to apartment 9-H in an automatic elevator that squeaked alarmingly.

If she had spent the last half-hour tidying up, Delaney hated to think of what her tiny studio apartment had been before she started. It looked like a twister had just blown through, leaving a higgledy-piggledy jumble of clothing, books, records, cassettes, and what appeared to be a collection of Japanese windup toys: dancing bears, rabbits clashing cymbals, and somersaulting clowns, "Pardon the stew," she said, smiling brightly.

"Not at all," he said.

"It looks lived-in."

"Yeah," she said, laughing, "it is that. Would you believe I've had a party for twenty people in here?"

"I'd believe it," he assured her, and thought, The poor neighbors!

She lifted a stack of fashion magazines out of a canvas sling chair, and he lowered himself cautiously into it, still wearing his overcoat, his homburg on his lap. Unexpectedly, she crossed her ankles and scissored down onto the floor without a bump, an athletic feat he admired.

In fact, he admired her. She was tall, lanky, and in tight denim jeans seemed to be 90 percent legs. She was not beautiful, but her perky features were vivacious, and her mop of blond curls-an Orphan Annie hairdo-had an outlandish charm. She wore a T-shirt that had a portrait of Beethoven printed on the front.

"Miss Judd," he started, "I'll try to make this as brief as possible; I don't want to take up too much of your time."

"I've got plenty," she told him.

"I've been looking for a job, but no luck yet. When I spoke to Doctor Diane before, she said she's looking for me, too, and thinks she may be able to get me something with a shrink she knows who's opening a clinic for rich alcoholics."

"How long did you work for Doctor Simon Ellerbee?"

"Almost five years. Gee, that was a dreamy job. Good hours and very little work. No pressure-you know?"

"I assume you handled his appointments, took care of the billing, and things of that nature?"

That's right. And I could use their kitchen for lunch. They even invited me and Edith Crawley-she's Doctor Diane's receptionist-up to their Brewster home for a weekend every summer. That's a dreamy place. And, of course, I got the whole month of August off every year."

"Did you like Doctor Simon?"

"A wonderful, wonderful man. Swell to work for. I had eyes for him, but I knew that would get me nowhere.

You've seen Doctor Diane? Too much competition!" She laughed merrily, clasping her knees with her arms and rocking back and forth on the floor.

"What hours did you work?"

"Nine to five. Usually. Sometimes he would ask me to come in a little earlier or stay a little later if a hysterical was scheduled. You know, some of those crazy ladies woman could scream rape-it's possible."

"Did it ever happen-that a woman patient screamed rape?"