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"Suppose you get a carload of Satan’s Slaves down below?"
"Unless they can figure out a way to dance on the ceiling," he said, "I think I’ll be all right Anyway, I’ve got ear plugs You can buy them at the 7-Eleven"
"What a country"
"You said it"
"Keller? Did it go all right?"
"Yeah, it was fine," he said "Anyway, it’s done, and I’ll be on the first flight out to It’s not a bad town-"
"Keller, that’s what you always say You said it about Roseburg, Oregon"
"-but I’ll be dalad to see the last of it," he finished, "and that’s so I can’t wait to get out of here"
He had the Olds tucked away in his usual slot at the rear of the Super 8 before he remembered his new rooht as well stay where it couldn’t be seen fro for it He didn’t have to decide what to do with the gun That, like Walter Hirschhorn, was soer had to worry about
He soaked in the tub, then watched a little TV, including a half hour of local news A black woman and a white man shared the anchor desk, and it was hard to tell theender somehow disappeared, and all you were aware of were their happy voices and big bright teeth
It was consequently hard to pay attention to what they were saying, but Hirschhorn wasn’t in any of the stories they reported Keller hadn’t figured he would be
He got into bed The traffic noise from outside wasn’t too bad, and Keller was a New Yorker, rarely bothered by horns or sirens or screeching brakes, rarely even sublis anyway, just to see how they felt, and fell asleep before he could get around to taking the awake abruptly, sitting up in bed with his heart pounding He couldn’t hear a thing, of course, and it took hilanced at the phone, expecting to see the red light flashing, but it wasn’t He checked his watch and was a up your ears and you slept like the dead
He unplugged his ears and put the plugs, no longer sterile, in with the unsullied pair Was that okay? Did you have to throay ear plugs after you’d used them once? Or could you reuse them? They weren’t sterile anymore, he understood that h so to be exposed to your ear wax If they’d never been anywhere but your own ears, and if that was their sole future destination, how unsanitary was it to use the a second shave out of a disposable razor?
He packed his bag and carried it to the car, and as he rounded the building he saw the rear parking lot filled with police cars and e on their tops Yellow crime scene tape was stretched here and there, and, while he stood watching, twoa stretcher between the on the stretcher, and it was zipped up tight
Keller, suitcase in hand, went to the office to check out "What a horrible thing!" the girl at the desk said, clearly loving every hnut on the door, so she knocked, and-"
"No doughnut?"
"Like the sign? Do Not Disturb, only hnut Disturb, on account of there’s a hole where you slip it over the doorknob? Anyhere was I?"
"No doughnut"
"Right, so she knocked, and when nobody answered she used her key And she saw they were in bed, and when this happens you’re supposed to just leave and close the door without saying anything? So you won’t disturb them more than you already did?"
Why did shelike a question? She paused, too, as if waiting for an answer Keller nodded, which seeain
"But sheMaybe the sood look she started screa Both of them shot dead in their bed, and blood on the bed linen, and…"
He let her go on for a while Then he said, "Say,people drive their cars out?"
"Oh, sure It’s been like hours since Rosalita found the bodies Hasn’t she got a pretty name?"
"Very pretty"
"Itsolish It would sound like she was an Indian Or like herRose and Little Rose?"
Jesus, Keller thought
"Anyway, the police have been here for hours, and they’ve been letting people coo in the room where it happened"
But he’d already been there Why would he want to go back?
Four
"Rooinal rooht a man and woman checked in"
"They checked in but they never checked out," she said "Where were you staying, Keller? The Roach Motel?"
They were in the kitchen of the big house on Taunton Place There was a pitcher of iced tea on the table between thelass Keller’s was still ot the hell out of there I was driving to the airport, and don’t ask ht to Cincinnati" He frowned "Well, Cincinnati Airport It’s actually across the river in Kentucky"
"I’ll be glad you told hts when it comes up on Jeopardy! You didn’t want to fly out of Louisville?"
"I figured it would probably be all right, but what if it wasn’t? I didn’t really knohat to think All I kneas I took care of Hirschhorn and a couple of hours later soood care of them, it sounds like And if they realized theirat the airport"