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Keller looked at his watch He had time to finish the coffee in his cup, he decided, but as the point? She’d only fill it up again, and he’d run out of time before the woood tip, and went out to his car, and twenty by Road, a picture-book suburban lane lined with ht fro His eyes were focused on a white fra a hundred yards or so down the road The , and Keller had a streetwheel, so that anyone passing by would assuure out where he was

But he knehere he was, and he kneouldn’t have long to wait Lee Klinger was a creature of habit, as likely to change his routine as the waitress was to leave a coffee cup unfilled Five o, and if the weather was halfway decent he walked to the station, leaving the house at 7:48

You could set your watch by the guy

Keller, who had set his oatch by the car radio, watched the side door open at the appointed hour Klinger, wearing a dark brown suit thishis tan briefcase, headed down the driveway and turned left at its end He walked to the corner, where a traffic light controlled the intersection He crossed Culpepper Lane with the light, then turned and waited for the light to change so that he could cross Rugby Road There were no cars coh In fact, Keller thought, he could have proceeded diagonally and crossed both streets at once But, in the three days he’d been tagging hier to know he’d do no such thing He’d wait for the light, and he’d cross streets the way you were supposed to cross them

Keller wondered anted the man dead, and why He didn’t really want to know the answer, he’d learned over the years that he was better off not knowing, but it was impossible to avoid speculation Soer? So?

All of this seeiven Keller’s iht down to it, what did Keller actually know about Klinger? Next to nothing, really He was punctual, he obeyed traffic laws, he wore suits, and somebody wanted hier than that, but that was all Keller knew, and all he needed to know

Keller put the Ford in gear, pulled away froer cross the street, and then when the light changed he’d drive through the intersection himself, and take another route to the suburban railway station After that, well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do Maybe there would be an opportunity on the platfor for the train Maybe he’d find his chance on the train, or in Chicago And ht there in the Loop where you could walk to the he used as a checklist He couldabout tiive it another day or two

The light changed Another car, approaching the intersection, slowed Klinger stepped off the curb, headed across the street The other car accelerated abruptly, springing forward like a predatory anier didn’t even have tiet away The car hit hi Keller had barely registered as happening before it was over Klinger never knehat hit hiive up How’d you do it?"

"All I did," he said, "atch it, and I barely did that I was following hi, so I didn’t have to pay close attention"

"That fucking Roger," Dot said "He’s changed his approach Instead of hitting the hitter, he beats you to the punch"

"It couldn’t have been Roger Rogeretta, maybe"

"It was a wo like sixty miles an hour at thesedan"

"Not your father’s Olds with the car She stepped on the brake, but all it did was go faster"

"Definitely not your father’s Oldsmobile"

"It happens a lot," Keller said, "with all kinds of cars The driver steps on the brake and the car speeds up instead of slowing down The one co in years"

"And I don’t suppose it’s really the brake"

"They get confused," he said, "and they think they’re stepping on the brake pedal, and it’s the accelerator So they panic and step down harder, to force the brakes to work, and the car goes faster, and, well, you see where it’s going"

"Straight into Klinger"

"She took her foot off the gas," he said, "to stop for the light, and her car slowed down, and Klinger started across, and then she stepped on as supposed to be the brake pedal And the rest is history"

"And so is Klinger," Dot said "And you were right there"

"I saw it happen," he said "I have to tell you, it gave ave him a look "Keller," she said, "you see enerally the cause of death"

"This was different," he said "The unexpectedness of it And it was so violent"

"It’s usually violent, Keller It’s what you do"

"But I didn’t do it," he said "I just sat there and watched it Then the cops caht be riskier if I drove away You know, leaving the scene of an accident Even if I wasn’t a part of the accident" He shrugged "They took a state, and they had another witness who saw the whole thing, and it’s not as though there was any dispute about what had happened Except that the little old lady still thinks it was the car’s fault and not hers"

"But we know otherwise," she said "And so does the client"

"The client?"

"Thinks you’re a genius, Keller Thinks you arranged the whole thing, figures you found soer to step in front of that lady’s car"

"But…"