'Who's calling?'
'Ira Preduski.'
'I'm sorry, but I-'
'Detective Preduski.'
'It's four in the morning,' she said.
'I apologize. Really. I'm sorry. Sincerely. If I've wakened you ...
terrible of me. But, you see, he wanted me to call him immediately if
we had any-major developments in the Butcher case.'
'Just a minute.' She looked at Graham.
He was awake, watching her.
She said, 'Preduski.'
He took the receiver. 'Harris speaking.'
A minute later, when he was finished, she hung up for him. 'They found
number ten?'
'Yeah.
'What's her name?' Connie asked.
'Edna. Edna Mowry.'
The bedclothes were sodden with blood. The carpet at the right of the
bed was marred by a dark stain like a Rorschach blot. Dried blood
spotted the wall behind the brass headboard.
Three police lab technicians were working in the room under the
direction of the coroner. Two of them were on their hands and knees
beside the bed. One man was dusting the nightstand for fingerprints,
although he must have known that he would not find any. This was the
work of the Butcher, and the Butcher always wore gloves. The coroner
was plotting the trajectory of the blood on the wall in order to
establish whether the killer was left-handed or right-handed.
'Where's the body?' Graham asked.
'I'm sorry, but they took it to the morgue ten minutes ago,' Detective
Preduski said, as if he felt responsible for some inexcusable breach of
manners. Graham wondered if Preduski's entire life was an apologia. The
detective was quick to take the blame for everything and to find fault
with himself even when he behaved impeccably. He was a nondescript man
with a pale complexion and watery brown eyes. In spite of his
appearance and his apparent inferiority complex, he was a highly
respected member of the Manhattan homicide detail. More than one of the
detective's associates had made it clear to Graham that he was working
with the best, that Ira Preduski was the top man in the department. 'I
held the ambulance as long as I could.
You took so much time to get here. Of course I woke you in the dead of
night. I shouldn't have done that. And then you probably had to call a
cab and wait around for it. I'm so sorry. Now I've probably ruined
everything for you. I should have tried to keep the body here just a
bit longer. I knew you'd want to see it where it was found.'
'That doesn't matter,' Graham said. 'In a sense, I've already had a
firsthand look at her.'
'Of course you have,' Preduski said. 'I saw you on the Prine show
earlier.'
'Her eyes were green, weren't they?'
'Just as you said.'
