studied the card. 'DA, huh? What's your interest in Stampler?'
'I defended him,' said Vail. 'Before I became a prosecutor.'
'Huh,' said the psychiatrist, lowering his glasses. 'That's kind of a sticky wicket, isn't it?'
'I think you could say that,' said Vail with a smile.
'Well, tell Molly I'll see her later. Will you two be around for a while?'
'No, we'll be leaving shortly. Thanks for your help.'
'Not much help, I'm afraid, but it was nice to see you,' Salzman said, and left the office.
When Molly came back, she said, 'I have a little information for you. Jean says she got a request for a recommendation for Rene about two months after she left. It was from City General Hospital in Terre Haute. I just talked to the personnel director there. He says she worked there for four months, left around the first of the year. They've had no further contact with her.'
'So she was there at the time of the Balfour kill,' said St Claire.
'And it was just a nervous breakdown, she didn't show signs of any other mental problems?' Vail said.
'Maybe,' said St Claire, 'she was an adroit liar, as Dr Lowenstein would say.'
'You really think she was psychotic?' Molly asked.
'I'm askin' you, ma'am,' St Claire said, and smiled.
Molly lit another cigarette, considered his question carefully before she answered. 'If she was, Orin didn't detect it,' she said finally.
'Where did she come from before she worked here?' Vail asked.
'Accordin' to her record on this sheet, she came here from Regional General Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. General housekeeping,' St Claire answered, checking the computer printout. 'You also got a picture of her, if that's what this here checkmark means.'
'I'll have Jean pull it,' Molly said.
'May I show you something?' St Claire said. He led them into her office. 'Got a couple of hair pins?' he asked Molly.
She laughed. 'Afraid I don't use them.'
'How about paperclips. I need two.'
He took the two paperclips she gave him and straightened them out, then inserted them into the bookcase lock. Working with both hands, he moved the two wires around until he felt the tumblers in the lock. He twisted both clips and the door clicked open. It took about thirty seconds. He reached in, took out one of the tape boxes, and removed the tape, then put the empty box back. He turned to Molly and handed her the tape. 'When's the last time ya looked at one of these, Doctor?'
'I have no idea,' Molly answered. 'I haven't looked at them since I got my ticket. Four years, maybe longer.'
'She was workin' at night, had a key to the office, came in, popped the lock, took a tape, maybe two or three, returned them the next night. Nothin' to it. You never woulda known the dif, 'less a'course you happened to check the particular box she borrowed. That's if it was Hutchinson, a'course.'
'You think she knew how to pick a lock?'
'No big secret, ma'am. I mean, it ain't some inside cop thing. I read it in one of those books, y'know the kind?
They returned to the sitting room. The personnel director had sent 3x5 colour mug shots of Rene Hutchinson and Tribble to the office. Molly handed them to Vail and then turned over the photograph of Linda Balfour's body, which was lying facedown on the table. She stared down at it.
'You think a woman is capable of this?' she asked.
'Ma'am,' said St Claire, 'I think a woman can do anything a man can do but sire a child - and I ain't even too sure 'bout that any more.'
Angelica Stoddard was short and resembled her mother. She had a trim, tight body, good posture, and blue eyes so pale she almost looked blind - a striking young woman in an extra-large sweater that hung down halfway to the knees of her bleached-out jeans. She wore jogging shoes
