'No, thanks. If you mean did Colin spend the night, no.'
'I don't know whether to be glad or not. How'd the evening go?'
Annie smiled.
'That good, huh?'
She shrugged, not wanting to commit herself, even to Peg.
'When are you going to see him again?' She finished the cookie, started a new one. 'You have to try one of these.'
Annie held out her hand. 'We said we'd talk today. But I won't be able to see him tonight. I have the Death and Dying group.'
'Did he stay late?'
'Not too.' She thought of telling Peg about calling him but couldn't. Absently, she took a bite of the cookie.
'Good, huh?'
'Who?'
'Not who. What. The cookie, sweetie, the cookie.'
'Oh, the cookie.'
'You're a goner, kid. Say, do you think Steve Cornwell saw you together?'
'I don't know. Maybe. Listen, I have to talk to some of the others. Can you stay for awhile today?'
'Sure. I'll make my way over to your house in a bit. And I expect every last detail.'
Smiling, Annie watched Peg join Madge Johnson and Tug Wilson. When she turned away she saw Burton Kelly coming toward her. She didn't need this today. Fortunately, Karen Ludwig cut him off, immediately began talking about the sermon, said she liked it, and had some questions. Annie was grateful and tried to absorb herself in the conversation, but her thoughts kept sliding back to Steve Cornwell, wondering about his laughter, feeling threatened.
By the time she was able to absent herself from the crowd of parishioners she felt edgy and restless. Every encounter she'd had seemed to fizzle and die, or else they'd ended with someone miffed. Whatever she'd tried had gone wrong. She hadn't even managed to avoid a confrontation with Burton. He'd been sulky and irritating, challenging everything she said. The morning had been a mess. She was a mess. Was all this because she was taken with Colin? Had she been so starved for affection that a few kisses had turned her mind to mush? That possibility disturbed her. As she climbed the back stairs to her house she thought, Thank God for Peg, she'll put me straight.
'Peg,' she called from the kitchen, 'I'm here.'
There was no reply.
And then she saw the note.
Dear Annie,
Had to leave, didn't want to come back to the Hall. Tim called,
told me Beth is running a temperature. I'll catch you later.
Why don't you drop by this afternoon? Sorry I couldn't stay
but I still expect the gory details.
Love, Peg
Timing, she thought, is everything. If ever she wanted to talk, it was now. The phone rang and she grabbed for it, hoping it was Colin. It was only a wrong number. She thought about calling him but decided against it. The last thing she wanted to do was to appear pushy, smothering. Instead she decided to relax, have her glass of sherry before she went to the Townsends' for dinner. In the dining room she poured herself the drink, then turned toward the living room.
When she saw him she sucked in her breath, dropping the glass. 'What are you doing here?' she managed to ask.
He said nothing, just smiled.
– -
The first thing Hallock said to Colin was, 'You look kind of bleary-eyed, Maguire. Didn't you get any sleep?'
'Not much. You?'
'Haven't slept yet. I tried but I couldn't. There was a paperback somebody left in the motel, read the whole damn thing.'
'What was it?'
Hallock cleared his throat. 'Oh, it was just some damn thing called
Colin smiled.
'Listen,' Hallock said defensively, 'it got me through the night and it wasn't half bad, either.'
'I didn't say anything, Chief.'
'Better stop calling me Chief.'
'Sorry. Want some coffee?'
'You got some made?'
'Yup.'
'I wouldn't mind a cup.'
Colin poured them each a mug of coffee, put a carton of milk on the table, and pushed the sugar bowl toward Hallock.
He took three teaspoons. 'So what do you have?'
Colin got out his sheets of lined yellow paper and laid them on the kitchen table. Across the top of the first one he'd written the names of the victims and down the left side, fifteen categories: age, sex, color eyes, color hair, height, weight, marital status, date of birth, where born, siblings, parents, children, job, address, and financial status.
Hallock took a similar piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded and smoothed it, then placed it next to Colin's. He had an additional four categories: hobbies, friends, habits, enemies. 'Two minds that work as one, huh?'
'Looks like it.'
'What kind of matches did you make?'
'A few times I thought I might have something, but then the little girl, Mary Beth, would throw it off.'
Hallock nodded. 'Know what you mean. Let's hear it anyway.'
Colin picked up his second sheet and began to read. 'Two of the victims have brown eyes, two blue. Two have blond hair, two brown.' He looked up from the paper. 'Of course, Ruth Cooper's was dyed. She'd already turned gray but she'd been a brunette.' He continued reading. 'Three of them were between five feet five and five feet eleven. Mary Beth threw that one off. The weight didn't seem to mean anything,' he said.
'Keep going. You're doing fine.'
'Two were married, one engaged. Three were born in Seaville, one in Mattituck. They all had siblings. They all had living parents. Two had children. One was a housewife, two had jobs. Two lived in Seaville, one in Bay View, one in East Hampton. Three had a two in their address, three had fives, and three had zeros. Two had moderate incomes, one a combined income of over eighty thousand, and one none.' Colin put down the paper. 'I think the only significant thing is that they were all born in the North Fork. Natives.'
'What's significant about that?'
'I shouldn't have said significant, that's too strong. What I mean is, it's the only common denominator.'
'I agree.' He held out his piece of paper, tapped the line where he'd discovered the same thing.
'So what's it mean?' Colin asked.
'I'm not sure. I just know there isn't anything else. Like you said, the only common denominator. I think we should check more on the families. Maybe it's something in the backgrounds. Grandparents, even.'
'Okay. Higbee and Carroll's immediate families are here, but what about Cooper and Danowski?'
Hallock said, 'Cooper's parents live in Florida. Miami Beach, I think. Got to look that up. Danowski's parents are in Bellport. If you can handle them, I can take the ones in Florida. What I mean is, I got more time on my hands than you. But you could probably take an afternoon to go down island to Bellport, couldn't you?'
