'Not really,' said Becker.
'Of course you are, don't be modest. You killed all those people, didn't you?'
Becker recoiled, his face darkening.
'Don't be embarrassed,' she said. 'They were all bad people, I'm sure.'
'They were all serial killers,' Tee said, 'but it's not his favorite topic. '
'I am sorry, will you forgive me?' She touched his arm with the hand that wasn't holding the bone. The motion made her ribs stand out against the skin. 'Now you must forgive me or I'll feel just awful.'
'No problem,' Becker said, managing a wintry smile.
'Thank you,' she said, giving Becker a lingering look before turning again to Tee. She thrust the bone toward the chief, waggling it impatiently.
'Well, take it, Captain Terhune. You don't expect me to hold it forever, do you? It may not have the germs that killed it, but it could have other germs, couldn't it?'
'I'm not a captain,' Tee said, taking the bone, holding it carefully by the paper toweling.
'Well, you certainly should be. I'd make you a colonel. ' Tee laughed.
'Chief is good enough for me.'
'You're two of the most modest men I've ever met,' she said with delight. 'I can't tell you how refreshing that is. My husband is-well, let's not get into that.'
'Do you want to show me where you found the bone?' Tee asked.
'Why certainly. Just come along here.'
As she walked toward her backyard, the woman touched Tee's arm several times as if for balance, although Becker saw nothing in the terrain to have disturbed her equilibrium. Alone with Becker in the car again, Tee said, 'So, what do you think?'
'An attractive woman,' Becker said. 'A hand ful, I'd guess, but nice-looking.'
'I didn't mean the woman,' Tee said impatiently. 'Well then, otherwise-I'd say you have a problem.'
'That's what I was afraid of.' Tee laid the bone carefully on the back seat of the cruiser. 'It's human, isn't it?'
'Looks that way to me,' Becker said. 'Humerus.'
'May be funny to you, not to me.'
'I mean the humerus bone.'
'God, I love an educated man. That anything like the upper arm in American?'
'Very similar.'
'Shit. I'll have a doctor check it out, but it is human, isn't it?'
Becker nodded. 'Maybe we have a cemetery flooded. That'll be pretty.'
'At least you know where to start looking,' Becker said. 'Where is that?'
'Upstream.'
'I probably would have thought of that eventually, but see, you didn't even hesitate. Quick. Quick as a Fed.' Tee reached for his radio.
'I'm sorry about that comment she made,' he said, changing his tone. 'I hope it didn't upset YOU.'
'Of course it upset me,' Becker said. 'How would you like to be a celebrity because of the people you killed?'
'Well… sorry. '
'Not your fault.'
'She's kind of outspoken.'
'Who is she, anyway?' Becker asked.
'Mrs. Leigh? Just, you know-do we say housewife anymore? A nonworking mother? Full-time parent, something like that. Husband does something with magazines in the city. Probably can't really afford to live here, but they're doing it for the schools for their kids, that type of deal.
'How do you happen to know her?'
'Hey, I'm the chief. I know lots of people… She had a prowler once, I think it was. Or she imagined she had a prowler. She's a little on the neurotic side, maybe you picked up on that… I don't really know her.'
'Anything else you want to tell me about Mrs. Leigh?' Becker asked.
'Why should I?' Tee looked at Becker, his face a mask of puzzlement. 'I hardly know her.'
Becker nodded, looking out the window. 'What? What?'
Becker shrugged. 'Nothing. Reading too much into things is an occupational hazard.'
'Having people be friendly with the chief of police is an occupational hazard too. Personally, I'd rather have them all scared and troubled by a guilty conscience in my presence, but some of them just get friendlier than they have a right to be. What can I do?'
'Kind of nice to see somebody wearing shorts after all this rain, isn't it? I would have thought it was a little cool for that kind of outfit.'
'Maybe it's what she wears around the house,' Tee said.
'Maybe… but I thought she was out in her yard. That's how she found the bone.'
'Good Christ, John, does your mind work like this all the time?'
'Pretty much,' Becker said. 'It must be hard to live with.'
Becker smiled. 'You've got to find the right mate. Fortunately, I have.'
'Fortunately for you. How about her?'
Becker's smile broadened. 'If Karen isn't happy, I'll just work harder.' Tee stared at Becker. 'Man, you've changed. Karen's been the best thing in the world for you.'
'I know it. I have blossomed like a flower.'
'It's made you kind of weird, too.'
'She's brought out my feminine side, as they say.' Becker grinned.
'Well, keep that part to yourself while you're in this car. I'm sworn to enforce the law.' Tee stared at him a moment longer before speaking into the radio.
'Maureen, find out what doctor we've got on call this month, would you?
I need a specialist, a what-do-you-callit?'
'Orthopedic surgeon?' Becker suggested. 'An orthopedic surgeon,' Tee repeated into the radio. Then, to Becker: 'Why a surgeon?'
'The bone's been cut,' Becker said. 'On the end. Looks like someone went at it with a knife.'
'Well, shit twice,' said Tee.
2
He thought of himself as Captain Luv, and when he had sex with his victims he would think, Cap'n Luv is in command now. Sometimes he would say it aloud, drawing out the word 'love' into several syllables while affecting the accent of a black crooner. 'Here come Captain Luuuvvv,' he would say, and they would giggle, or look at him askance, he didn't much care, it was always much too late for them to change their minds. Most of them smiled at him, most were inclined at that point to find anything he did endearing.
'Goine take you apart, girl.'
And later he would take them apart, or he wouldn't, depending on circumstances, depending on how severely the temptation gripped him, depending on whether the mania descended and took control of him. There was no way to tell ahead of time, the mania had fooled him more than once, bursting suddenly into his brain just when peace should have reigned, compelling him to do its bidding. So now he awaited it with expectation, half hoping it would overtake him, half fearing it, but in either case powerless to affect it.
He thought of all the girls as his victims, whether he worked on them or not. Lucky victims, most of them, cause he was good, very very good at sex and they always got more than they had ever dreamed of They were always sated when he finished, he saw to that-he kept working until they were, and he was as generous as he was patient. While they were doing it, he had thoughts only for them I and they sensed it, responded to it, and finally surrendered to it.
