She flipped the magazine open and went through it, mutilating the pages. "There's a hole in your head, Lester....

"One less eye for you, Alice....

"Poor little Kippie, I tore your chin. Right through the dimple. Will Bass love you now, Kippie?

"Goodby, Bass." She crumpled him into a ball and threw him at the sink.

On the next page was a print of a restaurant. She read the caption.

"For two hours each evening, while filmed sequences are shown to the home audience, the stars retire to Antola's for sandwiches, drinks and shop talk."

She tried to stop her thoughts as they went to the sleeping alcove and the old gun in the top shelf of the built-ins. Dell hadn't bothered to unload it since he'd cleaned it last.

She dropped the magazine and went to the top shelf of the built-ins. The gun was there.


It didn't take her long to drive downtown. There were no other cars on the streets, and the current to the traffic lights had been cut three years before. She passed only a prowling squad car, and the two police stared at her curiously.