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A
"Anyway," he drew the word out like a man anxious to change the subject. "I was in town and, I must confess, I couldn't resist the temptation to have conversation with someone who, politically speaking, is somewhat to the left of Yippi Ti Yi Yo."
A
Harland sank down on the foot of the bed. Even that small jolt sent an ache reverberating through A
"I'm not from Texas," Harland said.
A
" Pensacola, Florida. Navy brat."
"You've been around the block and around the world?"
He laughed, a rich male noise that warmed A
"Tell me," A
He obliged with tales of "wrassling 'gators" and serving as general dogsbody at a roadside SEE OUR DEADLY POISON SNAKES attraction in Florida to work his way through college; of going to Vietnam to fight for democracy and spending three years procuring Japanese kimonos and Russian vodka for officers and their wives; of kicking around the States trying his hand at leading canoe trips, hunting expeditions, working for the YMCA; of finally finding a home with the Park Service.
Harland stayed nearly an hour. A
Mechanically A
Fortified by food and stimulants, she opened the autopsy report on Ranger Drury. Much of it was chemical analyses that meant little to her. After a cursory look through, she turned to the summation and comments on the last page.
Ranger Drury had died between seven p.m. and midnight on Friday, June 17. The cause of death was perforation of the spinal cord between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae. The puncture wound, one and a half inches deep, was found to have traces of animal fur at the opening and, one inch down, a fragment of a tooth from a large carnivore. There were three other puncture wounds three-quarters to one inch deep in a pattern consistent with the size of an adult lion's bite. Several animal hairs were found in the scrapes along the shoulder. There were no broken bones or other signs of trauma. Stomach contents included an incompletely digested pear and salami and cheese.
The only other item of interest was a trace of a hallucinogen which had been found in Sheila's blood. Possibly LSD.
In college A
Paul had underlined the final sentence: "Death accidental: killed by a mountain lion (Felis concolor)."
A
"Killed by a mountain lion (Felis concolor)." A
"Goddamn, but I'm tired," A
14
"PAUL told me to take all the time I needed," A
Feet tucked under her like a teenager, A
A
"Take it," Molly commanded. "Two weeks at least. Get the hell out of there. I knew bucolic splendor was bad for the health. Come to New York. We'll send out for deli, take in some shows. We'll avoid stairs, take only elevators. There won't be anything for you to fall off of."
Molly sounded a
"Molly," she said on impulse, "how are you doing? Are you happy and everything?"
The moment of stu
"I'm all right, I guess," Molly said at last. There followed the pregnant pause of a match finding tobacco, the sigh of relief. Molly laughed. "My fees have gotten so high I can't afford to ask myself how I feel."
"I'll ask again," A
After they'd hung up, A
The room was very feminine, traditionally so, with ruffles and stuffed toys, dresser scarves, bottles of perfume on a mirrored dressing table, framed Arthur Rackham prints on the walls. But A
A
She'd been out of the hospital two days. She was healing fast. Painkillers helped her sleep. Real food was giving her back her strength. She'd even managed to go into the ranger station for a couple of hours.
It was the same damn thing, A