Part 55 (2/2)

now.

He paused, studying Brian, who was sprawled on a flower-patterned chair.

Looked younger in person, Lou decided. Young, a little too

thin, and oddly pretty for a man. Brian had that dazed, dream-struck

look that came with shock. There were others in the room, and smoke

billowed up from a number of ashtrays.

Mechanically Brian put a cigarette to his lips, drew in, set it down

again, blew out.

”Mr. McAvoy.”

Repeating the routine with the cigarette, Brian glanced up. He saw a

tall, leanly built man with dark hair carefully combed back from a long,

sleepy face. He wore a suit, a gray one, and a conservative tie of

nearly the same shade against a crisp white s.h.i.+rt. His black shoes were

glossy, his nails neatly trimmed, and there was a slight nick on his

chin where he'd cut himself shaving.

Odd the things you notice, Brian thought as he pulled on the cigarette

again.

”Yes.”

”I'm Lieutenant Kesselring.” He took out his s.h.i.+eld, but Brian continued

to look at his face, not the ID. ”I need to ask you some questions.”

”Can't this wait, Lieutenant?” Pete Page took a long, hard look at the

identification. ”Mr. McAvoy's not in any shape to deal with this now.”

”It would help us all if we got the preliminaries over with.” Lou sat.

After replacing his badge, he spread his hands on his knees. ”I'm

<script>