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to get it. And what I expect now is for you to do your job the way you’re supposed to do it, and not try to shove responsibility off onto somebody else. Do I make myself clear?”
    Jud felt his gorge rise, but he kept his face from showing it. “Sure, Sam. Very clear.”
    “I hope so,” Melcher said. “My advice to you is to get this terrible thing cleared up fast .” He stopped and looked at the door. “Are Ed and Helen in there?”
    Jud nodded.
    “Anybody with them?”
    “Just one of our police officers.”
    Melcher shook his head. “Poor, poor people.” He shot one more black look at Jud and went into the house.
    The chief glanced over at Pearson, who still seemed pleased by the attention the media people were giving him. Damned if I do, Jud thought, and damned if I don’t. He left the porch and strode down the walk toward his car.
    There were more rubberneckers pressing against the rope than there had been earlier, and a number of cars were driving slowly past the house. The sky had become overcast, and there was almost no wind. It was a sign of snow coming, and Jud hoped fervently they wouldn’t be hit by another storm. Sitting in the middle of the snow belt, Braddock usually caught anything that blew up east of Buffalo, and late winter was the worst time. But maybe they’d have some luck for a change. Then again, squinting up at the leaden clouds, he doubted it.
    “Jud!”
    He turned to see Sally hurrying toward him. Her face was flushed from a combination of the cold air and the excitement, and her dark hair tumbled to her shoulders in loose waves. Her polo coat was open and he could see her breasts bobbing under her white blouse as she half-walked, half-ran to where he was standing. She was, he thought, a very good-looking young woman.
    She put her hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
    He felt self-conscious again, aware that some of the onlookers were staring at them, and he gently removed her hand. “Yeah, I’m all right. How come you’re on this?”
    “Maxwell told me to cover it.” Ray Maxwell was the owner and publisher as well as the editor of the Braddock Express .
    Jud nodded. “That’s a break for you.”
    “I suppose so. But I feel more like crying than anything else. What a horrible thing to have happen. It’s just ghastly.”
    He thought of what he’d seen on the floor of the bedroom and on top of the dresser. “It is that.”
    She bit her lip. “I’d like to ask you some questions, but I wouldn’t want anyone to think you were favoring me because we’re friends.”
    “No, neither would I.” He suddenly realized this was the first time they’d mixed business into their personal relationship.
    “Maybe I should go to your office when you get back there.”
    “Same problem.”
    “Okay, then—see you tonight?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “That would be better. It’ll have to be late, though.”
    “Fine. I’ll come over.” She turned and hurried back toward the other reporters, who were still gathered around Pearson. Watching her go, it occurred to Jud that she looked just as good from this angle as she did from the front.
    He waved to the cop who was holding the crowd back and got into his cruiser. As he started the engine and pulled away, he thought back to how the morning had begun. A quiet Saturday, and now he had a feeling he was in for more problems than he ever could have imagined.

Three
    FEARFUL IMPACT
    1
    K AREN W ILSON AWAKENED at dawn with a blinding headache. The images she’d seen during the night had been burned into her mind, and her sleep had been a jumble of nightmares, giving her no rest. She got out of bed and stumbled into the shower, feeling as if she’d been hit over the head with a hammer. Getting dressed took great effort, and when she left the house the cold outside air only made her feel worse.
    By the time she’d driven to Boggs Ford, the car dealership where she worked as a secretary, she could hardly see. Carrying a paper bag containing