"Of course it could be. You want more coffee, maybe? Sometimes I think I'd run off with anybody asked me just to get out of this rat race. That's on my bad days. Isn't this day a stinker, though? It keeps coming down like this, every creek in the county will be flooded. It gives me the creeps to think about those two buried under a garage floor all that time. I never knew her, but my sister knew her. She was in the high school with her, before my time. My sister says she did a lot of running around. The way I see it, mister, if a husband catches his wife and another man, he's got a right to kill the two of them. It's like what they say the unwritten law. When I get married, I'm not going to do any cheating. I guess it isn't so bad if a man does a little cheating. They're all alike, beg your pardon. But no woman with a home and husband and everything has any right to jump the fence. Don't you think so? He made his big mistake burying the two of them like he did. He should have just got on the phone and said to the police, 'You boys come out here and see what I did and why.' Then it would have been just what they say formalities. The way I look at it--" I was saved by two truck drivers who came in from the big red combo that had just parked in front of the place. After she served them she came back, but I had finished. As she gave me my change she said, "You remember what I told you, now. That girl and that Marine ran off some place. Drive carefully." I drove on through the rain. The cars I met were proceeding with great care. It should have been full daylight, but it hadn't gotten appreciably lighter since first dawn. It was almost nine o'clock before I got to Redding. I parked near a drugstore and phoned her number from a booth in the back of the store. She answered the phone at once. "Hello?" "This is Tal." "I'm sorry. I'm afraid you have the wrong number." "I'll be there at ten like you said." "That's perfectly all right." She hung up. Her last comment had been the tip-off. Somebody was there with her. She had answered as though I had apologized. I wondered if it would be all set for ten. I wondered if I dared try again. I went to the drugstore counter and had coffee. The counter was emptying rapidly as people went to work. I bought a Redding paper. The discovery of the bodies had been given a big play. The article filled in a little more background than the radio item, but essentially it was the same. At nine-thirty I tried again. She answered on the second ring. "Hello?" "This is Tal again." "Yes?" "Is this deal off or on. What goes on? Should I be there at ten?" "This coming Saturday? No, I'm very sorry. I have a date." "I'm at a pay phone. The number is 4-6040. I'll wait right here until you can call me back." "No, I'm so sorry. Maybe some other time. Give me a ring." "Phone as soon as you can." "Thank you. Good-by."