Chapter 34 Section 33

Now, for Jeff Elliott, there was no reason to use Driscoll's revelations about Kenson.He is no longer a suspect in the murder of Markham and his family, but a commoner with personal behavior problems, and those exposing scandals are not news material, at least not the kind that can enter the "urban conversation" section news. Hardy sat in the small suite in Elliott's office, a pile of Driscoll's materials on a rotating table in front of him.He read those materials slowly and carefully, and it took him a whole afternoon to read them.In the meantime, Jeff is working hard on his next column.It is simply a hodgepodge of archives, almost all-encompassing, all kinds of everything.For example, the letters about Kenson that Elliott showed Hardy a few days ago were arranged in chronological order, and after they were printed out, they were put together in categories.Likewise, memos involving Ross and board resolutions on various issues, including those on file with baby Emily and Lopez's son, are arranged in chronological order.Hardy found that only by carefully reading all the documents related to any one problem can one follow the timeline of events to realize its significance.

At the same time, there are at least one hundred memo notes among the files included in the archives.These are also notes and decisions about various meetings, possibly dictated to Driscoll as well.Whether they were official documents or dictated, they were neither new nor important to Hardy.What made Hardy more interesting were three or four brief hints and notes.Not to mention mysterious, maybe Markham typed it into the computer as a memo.Apparently, he believed he could write the document in such a reliable way, perhaps giving it a password for security and confidentiality.But Driscoll had cracked the security and got into his files, but Hardy couldn't quite figure out what the notes meant.

In the case of Lopez, Markham's early memos to Portola management were largely factual.They were all about Medicare payouts and lengthy, convoluted medical explanations of those extraordinary treatment decisions at the time, all meant to mitigate their own liability in the inevitable lawsuit. Several memorandums, both on file and copied to the Physician Society, examine the punishment for this incident involving a doctor named Jadella.Jadela was the first doctor at that clinic to examine Ramiro Lopez's condition.Unable to tell what the reason was, Hardy speculated that Jadela's actions were definitely not negligent.At the first visit to the doctor, the boy had a mild fever and a throat infection that no sensible diagnostician would have prescribed antibiotics, or ordered a strep test.Furthermore, Jadella never recorded the gash on Ramiro's lip in his medical files, and when asked about it later, he had no recollection of it.So Hardy was intrigued by Jadella's memo. He saw some unspoken subtext in it: Markham was looking for a scapegoat, and the evidence against Jadella would not be as clear and clear as it was against Cohen. clear.Therefore, in Hardy's view, the purpose of these documents about Jadela is only to find an uncertain person who can be temporarily used as a shield.

In the end, Markham suggested that they impose a Section 805 penalty on Cohen - which would become her permanent record on the National Medical Council and the National Database of Practicing Physicians - and the wording of that letter became very acerbic and extremely harsh : "...there is no doubt that Dr. Cohen's incompetence was a major factor in her patient's death, that she failed to diagnose the early symptoms of fasciitis necrosis, and that the condition had progressed to the point where even the most aggressive interventions were useless We suggest that Portola Hospital temporarily deprive Dr. Cohen of his clinical work rights for a period of 30 days, and you submit a report on the implementation of Section 805 as required. A comprehensive investigation to determine the viability of Dr. Cohen's continued employment."

Hardy understood what Markham was trying to do—to try to distance himself from the fact that Judith at the hospital had failed to make an early diagnosis correctly.This decision is based on the compensation of medical insurance, based on the prosecution faced, and based on the balance of money.From Kenson's perspective, the real culprit in this tragedy, albeit biased, has always been Malachi Ross, who was behind the scenes at the top, imposing restrictions and denying patients the necessary treatment .Instead, the blame fell heavily on a young female employee who had been employed for a relatively short time.Even if Judith's early diagnosis could have been better, it's clearly unfair to single her out as the cause of the boy's death.A lot of people contributed to the outcome, as did the company's internal culture, and Hardy thought the whole thing was disgusting.

However, it does provide a tangible motivation for the fact that Judith hates Markham. He flipped through the papers in his hands, staring at the next page in bewilderment.He was sure it was about Ross.First, the initials MR of Rose's name, followed by the abbreviation "PRIV INVEST" of the words private investment or private investigation.But it could refer to a private investment in a drug company that Parnassus did business with, or it could be a private detective hired by Markham to keep tabs on his own medical director.There is no way to explain what this means. He continued to scroll down to the next page.

"I really can't remember." Rayan Badan shook his head regretfully. Fisk already had some ideas about his job, which he thought should be tracking down the wreck and other things, so Grisky asked Darrell Bracco if he would sit next to him while he talked to Rayan Badan .Just after noon, Rayan Badan took the initiative to come to the lobby of the Judiciary Building. However, when Badan showed up on time for this interview, he seemed a little nervous and reluctant.He asked Griski these questions several times, such as whether he needed to have a lawyer present, whether Griski would suddenly arrest him, and so on.Griski reassured him that he was free to leave at any time and that no arrests were made today.

Badan told Grisky that he didn't like the idea that he might have killed someone.Griski told him they were just trying to clarify some of what he had said before, maybe that way they could get more facts.But Griski also reiterated that if Bataan wanted to spend the money, he could always call a lawyer for him. No lawyers were present for the conversation, and Badan said he couldn't recall what happened the day after Christmas. "You can't even remember that you were working that day?" Braco couldn't help getting angry like a grumpy policeman.Griski had befriended Bataan during the last interview, and preferred to implement things in his own way.

"I believe there is a record of this matter," Badan replied, hoping that such an answer would be helpful to him. "You can check the records of the personnel department." "We've done that, Layan, they told us, you were at work that day, and you should remember. Do you know why? Do you remember Shirley Watlers? She died on that day. She died on that day was murdered." Griski sat at the head of the table, posing with the two of them.He raised a hand to stop Braco's aggressive questioning for the purpose of helping Bataan out of this predicament. "Do you remember anything out of the ordinary about Shirley Watlers, Lajan? She was a difficult patient, is that so?"

Badan lowered his head, then lifted it up with difficulty. "I do remember the name. She wasn't messing around, she wasn't difficult to deal with. There's no one who is more difficult than another in the ICU, they're just people who are suffering." "This suffering bothers you, doesn't it, Layan?" Braco asked, sitting across from him.There is a camera hidden in a vent hole in the corner of the ceiling of this room, and just under this table, there is a spinning tape recorder that cannot be seen from the outside. "Yes, that's why I became a nurse. My wife suffered a lot before she died, and I realized that I was the one person who could help relieve her pain."

Griskie picked up the jug and poured some water into Bataan's paper cup. "Have you thought about completely freeing them from their own pain? Wouldn't the effect be better?" "No, I've never done anything like that. Not once." "Has no needle been pulled from any of them when they were clearly dying? Was there anything like that?" Griski asked softly. Badan took a sip of water from his cup and shook his head. "No. At any time, it's a matter for the doctor to decide. I'm just assisting the doctor's work, not making a decision. If I don't understand anything, I will ask the doctor." He drank some more water." And I never know when people are going to die Capt. Nobody knows that, not even the doctors. No one but God knows. I've been working in ICU all these years and I've seen people go in and don't think they'll last In the middle of the night. But a week later they sat up on their own and were able to go home from the hospital. That’s how things go, who knows?” Bracco couldn't wait to lash out at Bataan's remarks. "Forget it, Shirley Watlers wasn't like that. What happened to her, it happened to Marjorie Rowling. And you were on duty when they died. You don't know about that. Is there anything to say?" Griski wasted no time in influencing Bataan. "Maybe they're all trouble-seeking, trouble-making patients, Lajan, who don't want you pushing them around and changing their mattresses. Maybe for the other patients in that ward, they're making things worse. It's getting worse." Badan looked at this agent and then at that agent. "I don't know what to say. What do you want me to say?" "When these women died, you were on duty in those two classes at that time, and you have this commonality." Braco thinks that their confrontation is getting more and more intense, and his toughness is slowly showing. "We've found nine or ten other patients who died in the intensive care unit, and you were the nurse on duty when it happened. If you were in our position, what would you think?" He stretched out his hands to cover his round black face and thought about this question. "I'd think I must have killed them." He looked at each of them for their reaction to that. "But I swear to you, it's not true." Bracco gave Grisky a quick wink, then loudly continued his pursuit. "You expect us to believe that you had nothing to do with the deaths of these women, and the other patients who died? Who else was there, Layan? Who else had a chance?" "I don't know, I don't know who would do something like that. There must be a record of someone else being there. Maybe some doctor. Maybe even some hallway man, or some security guard. They come and go Yes, you know the situation." Griski reached out and patted Bataan on the arm. "Can you remember any of them, Layan?" Braco slapped his palm on the table, and then stood up. Due to his excessive movement, he knocked over the chair behind him when he got up. "There are no fictional administrators or doctors at all, Lajan! Just you, you understand? We have your work files. Every dead person we know of died when you were on duty, when Tim Markham died Same." "Oh, no," Layan's eyes widened at the accusation, "I didn't kill him." "But you killed the others, didn't you?" "No! I told you, no!" "Rajan," Griski said quietly, "listen to me. We're not going to stop, we're going to keep going until we find the evidence we need, and we will. As long as you murdered ten people , or more than that, to tell you the truth, you've left a trail somewhere, either at your check-in point or somewhere else. Maybe you put those vials Hidden somewhere. Maybe you spilled the beans about yourself to one of your accomplices. Or another nurse. Either way, we're going to keep going until we find the truth. We'll question you your friends and the people you work with. It will be very annoying, after all you have tried so hard to cover it up, but the truth will eventually come out anyway. You have to understand this, you will The truth is out." Bracco then said, "Either you tell us the truth now." "Just do yourself a favor," Grisky said, "it's over right now. I know this must be bothering you and keeping you from resting for a moment. I understand you need to explain why you It had to be done." He got up and stood up, indicating that Bracco and the two of them should leave for a while, "Let's leave him alone for a while, Darrell." Griski wasn't going to leave a message on Hardy's answering machine admitting he had been wrong about Kensen.If he was wrong--and it seemed he was--well, he'd been wrong before, and he'd be wrong again.But he was reluctant to leave Hardy with a voice recording of his admission of error.His friend may play it over and over again, and save it as a message output that needs to be saved on the answering phone.So he called Hardy once and left his usual cheerful message. "Grisky. Call me back." And waited for Hardy to call back. Just after three o'clock, the call back came. "I have a question," Hardy said. "Wait! Give me a minute to think about what it's going to be. New dad at fifty-four?" "Good answer. Unfortunately that's not the answer I was looking for." "Aren't you going to ask me how old I will be when my children are born?" "Yes, but that would be a marvelous fact. Fifty-four? Too old to have children. Why children? I'm not fifty-four myself, and the children are all grown up." , and they all left home to live independently.” "And so does my kid," growled Griski indignantly, "and what's the real question you're asking?" "Actually I have two questions for you. I may take it that we have agreed on the matter that you should inform me when you are taking action against my client." "Is that a problem?" "The question is, why did you choose to search his house last night without telling me?" "I'm not going to try to justify myself on the second half of your question. As to why we chose to search yesterday, it was because we wanted to know what we might have gotten from him before he went to the grand jury to testify. ...if he had a floor plan of the Markham home marked with a '#' where the bodies were found, and Marlene questioned him without his knowledge, it would make people Embarrassed. Do you know what I mean?" Hardy understood what Griski meant, and it made perfect sense to do so, even if he hadn't been notified.If Griski had told him ahead of time, Hardy would have been there first when they searched and removed anything that could be interpreted as incriminating evidence.He decided to change the subject. "The second question is easier. Have you talked to your two running around cowboys, or know where they are now? We're going to join hands again, and I'm going to join forces with you." "They're out talking to someone about the wreck, hey, that's a good way to call them car cops, but they're supposed to be back by five. Agent Fisk hates overtime, for whatever reason. You go home Stop by here on the way, they may be here soon. I can congratulate you that your client is out of trouble and free from charges." "You got the news too, didn't you?" "Marlene told me, just before lunch." "Would that stop you on this one?" "more or less." Hardy laughed softly. "Good answer." "If it's not your case anymore, why should you care?" "It's still my case, Abu. It's just that I don't have a client." Hadi paused. "We have an agreement. I may have found something." No doubt Griski liked to hear that. "See you in two hours," he said.Last time, on a whim, Hardy visited a doctor who was working in the Juda Clinic without any prior notification.At the time, he was trying to persuade Kenson to talk to him, but Kenson was going to see patients according to his work schedule.The result was very bad, not as good as he expected, in fact it hit a snag. But after spending more than two hours in the windowless, airtight basement of the San Francisco Chronicle building rummaging through the documents Jeff Elliott kept, Hardy changed his mind. The original idea of ​​returning to the office after finishing work here has a new plan.Once he told Cohen the purpose of his visit to the clinic, he was sure she would see him no matter how busy she was.But the situation might be different from what he thought. While waiting outside for Cohen to come out, his mind was running at full speed, thinking carefully about what he wanted to say to Cohen.But after waiting for more than twenty minutes, she still didn't show up.He would give her another ten minutes before he went in again to make a stronger request to meet her.It was the sixth sunny day, and he wanted to enjoy as much of it as he could before the June smog settled over the city again.So he sat on a chair outside, basking in the sun comfortably with his eyes half closed. "Mr. Hardy?" He squinted his eyes, raised his eyelids and rolled them up, stood up and stretched out his hand. "excuse me." Judith pursed her lips tightly and looked worried, and her thoughts were written all over her face.The reason why she did this was still that question, which was the same as the first question she asked on the phone yesterday. "Is it Eric's business? Is he all right?" "Actually, he's fine, he's the best he's been in two weeks." He explained to her that his grand jury testimony had convinced them he was no longer a suspect.He said nothing about the smoking gun of the alibi, the linger at the Harris bar.If Kenson wanted to tell her, it was just a phone call away. "Then he is innocent?" "It seems so." "Oh, God." She pressed a hand dramatically to her chest and looked at him with a broad smile. "That's a huge relief. I'm so glad to hear that." Then she put away Smile, "But you didn't come here to tell me that, did you?" "Yeah, I didn't come to tell you that." Her hand seemed to be still on her heart. "why?" He started with the phone call he made to her yesterday.That conversation revealed that she could not verify where she had been at 10:45 last Tuesday night.Then there is the Lopez matter, and the relationship with the Markham case.She overslept the morning Markham died. "I'm not saying I think these things are all about you, but if the police found out about it, they wouldn't think the same. There were only a few people in their search area, and in this case they It's likely to be on you. It's better if you're prepared for these questions from them." She listened intently to what he said, and now her face darkened, full of frustration. "But I... I stayed at Eric's house and it never occurred to me that I had to prove it." "Did you talk to anyone in the corridor, or see anyone? Do you remember that someone might have seen you?" She continued to shake her head, overwhelmed by this sudden new situation, unable to understand what was going on. "So they'll think . . . I might have killed Mrs. Markham and their baby?" "That's not ruled out. That's the crux of the matter. And they're going to speculate it's the same guy who killed Tim." "In that hospital?" "yes." For a moment, Hardy thought she might panic.Her eyes fixed on Hardy's, and then she looked away, carefully searching the street in front of them, as if looking for a plan to get herself out.But then, in the blink of an eye, the tension disappeared from her expressive face.She just put a hand on Hardy's sleeve. "Then it's very important," she said, "if I was in ICU for a few minutes when Tim died, right?" "I'm not sure either. How long does potassium take to work?" "Let's say it takes fifteen minutes, and that's about as long as it takes. That's the amount of time I have to be there, isn't it?" "Yes. But that's my understanding. In fact, you told me last night that as soon as the green warning light came on in the ICU, you were there..." "I was there, but not right before the drug kicked in. Before, at least half an hour before — maybe longer than that — I was in the emergency room stitching up a little girl's lip. She dropped the bottle she was holding on the floor and onto it. What a mess! But I have my nurse who can confirm it, and the little girl's mother. Actually, everyone can confirm the fact ...everyone knew I was there. I was washing my hands after the stitches when the green light came on and I said to my nurse: 'I've got to go see if there's something wrong with Mr. Markham.' ' She'll remember it." When Hardy walked into the homicide squad, he knew it looked like it was going to be another lair day here.Although Bracco and Fisk hadn't arrived yet, eight of the fourteen homicide detectives on the team were in the office, some sitting at their own desks.Hardy thinks the number is approaching a record high at this point.Here people are still bullying the two new guys, because he noticed that a Keystone police canoe kid's toy, two limp police figures hanging from a toy police patrol car, It's in the middle of their spliced ​​desks, next to a police stop sign for a patrol car.As Hardy waited there, three agents pointed out to him that if you squeezed the car, it would make an "oh-ga, oh-ga" sound and go forward.But Hardy refused to try it himself, and all three agents looked disappointed.On the other hand, under this kind of team atmosphere, Jackman went to see Treya after finishing the work at hand, and when he heard that Hardy was coming, he decided to wait for him.Marlene Ash has finished her work with the grand jury for the day.She wanted to hear Griski's report on Rayan Badan, as well as a follow-up on the remaining suspect in the Markham case, whoever that suspect was.There was no way Grisky's office could fit that many people, so everyone moved to the room next to the first interrogation room, where Hardy joined them. Jackman complained to Hardy that he felt the deal they had reached was unfair.This is what Hardy expected.What Hardy heard with increasing interest, though, was what Griski said about the second confirmed Portola hospital victim, Shirley Watlers, and Layan.Bataan thing.The majority opinion seems to be that there is no link between several murders in the two series, and that Bataan remains the prime suspect for the victims on Kenson's list.They'd had a long conversation with him this afternoon, and Griski had sent two agents to his home with a search warrant shortly after. When the two novices arrived at the office, all the agents present cheered excitedly.Griski turned around, stared at the scene with dissatisfaction, and then motioned for Fisk and Bracco to talk to those big shots. Hardy surmised that Darrell and Harlan had accomplished quite a bit in such a short amount of time.Because they'd just come over from the neighborhood in Markham, and their investigation had something to do with the car that hit it.Griski asked Fisk to elaborate on the issue, and while it was obvious, he didn't know if doing so would pay off.He proudly showed the attendees a composite sketch of the driver of the car involved in the accident.Hardy was delighted to see that the woman in the sketch bore no resemblance to Judith Cohen, save for the circle of matted black hair. When the portraits were being circulated in people's hands, Fisk announced that their witness, a girl named Lexi Rush, had tentatively confirmed the origin and model of the car that almost hit her, and it was probably the car that hit her. Tim Markham.It was a Dodge Arrow, probably from the late 1960s to early 1970s.Fisk had contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles and found only twenty-three of these vehicles were registered in the entire San Francisco County.When he told the Department of Motor Vehicles that they were investigating a homicide related to it, they immediately faxed him the registration lists of the owners.He now has the registered names and addresses of the owners of each car, and as luck would have it, he'll be meeting most of them tomorrow. "Any names that look familiar, Harlan?" Grisky asked. "Something related to Parnassus or Markham?" "No, sir." "Well, anyway, it's a good direction to work. If we find the car that caused the accident, it will naturally explain something. Continue to pay attention to this matter." Hardy knew Grisky all too well, and he understood that Grisky was just humoring Fisk's self-righteous detective work.He does this because he doesn't want to kill his agents' hard day's work or dampen their enthusiasm for the job.This person has put in a considerable amount of effort at work, and it may pay off.Hardy saw nothing wrong with expressing interest on his part, so he said, "May I have a copy of that list, Agent?" Fisk threw the question to Grisky, waiting for his superior to answer.Griski nodded in agreement with Hardy's request.Apparently, the captain's real concern was not here but somewhere else, in the alibi at the time of Carla's death. "Darrell," he said to Bracco, "did you get more out of Driscoll?" "I think Harlan has more to say, sir." Grisky's patience was gradually disappearing, he lowered his head and suppressed his emotions, and walked back to Fisk's side step by step. "I figured I'd make amends for my slip up to Dr. Ross. So I gave my aunt Cathy, Cathy West," he explained to the rest of the room, "told me what I did. what and what happened." "What is it, Harlan?" Griski prompted, much to Hardy's satisfaction. He gave a brief overview, about Rose and his wife, and his alibi.Then he added: "I asked her, my Aunt Cassie--if she could get in touch with Nancy Rose, like the natural contact between friends, so as not to make her feel strange--go to Find out if her husband called her to change what she remembered." "It doesn't matter. No matter what, a wife will never testify that her husband is guilty." Marlene expressed her objection, repeating a point that Griski had made earlier. Jackman added his own opinion on this. "Your aunt's testimony is hearsay anyway, and probably won't be admitted. Isn't it, Deeds?" But Hardy is no longer interested in doing legal analysis on this.He wants answers and information.He saw that under the pressure of the lawyer's question, Fisk's mood had begun to become a little depressed.He wanted him to go on and find out what was going on. "Then what did she say, your aunt?" "Ross called his wife and told her she made a mistake that night. He got home at ten o'clock. She has to remember that, it's important." He glanced at the people in the house again. "Nancy told Aunt Cathy, though, that he wasn't actually home at ten o'clock, but if that was important to Malachy, of course she'd be on his side. It might have been about some big secret business deal. But she was sure he didn't come home until after midnight, because she didn't go to bed until after midnight." "Still," Griski said, "it just goes to show that he didn't go straight home." home? Do you have any evidence or testimony or clues to get him there?" Fisk had a bitter face, very frustrated. "No, sir." Gritters reassured him again. "I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with this situation, Harlan, and it does make up for your mistake that morning. Well, keep an eye on this. Now, Darrell, tell me what's going on with Driscoll. " "He did make that call, there's nothing wrong with that. I spoke to his roommate, Roger, and got the bill for that call. Forty-eight minutes, started at 9:46." Everyone has an answer to the situation in their head.Grisky said, "So he couldn't have gotten to Kara's house at that point?" Bracco seemed to agree. "He can only do it by flying." It was the second half of the fourth inning, and Hardy was standing in the coach's box at third base in the Pophicks game at the Presidio.The arena is great for a city eager to own a sports arena, but in typical San Francisco fashion, the minor league team might be squeezed out of the arena before long.They may be forced to relocate to a playing field on Treasure Island in the middle of the bay.This is because there have been rumors that stolen goods containing biochemical toxins may be buried here.Yet nothing of the kind has been found.News reports on the matter pointed to the fact that the Presidio had been a military base for years; after all, no one knew what the military waste was dumping there.Poisons are probably everywhere, mustard gas, anthrax, battery acid, etc.Hardy felt that doomed them to close the arena. But tonight, it's still a great venue for a kids' baseball game.Just now Vincent had opened the offense in the Tigers' half inning, running a double in left field, which was the second double of the night.He is now hopping toward the baseline, trying to catch a pitch from the pitcher. Hardy's mind wasn't fully on the game.After the Homicide Squad meeting was over and Fisk and Bracco left, he stayed on and chatted with Grisky, Treya, Marlene, Clarence, and so on for a while.Marlene thought she was about to get those Brendan Driscoll computer discs, and was thrilled by the hopeful prospect.But Hardy had already spent the afternoon looking through the materials printed out from the computer, so he didn't show as much enthusiasm as she did.在他的公文包里还存有马卡姆那些含义模糊的便笺的复印件。他决定在接下来的几天空闲时间里，解开这些谜团。 而且事实上，他现在就在琢磨了，不过还没有得出什么结果。 克拉伦斯显然对调查进度感到灰心丧气，声称他已经为此受到了市长的批评。市长大人已经要求再次核实肯森名单上涉及的凶杀案，而且并不怎么赞同地区检察长去接触帕纳塞斯这一极其麻烦的敏感问题。健康维护组织是本市一个主要的合同承包商，而且它的业务营运是非常可疑的。克拉伦斯现在的想法是：查封所有的档案记录供大陪审团细细察看，而且不考虑可能在市里的员工中引发惊慌这个后果。人们已经开始出现惊慌了，市长办公室一天就接到了大约五十个询问电话。把帕纳塞斯置于破产管理，并且让大陪审团和另一队凶杀案探员同时转到第二系列的凶杀案件的调查审理工作上来，现在正是时候。无论是否和马卡姆的死亡有关，这件事本身就跟他们自身的权益有很大关系。 市长坚持认为，必须让他看到进展。他还提到，如果这件事不久之后还没有结果的话，就要建立一个特别行动组来接管和处理。所有人都明白这将会意味着什么。案件将受到一帮外行、政治交易、妥协让步的干扰，而且很可能永远都得不到解决。同时，这也传递出了一个清晰的信息：如果杰克曼想在收拾这个混乱局面中取得任何信任的话，这就是他表现的机会，而且他最好把这件事承担下来。 在哈迪将目光转回到比赛上来之前，击球手打出了一记边线快速直线球，直接被左外野手一跃接住，文森特在球击出时快速跑动，想跑上旁边的三垒位置。传回本垒的球将他的儿子封杀在离三垒十五英尺远的地方。这次进攻结束之后，球队的经理米奇来到球场尽头球员们休息的区域。“迪兹，”他迫不及待地说，“你必须告诉他不能那样打球。给他一个手势。现在就来吧。你现在就对他们进行指导。让我们都把注意力投入到比赛中去。” 尽管哈迪走了神，老虎队还是赢得了这场比赛，之后球队来到克莱门特的一个地方集体用晚餐。哈迪一家都参与到了这场比赛中，直到九点三十分才回到家里。弗兰妮和瑞贝卡都是《幸存者》这档电视节目的狂热爱好者，她们已经录下了今晚的这期节目，一到家就观看节目回放去了。在这期间，文森特冲了澡，直到这个节目播到后半部分时才做完了功课。就寝时间照例又花了一小时，因此当哈迪和弗兰妮拖着疲惫的双腿来到他们楼上的卧室时，已经快半夜了。 弗兰妮刷牙的时候，哈迪来到她的身后，双臂环绕在她的身上，嘴唇贴在她脖子的一侧。“如果你连一点兴趣都没有的话，我会直接上床去睡觉的。”他们一直都有相当不错的身体接触，而且他在告诉只要她愿意，他们可以继续保持这种激情，不过他知道她已经筋疲力尽了。 她身子向后靠进他的怀里，看着镜子，用满是牙膏泡沫的嘴对他挤出了一个傻傻的笑容。“我想我没有兴趣。难道你不觉得累吗？” “说不上累。在文尼比赛的时候我显然是睡过了。” “那倒也不是什么坏事。你想要做什么？” “在我的公文包里有一些阅读材料。也许只要我的眼睛一犯迷糊，就能寻思出点什么东西来。” 哈迪坐在卧室里的桌子后面，德里斯科尔窃取的五份文件展开在面前。他自己也不知道这五份东西出于什么原因被他挑了出来，没有一份上面是超过两行字的。但它们之中的每一份看起来似乎都包含了某种隐藏的意思让人去展开一系列的猜想。 “见MA，re：recom．就SS．对照MR备忘10/24．” “与MR，谈话——提出不满，re：干预Hort．PPG上个月，” “麦德拉斯／巴尔森/MR．” “福利（人名）．投资．SSS。萨拉托加．DA下岗Disc．w/c” “见Coz．re：惩罚性的下岗——AAR．所有文件。Prep．rpt给董事会。断绝？” 在迷迷糊糊之间，他听到耳边响起一声低语。“去睡觉吧。这事没有发生。”他一定是在不知不觉的情况下去睡觉的，因为当醒过来时他发现自己已经在床上了。