Cop Hater/Give the Boys a Great Big Hand/Doll/Eighty Million Eyes/Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!/Sadie When She Died/Let's Hear it for the Deaf Man [antikvár]

Chapter OneThe alarm sounded at eleven p.m.He reached out for it, groping in the darkness, finding the lever and pressing it against the back of the clock. The buzzing stopped. The room was very silent. Beside him, he could hear May's even breathing. The windows were wide open, but the room was hot and damp, and he thought again about the air conditioning unit he'd wanted to buy since the summer before. Reluctantly, he sat up and rubbed hamlike fists into his eyes.He was a big man, his head topped with straight blond hair that was unruly now. His eyes were normally grey, but they were virtually colourless in the darkness of the room, puffed with sleep. He stood up and stretched. He slept only in pyjama pants, and when he raised his arms over his head, the pants slipped down over the flatness of his hard belly. He let out a grunt, pulled up the pants, and then glanced at May again.The sheet was wadded at the foot of the bed, a soggy lifeless mass. May lay curled into a sprawling C, her gown twisted up over her thigh. He went to the bed and put his hand on her thigh for an instant. She murmured and rolled over. He grinned in the darkness and then went into the bathroom to shave.He had timed every step of the operation, and so he knew just how long it took to shave, just how long it took to dress, just how long it took to gulp a quick cup of coffee. He took off his wrist watch before he began shaving, leaving it on the wash-basin where he could glance at it occasionally. At eleven-ten, he began dressing. He put on an Aloha shirt his brother had sent him from Hawaii. He put on a pair of tan gabardine slacks, and a light poplin windbreaker. He put a handkerchief in his left hip pocket, and then scooped his wallet and change off the dresser.He opened the top drawer of the dresser and took the .38 from where it lay next to May's jewellery box. His thumb passed over the hard leather of the holster, and then he shoved the holster and gun into his right hip pocket, beneath the poplin jacket. He lighted a cigarette, went into the kitchen to put up the coffee water, and then went to check on the kids.Mickey was asleep, his thumb in his mouth as usual. He passed his hand over the boy's head. He was sweating like a pig. He'd have to talk to May about the air conditioning again. It wasn't fair to the kids, cooped up like this in a sweat box. He walked to Cathy's bed and went through the same ritual. She wasn't as perspired as her brother. Well, she was a girl, girls didn't sweat as much. He heard the kettle in the kitchen whistling loudly. He glanced at his watch, and then grinned.