CHAPTER 8Sometime after three o clock, they found the body. I sat at the living-room window looking out while we waited for the police. The rain started about then, a hot, muggy rain. The endless downpour streamed by in the same sedate lines minute after minute with well-bred unchangeability. The interminable patter on the roof, the humming stream from the pipes, the soft gray light were so monotonous they numbed me.
A low humming blended with the slushing sound of tires against wet cement, and a car nosed out from behind the gauze of rain. Like spectral robots, three figures glided out of the car and came up our walk.
Two of the visitors were in uniform and one wore a business suit. They greeted me politely and asked to be taken to the basement. Instead, I told them where to find the st
