Talking faster. Anxious about something?

"Claire worked on alcoholism here," I said, "but a few months before she was killed, she quit her job somewhat abruptly and took a position at Starkweather Hospital. It's a state facility for the criminally insane."

Silence.

"Mrs. Racano?"

"I wouldn't know about any of that. Claire and I hadn't been in contact since she left Cleveland."

"Did she ever show an interest in homicidal psychotics?" I said.

Her sigh blew through the phone like static. "Have you met her parents?"

"Yes."

"And… But of course they wouldn't say anything. Oh, Dr. Delaware, I suppose you'd better know."

She gave me the basic facts. I got the details back at the research library newspaper files.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, twenty-seven years ago, but it could've been any major paper. The story had been covered nationally.

FAMILY SLAIN IN YOUTH'S RAMPAGE

Responding to calls from concerned neighbors, police entered a west Pittsburgh home this morning and discovered the bodies of an entire family, and, hiding in the basement, the youth who is alleged to have murdered them.

James and Margaret Bmwnlee, and their children, Carlo, 5, and Cooper, 2, had been stabbed and beaten to death with a knife and a tenderizing mallet obtained from the kitchen of their Oakland home. Brownlee, 35, was a delivery supervisor for Purity Bottled Water, and his wife, 29, was a homemaker. Both were described as early risers with regular habits, and by noon yesterday, when Mr. Brownlee hadn 't left for work and none of the other family members had appeared, neighbors called thepolice.

The suspect, Denton Ray Argent, 19, was found crouching near the furnace, still clutching the murder weapons and drenched with blood. Argent, who lived with his parents and a younger sister three doors down from the Brownlees, was termed odd and reclusive, a high school dropout whose personality had changed several years before.

"He was around fourteen when it started," said a woman who declined to be identified. "Even before then, he wasn 't very social-quiet, but the whole family was, they kept to themselves. But when he got to be a teenager he stopped taking care of himself, real sloppy. You 'd see him walking around, talking to himself, waving his hands around. We all knew he was strange, but no one thought it would ever come to this."

Reports that Denton Argent had worked briefly as a gardener for the Brownlees have not been confirmed. Argent was taken into custody at central jail, pending booking and further investigation.

Plugging Denton Argent's name into the computer pulled up several more stories that reiterated the crime. Then nothing for a month until a page-three item appeared:

FAMILY KILLER COMMITTED TO HOSPITAL

Alleged mass murderer Denton Argent has been judged legally insane and incapable of assisting in his own defense by three court-appointed psychiatrists. Argent, accused of slaying Mr. and Mrs. James Brownlee and their two small children in a homicidal spree that shocked the quiet Oakland neighborhood and the entire city, was evaluated by doctors hired by both the prosecution and the defense.

"It was pretty clear," said Assistant District Attorney Stanley Rosenfield, assigned to prosecute the case. "Argent is severely schizophrenic and completely out of touch with reality. No purpose would be served by going to trial."

Rosenfield went on to say that Argent would be committed to a state hospital for an indefinite term. "Should he ever regain competence, we 'II haul him into court."

One week after that:

MURDERER'S FAMILY STAYS PUT-AND MUM

The parents of family killer Denton Argent have no plans to move from the Chestnut Street address where, three doors from their well-kept house, their son slew all four members of a neighboring family.

Argent, 19, was judged criminally insane and incapable of assisting in his own defense against the charges of murdering James and Margaret Brownlee and their two young children, Carlo, 5, and Cooper, 2. His parents, Robert Ray and Ernestine Argent, owners of a local gift shop, have refused to talk to the press, but neighbors report they have stated an unwillingness to "run from what Denton did." Their shop was closed for three weeks but later reopened, reportedly with a substantial drop in business. But the general attitude of the neighborhood was charitable.

"These are decent people," said another neighbor, Roland Danniger. "Everyone knew Denton was strange, and maybe they should ve tried to help him more, but how could they know he 'd turn violent? If I feel sorry for anyone, it's the little sister; she's always kept to herself, now you don't see her at all."

The reference was to Argent s younger sister, Claire, 12, who was removed from her public junior high school and is reportedly being tutored at home.

Five years later:

FAMILY SLAYER DIES IN ASYLUM

Mass murderer Denton Argent has died of a brain seizure in his cell at Farview State Hospital, authorities reported today.

Argent, 24, murdered an entire family during a bloody early-morning spree five years ago. Judged mentally incompetent, he was committed to the state facility, where he has resided without incident. The seizure, possibly due to a previously undiagnosed epileptic condition, or to psychiatric medication, caused Argent to pass out in his locked cell and to choke on his own vomit in the middle of the night. His body was discovered the following morning. Hospital authorities report no suspicions of foul play.

"Harry never found out until Claire's last year in grad school," Eileen Racano had said. "It was a shock. The poor thing, carrying around that burden."

"How did she bring it up?"

"It was during the time she was working on the final draft of her dissertation. That's always a stressful period, but Claire seemed to be having an especially hard time. Writing didn't come easily to her, and she was a perfectionist, drafting and redrafting. She told Harry she was worried she wouldn't pass her orals."

"Was that a possibility?" I said.

"Her grades were excellent and her research was solid."

I let the unspoken "but" hang in the air.

"Back then, personality issues couldn't be considered," she said.

"So your husband had reservations about Claire's temperament."

"He thought she was a sweet young woman, but… too closed off. And to grow up under a shadow like that… Harry felt she hadn't dealt with it. That it might cause her problems later on."

"How exactly did he find out?" I said.

"One morning he came in to the lab and found Claire there. She looked awful; it was obvious she'd been working all night. Harry asked her why she was driving herself so hard and she said she had no choice, she just had to pass, it was everything she'd lived for. Harry said something to the effect that there was life beyond grad school, and Claire fell apart- sobbing, telling Harry he didn't understand, that becoming a psychologist was all that mattered, she had to do it, she wasn't like other students. Harry asked in what way, and that's when it all came out. Afterward, Claire just curled up on the chair, shivering. Harry gave her his jacket and stayed with her until she calmed down. After that, we reached out more to Claire, invited her over for dinner. Harry was a wonderful man. His students all loved him. Years after he went emeritus, we'd still get letters and cards and visits. Not from Claire, though. After that one episode, she closed up, refused to talk about it. Harry couldn't demand that she receive therapy, but he suggested it strongly. Claire promised she would, but she never confirmed that she had."