Etmarche royale du Lion was the lion. Poules et Coqs was the rooster. Tortueswas the tortoise. L'Elephant was the elephant. Kangourous was thekangaroo. Le Cygne was the swan. Aquarium was the fish.Volière was the bird.

    Therewere eight selections in all.

    'Someoneis recreating her last performance,' Jessica said.

    Bontragerpointed to the last part of the night's program. 'Danse Macabre?' heasked. 'What do you know about it?'

    'Nothing,'Jessica said.

    Bontragersat down at the computer, launched a web browser. In seconds he had a hit.

    Thewild entry gave them the basics. Danse Macabre was written by CamilleSaint-Saens originally as an art song for voice and piano. What had Duchesnesaid?

    'Alot of times material has been written as an adjunct to the music - a poeticepigraph, if you will:

    'Seeif there's a narrative that goes with this,' Jessica said.

    Bontragerdid a search. He soon got hits. 'Yeah,' he said. 'There is. It was originally apoem by a guy named Henri Cazalis.' Bontrager hit a few more keys. In a momentthe poem appeared on the screen.

    Thepoem began:

Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,

Striking a tomb with his heel,

Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,

Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.

    Itall began to make sense. Striking a tomb with his heel explained thebodies found in the cemeteries, their legs broken. Zig, zig, zig was on JosephNovak's computer. Jessica's gaze continued down the page, a symmetry forming.

Zig zig, zig, Death continues

The unending scraping on hisinstrument.

A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked.

    Jessicathought: The dancer is naked. The shaved bodies.

    'Isthere an explanation for this?' Jessica asked. 'Some sort of source material?'

    Bontragerscrolled down. 'It says the poem was based on an old French superstition. Hangon.' He did another search. He soon had the synopsis of the originalsuperstition.

    'Accordingto the superstition, Death appears at midnight every year on Halloween, and hasthe power to call forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while heplays his fiddle. His skeletons dance for him until the first break of dawn,when they must return to their graves until the next year.'

    Thetwo detectives looked at each other, at their watches. It was 9:50.

    Accordingto what they were reading, there were two hours and ten minutes left. And theyhad no idea where or whom the killer was going to strike.

    Jessicaopened the second envelope. Inside were six transparencies. The clear plasticsheets were 8½ by 11 inches. At first it was not clear what was printedon them. Jessica looked at the lower right-hand corner of one. There she saw anumber she recognized as the homicide case file number. She soon realized thatit was a transparency of the forensic photograph of the wounds to KennethBeckman's forehead, a photograph of the white paper band that encircled thevictim's head.

    Jessicatook the transparency, held it up to the white wall. There was the Rorschachblot of blood on the left, which had come from the mutilated ear, a shape shehad originally thought of as a rough figure eight. There was the straight lineacross the top, as well as the oval of blood underneath. In this format, aphotographic transparency, the blood looked black.

    Whyhad Byrne made these into transparencies?

    She heldup the next sample. The second transparency was from Preston Braswell's head.It was identical. She looked at the third sheet, this time the evidencephotograph of Eduardo Robles. Identical. There was no doubt in her mind, or inthe mind of anyone else investigating these homicides, that the signature foreach of these murders was identical, and all but confirmed a single killer.

    Exceptthat they were not identical.

    'Josh,bring that lamp closer.'

    Bontragergot up and pulled the table lamp across the desk. Jessica sorted through thetransparencies, her heart beating faster. She put them all in the order thatmade the most sense at that moment.

    'Turnoff the overhead light.'

    Bontragercrossed the room, shut off the fluorescents. When he returned, Jessica held thestack of transparencies up to the bright lampshade.

    Andthen they saw it.

    Therewere five lines, but they were in slightly different places, one above theother. The puncture wounds were in different places, too. On the left side, thebloodstains left by the killer's mutilation of the victims' ears formed astylized clef.

    'MyGod,' Jessica said. The clarity was almost painful. 'It's a musical staff. He'swriting music on the dead bodies, one note at a time.'

    Bontragersat back down. He entered the search phrase: 'Danse Macabre sheet music.'

    Inseconds they had a visual representation of the sheet music. The two detectivescompared the samples with the transparencies. They were identical. The killerwas carving the final measure of Danse Macabre on his victims.

    Hewas done with The Four Seasons. He wasn't quite done with Carnivalof the Animals. There were two notes yet to write in the measure.

    Jessicaglanced back at the poem. The answer was in there. She read it all again.

    Herstare fell on a phrase in the middle.

A lustful couple sits on the moss

So as to taste long-lost delights.

    Isthe lustful couple Christa-Marie Schönburg and Kevin Byrne? Is their killertaking them back to the night they met?

    Jessicalooked at her watch. It was 10:00. They had less than two hours to figure itall out.

    AndKevin Byrne was nowhere to be found.

Chapter 77

    Lucy hidin a small room off the ladies' locker room in the basement, near the rear ofthe hotel. There were two other women in the room. They spoke animatedly inSpanish. Lucy did not understand the words, but she didn't have to. There wassomething going on in the hotel, and Lucy had to figure that they had seen theblood in the hallway.

    Meetme here on Sunday night at 9:30. Love, Lucy.

    Shehad to leave. They were going to discover what had happened, if they had not alreadydone so. They were going to check the lock on the door to Room 1208 and thinkthat it was her. Plus, there were all kinds of ways to know that someone was ina room, scientific things. She had wiped down everything she rememberedtouching, but she couldn't have gotten all of it.

    Shelistened to the other girls in the locker room. They would soon be going onshift. When the locker room was empty, she would slip out the back door.

    Whathad she done?

Chapter 78

    Jessicaand Bontrager stood in the gift shop off the lobby. Jessica had briefed DanaWestbrook on their findings and Dana in turn briefed the rest of the team.

    Jessicathought about the people milling around the lobby and the lounge, drinks intheir hands. Something nagged at her. She couldn't put her finger on it.