In the walk-in closet in the master bedroom he glanced down at all the clothes littering the floor. He couldn't help but wonder exactly what had gone on during the botched hit that Shanahan had mentioned.

Back down on the first floor Derek entered the study and sat down at Kim's desk. Without removing his gloves, he began to go through some of the correspondence to see what he could learn about the man he had been brought all the way from Chicago to kill.

Tracy had backed up so that she could see along the front of Higgins and Hancock. She'd thought about driving back to the entrance but was afraid to do so because she and Kim had not discussed where she'd be when he came out. She was afraid Kim might come out one of the other doors and then be searching for her.

But she soon saw him emerge from the front door and jog in her direction. He was dressed in a white coat and had a yellow plastic construction helmet on his head. He ran up to the car, and after glancing back over his shoulder, he climbed into the backseat.

"You're paler than I've ever seen you," Tracy said. She was turned around in her seat as much as the steering wheel would allow. "But I guess the blond hair emphasizes it."

"I've just seen one of the worst things in my life."

"What?" Tracy asked with alarm.

"Marsha Baldwin's head!" Kim said. "It's probably all that's left of her, along with a few bones. As disgusting as it sounds, I'm afraid most of her must have gone for hamburger."

"Oh, God!" Tracy murmured. Her eyes locked with Kim's. She saw tears appear, and it made her respond in kind.

"First Becky and now this," Kim managed. "I feel so damn responsible. Because of me, one tragedy had to lead to another."

"I can understand how you feel," Tracy offered. "But as I've already said, Marsha was doing what she wanted to do, what she thought was right. It doesn't justify her death, but it's not your fault."

Tracy reached out toward Kim. He took her hand and squeezed it. For a few moments a wordless but powerful communication passed between the two people.

Tracy sighed, shook her head in despair, then took her hand back. She twisted around in the seat and started the engine. Before Kim had gotten to the car, she'd already hauled in the antenna.

"One thing is for sure," Tracy said, while putting the car into gear. "We're getting out of here."

"No!" Kim said. He reached forward and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "I've got to go back. I'm going to see this to the end. Now it's for both Becky and Marsha."

"Kim, this now involves proven murder!" Tracy said evenly. "It's time for the police."

"It's only one murder," Kim said. "And one murder pales against the murder of up to five hundred kids a year that this industry is guilty of in the name of increased profit."

"Responsibility for the children might be hard to prove in court," Tracy said. "But finding the head of a person makes a startlingly clear case."

"I found the head, but I don't know where it is now," Kim said. "It was in with the cow heads, but when I slammed the cover, I activated the system to take them away. It's on its way to the renderer. So there'd be no corpus delicti even if we wanted to blow the whistle on Marsha's death. Obviously my word at the moment means nothing to the police."

"They can start their own investigation," Tracy said. "Maybe they'll find other bones."

"Even if they did," Kim said, "the issue here is not to prosecute one low-level thug like the guy who tried to kill me. It's the industry I want to do something about."

Tracy sighed again and turned off the engine. "But why go back now? You've accomplished what you set out to do. You've learned that it will be easy to document how the meat gets contaminated." Tracy tapped the tape recorder. "This tape alone might be almost as good as a video. I can tell you it's powerful stuff the way you described what's going on in there. I'm sure Kelly Anderson will jump on it."

"I want to go back mainly because I'll be working the three-to-eleven cleanup as you heard," Kim said. "I'm hoping that sometime during that shift I can get into the record room. Marsha found what she called a 'deficiency report' that involved the head of a sick animal. She said she was putting it back into the file, and I heard her do it. I want to find that paper."

Tracy shook her head in frustration. "You're taking too much of a risk," she said. "If Kelly Anderson gets on the case, let her find the deficiency report."

"I don't think I'm taking any risk at this point," Kim said. "The guy with the knife looked me right in the eye in the men's room. If I were to be recognized, that would have been the moment. In fact, I don't even want this gun anymore."

Kim struggled to get the pistol out of his pants pocket. He handed it to Tracy.

"At least keep the gun," Tracy said.

Kim shook his head. "No, I don't want it."

"Please," Tracy said.

" Tracy, I'm carrying enough stuff with these battery packs," Kim said. "And I think having it is more of a risk than a comfort."

Reluctantly Tracy took the gun and put it down on the car floor. "I can't talk you out of going back in there?"

"I want to follow this through," Kim said. "It's the least I can do."

"I hope you understand that sitting here while you are taking all this risk is driving me crazy."

"I can understand," Kim said. "Why don't you go home and just come back for me at eleven?"

"Oh, no!" Tracy said. "That would be worse. At least this way I can hear what's going on."

"Okay," Kim said. "It's your call. But I'd better get back. The lunch break is almost over.

Kim got his legs out of the car before leaning back inside. "Can I ask you to do something sometime this afternoon?" he said.

"Of course," Tracy said. "As long as I don't have to leave the car."

"Would you call Sherring Labs with your cell phone?" Kim asked. "Ask about the results on the meat I dropped off. They should be ready about now."

"Fine," Tracy said.

Kim gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks," he said before climbing out. He closed the door, waved, and walked away.

Derek Leutmann slowed down as he neared Tracy 's house. The numbers on some of the neighboring houses were not very apparent, and he did not want to drive by. As the house came into view he saw the Mercedes parked at the head of the drive. Not wishing to block it, Derek did a U-turn and parked across the street.

Taking out the information sheet given to him by Shanahan, Derek checked the license number of the Mercedes. His suspicions were substantiated. It was the doctor's car.

After going through the same preparations as he'd done outside of Kim's house, Derek emerged into the light rain that had begun to fall. He snapped open a small, collapsible umbrella before taking out his briefcase. With the briefcase in one hand and the umbrella in the other, he crossed the street and glanced into the car. He was surprised to see it there, thinking that it should have been with Kim at his office. Of course that suggested Kim was not at his office.

Derek knew a lot more about Kim now than he did earlier. He knew that he was a cardiac surgeon who was extremely well regarded. He knew that he was divorced and was paying considerable alimony and child support. What he didn't know was why O'Brian and his boss in the cattle business wanted the man dead.

Derek had asked Shanahan that very question and had gotten a vague answer. Derek never wanted to know the details of any of his client's dealings with a potential mark, but he wanted to know the generalities. It was another way of reducing risk not only during the hit but after. He'd tried to press Shanahan but to no avail. All he was told was that it involved business. The curious thing was that Derek had found no connection between the doctor and cattle or beef, and Derek had found a lot of information in the doctor's desk.