Yuk, she said. She made a very small sour face and I felt a tiny glow of accomplishment.

Do you throw up at the movies? Cody asked.

Cody, Astor said.

Do you? he insisted.

No, I said. But I usually want to.

Let's go, said Rita, sailing in and bending to give each kid a peck on the cheek. Listen toAlice . Bedtime at nine.

Will you come back? Cody asked.

Cody! Of course I'll be back, Rita said.

I meant Dexter, Cody said.

You'll be asleep, I said. But I'll wave at you, okay?

I won't be asleep, he said grimly.

Then I'll stop in and play cards with you, I said.

Really?

Absolutely. High-stakes poker. Winner gets to keep the horses.

Dexter! Rita said, smiling anyway. You'll be asleep, Cody. Now good night, kids. Be good. And she took my arm and lead me out the door. Honestly, she murmured. You've got those two eating out of your hand.

The movie was nothing special. I didn't really want to throw up, but I'd forgotten most of it by the time we stopped at a small place inSouthBeach for a late-night drink. Rita's idea. In spite of living inMiami for most of her life, she still thoughtSouthBeach was glamorous. Perhaps it was all the Rollerblades. Or maybe she thought that anyplace so full of people with bad mannershad to be glamorous.

In any case, we waited twenty minutes for a small table and then sat and waited another twenty for service. I didn't mind. I enjoyed watching good-looking idiots looking at each other. A great spectator sport.

We strolled alongOcean Boulevard afterward, making pointless conversation-an art at which I excel. It was a lovely night. One corner was chewed off the full moon of a few nights ago, when I had entertained Father Donovan.

And as we drove back to Rita'sSouth Miami house after our standard evening out, we pa.s.sed an intersection in one of Coconut Grove's less wholesome areas. A winking red light caught my eye and I glanced down the side street. Crime scene: the yellow tape was already up, and several cruisers were nosed into a hurried splay.

It's him again, I thought, and even before I knew what I meant by that I was swinging the car down the street to the crime scene.

Where are we going? Rita asked, quite reasonably.

Ah, I said. I'd like to check here and see if they need me.

Don't you have a beeper?

I gave her my best Friday-night smile. They don't alwaysknow they need me, I said.

I might have stopped anyway, to show off Rita. The whole point of wearing a disguise was to be seen wearing her. But in truth, the small irresistible voice yammering in my ear would have made me stop no matter what.It's him again . And I had to see what he was up to. I left Rita in the car and hurried over.

He was up to no good again, the rascal. There was the same stack of neatly wrapped body parts. Angel-no-relation bent over it in almost the same position he'd been in when I left him at the last scene.

Hijo de puta, he said when I approached him.

Not me, I trust, I said.

The rest of us are complaining that we have to work on Friday night, Angel said. You show up with a date. And there isstill nothing for you here.

Same guy, same pattern?

Same, he said. He flipped the plastic away with his pen. Bone dry, again, he said. No blood at all.

The words made me feel slightly light-headed. I leaned in for a look. Once again the body parts were amazingly clean and dry. They had a near blue tinge to them and seemed preserved in their small perfect moment of time. Wonderful.

A small difference in the cuts this time, Angel said. In four places. He pointed. Very rough here, almost emotional. Then here, not so much. Here and here, in between. Huh?

Very nice, I said.

And then lookit this, he said. He nudged aside the bloodless chunk on top with a pencil. Underneath another piece gleamed white. The flesh had been flayed off very carefully, lengthwise, to reveal a clean bone.

Why he would do like that? Angel asked softly.

I breathed. He's experimenting, I said. Trying to find the right way. And I stared at the neat, dry section until I became aware that Angel had been looking at me for a very long moment.

Like a kid playing with his food, is how I described it to Rita when I returned to the car.

My G.o.d, Rita said. That's horrible.

I think the correct word isheinous , I said.

How can you joke about it, Dexter?

I gave her a rea.s.suring smile. You kind of get used to it in my line of work, I said. We all make jokes to hide our pain.

Well, good lord, I hope they catch this maniac soon.

I thought of the neatly stacked body parts, the variety of the cuts, the wonderful total lack of blood. Not too soon, I said.

What did you say? she asked.

I said, I don't think it will be too soon. The killer is extremely clever, and the detective in charge of the case is more interested in playing politics than in solving murders.

She looked at me to see if I was kidding. Then she sat quietly for a while as we drove south on U.S. 1. She didn't speak untilSouth Miami . I can never get used to seeing ... I don't know. The underside? The way things really are? The way you see it, she finally said.

She took me by surprise. I had been using the silence to think about the nicely stacked body parts we had just left. My mind had been hungrily circling the clean dry chopped-up limbs like an eagle looking for a chunk of meat to rip out. Rita's observation was so unexpected I couldn't even stutter for a minute. What do you mean? I managed to say at last.

She frowned. I-I'm not sure. Just- We all a.s.sume that ...things ... really are a certain way. The way they're supposed to be? And then they never are, they're always more ... I don't know. Darker? More human. Like this. I'm thinking, of course the detective wants to catch the killer, isn't that what detectives do? And it never occurred to me before that there could be anything at all political about murder.

Practically everything, I said. I turned onto her street and slowed down in front of her neat and unremarkable house.

But you, she said. She didn't seem to notice where we were or what I had said. That's where you start. Most people would never really think it through that far.

I'm not all that deep, Rita, I said. I nudged the car into park.

It's like, everything really is two ways, the way we all pretend it is and the way it really is. And you already know that and it's like a game for you.

I had no idea what she was trying to say. In truth, I had given up trying to figure it out and, as she spoke, I'd let my mind wander back to the newest murder; the cleanness of the flesh, the improvisational quality of the cuts, the complete dry spotless immaculate lack of blood- Dexter- Rita said. She put a hand on my arm.

I kissed her.

I don't know which one of us was more surprised. It really wasn't something I had thought about doing ahead of time. And it certainly wasn't her perfume. But I mashed my lips against hers and held them there for a long moment.

She pushed away.

No, she said. I- No, Dexter.

All right, I said, still shocked at what I had done.

I don't think I want to-I'm notready for- d.a.m.n it, Dexter, she said. She unclipped her seat belt, opened the car door, and ran into her house.

Oh, dear, I thought.What on earth have I done now?

And I knew I should be wondering about that, and perhaps feeling disappointed that I had just destroyed my disguise after a year and a half of hard maintenance.

But all I could think about was that neat stack of body parts.

No blood.

None at all.

CHAPTER 7

THIS BODY IS STRETCHED OUT JUST THE WAYILIKEit. Thearms and legs are secure and the mouth is stopped with duct tape so there will be no noise and no spill into my work area. And my hand feels so steady with the knife that I am quite sure this will be a good one, very satisfying- Except it's not a knife, it's some kind of- Except it's not my hand. Even though my hand is moving with this hand, it's not mine that holds the blade. And the room really is sort of small, it's so narrow, which makes sense because it's-what?

And now here I am floating above this perfect tight work s.p.a.ce and its tantalizing body and for the first time I feel the cold blowing around me and even through me somehow. And if I could only feel my teeth I am quite sure they would chatter. And my hand in perfect unison with that other hand goes up and arches back for a perfect cut- And of course I wake up in my apartment. Standing somehow by the front door, completely naked. Sleepwalking I could understand, but sleep stripping? Really. I stumble back to my little trundle bed. The covers are in a heap on the floor. The air conditioner has kicked the temperature down close to sixty. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, last night, feeling a little estranged from it all after what had happened with Rita. Preposterous, if it had really happened. Dexter, the love bandit, stealing kisses. And so I had taken a long hot shower when I got home and shoved the thermostat all the way down as I climbed into bed. I don't pretend to understand why, but in my darker moments I find cold cleansing. Not refreshing so much as necessary.

And cold it was. Far too cold now, for coffee and the start of the day amid the last tattered pieces of the dream.

As a rule I don't remember my dreams, and don't attach any importance to them if I do. So it was ridiculous that this one was staying with me.

-floating above this perfect tight work s.p.a.ce-my hand in perfect unison with that other hand goes up and arches back for a perfect cut- I've read the books. Perhaps because I'll never be one, humans are interesting to me. So I know all the symbolism: Floating is a form of flying, meaning s.e.x. And the knife- Ja, Herr Doktor. The knife ist eine mother, ja?

Snap out of it, Dexter.

Just a stupid, meaningless dream.

The telephone rang and I almost jumped out of my skin.

How about breakfast at Wolfie's? said Deborah. My treat.

It's Sat.u.r.day morning, I said. We'll never get in.

I'll get there first and get a table, she said. Meet you there.

Wolfie's Deli on Miami Beach was a Miami tradition. And because the Morgans are a Miami family, we had been eating there all our lives on those special deli occasions. Why Deborah thought today might be one of those occasions was beyond me, but I was sure she would enlighten me in time. So I took a shower, dressed in my casual Sat.u.r.day best, and drove out to the Beach. Traffic was light over the new improved MacArthur Causeway, and soon I was politely elbowing my way through the teeming throngs at Wolfie's.

True to her word, Deborah had corralled a corner table. She was chatting with an ancient waitress, a woman even I recognized. Rose, my love, I said, bending to kiss her wrinkled cheek. She turned her permanent scowl on me. My wild Irish Rose.

Dexter, she rasped, with her thick middle-European accent. Knock off with the kiss, like some faigelah.

Faigelah. Is that Irish for fiance? I asked her, and slid into my chair.

Feh, she said, trudging off to the kitchen and shaking her head at me.

I think she likes me, I told Deborah.

Somebody should, said Deb. How was your date last night?

A lot of fun, I said. You should try it sometime.

Feh, said Deborah.

You can't spend all your nights standing on Tamiami Trail in your underwear, Deb. You need a life.

I need a transfer, she snarled at me. To Homicide Bureau. Then we'll see about a life.

I understand, I said. It would certainly sound better for the kids to say Mommie's in homicide.

Dexter, for Christ's sake, she said.

It's a natural thought, Deborah. Nephews and nieces. More little Morgans. Why not?

She blew out a long breath. I thought Mom was dead, she said.

I'm channeling her, I said. Through the cherry Danish.

Well, change the channel. What do you know about cell crystallization?

I blinked. Wow, I said. You just blew away all the compet.i.tion in the Subject Changing Tournament.

I'm serious, she said.