he railroad station and seen it full of cops. But when
he started admiring the steak knives in the window, his name clicked
with me. I said to him, 'I've got to go to the little boy's room--I'll
be back in a minute'. I found the nearest cop and turned myself in,
but I couldn't make that thickhead believe there was a worse one than
me down the street. At least, not until Clarens had got the knives and
taken off."

Bennington wondered if he had ever heard anyone speak with such deep
disgust.

The call which took them to the Camp Hill area justified Dalton's
condemnation.

* * * * *

The hysterical mother had been led away by a couple of consoling
neighbors. Bennington, Scott and Thornberry stood looking down at the
neatly dismembered body. Behind them General Mosby spoke to three of
his soldiers.

"Good work, men. Keep it up and get back on your beats. You know now
what you're hunting for. I'm sure you'll hunt even harder."

The slapping sounds of rifles saluting, the clicks of heels, the
scrape of boots in an about-face and a scrap of conversation floated
to Bennington. "Any mother who lets a kid out as late as this...."

Mosby joined them and picked up where the soldier had left off. "How
did it happen, Scott?"

"It's hard to get anything out of the mother right now," Scott
replied, "but I got this. They were waiting up for the father--he's on
the swing shift--and the kid wanted ice cream. The store's just around
the corner and the mother was busy ironing, so she gave the kid a
quarter."

The chief of police turned away from the body, turned away from the
lines written in blood on the wall--"PLEASE CATCH ME QUICK". He went
to his car and switched its radio to one of the local stations.

[Illustration]

"_Stay off the streets. If you are in your car, do not stop for
anything except--and listen carefully--at least three men in army or
police uniforms. Do not stop for any man standing alone. Do not leave
your home except on the most essential business. If you must leave do
not go alone. Repeat: Do not leave the house alone...._"

Scott switched back to the police band. "What we just heard is on
every radio and TV station covering Harrisburg."

Another police car drifted into the alley, emptied men and equipment.

"We can go," Scott said. "My men will take care of the routine."

All of them were silent as they crossed the Market Street Bridge into
the central section of tow