."

"She's alive," Collins insisted. "She moved again. Just turn around and
take a look, Ed. That's all I ask."

"I hefted this thing once, and that's enough. You _move_, Sam. I've got
a .38 in my belt, and I went to Rome, Italy, for the Olympics about the
time you were getting yourself born, Sam. I ought to be able to hit a
target as big as you. Just go ahead and do as you're told."

Collins turned desperately towards Candle. Maybe Nancy had been right,
maybe he had been imagining things.

"Doc, you take a look at her," Collins begged.

The old man vibrated over to the stretcher and looked down. The girl
twisted in pain, throwing her head back, spilling her hair over the head
of the stretcher.

"Rigor mortis," Doc Candle diagnosed, with a wink to Collins.

"No, Doc! She needs a doctor, blood transfusions...."

* * * * *

"Nonsense," Candle snapped. "I'll take her in my black wagon up to my
place, put her in the tiled basement. I'll pump out all her blood and
flush it down the commode. Then I'll feed in Formaldi-Forever Number
Zero. Formaldi-Forever, for the Blush of Death. 'When you think of a
Pretty Girl, think of Formaldi-Forever, the Way to Preserve that
Beauty.' Then I'll take a needle and some silk thread and just a few
stitches on the eyelids and around the mouth...."

"Doc, will you...?" Michaels said faintly.

"Of course. I just wanted to show Sam how foolish he was in saying the
Beloved was still alive."

Nancy kicked one leg off the stretcher and Candle picked it up and
tucked it back in.

"Ed, if you'd just turn around and _look_." Collins said.

"I don't want to have to look at your face, you murdering son. You make
me, you say one more word, and I'll turn around and shoot you between
the eyes."

Doc Candle nodded. Collins knew then that Michaels really would shoot
him in the head if he said anything more, so he kept quiet.

Candle held the door. They managed to get the stretcher down the back
steps, and right into the black panel truck. They fitted the stretcher
into the special sockets for it, and Doc Candle closed the double doors
and slapped his dry palm down on the sealing crevice.

Instantly, there was an answering knock from inside the truck, a dull
echo.

* * * * *

"Didn't you hear that?" Collins asked.

"Hear what?" Michaels said.

"What are you hearing now, Sam?" Candle inquired solici