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hysterical.
    “Medication is indicated here,” said Kane.
    “I’ll have to find Colonel Fell,” Krebs told him. “I haven’t seen him.”
    “Who else has a key to the drug locker?”
    “No one,” said Krebs. Fairbanks kept shrieking. His eyes bulged out.
    “Not even a medical orderly?” asked Kane.
    “No, sir. Not since we had the pilferage, sir.”
    “From the drug locker? What was taken?”
    “The colonel’s Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars, sir. He stores them there.”
    He paused and then added, “It’s the temperature, sir.”
    Kane released the hammer and Fairbanks subsided. “There may be a recurrence,” Kane said softly. “You’d better find him.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Fairbanks looked puzzled. “Where the fuck did this hammer come from?” he asked. Kane slipped it from his grasp and Krebs and Christian led the inmate away. Kane stood rooted, looking down at the hammer in his hands. Then he clutched at his head.
    Groper was watching him from the second floor, where he stood by the balustrade. Kane looked up at him as if he had known he was being watched. Groper walked quickly toward his bedroom.
     

 

     
     

    5
     
     
    Back in his office, Kane again immersed himself in study. Outside it was raining and somewhere a clock tolled nine. Kane looked up and stared at the window as the rain battered against it in sheets. Someone came into the room. It was Krebs.
    “Captain Fairbanks is still okay, sir.”
    “Good. Where’s Colonel Fell? Have you found him?”
    Krebs hesitated, then said, “No, sir. But he hasn’t checked out, so he must be on the grounds.”
    Kane’s face was tense and pained for a moment; then he said, “When you find him, please tell him to come to me right away. I need to see him.”
    “Yes, sir.” Krebs did not leave. He stood looking at Kane.
    “That’s all, Krebs. Thank you,” said Kane at last.
    “About Colonel Fell, sir,” said Krebs.
    “Yes?”
    Krebs was hesitant. “I think he covers up, sir.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I think things hurt him a lot, sir. You know-sick people; patients dying on him. I wouldn’t want you to think badly of him, sir. I think he does what he does to take his mind off things.”
    Kane stared at him for a while; then he felt at his brow and said, “I see.”
    “Have you got a headache, sir? I can get you some aspirin, sir, if that will help.”
    “That’s very kind of you, Krebs. I’m all right. Good night.”
    “Good night, sir,” said Krebs.
    “Please close the door behind you.”
    “Yes, sir.”
     

 

     
     

    6
     
     
    Kane returned to his reading and note-taking. Hours passed. Fell did not appear. The rain was torrential, slamming at the windows. Kane squinted at the words he was reading, blinking, straining to see. Finally, he could not keep his eyes open any longer and he laid down his head on his folded arms. He slept.
    And dreamed. Rain. A jungle. He was hunted. He had killed someone. Who? He was kneeling by the body. He turned it over, but the head stayed facing down and blood gushed out of a headless neck. Then a man with a Z-shaped scar on his brow said, “For Christ’s sake, Colonel, let’s get the hell out of here!” He plucked a white mouse from out of the air and the mouse became a pure white lily stained with blood. Then Kane was on the surface of the moon. There was a lunar landing craft to the right, and an astronaut, Cutshaw, moving, drifting, through the atmosphere, until at last he extended his arms beseechingly up to a crucified Christ at the left. The figure of Christ had the face of Kane. Then the dream became lucid. He dreamed he awakened in his office and Billy Cutshaw was sitting on his desk, eying him intently while lighting a cigarette. Kane said, “What is it? What do you want?”
    “It’s about my brother, Lieutenant Reno. You’ve got to help him.”
    “Help? How?”
    “Reno is possessed of a devil, Hud. He is levitating nightly and he also talks to dogs, which is not