Holding my breath, I scanned the stand and the stairwell once more while I listened for any signs of life at all, then shook my head, taking another deep breath as I steeled myself for action. The whole place was quiet, way too quiet, except for the alarms that were jangling in my head, and, if anyone had been watching, in just under twenty seconds I'd changed from a stylishly dressed smiling brunette with striking, steely blue eyes that was simply out to get her nightly newspaper into a grim and businesslike looking woman with all the apparent attitude and demeanor of a veteran lady cop. Actually, all things being equal, the description wasn't all that far off the mark. Silently checking my piece, making sure there was one in the pipe and the safety was off, I took another deep, silent breath, quietly eased down the stairs while fitting a pair of high-tech glasses-slash-camera onto my face and switching on the infrared emitters, then marveled to myself for a moment as the stairwell leapt into sharp relief. Stopping just short of the doorway, I took a quick peek, then flattened myself back against the wall, shaking my head. As I'd suspected from above, it was wide open and dark. Not a good sign. I quietly took another deep breath, then eased around the doorframe for a better look, but, as my quick scan had shown, there were apparently no heat sources other than the slowly cooling body in this room, anyway. There were other rooms, though. Right about then, however, Abe's old cat came out from around the table, freezing suddenly while looking right at me, and I sighed and tucked my piece back into my waistband while straightening up from my crouch. I knew the old creature well, and if 'Times' was out from under the bed there was no one else in the apartment, and, unfortunately, it also meant that that was more than likely Abe on the floor. Now, "I sure wish you could tell me what the hell happened here tonight," I murmured quietly to the shy creature, which, of course, immediately sent him flying in the direction of the bedroom. Much, much later, sticking my hands in my pockets, I shivered a little as I stopped to check traffic before crossing a street, then raised my eyes and looked down to my left toward Abe's place. My crew was still there, with the uniforms out front, but I couldn't tell from here if one of the cops was Lebowski or not. Nah. I'd keep going to the loft. Nothing more I could do down there but get in the way. As the light changed, I shivered again as I shook my head sadly and stepped off the curb. The past few nights had been cold, but the world was a little bit of a colder place, tonight, I thought, then determined that it would get real hot, real quick, for somebody when I found them, though. Abe the News had been my friend. You didn't screw with Jerry Marlowe's friends. You damned sure didn't kill one of them!