The Shadow Killer by Gail Bowen Page B

business card. “Call me if you change your mind. Otherwise, I’ll courier a cheque to you tomorrow to pay for your bike.”
    â€œYou don’t know my name.”
    The man flashed me his Hawkeye smile. “Sure I do. Your name is Charlie Dowhanuik and you’re the host of ‘The World According to Charlie D.’ I’m a fan. I even phoned in once. It was the night you walked off the show and disappeared for a year. You were in rough shape.”
    â€œThat’s why I left.”
    â€œI was relieved that you did,” he said. “I sensed that if you didn’t turn things around, you and I were destined to meet professionally. My profession, not yours. You were too young to need my services, so I called in to remind you of what Woody Allen said.”
    â€œI remember. ‘Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering and it’s over much too soon.’” I met the man’s eyes. “Wise words,” I said. “I still ponder them.”
    â€œSo you haven’t stopped grieving for the woman you lost?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œBut you decided to keep on living,” he said.
    â€œFor the time being,” I said. We shook hands, and I opened the car door and climbed out. As I watched the hearse disappear into the fog, the opening lines of an old schoolyard rhyme floated to the top of my consciousness.
    Do you ever think when a hearse goes by
    That one fine day you’re gonna die?
    They’ll wrap you up in a cotton sheet
    And throw you down about forty feet.
    The worms crawl in,
    The worms crawl out…
    There was more, but I had to cut short my reverie. It was October 31. Halloween. The Day of the Dead. And I had a show to do.