I\'llBeGoneintheDark

Epigraph No butler, no second maid, no blood upon the stair. No eccentric aunt, no gardener, no family friend Smiling among the bric-a-brac and murder. Only a suburban house with the front door open And a dog barking at a squirrel, and the cars Passing. The corpse quite dead. The wife in Florida. Consider the clues: the potato masher in a vase, The torn photograph of a Wesleyan basketball team, Scattered with check stubs in the hall; The unsent fan letter to Shirley Temple, The Hoover button on the lapel of the deceased, The note: “To be killed this way is quite all right with me.” Small wonder that the case remains unsolved, Or that the sleuth, Le Roux, is now incurably insane, And sits alone in a white room in a white gown, Screaming that all the world is mad, that clues Lead nowhere, or to walls so high their tops cannot be seen; Screaming all day of war, screaming that nothing can be solved. —Weldon Kees, “Crime Club” Time Line Map Cast of Characters VICTIMS RAPE VICTIMS Sheila* (Sacramento, 1976) Jane Carson (Sacramento, 1976) Fiona Williams* (South Sacramento, 1977) Kathy* (San Ramon, 1978) Esther McDonald* (Danville, 1978) ......