Katelina and Verchiel had been in the lounge nearly two hours when a dark cop drama came on. The graphic images stirred too many memories, and Katelina flipped the channel. A chain store's Christmas commercial blared. A smiling Santa Claus gave gusty laughs and added a backdrop of credibility to claims of wondrous toys. Her morbid thoughts tripped back to the bearded man in the parking lot. She could see Verchiel fasten his mouth around the old man's neck and drink-

As if in ...