"A Marian Wood book."

"You scuttering little bastard! What d'you think you're doing?" Norma Snape knew damn well what her youngest was doing. Caught with her purse in his hand, the last of her money clutched between his fingers, Nicky Snape was adding to a long list of petty crimes and misdemeanors. But before she could reach him, Nicky was out the door, quickstepping across the rubble-strewn yard, waving the bills as he disappeared down the alley and into the street. Doris Netherfield was cradling her husband, still trying to shield him as the intruder brought the iron bar down like a club, smashing Doris's skull as if it were a piece of overripe fruit, turning a simple job of breaking and entering into a question of murder. Nicky had scrubbed everywhere, and still the water in the bowl ran red. "Who'd have thought the old girl had as much blood in her?" he whispered to himself over the sound of the running water.

It wasn't the first time the cops had paid a call on the Snape household. For Nicky, this time it was no petty crime or misdemeanor. The call came two days after they had put him in custody, at a little before 6 A.M. Nicky Snape had been found hanging from the shower in the children's home where he was being held. Nicky had just turned fifteen.

Fisher Library Rare Books and Special Collections materials are available for use in the Fisher Library Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room. Copying allowed with permission. NU