passive voice explanation and practice

The passive voice is used when we focus on the person or thing affected by an action.
The Passive structure in affirmative sentences is:

Passive Subject + Be + Past Participle

E.g.:

Active: Anais writes 45 letters everyday

Passive: 45letters are written everyday.

To change an active voice sentence to the passive first we have to look for the object of the verb in the active sentence. This object becomes the passive subject in the passive voice sentence. (45 letters).

After that we have to check what tense the active sentence is.

In this case, the tense is present so, we have to add a verb Be in present to the passive voice sentence that agrees with the passive subject (are).

Then, we change the main verb of the active voice sentence into its past participle.

This structure is often used in business and in other areas where the object of the action is more important than those who perform the action.

For Example: We have produced over 20 different models in the past two years.
Changes to: Over 20 different models have been produced in the past two years.

If the agent (the performer of the action) is important, use "by"

For Example: Tim Wilson wrote "The Flight to Brunnswick" in 1987.
Changes to:” The Flight to Brunnswick" was written in 1987 by Tim Wilson.

Only verbs that take an object can be used in the passive.

The following chart includes sentences changed from the active to the passive in the principal tenses.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________ Present Simple
Active: They make Fords in Cologne.

Passive: Fords are made in Cologne.

____________________________________________________________________ Present continuous
Active: Susan is cooking dinner.

Passive: Dinner is being cooked by Susan.

____________________________________________________________________ Past Simple
Active: James Joyce wrote "Dubliners".

Passive: "Dubliners" was written by James Joyce.

____________________________________________________________________

Past Continuous

Active: They were painting the house when I arrived.

Passive: The house was being painted when I arrived.

____________________________________________________________________

Present Perfect

Active: They have produced over 20 models in the past two years.

Passive: Over 20 models have been produced in the past two years.
____________________________________________________________________

Future Intention with Going to

Active: They are going to build a new factory in Portland.

Passive: A new factory is going to be built in Portland.

____________________________________________________________________ Future Simple
Active: I will finish it tomorrow.

Passive: It will be finished tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________

Active to Passive Transformations
Put the following sentences into the passive voice or form. Remember that the agent should not be used unless important. For more information about how to use the passive voice, refer to this passive voice usage chart.

1.- They make shoes in that factory.
Shoes _____________________________________________________ in that factory.

2.- People must not leave bicycles in the driveway.
Bicycles _________________________________________________ in the driveway.

3.- They built that skyscraper in 1934.
That skyscraper _________________________________________________ in 1934.

4.- The students will finish the course by July.
The course ______________________________________________________ by July.

5.- They are repairing the streets this month.
The streets ___________________________________________________ this month.

6.- They make these tools of plastic.
These tools ___________________________________________________ of plastic.

7.- They have finished the new product design.
The new product design _______________________________________________ .

8.- They were cooking dinner when I arrived.
Dinner _________________________________________________ when I arrived.

9.- Smithers painted 'Red Sunset' in 1986.
'Red Sunset' __________________________________________ in 1986 by Smithers.

10.- Did the plan interest you?
____________________________________________________________ in the plan?

11.- They had finished the preparations by the time the guests arrived.
The preparations ________________________________ by the time the guests arrived.

12.- You should take care when working on electrical equipment.
Care __________________________________ when working on electrical equipment.

13.- They are going to perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony next weekend.
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony ________________________________________ next weekend.

14.- Someone will speak Japanese at the meeting.
Japanese _________________________________________________ at the meeting.

15.- Karen is going to prepare the refreshments.
The refreshments _____________________________________________ by Karen.

Passive to Active Transformations
Take the following sentences in the passive voice and put them into the active voice.

1.- The instructions have been changed.
Someone _______________________________________________ the instructions.

2.- She will have to be taught.
Someone _________________________________________________________ her.

3.- This car was manufactured in Japan by Toyota.
Toyota ________________________________________________ this car in Japan.

4.- Why aren't the exercises being finished on time?
Why ______________________________________________the exercises on time?

5.- Last year 2,000 new units had been produced by the time we introduced the new design.
We __________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
6.- Casual clothes must not be worn.

You __________________________________________________________________

7.- $400,000 in profit has been reported this year.
The company __________________________________________________________

8.- The test will be given at five o'clock this afternoon.
The school _____________________________________________________________

9.- Students are required to wear uniforms at all times.
The school _____________________________________________________________

10.- This rumor must have been started by our competitors.
Our competitors ________________________________________________________

11.- All work will have been completed by five o'clock this evening.
You __________________________________________________________________

12.- We were told to wait here.
Someone ______________________________________________________________

13.- Lunch was being served when we arrived.
They _________________________________________________________________

14.- Lectures are recorded and posted on the Internet.
They _________________________________________________________________

15.-Portuguese has always been spoken in this village.
People in this village _____________________________________________________
MSR/mbs

WISH

Wish is used to express a desire for something that is unreal. As a matter of fact, something that is totally the opposite to reality.
E.g.:
I wish I had a million dollars (the reality is that I don´t have money)
When we wish in the present about the present we use a past tense verb after wish.
E. g. :
Ana wishes she were a millionaire. Reality: she is not a millionaire.
Elio wishes that Anais would kiss him. Reality: Anais will not kiss him.
Josue wishes his friends didn´t bother him so much. Reality: his friends bother him.


When we wish in the present (now) about the past,
we use the past perfect (Had+past participle).

E.G.:
Cristina wishes yesterday had been better. Reality: yesterday was a bad day.
Franz wishes he had had money yesterday to buy that present for her mother.
Reality: Franz didn´t have money yesterday and didn´t buy the present.

Stephany wishes she had studied for the exam last Friday.
Reality: she didn´t study and failed the exam.
MSR/mbs

I04 - Reported speech or indirect speech

Reported Speech - Indirect Speech

Indirect Speech (also referred to as 'reported speech') refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said. It is almost always used in spoken English.

If the reporting verb (or introductory part) is in the present we are going to change only the pronoun to make a logical sentence, but the tense remains the same.

E.g.:
Dayana says “I don’t like this class”-

in reported speech: 
Dayana says she doesn’t like this class.

John always says “I love Meche”

– in reported speech 
John always says he loves Meche.

José says “when I was a child, I didn’t use to play soccer”

In reported speech
– Josè says that when he was a child he didn’t use to play soccer


If the reporting verb (or introductory part) is in the past, the reported clause will be in a past form. This form is usually one step back into the past from the original.
For example:


Eduardo said: “the test is difficult”
He said the test was difficult.


Karen said "I watch TV everyday"
She said she watched TV every day.

Luis said “I come to school everyday”
Luis said he came to school every day.


When the introductory part in a reported speech sentence is in the past the following changes occur:

___________________________________________________________
From                                   to
Will                                     would
Can                                     could
Shall                                   should
Must                                   had to
May                                    might
Am/is going to                    was going to
Are going to                       were going to
Present                               past
Present perfect                  past perfect (Had + past participle)
Past                                    past perfect (had + past participle)

Example:
Marcial said “I went to the movies with Melissa last night”
Marcial said he had gone to the movies with Melissa the night before

Jessica: "I live in Paris."

She said she lived in Paris.

Anthony:"I am cooking dinner."
He said he was cooking dinner.

Juan Carlos "I have visted London twice."
He said he had visited London twice.

Roberto:  "I went to New York last week."
He said he had gone to New York the week before.

Yesenia "I had already eaten."
She said she had already eaten.

Martin "I am going to find a new job."
He said he was going to find a new job.

Carolina "I will give Luis a call."
She said she would give Luis a call.



If simple present, present perfect or the future is used IN THE INTRODUCTORY PART (i.e. says) the tense is retained.
For example:
Hugo says
“The test is difficult”    
He says the test is difficult.
Diana has said
“I watch TV everyday”
She has said (that) she watches TV every day.

Jessica will say “I come to school everyday”
Jessica will say that she comes to school every day.


If reporting a general truth the present tense will be retained.
For example:
Teacher: “Phrasal verbs are very important”
The teacher said that phrasal verbs are very important.
Carlo: “The Earth is round”
Carlo said the Earth is round


YES/ NO QUESTIONSYes no questions in reported speech don’t use auxiliaries and, if they use them they follow the structure of an affirmative sentence preceded by the word if.
Example:
Carlos: “Is Jesus complaining?
Carlos asked if Jesus was complaining

                   If + sub.+ verb
To do this we use:
the introductory part + if + subject + verb + complement

WH-QUESTIONS
For wh- questions we use the following structure:
Introductory part + wh-question word + subject + verb + complement
Example:
Ivan asked Carina “ Where do you want me to take you tonight?”
Ivan asked Carina Where she wanted him to take her that night
                              Q.W.   S        V                     C
That means that after the question word we use the structure of an affirmative sentence
Subject + Verb + complement


Changing Pronouns and Time Signifiers
When changing from direct speech to indirect speech, it is often necessary to change the pronouns to match the subject of the sentence.
For example:
She said, "I want to bring my children."
BECOMES
She said she wanted to bring her children.

Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show."
BECOMES
Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show.

It is also important to change time words (signifiers) when referring to present, past or future time to match the moment of speaking.
For example:
Giannina said, "I want to bring my children tomorrow."
BECOMES
She said she wanted to bring her children the next day.

Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show yesterday." BECOMES
Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show the day before.


Indirect Questions
When reporting questions, it is especially important to pay attention to sentence order.
When reporting yes/ no questions connect the reported question using 'if'.
When reporting questions using question words (why, where, when, etc.) use the question word.
For example:
She asked, "Do you want to come with me?"
BECOMES
She asked me if I wanted to come with her.

Dave asked, "Where did you go last weekend?"
BECOMES
Dave asked me where I had gone the previous weekend.

He asked, "Why are you studying English?"
BECOMES
She asked me why I was studying English.

The following chart includes sentences changed from quoted speech to reported speech using a past form.
Note:
Simple past, present perfect, and past perfect all change to past perfect in the reported form.

Advanced Reporting Verbs
verb +object +infinitive

advise, encourage, invite, remind, warn

E.g.:

Jack encouraged me to look for a new job.

They invited all their friends to attend the presentation


verb +infinitive
agree. Decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten


E.g.:

She offered to give him a lift to work.
My brother refused to take no for an answer


verb +gerund
deny, recommend, suggest,


E.g.:

He denied having anything to do with her.

Ken suggested studying early in the morning


Verb + (that)
admit, agree, decide, deny, explain, insist, promise, recommend, suggest


E.g.:

Tom admitted (that) he had tried to leave early.

She agreed (that) we needed to reconsider our plans.

verb +object +preposition +gerund
accuse, blame, congratulate


E.g.:

They accused the boys of cheating on the exam.

She blamed her husband for missing the train.


verb +preposition +gerund
apologize, insist


E.g.:

He apologized for being late.

She insisted on doing the washing up

MSR/mbs

ALP for IO4

Dear I04 students,
For your ALP this months you will have to read the following short story, write down the new words you may encounter with their definitions.  Then, you will write a sentence with each of the new words on a piece of paper.  Below the sentences you will write a composition expressing your opinión about the story to present in class.  Remember that it is your opinión, not a summary and that you have to hand in a piece of paper, not a folder or a plastic cover or anything similar.

Death Makes a Comeback

 

 by James O'Keefe

 Word Count: 4492

VIOLENT DEATH WAS no novelty to Sgt. James Peyton. He had seen far worse than a brunette with a bruise on her forehead and a slit throat.

He felt as if he had just touched a live wire.

He wide-eyed the older detective. "Dad--"

Lt. Lawrence Peyton raised a cautionary hand.

"Please, Jimmy." His voice dropped. "I wish I'd never told you about him."

"But the MO--"

"Shsh. The husband hears you, spreads the rumor he's back…. “He glanced at the bedroom door as if he expected something to enter and devour them.

Lucy Welch's long hair spread out like a nun's veil on the gray carpet beneath her. Her brown eyes stared up at Jimmy.

She wore a red tube top and tight, black designer jeans. How perfectly, colorwise, her top and lipstick coordinated with her throat.

Jimmy hoped his necrophilic fantasies weren't too obvious. He must mention that to Dr. Larsen tomorrow.

Jimmy Peyton was a fat little boy in a blond, blue-eyed hunk disguise. He had fooled many women, since he always took off before the disguise slipped.

Lieutenant Peyton surveyed the huge, decadently ornate bedroom. He was a great, bloated version of his son with a cloud-gray crew cut. "Judging by that crap on the dressing table, she liked spending money."

"Or knew how to get some guy to spend it for her."

Lieutenant Peyton winked approvingly, which gave Jimmy a glow, then turned his attention to the bed. "Black silk sheets. Now, what does that tell you?"

"I don't think you should jump to conclusions, Dad."

"You want to get to my rank, you'd better."

The glow faded.

 

* * *

The Welch living room was expensively furnished, spotlessly clean, and coldly neat. Jimmy couldn't wait to leave it.

George Welch had a thin, vinegary face and rust-colored hair, parted down the middle.

"I understand," said Lieutenant Peyton, "you were divorced?"

"Separated," said Welch as if he were about to have the lieutenant beheaded. "We were happily married; but we were having difficulties, so we decided to spend some time apart."

"I see. So what happened tonight?"

"We were supposed to go to dinner and that play at the Birmingham Theater. I came by to get her; and I found her like that."

Jimmy noted Welch's granite formality. Indifference to his wife's death? Shock? Or something else?

"Did you," asked Lieutenant Peyton, "notice anything unusual as you pulled up?"

Welch hesitated. "No."

"Sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay. Now, did your wife have any enemies?"

"Yes." Like he was a cat and the question was a nice, juicy mouse. "She recently became friendly--just friendly--with a man named Eric Dimke. According to Lucy, he was used to getting his way with women; and when she turned him down, he didn't take it well."

"What did he do?"

"She wouldn't tell me. But I got the impression she was scared of him."

"You know where this guy lives?"

He gave them an address in Flat Rock.

"Think he's telling the truth?" asked Jimmy back in the car.

"Not completely. Maybe not at all. Not about that trial separation; that's for sure. Once she got her hands on his money and that house, that little bitch was through with him.

"And all you need to jump to conclusions about that is eyes."

The address was in a sparsely populated area.

They turned into a driveway, the headlights revealing a bedraggled Oldsmobile parked so close to the road they almost rear-ended it.

They crossed what felt to Jimmy's ankles like a balding, unmowed lawn.

Lieutenant Peyton sidestepped something. "Look out for this junk." A lone streetlamp and the light from the house dimly illuminating scattered auto innards.

"I don't believe it," said Jimmy.

"Believe what?"

"That a woman as well off as her would take up with anyone who lived here."

"Now who's jumping to conclusions?"

 

* * *

The big, black leather reclining chair was the only piece of furniture in that room that did not need reupholstering, distinctive in a room whose walls bore cheap prints of flowers, gleaming on an unshampooed rug; and as anyone who had known him ten minutes might have expected, Eric Dimke occupied it.

He was a great bronzed ape with a creamy white Elvis pompadour. As he leaned back, his unbuttoned shirt spread open, displaying his pectorals.

Only Jimmy seemed to notice the woman. She viewed the proceedings as she had greeted the Peytons at the door: with dumb animal indifference through which muted anger only occasionally flickered. Blotches marred otherwise satisfactory features.

Lieutenant Peyton repeated Welch's accusations.

"He's full of it."

"Did you know Mrs. Welch?" asked the lieutenant.

"Sure I knew her. Lotsa guys knew her. She was hangin' around the Flat Top Bar--I dunno, five, six weeks before I got talkie' to her."

"What would a woman from Indian Village be doing in a bar around here?"

Dimke shrugged. "I wouldn't go to no bars in Detroit after dark. I got the idea she went to bars all over the place. I mean, she was lookin' for action. Or maybe she just didn't want to go to no bars around where she lived 'cause she thought her old man might catch her."

 

"She was afraid of him?"

 

"I think she was. I got the idea he was this wimp she'd just married for his money; and I asked her why she didn't leave him; and she said, 'That's something I'd rather not go into'; and she got this funny look in her eyes. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah. You got to know Mrs. Welch quite well, didn't you?"

Dimke's face went cold. "Like what do you mean?"

"Well, she told you about her marriage. She told you about other bars she went to. Welch knew your name and address, which kind of suggests she did too. I mean, you can't blame us for--uh- jumping to conclusions."

Jimmy flinched.

Another shrug. "So I let her talk to me. So I let her think I was comin' on to her." He and Lieutenant Peyton studied each other. "So maybe I was. Hey, I been married--what?--twelve years? I used to be real big with the ladies. So I let some fine-lookin' chick make some moves on me, show me I still got it. Even the most happily married man's gotta do that or he gets stale. Right, hoe?"

"I guess so."

They were precinct bound.

"What do you think of his story?" asked Jimmy.

"Story's fine. But did you notice Mrs. Dimke's wrists?" Jimmy vaguely recalled bruises.

"And the way she acted?"

"She acted bored."

"She acted scared. She was scared to let us see how scared she was, so she held herself in. There's plenty she could tell us, but she knows what he'll do to her if she does."

"So it's between Welch and Dimke?"

"One thing's sure: it wasn't him."

"Him?"

Lieutenant Peyton grinned. "You know."

The lieutenant flipped on his office light. "The bloodstains show she was killed in the bedroom. And there was no sign of a struggle, so it was evidently someone she trusted." He started going through the mail on his desk. "I mean, can you see anyone letting him get that close--and in her bedroom yet?"

He glanced at one of the envelopes, started moving it to the bottom, then glanced at it again.

His face went blank.

"What's wrong, Dad?"

The old man struggled to smile. "Now, you got me doing it. Where's the letter opener?" He went through his top drawer, then the second drawers on each side, then the next, growing more frantic with each drawer. "Where the hell is the damn letter opener?"

"Dad." He grabbed the envelope and ripped off an edge.

Lieutenant Peyton snatched it back, clawed out the paper inside, shook it open, and read it.

He offered it to his son with a trembling hand, looking as if he were going to vomit.

 

The hand-printed words flew up like fists:

 "Lucy Welch was my return performance.

 Mephistopheles."

Jimmy foggily heard his father: "First good hunch you had since you got promoted out of uniform; and it had to be about him."

The bar was on the first level of the Renaissance Center. It was a slow night. The bartender and all but two of the patrons were engrossed in a televised Tigers game.

The Peytons sat, hunched over drinks, in the dim red glow, remembering seven years ago. . . .

 

Lieutenant Peyton recalled a young blonde, nude on a morgue slab. Her face was like the wholesome farm girls on the cover of his folks' American Magazines, except for the lump on her head and the gash across her throat.

An officer read from a notebook: "Her name was Helen Dunn. Twenty-three years old. She was a barmaid." He named a bar near Wayne State University. "Her boss was emptying out some trash, right after opening up, when he found her body behind some cans."

"Had there been any trouble recently?"

"Nothing in particular; but you know how barmaids are."

"Yeah." He replaced the sheet, wondering how to say what he had to say without revealing too much. He decided it was impossible. "I want this to have top priority. I want to know who works there, who drinks there--everything."

"Something special about this, sir?"

"Maybe I just don't like to see twenty-three-year-old girls die."

He was not fooling the officer. He did not care.

The "something special" was a printed note now in his desk drawer: "Helen Dunn begins her beauty sleep tonight. It's going to be a long one. Mephistopheles. . . ."

Anyone can write a note, blame a personal killing on a fictional psychopath. The police investigated the murder with more than usual diligence, but spread no alarms.

Peyton dismissed the note as a blind a week and a half later, but spent the next two months going through his mail on the brink of cardiac arrest.

He had just stopped fearing postal deliveries when the second note arrived:

"I'm afraid Tracy Huggins won't have much time for studying from now on.

 But that doesn't matter. She's never going to graduate.

 Mephistopheles."

He shut off his feelings and scoured the day's reports, then called every Huggins in the phone book.

He went home with no idea who Tracy Huggins was. . . .

The next morning, during coffee, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

It was another detective. "Weren't you the one who was looking for Tracy Huggins?"

"Yes."

"Her folks just reported her missing. She hasn't been seen since leaving a late class at Wayne two nights ago."

Six days later, a deputy sheriff on horseback found her behind some bushes in Hines Park. . . .

Wayne State was on its guard. Patrols, curfews, inspection of credentials, hot lines to a special task force--there was no way this character could strike again.

As long as he confined himself to WSU.

One April night, Debra Meredith, twenty-four, divorced, went to a singles bar in Farmington. She left, according to witnesses, about twelve-fifteen.

She was found the next morning in the driver's seat of her car in an Oak Park shopping center. This time, the note was on her lap:

"Debra Meredith was looking for action. She found it.

Mephistopheles."

The investigation was soon statewide; but there were few leads, all false, by that early morning in June when a priest at the University of Windsor found Julie McKinnon, of Toronto, in some bushes.

The Windsor police received a note the next day:

"Julie McKinnon felt so safe on this side of the water. Now she feels so sorry. Mephistopheles. . . ."

That was the end of it.

Until now.

 

* * *

The whitewashed walls of Dr. Whitney Larsen's office were decorated with framed degrees, including a Ph.D.; professional-looking photographs, taken by the doctor himself, of breathtaking landscapes "I won't shoot anything warmblooded, even with a camera"; and numerous paintings, portraits and abstracts and everything in between, of dogs "I like dogs. My dogs have lasted longer, and pleased me more, than all my marriages".

Dr. Larsen's build resulted from another hobby: fine food. He was not fat yet; but it was a distinct possibility. He was a tall man with black, curly, thinning hair. His hazel eyes studied Jimmy Peyton, who haltingly detailed his fantasies about Lucy Welch.

The doctor realized he was expected to say something profound. "Was she good-looking--uh, as corpses go, that is?"

"Mrs. Welch had been an attractive woman in her lifetime."

Larsen chuckled. "Could it be, if you'd jumped her bones, that really would've shown Daddy?"

"I don't know."

Conversation stopped. Jimmy studied the plaques and pictures while Dr. Larsen studied him.

"Jimmy," said the doctor finally, "I get the feeling you're not all here with me. Like there's something really bugging you; and all this stuff about having the hots for a corpse is just your way of sidestepping it."

He did not prod. He had learned the reluctant revelations were often the most significant, and that no patient was obliged to make them.

"When we got back to headquarters, there was this envelope on my father's desk. . . ."

"So now," said Dr. Larsen, "he's back; and you're going to deliver him to daddy as a Father's Day present--" he glanced at his 1984 calendar--"two months late."

"Not exactly."

"Then, what exactly?'

Jimmy laid a folded piece of paper on the desk. "This is the note."

Dr. Larsen's face soured. "Anyone ever tell you you watch too much television?" He read the note, his expression grim, then became haughty. "Ziss fellow iss obviously overzexed; but zen, aren't ve all? Ven he vas a kinder, hiss mama locked him in ze closet ven she caught him veering her undervear--hoo-ha!--undt ven he vas in dere, he seen papa t'rough da keyhole makin' nice-nice mit a floozie." Jimmy's expression was granite. "Seriously, if you don't already know as much as I could tell you about this guy--maybe, if you don't know even more--I'd be worried about your future as a cop."

"Think he wants to get caught?"

"Hell, no. Anymore than you want to break your neck when you go on one of those super coasters at Cedar Point. I mean, besides hating women--which, I hope to God, you've already figured out--he likes excitement."

"But why did he stop for seven years, then go back to it?"

"One sure way to find out."

"What?"

"Have him make an appointment with me."

Judy Franklin was Lucy Welch's sister. Lieutenant Peyton could see a resemblance muddied by drink and fat. Her brown, boy-length hair was flecked with gray. Her face was cosmetically embalmed.

She had a Georgia accent. "That wimp she married didn't kill her, that boyfriend did."

"We have them under observation, ma'am."

"You should have their rear ends in jail."

"Why?" Her body tightened with rage. "I mean, what makes you suspect them?"

 

He took his notebook from a drawer, placed it open on the desk, and poised a pen over it.

She relaxed a little. "I only met Welch once, back in 1977, when Lucy brought him home for a Fourth of July picnic. They weren't married yet, think she just met him. Didn't like him then. Every time I turned around, he was hangin' around her; or he wasn't far away, watchin' her.

"And the way he watched her. I been in enough bars to know when a man watches you that way, you don't want no part of him.

"Couldn't understand what she seen in him till I found out he had money." Some of his feeling about that must have shown in his face. "Well, you didn't have to live on what was left of your daddy's paycheck from his ladies and his drinking."

"So you met him only once; and you're basing a murder accusation on that?"

"That and the letters she sent me. He was just like I thought he was--jealous and clingy and all-around weird."

"Do you have any of these letters?"

"Not now I don't. I threw 'em out a long time ago."

Aren't you the sentimental bitch? "So all you have against Welch is hearsay? What about Dimke?"

She tensed again. "I suppose you'd say that was hearsay too, especially since she never said nothin' right out. But a sister knows. You just go out there--he lives out in Flat Rock--and take a look at that wife of his. He coulda done that to her, he coulda done this to Lucy."

"Good point." He thought it best not to mention having already done so and coming to the same conclusion, or seeking someone much deadlier than Welch or Dimke.

Or that he was now drawing an unflattering caricature of the mayor of Detroit.

Lieutenant Peyton was obviously uneasy the next few days. He finally told Jimmy why over lunch. "Remember the last time I was after this guy; and I came in one night, real nervous, and glanced over my shoulder like I thought someone was following me; and you and your mother wanted to know why?"

Jimmy searched his memory, then shook his head. "But now that you mention it, was someone following you?"

"Maybe. I don't know. That was after Tracy Huggins disappeared. Her folks came to headquarters, raised hell. Said I should've told the papers about that first note. Then, they would've known. Then, they could've done something. Stuff like that.

"Heard they hung around the rest of the day, still pretty steamed up. Made me kind of paranoid."

"What did they do when her body was found?"

"I got a phone call the next day. They just said, 'Satisfied?' then hung up. I could tell it was Huggins."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Did she bring it all back?" The old man's brows twitched. "I've seen her in the halls."

He was referring to Judy Franklin.

Jimmy brought Dr. Larsen up to date. From Judy Franklin's mouth to the doctor's ear, the story was naturally mangled. But one point survived. And finally someone saw its significance.

"She won't leave us alone," said Jimmy. "She won't let us do our job."

"Well," said Dr. Larsen, "she gave you information that, on the face of it, was worth checking out; and as far as she can see, you didn't; and you won't explain why."

"The commissioner wants to keep a lid on it. He thinks this guy might be a copycat. Says he never heard of a psychopath starting up again, years later, in the same area."

"Tell the commissioner for me that, if psychos obeyed rules, they wouldn't be psychos. Unless he had reasons he didn't want to talk about."

 

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. The point is you don't seem to be satisfied with knowing you're doing the best you can. The victim's sister's got to see it. I mean, if you desperately need to have everybody approve of you, how the hell are you ever going to arrest anybody?" He glanced at his watch. "Which might be a good thing to think about until next week."

Jimmy counted out Dr. Larsen's fee. "I guess Mephistopheles has become kind of our obsession."

"Then, my bet's on him."

"Why?"

"Obsessed people can't think straight. Try some relaxation when you get to your desk in the morning."

Jimmy hesitated as he laid a five-dollar bill on the pile. "I noticed you became thoughtful when I told you what she said, like something'd occurred to you."

You'll never give up trying to turn me into a consultant."

"Did something occur to you?"

"Okay. If I tell you, will you remember it was your idea?"

"Sure.”

"And this is the last time you ask me for advice?"

"Agreed.”

"Then here it is. . . ."

Jimmy went looking for a certain book of photographs, which he found after two difficult days.

That night, he took the book to a certain bar. Helen Dunn's boss scanned the page in which Jimmy was interested and, without prompting, singled out the right man. "This guy. I know I seen him hangin' around here, botherin' Helen, not long before it happened." He scanned the rest of the page. "I recognize some of these other people too; but if you're lookin' for someone who was botherin' her--this guy."

The rest were dead ends.

The Hugginses slammed the door at the mention of his name.

The owner of the singles bar stared at him. "Seven years ago! I can't even remember who the hell was here last night."

Julie McKinnon's acquaintances were far away by now.

He was wasting time.

Time enough for Patti Bukowski to leave her East Detroit home and her husband of three years, Gil, because things were getting too crazy. Time enough for her to move to a downtown Detroit apartment building to experience being answerable to no one.

She spent the first evening in Hart Plaza on the great, terraced stone structure that overlooked the darkness of the Detroit River.

She was too absorbed in the solitude and the glow of the Windsor skyline at sunset to notice him until he sat beside her.

Patti gave up two and a half weeks later, only partly because she missed Gil.

She was afraid of a man who had seemed so nice at Hart Plaza.

Gil had suggested she wait until tomorrow; but what could be the harm of going home tonight?

"Patti."

She turned, feeling as if she had just stepped off a thousand-foot cliff. "Oh. Hi."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"You're going back to him, aren't you?"

She looked for her car key. If she ignored him, he would most likely get the hint.

 

She did not see him reach into his pocket, take out a small chain, welded to a sinker and two slugs, and raise it over his head.

"Patti," he cooed.

"What!"

"Hold it right there." A figure emerged from the shadows, waving a gun at the man. "Up against the car and spread the feet."

Jimmy Peyton showed her his credentials, read the suspect his rights, and patted him down. He found a switchblade knife, on which flecks of blood were later discovered, and an envelope addressed to Lieutenant Peyton. It contained a hand-printed note:

"Gil Bukowski's waiting for his wife to come home. He'll have a long wait. Mephistopheles."

"I know this guy," said Patti.

"So do we. George Welch."

"I decided," said Jimmy at his next session with Dr. Larsen, "I'd gotten as far as I could with Welch's yearbook; and if he was really killing them 'cause they rejected him, like you said, I'd better just shadow him till he made his next move." He shook his head. "Dad must've asked seven years ago about guys they were having trouble with."

"Pretty girls don't comment on every guy who gets too persistent; there's just too many of them. And I doubt Welch's victims realized how sick he was."

"But how did you know it was him?"

Dr. Larsen's face soured. "I didn't know diddly. I just made some good guesses.

"Like he lied about what he was doing at the scene of the crime, which I hear you cops have a way of considering suspicious. I mean, we're supposed to believe she was dressed the way you say she was because she expected the kind of guy you say Welch was? Come now.

"And it would answer your father's question--you know, why would Lucy Welch let Mephistopheles walk right up to her in her own bedroom?--if until recently it'd been his bedroom too.

"But the closest I came to a brilliant deduction like William Powell and Warner Oland and Basil Rathbone in all those old movies was: seven years ago in June, the Mephistopheles murders mysteriously stopped. One month later, Welch turns up at a Fourth of July party, engaged to Lucy. And no sooner does Lucy dump Welch than Mephistopheles comes out of retirement and makes her his next victim. I mean, I wouldn't hang anybody on that; but it does bear checking out.

"Now that I've answered your question, I've got one."

"Okay."

"Why were you so hung up on this guy?" Jimmy was still trying to formulate an answer when the doctor added, "In other words, how much of you do you see in him?"

He had a way of returning abruptly to the point………..