�Oh, my God,� sighed Diane, now more regretful that her support of Harry�s plan had cost someone�s life. Even a skel like Don didn�t deserve to die like that.

The detectives swept the room with their flashlights, and once they were sure there would be no surprise flank attacks, they relaxed and entered the room to start working on Don�s corpse. Danny climbed up on the table, found a sturdy box, then climbed up on that to release Don from the noose. He reached over Don�s head to examine the knot, and accidentally brushed Don�s face with his elbow.

Don inhaled with a gasp, and his eyes flew open with a look of sheer terror. All the detectives gasped and jumped back. Their shouts of surprise mixed with the boxes they knocked over, creating a cacophony of crashing noise in the tiny closet. Danny put his arm around Don�s chest to make some slack in the noose, and freed him seconds later. Don laid on the table, gasping and desperately trying to choke down more precious air through his abused larynx. Medavoy came into the closet from his guard post outside the door, found a light switch on the wall and tried it. An ancient light bulb gradually warmed its elements and cast a meager glow in the closet.

Don moaned in pain, and the detectives attended to him.

The closet door clicked shut behind them, and as the detectives spun around, they could hear something heavy being dragged in front of the door. Greg stood just inside the door, his hand still on the light switch, looking back at the rest of the group.

�Dammit, Greg! What the hell are you doing in here?� Andy yelled. Greg acquired that annoying hangdog countenance he had mastered after years of thoughtless screw-ups. Diane put her hand on Andy�s arm to rein in his impending explosion. While Andy moved to the back corner with Diane to regain his composure, Danny and Baldwin tried to force the door open. It didn�t budge. With their flashlights, they inspected the ceiling space above them and were encouraged because it looked like a hanging T-bar ceiling with old asbestos ceiling tiles. Danny jumped up on the table that was closest to the door and pushed up on one of the tiles. It answered him by dumping a pile of black sooty dust in Danny�s face. He dropped the tile back in the tracks and jumped back, coughing and sputtering. Baldwin had dodged the first assault of dust in time, but he lunged forward to brace Danny, who was stumbling perilously close to the edge.

�Oh great, now we gotta worry about asbestos poisoning,� Andy growled from the corner. Baldwin and Danny looked at him, but decided not to pursue any witty repartee until they could establish an escape route. Greg busied himself helping Danny get cleaned up, eager to make up for his earlier lapse of judgment. Diane turned her attention to helping Don recover enough wits to tell them anything they could use to be able to find Denby.

�Okay, everyone, cover your mouth and nose, I�m going for it again,� Danny said as he climbed up on the table near the door.