Right to Die

like those she had hurt.”
    “The reason you volunteered for the AIDS clinic.”
    A shiver. “It was horrible. But I learned. I learned that the AIDS was a fitting death for the good professor. However, it was uncertain and could take years in the coming. That was too long.”
    “So you went to the veterinary clinic instead.”
    “I read first. I researched and studied until I found what I wanted. Then I went to the clinic. A doctor there was beginning a new project. He needed help. It took me only a short time to gain his confidence.”
    “And then it wasn’t so hard to get what you needed.”
    “I knew the incubation period could vary, so I had to be careful.” Roja took more cider. “But when she comes back from her rich-lady vacation in the Caribbean , she has a little problem from a mosquito bite. It is nothing, but it is enough.”
    Andrus had said that it was like someone’s spit on her neck. “So that’s how you administered the rabies.”
    The voice of a teacher, explaining the instructions to a test. “I scrape the skin. I watch the little points of blood come up. I have the saliva specimen on a gauze pad, and I spread it on her. Later she tells me how much her neck itches. I know from then that I have done it, that I now can just wait and enjoy it.”
    There was something very wrong. Roja was too calm, feeding it to me too freely. “The notes, Inés. Why the notes?”
    “To bring on her worry. To ruin her peace of mind even before I have the chance to give her the rabies. Do you see? To make her think about dying, like my father, my mother. And me.”
    “The notes were risky.”
    “Yes, but I researched them as well. I read the files of hate letters she received. I made certain that my notes sounded as though a man had sent them.”
    “Why did you come to me?”
    Roja frowned. “The notes in the mail were not working on Andrus, John. Not even the one I put in the mailbox of the house. I got Alec concerned about them, but he could not cause the great professor to worry either. Even when I went to the police, the idiot Neely I know will never think of me. No, even then she is not upset enough.”
    “So you bring me in, to make it seem like something she should be worrying about.”
    “Yes.”
    “That was taking a bigger risk, wasn’t it?”
    The dreamy smile was making me chilly. “You flatter yourself, John. It was some risk. But I needed you for another reason also.”
    I said, “Manolo.”
    A gentle tipping of the head. “Manolo fired the shots at us. Outside the house, to make the good professor more scared, but also to keep everyone thinking it is a man behind the notes. A rifle is a man’s weapon.”
    I didn’t bother to debate her. “How did you get Manolo to do that?”
    Roja poured more cider. “I explained to him that a bad man was trying to scare the great professor with the notes, that she had to take the threat more seriously. That he had to help me persuade her.”
    “So Manolo shoots to miss.”
    “But to hit the mailbox, to lead you to the new note in it.”
    “Why didn’t you send any notes to San Diego ?”
    A shrug. “The one at the school had no effect on Andrus when she came back from Sint Maarten. Also, I found the notes were not... satisfying unless I was near her, to see her reaction to them as they arrive.”
    “And last Wednesday night, at the house?”
    “Simple. I tell Manolo, The professor is in danger, go get your rifle!’ Then, downstairs, I unlock the door for you. When Manolo comes back from his room, I sign to him about you. I tell him, ‘Cuddy. Cuddy is the bad one.’ ” I said, “ ‘He is going to shoot the professor.’ ”
    Now a wicked smile. “I tell him the same thing I can yell at you when I hear your voice downstairs.”
    “You hit Manolo’s arm, threw off his aim.”
    “I can’t let him kill you.” A condescending glance. “I thought you were a professional, that you would shoot him with ease. Then you stumble on the stairs, and I realize that he will kill you. That is not sure enough.”
    “Not sure enough of Manolo being out of the picture.”
    “Exactly.”
    “And you couldn’t let him live because—”
    “Because he would discover that I killed the woman he took an oath to the old doctor to protect. Manolo would not rest until he found me.” The wicked smile again. “That is the other reason I needed you, John. I did not want to die the way Manolo would avenge Andrus’s murder.”
    I kept my voice as