It was nearly midnight when the Friday night crush was over, and it was spooky, standing by the bus stop. Ruth shivered a little, standing there in her light waitress uniform. There was a big, bright full moon. She felt conspicuous and vulnerable. It would have been more sensible to change into my jeans, she thought. She could imagine a car full of men stopping and kidnapping her.

Finally, her bus came into sight, groaned and sneezed to a stop, and she got on, got into the warm security of the dark steel box with the familiar smells, body odor, diesel fumes, stale perfume, and she could see a few...