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CHAPTER ONE

I tried it again

Triedbusy

But this tiht of her absence heavier with the grief of permanence attached

Still, I tried

I kept up my newfound social calendar, at first

I went to Turner’s twice a week, to talk and ventIt did help; his coain, withsense of loss

It was a Tuesday, a feeeks post-letter, and ere drinking coffee while he talked too much (to distract me) and I let him

He earing sweatpants and a red muscle tee with a picture of Tyrion Lannister on it that read ?ih to ain as soon as I left his house

“Now you can barely even come to my house,” he complained after Candy finally left us alone and went back to her officeShe’d been sitting besideout more of her blatant come-ons for a solid five minutes

I brushed the used to her

“You’veon you”

“Me?” I asked, incredulous“You’re going to blame me for that?You’re the one that asks her all those hypothetical questions about fking me”

He looked thoughtful“You ood pointFrom now on, all of my new assistants will be required to prove that they understand the word hypothetical before they get the job”

“Is Candy on her way out already?”

“I think soShe hates her job, and she’s terrible at itI give her two more weeks before she quits”

I just shook

Not for the first ti out theories about what had happened to Iris, and so did I, but ere both writers of fiction, so it was clear, if unspoken, that we shouldn’t trust our own far-fetched ideas

“It’s so with the sex trade, I betShe’s owned by so has been hired to keep track of the property”

I really didn’t like that theory

He’d thrown out several, and I didn’t like any of them, but that was definitely ination had painted it into a picture that htly ill before he’d even finished