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"On Christmas Day?"

"I have an atheist boss and a Jewish physical therapist Coo over the case files for next week"

"Sure," Hunter griped "Make it a business lunch, so I have to pay for it"

Chadwick felt a lurateful that Olsen had given escorting--and him--a second chance But he also knew his facade was about to crumble, the intricate patchwork of shock and adrenaline and false composure he'd relied on the last feeeks--hell, the last nine years Now that he was out of danger, now that Mallory was safe, he felt that shell breaking up at last, and he wasn't quite sure as underneath

"You go ahead," he told the"

Chadent inside, focusing his eyes on the cactus petal wreath that hung over the lodge fireplace, telling himself he could make it a few more steps, just to the stairs that led to his apart Chadalk away He moved up the stairs as if the pain he orried about was in his chest rather than his leg

"It's still hard for hiuilt over Katherine, stirred up again I hope to hell that'll pass now"

"I wish I understood hi on that thirty years It's a good hobby, but don't quit your day job"

Hunter held the door for her, let in a gust of Christ air that s about her own family--her little sister, her mother, her former stepfather in prison She was ready to trust Chadwick She had put aside her fear of leaving Mallory, her fear of believing aperson, even if he did reure who had betrayed her She illing to believe, for the first tiood men in the world, and she had stumbled across two of them in Hunter and Chadwick

"I don't understand why he kept sabotaging himself," she told Hunter "Even at the end, he couldn't fire on Kindra"

"Easy for us to replay it, with hindsight, say what he should've done"

"I alet killed Punished I'm not sure hether that's about Katherine, or what happened in Thailand"

Hunter gave her a strange look "What , I asked hiun on him, why he froze upChadwick told me about that Thai boy--the one you and he had to shoot in the Air Force, on guard duty He told me that story"

Hunter stared off into the distance "Did he?"

"He said that's why he hates using a gun"

She could see Hunter pulling the blinds over his thoughts, shutting hi fro all week "Chadwick tells you so, he ot his expression completely under control, she saw the discomfort in his eyes, his intense desire to close ranks to protect a friend, even if he didn't understand the nature of the threat

Truth sank into her like a stone, leaving slow heavy ripples

She gripped the railing of the deck, the pain fro her dizzy

38

The next Saturday at Laurel Heights, decorations from the canceled auction were finally put to use Satin ribbons fluttered from the chain link fence Loops of yellow and pink crepe paper coiled down the staircase railing Classroom chairs were set outside in roith helius, so the basketball court looked like a lollipop orchard

Chadwick and Olsen left the seats for the paying custo baskets of hoar cookies and bundt cakes and coolers of lemonade for the reception

The major construction would not start until the su ceremony now, to mark the new year, and the restoration of a dream