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"Tess, I DON&039;T KNOW I&039;m not at rinned over at hi the phone between shoulder and jaw

"He&039;s randfather, Ben, and really rather sweet"

"I&039;ve never heard anyone call Senator Jonathan Writemore a sweetheart"

Piloestured with a finger to hold hi his PR In any case, it&039;s Thanksgiving, and I don&039;t want to disappoint him And you did tell me your parents live in Florida"

"They&039;re over sixty-five Parents are supposed to move to Florida when they hit sixty-five"

"So you don&039;t have any fa dinner with I&039;ed at the neck of his sweater "Look, I&039;ve always had this policy about going to meet family"

"Which is?"

"I don&039;t do it"

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Questions," he erhoet ideas"

"I see" He could hear the smile in her voice

"Anyway, I made a policy-I don&039;t take woo to see theirs That way nobody gets the idea to start picking out silver patterns"

"I&039;randfather nor I will discuss silver patterns if you join us for dinner Miss Bette makes a terrific pumpkin pie"

"Fresh?"

"Absolutely" A sot some time to think about it I wouldn&039;t have bothered you with it now, but with everything that&039;s been going on, I&039;d forgotten the whole thing o"

"Yeah, I&039;ll give it soainst it, I&039;ll still bring you a piece of pie I&039;ve got a patient waiting"

"Tess-"

"Yes?"

"Nothing Nothing," he repeated "See you later"

"Paris"

"Sorry" He hung up the phone and turned "What you got?"

Pilomento handed him a sheet of paper "We finally tracked down that na around the Leery girl?"

"Right Ahbor only saw hi was about the upshot, but she ado to the Leerys&039; once, and there wasn&039;t any trouble"

Ben was already picking up his jacket "We always check out creepy looking"

"I got an address and rap sheet"

Before he stuffed his pack of cigarettes into his pocket, he noted with soust that he only had two left "What&039;d he do time for?"

"When he was seventeen he carved another kid up for pocketof pot in his pocket and a line of needle h, Reeder was tried as arehab Harris said you and Jackson should have a talk with hi the papers, he headed to the conference roosby on the Priest homicide "Saddle up," Ben said briefly, and started toward the door

Ed lu into his coat "What&039;s up?"

"Got a lead on the Leery case Young punk who likes knives was hanging around the girl Thought we ood" Ed settled comfortably in the car "How about Tammy Wynette?"

"Kiss ass" Ben punched in a cassette of Goat&039;s Head Soup "Tess called a few o"

Ed opened one eye He considered it best to handle the Rolling Stones blind "Probleiving dinner with her grandfather"

"Whoa, turkey with Senator Writeoing to be oyster or chestnut dressing?"

"I kneas going to get grief on this" More for spite than out of desire, Ben pulled out a cigarette

"It&039;s okay, I got it out ofdinner with Tess and her granddaddy What&039;s the proble, then before you know it, it&039;s Sunday brunch Then Aunt Mabel&039;s co in his pocket, decided to save the yogurt-covered raisins for later, and settled for sugarless gum "Does Tess have an Aunt Mabel?"

"Try to follow the trend here, Ed" He downshifted and brought the car to a halt at a stop sign "You turn around twice and you&039;re invited to her cousin Laurie&039;s wedding and her Uncle Joe is punching you in the ribs with his elbow and asking when you&039;re going to take the plunge"

"All that because of "

"I&039;ve seen it happen I tell you, it&039;s scary"

"Ben, you&039;ve got bigger things to worry about than if Tess has an Aunt Mabel Scarier things"

"Oh, yeah, like what?"

"Do you knoup your intestines?"

"Jesus, that&039;s disgusting"

"You&039;re telling me My point here, Ben, is that you can worry about nuclear waste, acid rain, and your own cholesterol intake Keep these things in the front of yourlike he&039;s ready to welco to throw him off"

"Such as?"

"Eat your cranberry sauce with your fingers Here&039;s the place"

Ben pulled up at the curb then tossed his cigarette through the crack of his"You&039;ve been a big help, Ed Thanks"

"Any time How do you want to handle this?"

Fro It had seen better days Much better days There were a couple of broken ith newspapers clogging the holes Graffiti was splashed lavishly on the east wall Cans and broken bottles were in rass

"He&039;s in 303 Fire escape&039;s on the third floor If he bolts, I don&039;t want to chase hi a dioes in and who covers the back"

"Fine Heads I go in, tails I climb up the fire escape and cover theOh, no, not in here" Ben put a hand on Ed&039;s arm before his partner could flip the coin "Last ti bean sprouts for lunch We do it outside, where we&039;ve got soot out and stood on the sidewalk Ed took off his gloves, pocketing the the coin "Give lass neck of a beer bottle out of his way and started into the building Inside it smelled like baby puke and old whiskey Ben unzipped his jacket as he cli, slow look up and down the hall before he knocked on 303

The door was opened a crack by a teenager with ot the first whiff of pot, Ben saw by his eyes that he was high "Ae

"A for work"

"Okay I&039;ll talk to you"

"Man, you got a warrant or so?"

"We can talk in the hall, inside, or don You got a na I&039;h grass coh this door to show probable cause Wanta special this week For every ounce of pot I turn in, I get a free T-shirt"

"Kevin Danneville" Ben saeat begin to pearl on the kid&039;s forehead "Look, I got rights I don&039;t have to talk to no cops"

"You look nervous, Kevin" Ben pressed a hand to the door to keep the crack open "How old are you?"

"I&039;hteen? You look ht have to take you down to juvie Why don&039;t you tell irl whose daddy had a coin collection?"

It was the shifting of Kevin&039;s eyes that saved Ben&039;s life He saw the change of expression, and on instinct whirled The knife ca slice through his arainst the door and crashed into the apartment

"Christ, Amos, he&039;s a cop You can&039;t kill a cop" Kevin, rushing to get out of the way, crashed into a table and sent a la on the PCP he&039;d just scored, only grinned "I&039; to cut the h to see that his assailant was barely old enough to be out of high school before the knife swung toward hi to free his weapon with his left hand as blood poured out of the right Kevin scooted over the floor like a crab and whimpered Behind them thecrashed in

"Police" Ed stood outside the , legs spread, revolver level "Drop the knife or I&039;ll shoot"

Spittle ran out of the side of Aled "Gonna slice you up Slice you into little pieces,the knife over his head, he ht him in the chest and jerked his body back For aout of the hole in his chest Ed kept his finger wrapped around the trigger guard Then Reeder went down, taking a folding table with him The knife slipped out of his hand with a quiet clatter He died without a sound

Ben stumbled and went down to his knees By the tied to free his gun "Flinch," Ben said between gritted teeth as he aiood flinch is considered resisting arrest"

"Aan to blubber "I just watched I swear, I just watched, that&039;s all"

"Just one good flinch, you little sonofabitch, and I&039;ll blow your balls off before you learn how to use them"

Ed made a routine and unnecessary check of Amos before he crouched beside Ben "How bad&039;s the arm?"

The pain was incredibly hot and had already er nausea "I had to pick heads Next time I toss"

"Fine Let&039;s have a look"

"Just call soet me to the hospital"

"Didn&039;t hit an artery or you&039;d be gushing out A Positive"

"Oh, that&039;s okay then" He sucked in his breath as Ed revealed the wound "How about a round of golf?"