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Meanwhile, she discovered Old Blacksmith Shop Mercantile, an 1894 blacksuidance of the resident smithy, she fashioned an ornate fireplace poker I mentioned that neither she nor I had a fireplace She told ain, as I to argue?

We found a former movie theater where they filmed scenes for Field of Dreams that was now an antique store, and a former firehouse that was now a theater that was supposed to be haunted And then there was the bar where I was told that the recipe for Red Stripe beer was actually developed in Galena and sold to an Englishman, who turned it into one of Jamaica’s better-known exports I drank a bottle; suddenly it didn’t taste quite the same

Eventually we ended up at the Perry Street Brasserie for dinner Throughout the hout the day--I had the distinct i watched It whispered atmosquito that I was unable to swat Yet I couldn’t identify the watchers

Either you’re being unduly paranoid, ood

Chief Lori Hasselback was lovely in the way you’d expect a for queen to be lovely, with soft blue eyes and shoulder-length blond hair that she twirled around her finger as she spoke She didn’t look like a police officer She looked like an actress pretending to be a police officer--think Eed to rise from beat cop to chief of the Galena PD in seven years impressed the hell out of me--until I learned the entire departator, six officers and two meter maids that only worked from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM The Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Department answered calls after hours and on weekends and holidays That’s why I had to wait until Monday to meet with her I had never heard of a part-ti on the first floor of a gray brick building on Main Street that the cops shared with the other city depart in don that seemed to have been built in the past half century, it was located between Fritz and Frites, a German and French restaurant, and Little Tokyo, a restaurant serving Japanese cuisine She suggested that we chat where it was more comfortable and led us across the street to Kaladi’s 925 Coffee Bar After buying coffee, Nina and I sat on a black leather sofa beneath a colorful mural that I couldn’t describe if I wanted to Hasselback sat in a ed a lock of hair across her

"I remember Collin Baird," she said "Didn’t need to review my notes, either He was an asshole Bully in a letterrades, but I suspect that had ht spiral than his study habits So their s, but we never caught hiraduated froirl They were drinking in the ces went too far with the girl Probably they should have busted ’eiven ’em minors, but it’s a small town and everybody knows everybody and the deputies didn’t want to ruin the girl’s rep, so they were let off with a warning"

The way Hasselback spoke, especially the way she said " that cohteen-year-old’s permanent record--iven her credit for

"I was a rookie when he went ood riddance to bad rubbish--you hear that a lot from the old folks around here Only you can’t choose the vic, as you learn on the job I worked the case with the county deputies Interviewed the mother; the old man had taken off years earlier, and it was just her and the kid She gave us diddly-squat The college and the cops in St Paul, they didn’t give us anything to ith, either My first thought: like father, like son--the kid simply took off just like the old et a handle on this David Maurell character hat made me think there was fuckery afoot"

"Wait," I said "What did you say?"

Hasselback’s head jerked slightly as if she were surprised to be interrupted

"I said … I apologize for e," she said

"No, not at all I had an old friend in St Paul homicide named Anita who used to say that"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Was she pretty, too?" Nina asked