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"I figured you’d have called earlier," I said after I called his with Jill now?"

I frowned Had I told hi secret or anything "Yeah,out with sohed "You’re far from a slob"

"I notice you didn’t say that I’m far from out of shape," I pointed out

"You’re far froru

"Don’t compare yourself to Jill, fer crissakes She was nearly an Olympian"

"Huh?"

"Didn’t you know? She was a hotshot gyo to the Olyo or so Then she had a bad fall, hit her head, and dropped out of co oddly hot and cold at the same time "No, I didn’t know that" And how do you? I’s?

"Find anything in your research?" he asked, pulling me out of my stupid little pity spiral

My lips twitched This was his way of asking if I’d found out anything fro the deetting any sort of useful info" There That covered the suht

He muttered a curse "Which means we’re pretty much at a standstill with this now Any other cases at work that you can sink your teeth into?"

"Not really Things are pretty slow right now" Then I cringed

There was a pause "I can’t believe you said that," Ryan said, voice low and ohed "Me neither Holy shit, I just totally jinxed ive me a call later on"

"I’ll try to squeeze you into est drawback to startingplaces in the detectives’ parking lot I scowled and circled the suided hope that a free space would ically appear, butto vaporize any of the other vehicles in the lot and thus savinglot

Oh, whoopee I could suly drove around to the side parking lot and walked the extra hundred feet, refusing to feel any sort of sha thatI should be exeht?

I paused before entering the bureau, my eyes drawn to a blackened patch about fifty feet away, in the detective’s parking lot That’s where the lightning struck the other day My fingers prickled, an odd sense of fa at me unpleasantly as I started slowly toward the spot It wasn’t just a storh h I had a feeling I already knehat I would see

I crouched, mouth dry as I looked at the star-shaped scar in the concrete and struggled to understand howwasn’t rando lot warded? That didn’tpal as far as I was able A faint twinge of relief stole throughI’d ever seen before, but the fact that they weren’t recently placedto start poking at the lot wasn’t warded The lightning had broken through to the ground below the parking lot That’s arded