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"You look wrung out, sweets," she said, eyeinga big case that has me pretty baffled"

"You work too hard," she said, "but I know it’s important to you"

I rubbed at my temples, still knotted up fronoise "You’re si a personal life"

"Well, this is true," I said with a tired s a social isolate was easier in a lot of ways"

"I’o you were practically a herht the urge to scowl "I wasn’t quite that pathetic"

She gave me a dubious look "You didn’t have any friends, and you know it Now stop being so defensive I’m more responsible for that than you But my point is that now you do have friends And you don’t knothem off"

I wanted to protest, but unfortunately she’d st "Yeah," I said slowly "I guess so"

"So, enough psychoanalysis," she said brightly, as if she’d solved all oftheothers" I lowered h there was no one else in the café "So it to kill"

Her expression darkened "That’s ugly stuff I wish I could help you, but all I know about golems is in the library, and I think you already absconded with the pertinent books" She gave rin

"Vic and I went to high school together," she added in another wrenching change of subject

"I didn’t know you knew him," I said "I’m sorry"

She shook her head "Oh, I wasn’t friends with hione to school with hi the taxes for the store and we happened to get into a conversation about how old ere Turned out ere in the salish teacher But I don’t think we ever spoke a single word to each other You kno that goes"

I gave a neutral shrug I didn’t like to think about h school days

"But, you knowHe and Mike Moran were really tight," she said, with a slight frown

"Huh? Mike Moran, the keyboardist for Lida’s band?"

"Oh, no He’s actually a Michael Junior Mike Moran was his father"

I straightened "And he and Vic were good friends?"

"Best friends Vic even stood in Mike’s wedding, if I recall correctly Mike and Audrey got ht they were insane to rush into ht months later Mike Junior was born" She snorted "Stupid reason to get ot pregnant again"

"She died in childbirth with Lida, right?"

"Eclampsia," Tessa said with a nod "Damn near lost the baby too Hard to believe that happens anymore, but it does"

"Do you kno Mike Senior died?"