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Julio Perez is a killer

He may be all smiles and easy talk e meet in his study, but I can see the erous creature Perhaps it’s spending all this time with Zeth that’s done it—I can read the lines of Zeth like the lines of a book—but I can see that my instant read on Julio is different in its oay, too Zeth and Julio are cut froerous in a primal, instinctive way It’s just who he is It’s the foundation of everything that erous He’s a man who has chosen to be so Has earned the fear of those around hi persona like a cloak Like soain whenever it pleases him I don’t knoho I should be more worried about; a man as born into violence, or a man who chooses to descend into it

“And what did you say you do for a living again, Ms Hawthorne?” Julio asks, running a meaty hand across the polished surface of his desk He crooks a skeptical eyebrow atmy mouth like an idiot and answer him

“Uh…I’m…”

“Because you’re not an escort, obviously,” he says, waving hand in eneral direction “Your tits and your ass aren’t on show, for starters And secondly, your name is Naomi Hawthorne I haven’t met many escorts or strippers with a name like Naomi Hawthorne” He says my fake name like he knows that’s exactly what it is

Shit When he asked ave him the first one that cah school See to see the error ofLovelace A hooker surname, not a dentist surname “No,” I say “Not an escort I—”

“Nao his head to look around the roo him terribly How he can be so cal bullets fro out loud As if it won’t be incredibly easy for a Mexican gang boss to figure out which hospital I work at, and then I’m totally screwed He’ll find out I’m not this Naomi Hawthorne person, and then he’ll kill rave somewhere in the desert They’ll never find my body

“A doctor?” Julio looks impressed and confused at the same time “What kind of doctor?”

“Trau anymore

“Huh Interesting”

Zeth snorts “Is it?”