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I twisted h the blueberry pie and wished it was apple I've never been fond of blueberry, not even when the berries ild and fresh from the forest These were fresh from a can

Barry's Diner advertised itself as "home of the best blueberry pie in New York City" That should have been the tip-off, but the sign outside said only Award-Winning Ho for a slice of fresh apple and foundblueberry Sure, the restaurant carried apple, but if everyone else was eating blueberry, I couldn't stand out by ordering so different It didn't help that I had to accompany the pie with decaf coffee--in a place that see all day

The regular coffee sreat, but caffeine was offit as I nibbled the crust on my pie At least that was home under me, the noise lost in the sounds of the diner--the clatter of china and silverware, the steady m

urhs or shouts The door behind ust of October air and a belch of exhaust fumes that stole that rich scent of fresh coffee

A man in a dirt-encrusted ball cap clanked his ot another one last night Number four Police just confirmed it"

I slantedto me He wasn't, of course I was invisibleor as close to it as a nonsuperhero could get, having donned the ultiuise: no apparent

"Who'd he get this time?" the server asked as she poured coffee for the newcomer

"Little old Chinese lady closing up her shop Choked her with a wire"

"Garroted," said afarther down the counter

"Gary who?"

The otherit with a flourish "Garroted If you use so The Spanish used it as a method of execution"

I glanced at the speaker A silver-hairedon his Wall Street Journal Not the sort you'd expect to know the origin of the terhbors would be on TV, telling the world he'd seemed like such a nice man

They continued talking I struggled to ignore thenore them I had a job to do, and couldn't allow myself to be sidetracked

It wasn't easy Words and phrases kept tuation No leads I could, with effort, block the words, re to do with me, but the voices weren't so easy to push aside Sharp with excite they'd seen in amore than actors hen the credits rolled, would stand up, wash off the fake blood and grab a cigarette before heading home to their families

The Helter Skelter killer Even the name was catchy, almost jocular I bet he was proud of it He'd risen from the ranks of the unnamed and noas so in a coffee shop like this, eavesdropping on a conversation like this one, his heart tripping every tihtened onin I squeezed until pain forced hts back on track

It wasn't my concern There were dozens of killers all across the continent, plotting cri to be done about it, and I was no longer in a position to try

I took a swig of coffee Bitter and burned, foul on ulp, deeper, al Then I pushed it aside with ot to my feet and walked out

I stood in the subway station and waited for Dean Moretti

Moretti was a Mafia wannabe, a s with tenuous connections to the Tomassini crime family Three months earlier, he had decided it was time to strike out on his own, so he'd ether they'd set up business in a residential neighborhood previously untapped--probably because it was under the protection of the Riccio family

When the Riccios found out, they went to the To the three of them, that this was not an acceptable entrepreneurial scheht the first plane to South A on fish and berries Moretti wasn't so easily spooked, which probably speaks ence than an excess of nerve

While I waited for hi note of every post, every garbage can, every door-way Busywork, really I'd already scouted this station so well I could navigate it blindfolded, but I kept checking and double-checking

My sto to work past it There was no more room here for anticipation than there was for fear It was a job It had to be approached with cool, emotionless efficiency You cannot enjoy this work If you do, you step onto the fast slide to a place you'll never escape, beco you swore you'd never be