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Cindy Darwin is an anthropology professor at UCI Her expertise is in the anthropology of religion, which, she tells y And, yes, she can trace her lineage back to Charles Darhich s about anthropology than she probably should, and too few things about the real world Maybe that&039;s why she keepshand-in-hand along the Huntington Pier Frohts of Catalina Island, where the reclusive sorts live and travel via ferry and plane To the north, in the far distance, we could see Long Beach glittering away The air was cool and windy and ere dressed in light jackets and jeans Her jeans werethanSan Diego a call," I said

"Who&039;s in San Diego?" she asked She had a slightly higher pitched voice than most women I found it endlessly sexy She said her voice made it easier to holler across an asse

I was silent She put two and two together She let go of ht?"

"The Chargers Christ, Cindy, your own brother plays on the team"

"I think it&039;s all sort of silly Football, I et it"

"The mascots help us boys tell the teams apart," I said "And, no, they didn&039;t call But I&039; about their last offer"

"Honey, that o years ago"

She was right I turned theh

"The leg&039;s better now," I said

"Bullshit You still lith again"

"But you still have metal pins in it"

"Lots of players play with pins"

"Have you told Rob yet?" she asked Rob was her brother, the Chargers fourth wide receiver Rob had introduced e

"Yes"

"What does he think?"

"He thinks it&039;s a good idea"

We stopped walking and leaned over the heavy wooden rail The air was suffused with brine and salt Waves crashed beneath us, whitecaps glowing in the uard Jeep was parked next to us, a quarter into the ocean on the pier All that extra weight on the pier made me nervous

"Why now?" she asked finally

"Myis rapidly closing," I said

"Not to mention you&039;ve alondered if you could do it"

"Not to ourd that a fucking leg injury has prevented you froist"

She sighed and hugged me around my waist She was exactly a foot shorter thandifficult

"So what do you think?" I asked

"I think you&039;re frustrated and angry and that you need to do this"

"Not to ht just make a hell of a fullback"

"Is he the one who throws the ball?"

We had gone over this precisely one hundred and two ti her sharp chin deep into h I would have laughed

"Just don&039;t get yourself hurt"

"I don&039;t plan to, but these things have a way of taking you by surprise"

"So are you really that good?" she asked, looking up atto find out"

She looked away "If you hter "I know"

4

I was in a conference rooe County jail in Santa Ana, accompanied by Charley Brown&039;s assistant, Mary Cho We were alone, waiting for Derrick Booker to rand appearance Mary was Chinese and petite and pretty She wore a blue power suit, with the hem just above her knees She sat next to me, and from our close proximity I had a clear view of her knees Nice knees Cho was probably still a law student Probably worked out a whole lot See a little alcohol couldn&039;t fix Was probably a little tigress in bed She wasn&039;t much of a talker and seemed ihtat her knees

The heavy door with theopened and Derrick was shown into the conference roo wardens He was left alone with us, the wardens waiting just outside the door The kid hitied Should he ht hi considerably, leaning forward and gesturing to a chair opposite us

"Derrick, thanks forhis cuffed hands slightly "As if I had anything better to do"

Which is what I would have said I stifled a grin I suspected grins were illegal in the Orange County jail Derrick sounded white, although he tried to hide that fact with a lot of swaggering showhtly arrogant lilt to his voice He was good looking, with strong features and light brown eyes He was tall and built like an athlete

"I have someone here ants to speak with you," said Cho

"Who? Whitey?"

I raised my hand "That would be me"

Derrick&039;s father owned lots of real estate across southern California, and Derrick hihetto as you could get Yet here he was, sounding as if he had lived the rown up in poverty, rather than experiencing the best Orange County had to offer, which is considerable I suspected here in prison he was in survivala wealthy white kid Except that he had the jargon wrong and a few years out of date, and he still sounded upper class, no matter how hard he tried to hide it

"My nahthorse"

"Hey, I know you, man!"

"Who doesn&039;t?" I said "And those who don&039;t, should"

He s a row of perfect white teeth "How&039;s your leg? Saw you bust it up against Miami Hell, I wanted to throw up"