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The field ith dew, and a loispylook colder than it really was Sanchez and I had been doing sprints along the width of Long Beach State&039;s football field for the past twenty minutes Sweat strealow aboutBut the pain was there Persistent, throbbing and threatening to beco more serious But I pushed on

"You&039;re pretty fast," I said to Sanchez "For a cop"

"I&039;ve got to work off the donuts"

We finished another set of sprints and were now standing around, sucking wind like we had done at UCLA years earlier, e had both been young and not so innocent When the world had been , and before Sanchez had becogers circling the track around us, dressed in long black nylon jogging pants and wearing white baseball caps Theytheir angular shoulder blades

"Sooner or later we&039;re going to have to run to the other side of the field," said Sanchez He spoke with a slight Hispanic accent when he wasn&039;t careful, or when he was tired He was tired He atching the two joggers "Unless you prefer to watch the"

"How&039;s the leg holding up?"

I shrugged

Sanchez grinned "That good, huh?"

We ran back to the other side of the field, just in tiain, ished past us with a casual glance or two One of thehing at you," said Sanchez

"Wouldn&039;t be the first ti and all How does that un in "

"So do I"

We raced back and as far as I could tell ere dead even this ti up just past the far sidelines The throb inunhealthy We had done this for the past thirty minutes

"We&039;re even on that last run," said Sanchez "So I say we call it aWant to take it easy on the leg, especially a er"

"Lot can happen in a month"

"True"

We sat on a bench ith dew Theuntouched I enjoyed the solitude it allowed

"You going back with hed, and kept his dark eyes on the joggers "I wasn&039;t the one they asked to coood, but not that good," he said The h There were also ers now, threeto look at

Sanchez checked his watch "Most people with respectable jobs have to get going now"

"Luckily, neither of us have respectable jobs"

"True," said Sanchez "So who do you think did this girl?"

"Don&039;t know," I said "That&039;s the part I&039;et the kid off? And to give a daive a damn who killed her"

"You always do But you shouldn&039;t It&039;s not your job, at least not on this case Your job is to spring the kid before he goes to trial"

I said nothing

"I know," said Sanchez, "I know You&039;ll do it your way"

I s outside Huntington High in my car, on a stretch of road that overlooked the Pacific Ocean My ere down and the engine was off; a cool breeze wafted through the car Life was good at the Beach

It was three o&039;clock and school was just getting out High schoolers nowadays are younger and sh the occasional curvy creature sashayed by Most of the girls wore unflattering jeans that rode low on the hip, showed a lot of tanned flesh and a surprising ah school boys were spiked, pierced and dyed Those eren&039;t natural blonds, wanted to be Huntington High probably had a very popular surfing club My old high school in Inglewood did not have a surfing club We had metal detectors and hired security that were referred to as The Staff

More than one Mercedes whipped out of the student parking lot, followed by nineteen different Mustangs, and twenty-two of the new Volkswagen bugs I saw exactly seventeen near-fatal car accidents in the span of forty-five seconds

The less fortunate, and those not of driving age, waited in line and boarded the various yellow school buses Other students walked, so an Old Man, and Not Very Interesting

I didn&039;t blao was crushed a little

All in all, I saw a fair share of Asians and Hispanics, but no blacks

Teachers on duty did their best to clear out the lingering students from the front halls The buses pulled away And the potential s lot cleared away shockingly fast and without a single incident I waited another ten minutes, then left my car there on the hill, and headed up to the ad at the front of the school

The building, and ht with a fresh coat of powder blue A very school-like color I stepped into the mostly empty admin office There was a receptionist behind her desk, pen in hand and working furiously She was young and pretty, probably a school senior I stepped up to the front desk

"Hello," I said

She ju a personal letter, probably when she should have been working Should I be tes, she quickly covered the letter with her folded hands But not well enough I saw the words: asshole, love and booty used repeatedly Further proof that there&039;s nothing so sweet in life as love&039;s young dreah to speak, she said, "Can I help you?"

I sator license

A hell of a picture

"Doesn&039;t look like you"

"It&039;smy head a little to the side, and blasted her with the sauy in the picture is cuter"

I wasn&039;t sure if I should be offended After all, it was uy cute

"So you&039;re a private investigator?"

"Yep"

She nodded, but her interest was already waning

"I give autographs, too," I said

"I don&039;t want your autograph"

"Of course not Who would I see about gaining permission to access your school?"

"You need to speak with Mrs Williams"

"Great"

"Let me see if she&039;s in"

"That would be fantastic"

"Are you always this cheery?"

"Yes!"

"Hold on"

"Super!"

She removed herself from her post, snatched up her letter, and stepped down the hall and peeked into one of the open doors I sat down in one of the plastic chairs lining the wall and made it a point to look cheery as hell The office was covered with senior year group photographs, dating back to the forties The photos were lined end to end and circled the room above the s

"Mrs Williahthorse"

"Keen"

"Keen?"