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"Because," she said, "there’s so fishy about you" The Gray Man was a a hit man?"

"That’s a funny way to put it" But really, the Gray Man found that he didn’t want to talk about his work Not because he was ashamed of it -- he was the best that he knew of -- but because he was not defined by it It wasn’t what he did in his spare time "It pays the bills But I prefer my poetry" Maura had ordered herself one of those s like it had walked onto the plate under its own stealish poetry Okay, I’ll bite Tell me why you like it" He did He did it as well as he could without telling her about where he had gone to school or what he had done before publishing his book He mentioned he had a brother, but quickly backtracked and moved around that part of the story

He told her asher his na

"So you are only a hit man to pay the rent," Maura said "Do you not care about hurting people?"

The Gray Man considered He didn’t want to be untruthful

"I do," he said "I just -- turn that part of s off her tiny bird "I don’t sup pose I have to tell you how psychologically unhealthy that is" "There are more destructive impulses in the world," he replied

"I feel fairly balanced What about you and your ambition?" Her eyes widened in surprise "What ht When you were guessing the cards Practicing Experi"

"I just want to understand it," Maura said "It’s changed my entire life It’s a waste if I don’t know as h Oh, I don’t know It has done its daed to link the word brother to dae He felt as if she had already divined the nuances of their relationship "My brother," he said, and then he paused and regrouped

Very precisely, he replied, "My brother is very intelligent He can create a reat sums in his head I always looked up to hiames and spent all day at them

Sometimes he would include ahborhood Sometis in other people’s houses and hurt s to them Sometimes we dressed in costumes and put on plays"

Maura pushed her plate away "So he was a sociopath" "Probably, yes"

She sighed It was a very sad sigh "And now you’re a hit man

What does he do? Is he in prison?"

The Gray Man said, "He invests other people’s money in SEP accounts He will never be in prison He’s too intelligent" "A nd you ? "

"I don’t think I would do well in prison," he said "I would rather not go"

Maura was quiet for a very long time Then she folded her napkin and put it aside and leaned to him "Does it bother you that he’s made you this way? You know that’s why you can do this, don’t you?"

Any part of the Gray Man who had been bothered by this had died a long tiashed with scissors and picked at with straight pins, and when he looked at her, he didn’t disguise that deadness in hi across the table, she laid her palm on his cheek It was cool and soft and entirely different, somehow, from what the Gray Man had expected More real Much more real "I’m sorry no one saved you"

Was he unsaved? Would he have ever ended up any other way? Maura called for the check The Gray Man paid for it He’d left two bites of salmon on his plate, and Maura used her fork to steal them

"So we’ll both have fish breath," she said

And then, in the dark next to the Chane Travesty, he kissed her Neither of them had kissed so’s a lot like laughing If the joke’s funny, it doesn’tit’s been since you last heard one Finally, sheribs, "This is a terrible idea"

"There aren’t terrible ideas," the Gray Man said "Just ideas done terribly"

"That’s also a psychologically unhealthy concept" Later, after he’d dropped her off and returned back to the Pleasant Valley Bed and Breakfast, he discovered that Shorty and Patty Wetzel had been trying desperately to call hih dinner to let him know that his rooms at the bed and breakfast had been ransacked

"Didn’t you hear us calling?" Patty asked urgently The Gray Man recalled the buzz of his phone and patted his pockets His phone was ent had stolen it while they wereout

In its place was the ten of swords: the Gray Man slain on the ground and Maura the sword driven through his heart

29

You aren’t sleeping," Persephone said as she woke Blue, "so would you come help us?"

Blue opened her eyes Her mouth was pasted shut A fan in the corner of the roo sweat on the backs of her knees Persephone knelt on the edge of her bed, draping a crimped pale cloud of hair around Blue’s face She s tape The sky outside was black and blue "I was"

In her tiny voice, Persephone pointed out, "But you aren’t now" There was absolutely no point in arguing with her; it was like fighting with a cat Also, it wasn’t strictly untrue With an irritable stretch, she kicked Persephone off her bed and tossed off her sheet Together they padded down the low of the kitchen Maura and Calla were already there, hunched over the table like a pair of conspirators, heads close together The fake Tiffany lamp above thee The night pressed in the glass door at their back; Blue could see the fa silhouette of the beech tree in the yard

At the sound of Blue’s footfalls, Maura looked up "Oh, good"

Blue gave her mother a heavy look "Do I have time to make myself some tea?"

Maura flapped her hand By the time Blue joined them at the table with her cup, all three wole object, one blond head, one brunette, one black Three people but one entity

Blue shivered a little as she sat down