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"Sure"

Josie’s office was also her horavel county roads It was sn clearly visible from both roads read LAKE DREAMS REALTY--SERVING ELY-KRUEGER-BABBITT She stopped for h the front door I followed The office was all blond wood, including the large desk that sat at an angle in the corner Next to the desk was a rack filled with brochures,tourist attractions, area businesses, and financing options One noted that "Ely ranks 12th on the Field & Strea Towns in America" Another stated that "Real Estate is an i-term investment plan" Across from the desk four chairs surrounded a round table A PC was in the center of the table; its screen saver read "Browse our listings of affordable lake homes"

Beyond the office the house was set up like an efficiency apartment A doorway behind the desk led to a kitchenette and tiny living roo rooe bedroom

While Josie went to her phone and checked her voice s There were three pages of the copy; a third were highlighted with the words "Recently Reduced Price" written in red Josie hung up her phone and cursed loudly I turned away from the PC to look at her

"Client just backed out of a sale," she said "A hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars"

"Sorry"

"I needed that eleven-thousand-dollar coh the stack of mail "Bill, bill, bill, flyer, request for money, request for money, bill, flyer, and one, two, three preapproved credit card applications What a to do, Dyson?"

"I think you’ve already made that decision"

"Am I a bad person?"

"Most bad people don’t ask that question We are not prone to introspection"

"We?"

Stay in character, stay in character, my inner voice chanted

"I have no pretensions about what I aled the Iron Range Bandits last night They’re bla the Silver Bay robbery on us"

"Lucky you"

"They don’t see to connect us to the robbery"