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"It’s a deal"

Rudolfo sniffed and left theet a prostitute to work here, aren’t you? Do you do that often?"

"I believe in this woman," he said simply

She touched his hand where it lay on the table "We can try, but we can’t always change the world, you know"

He felt a stirring, which he fir this one for Genevieve," he told her

She nodded, a saze met his She did understand

Lord, it would be easy to fall in love with this woman

As Matt had

Back at Hastings House, he walked her to the door He was surprised when she walked in and left the door open, letting him follow In the foyer, she turned to look at him "I find it very hard to accept that what happened was an accident" She hesitated "Matt riting about theto arouse public awareness and syas lines and how the explosion ed"

"Well, it’s i now," he said

"Why?"

"Why?" he repeated, gri as he stared at her

"Why?"

"Leslie, haven’t you noticed? Everything in the house has been redone to ith electricity There are no"I hadn’t noticed"

He frowned suddenly "Leslie, don’t go sharing your suspicions with everyone, all right?"

"I haven’t, not exactly, but…"

"Please Just don’t"

"You’re suspicious, too"

"And investigating is what I do for a living"

"But I can help"

"Oh?"

"I have…instincts, sohed at, and I hate it when people call s, so girl?"

He felt his heart pounding

If ittime with you, you bet Oh, you bet

No, she was Matt’s fiancée

But Matt was…

Dead

"Sure, we’ll talk," he said He extended his hand to shake hers good-night All she needed was Matt’s trusted cousin turning into a lech

But daive hts to myself

"We’ll talk," he repeated "But if you want to help me, you have to promise you’ll be careful about what you say--and what you do"

"Cross ht, then Now," he said, glancing at his watch--alood night’s sleep"

"Sure Thanks How do I reach you?"

He gave her a card "Call me anytime"

She smiled

"What?"

"People seeet that all the time, mostly because people are worried and want to take care of ht, then Lock up"

"You bet"

"Set the alarm"

"Oh, yeah It’s state-of-the-art"

He forced himself not to look back as he exited the house

Upstairs, television on, back in her nightgown, Leslie walked to the , alainst the lamppost

But he wasn’t there

She sh she still couldn’t believe he had startled her so badly that she had passed out But for a ht Matt was back In the flesh

No, Matt was only in her dreah? That the explosion hadn’t been an accident? The idea had certainly occurred to her tieted