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"It’s a body!" Angie Taylor, Maggie’s assistant, said, her soft, drawling voice filled with both dread and fascination as she swept into the office, bringing Maggie a cup of rich, chicory-flavored coffee "A ie was a dynahest heels, beautifully, co hair and huge, soulful, sensual eyes She had a fascination for life, an energy that didn’t quit She was Maggie’s best friend, as well as the most competent assistant in the world

"Murder has happened here before," Maggie h the crowd Even from her point here above the street, there was little that she could see The corpse was in a body bag on a gurney, being wheeled away to the aue The croas just beginning to break up Officers were still busy behind the cri for clues

"The rumor is already raie felt another little chill snake along her spine "Male body or female body?"

"Male A piie said slowly The cafe was next door to them Very convenient It was new, but the husband-and-wife oere Creoles with a fains of the city Their beignets and cafe au lait were out of this world

Angie went on, speaking uy, handsoirls"

"It wasn’t like the ie asked, holding back the lace curtains to keep her vigil on the street

"No, no The body wasn’t ie led nervously "I suppose that is awful enough, isn’t it? It was just the description of the way that poor girl was found in the ceel, if you will

Now this guy, it seeie cast her a wry glance "Angie, I don’t think that all prostitutes are actually in pain Some choose to do what they do because it can be what they consider good ed "So oes to bed with yucky, hairy, disgusting or grossin pain My point here is that the fellowsoine anything ie, it’s just a little bit better because he was bad, evil if you will Andhappened to an evil person, and that’s just a little bit irl Don’t you think that evil pays to evil?"

"No, not always," Maggie said Then she s for a perfect world If there were a perfect world, wonderful, kind deserving people wouldn’t be crippled and in wheelchairs Babies wouldn’t die of AIDS"

Angie sighed with vast i when it’s actually the bad person who has sohtly "What if he wasn’t all bad? What if he had been abused or ical hatred for woie announced with impatience, "He prostituted woie lifted her hands, still sets no excuses You’ve made your point Still "

"Still what?"

"Two people decapitated in a week"

"You think it’s the same murderer? One of the victims was a man, one was a woman One was ripped to shreds and one ie hesitated "Decapitation is not all that co to be going insane Tourists will start staying away if the police can’tthe shop downstairs right now despite the police Or ie said with a crisp, businesslike warning

"If Allie and Ge thebehind and returning to her desk, sinking someearily into the swivel chair behind it

Allie and Gema were the saleswodalena’s

The business had been in Maggie’s fao fine fashion wear It had been elegant ball gowns at first, and a great deal of the one-of-a-kind gar wear But over the last few years, she had found herself working on resort wear and lingerie as well, going along with the ti with her unique ns, she kept a boutique where those without the pocketbooks for one-of-a-kind wear could also find unusual, special pieces Along with Gema and Allie, she had a staff of twenty seamstresses, two supervisors with two assistants each, a receptionist and an accountant to deal with the goings-on of the business She created the designs--lingerie, day wear, even jewelry--

and she and Allie usually created the displays that showed through the s in the downstairs store

Offices were on the second floor, production was on the third The building was over one hundred and fifty years old, charh toits character

Cissy Spillane, the receptionist, a tall quadroon girl with a sliie’s open door "Maggie, there are two cops in the reception area They want to speak with you"

"Me?" Maggie said, startled

Cissy shrugged "They asked ie But they seem mostly interested in you"