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Sara and I spent the next three hours sorting through files and since Sara was a little on the grumpy side, I did what any rational person would do under similar circumstances I ordered Chinese When it arrived she perked up a little Some people needed alcohol to loosen up, apparently Sara needed fried wontons

We ate at her desk Or, rather, I pretended to eat at her desk We ateto the pictures on Sara&039;s desk, she seemed to kno to let loose just fine There were pictures of her in a bikini on so a heavily foresteda volleyball, of her dressed as a pirate in an office Halloween party, coold hoops, eye patch and sley dressed as a olf I alhed

"You played volleyball?" I asked

"Yes, at Pepperdine I tried out for the Olympics"

"What happened?"

"Almost made the team Maybe next tiood boss?"

She shrugged "He&039;s kind enough Gives big bonuses"

"What ged and turned her attention to her food I tried another approach "Do you like your job?"

She shrugged again and I decided to let my attempt at idle conversation drop Maybe she needed more fried wontons

While we ate, orked frosley&039;s closed files from the past six years Seven hundred and seventy-six in all Kingsley was a busy boy Frosley had personally litigated Noere down to three hundred and fifty-three Still too many to ith From those, I removed all violent crime; in particular, murder defense cases Noere down to twelve files

I told Sara I would need copies of all twelve files She promptly rolled her eyes

While we made copies, Sara decided to open up a little to ave in to leaned that she had coe Initially, she had loved working for her boss, but lately not soforI had the Chinese restaurant&039;s nuency order of fried wontons

Turns out I didn&039;t need the number Rather heatedly, Sara told me in detail the story of the rapist who had been freed because Kingsley had discovered evidence of ta at the criood man But he&039;s a better defense attorney And that&039;s the probleefficiently together, passing folders back and forth to each other as we copied the Any man&039;s dream, no doubt She was taller than me and her breasts appeared fake, but in Southern California that&039;s the norm and not the exception She, herself, did not seeenuine and troubled, and I suddenly knehy

"You dated Kingsley," I said

She looked up, startled "Why? Did he say so to you?"

"No Just a hunch"

She passed h it, looking for papers of unusual sizes, or POUS&039;s, that would jam the copier As she spoke, she crossed her arainst the copy machine "Yeah, we dated for a while So?"

"So what happened?" I asked

"Ask him He broke it off"

"Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions," she said

"It&039;s a compulsion," I said "I should probably see a shrink about it"

Her eyes brightened a little and she nearly sot a handle on herself and re too fast for hio and he wasn&039;t ready for so serious"

"When did his wife die?" I asked

"A few years ago I don&039;t know" She shrugged She didn&039;t know, and she clearly didn&039;t care

"Are you still angry with hied and looked away and clary

We finished copying all twelve files, many of which were nearly a foot thick Maybe within one I would find a suspect or a clue or so to do during the wee hours of the night, especially since I had recently finished Danielle Steel&039;s latest novel, Love Bites, about two vampires in love Cute, and uncannily dead on

So Sara and I loaded up the files into a box and as I carried the entire thing out to the elevator, the young assistant watched et that a lot

"Jesus, you&039;re strong," she said as we stepped into the elevator

"It&039;s the Pilates," I said "You should try them"

"I will," she said "Oh, and I&039;m supposed to remind you that these files are confidential"

"I&039;ll guard theht air, Sara said, "I sure hope you find out who shot Knighty" She caught the indiscretion and turned beat red, her face glowing brightly under the dull parking lot lamps "I mean, Mr Fulcrum"

I smiled at her slip "I do, too"

She thankedelse, thought better of it, then dashed off to her car I watched her get in and back out and drive away Just as I shoved the box into theto life I paused and slowly turned reat, but better I was alone in the parking lot Check that; there was an old Mercedes parked in a parking lot across the street Ame with binoculars