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I was sitting with my hands behind my head and feet up on one corner of my desk This is a classic detective pose, and I struck it as often as I could Mostly because it was a good way to take a nap without appearing to do so I did old tooled leather

There was a knock on my office door Thanks to Fuck Nut, I kept the door locked these days I took out , held it at my hip and opened the door

Thebefore me was perhaps the last person I expected to see Hell, I hadn&039;t seen or spoken to hihthorse

He studied un in "

"Yeah, well, you&039;re not a client, and someone&039;s sicced a hitman on my ass"

He stood easily six inches shorter than me, which put him around five ten His shoulders ider than e hands, hands which had pummeled my backside more than once But it was his eyes that drew one&039;s attention Ice cold and blue Calculating and fearless Devoid of anything living Eyes of a corpse

He suidly Whenthem crow&039;s feet over time My father would never have to worry about crow&039;s feet His eyes didn&039;t crinkle Hell, they didn&039;t kno to crinkle When he smiled, as he did now, it was only with the corners of his mouth Needless to say, the smile radiated little war to invite me in?"

I stepped aside and he htly He stepped into my four hundred square foot office which paled in comparison to the monster he oversaw in LA He stood in thein the pint-sized refrigerator on one wall, the well-stocked trophy case adjacent to it, my sofa, the sink, and finally the desk

His assessly quick He turned to face me with no emotion on his face Did he approve of the place? Or not? Was he proud of his only son, or disappointed? Impossible to tell Did I need his approval? Ialleda western-style denim shirt and khaki carpenter pants with a hammer loop There was no hammer in the loop His evenly-distributed silver hair was perfectly parted to one side He was the picture of fitness and vitality, health and ruggedness Just don&039;t look at the eyes

"So," he said, "ants you dead?"

I stepped around him, slipped into my leather seat and motioned toward the Mr Coffee He shook his head and eased himself down carefully into one of the three client chairs The chair, which usually creaked, didn&039;t creak this time

"Someone wants me to back off a case"

"Any idea who that soood to know that Better for your health Who&039;s the hit Hell of a shooter Eyes like a shark" I neglected to say: eyes like yours

My father leaned back a little and allowed his cold eyes to spill across ed ear "He do your ear?"

"Yes"

"He&039;s one sick motherfucker"

"You know hiood for society if he disappeared" He paused "I can take care of him"

"No"

He studied aze "Is he a better shooter than you?" he asked

"We&039;ll find out"

"Or you can just drop the case," said my father "And he&039;ll leave you alone"

"Or not"

He sether in silence Muted street sounds caerator kicked on and hu his head and scanned the wall behindat the pictures, the articles, the bullet holes in the wall I could kiss ame," he said

This was news to me, but I reaaoddaood?"

"Must have been all those specialcatch in the park on Sunday afternoons"

"There are so a father to you is one of theraphs "These were taken on the last day yourfroze within me, as if my stomach had suddenly been dropped into a bucket of ice My father, the great Cooper Knighthorse, detective extraordinaire, set the packet on the table

"I loved her the best way I could, Ji me these pictures?" I asked

"Because I want you to see her happy I want you to see us happy We were trying, Ji to fuck anything you could get your hands on"

If I shook hih the corners of his lips quivered slightly His pale eyes stared at me

"We&039;ve allelse in the pictures"

"What?"

But he didn&039;t answer e er, stood, then walked out of my office He shut the door carefully behind hi time

24

I didn&039;t worry about locking the office door after ive a shit about the hit on the desk in front of me Woe to anyone alked unannounced into raphs was yellowing, the flap torn On it was a little boy blowing soap bubbles with the word KODAK inside a particularly large bubble The packet wasn&039;t very thick, containing perhaps twenty-four pictures in all I had never seen these pictures, and, in fact, did not know of their existence

I poured ar

Heat seeped through the porcelain cup and scaldedthe heat, unaware of the heat

Lifting both hands, I took a sip Tasted the coffee, but didn&039;t really taste it Sa routine

I was ten years old when I found her dead She had bled to death all over her new bedrooone to pick up a pizza and rent athe pizza box, excited because ood mood

Once inside I called her naet it while it was hot The light was on in her bedroom, but there was norooet my mother first

I headed down the hallway separating the dining roo her name There was no response I slowedon the floor Her hand was coht it was a red glove A wet, gleah it wasn&039;t entirely wet Only parts of it were It was blood, and it was drying rapidly, congealing over her hand

I stepped through the doorway and into a nightmare Blood was everywhere, sprayed across the entire roo, infused everything She was lying on the wooden floor in a great puddle of it Her pink nightgoas soaked Face-down, her head turned away, looking beneath the bed The last thing she had seen in the world was a box ofShe kept the box because she alanted another baby The box read: Jimmy&039;s Stuff