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I was in ers laced behind my head, a classic detective pose Of course I had just finished doing two hundred military push ups Let&039;s see Colombo do that

When the burn inthe edge ofthese tricep dips every day since I was fifteen I could do the I was at two hundred and seventy-one when my fax machine turned on I cranked out another twenty-nine, because I like things neat and tidy, finishing in a flourish just as the fax e

The fax machine sat on top of a short bookcase The bookcase was filled to overfloith philosophy textbooks andwith all of Clive Cussler&039;s novels, rainy photograph A grainy police photograph, courtesy of Sanchez

My stoain

I carefully put the faxed photograph in a rabbed my car keys and wallet from the desk&039;s top drawer and left the office

Huntington Beach was paradise The best weather on earth Few people would argue withoff the coast, because there were soton surfers, or, rather, those with no life to speak of, were capitalizing on the gnarly waves Dude Their black for from this distance like trained seals, cut across the waves

Two miles up the coast I turned left and headed up a sh My home away from home

It was 3:16 pm, school was just out

I moved up the central artery, past hundreds of yellow lockers, searching do after row, until I spotted a janitor&039;s cart parked outside a classroo opposite each other in student desks that were entirely too ser in raph, not saying ents came from him

Finally he looked up atclearly "That is him"

"You&039;re sure?"

He nodded "You killed hi and looked away

"He was a lad he is dead He said he would kill my whole family"

"I know"

Mario pointed with a thick finger "Someone shot him four ti face, too" He spat to the side His lower lip was quivering His accent was thick and heavy, his words now even more difficult to discern "Why did he threaten ht to hell"

The thought ofFuck Nut to hell was a bit burdensoe the subject, somewhat

"But the person who hired him is still free, Mario We need to find him next Do you understand?"

Mario nodded

"Mario, what did you see on the night Amanda was murdered?"

I waited for him His lower lip continued to quiver, and he seeained so

And I

60

At 8:00 a south on the 5 Freeith the n My head was clear and empty, which was the way I preferred it I had stayed off the booze for over a week and felt pretty good about it I had had a good week of workouts, even thoughhurt like hell, even at this very moment

To me the pain orth it to play football

The traffic out to San Diego was heavy but steady At the rate I was going, I would be in San Diego in two hours

Two hours

Despite ht about this aspect of traffic, and realized again I o if I made the teaood thing

All to chase a dreaiven up on A dream that had been taken away fro man, a twenty-two year old man