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I pressed lucky nue from my phone forever Thensome of that Patrón tequila she always talked about Maybe then she’d forget she ever ladly lie to the police for e bonus Juanita could be a thorn in my conversational side, but now I knew for sure she had , this phone call should teach hbor It paid off

The next call was the one I’d been hoping for, and Pete’s voice came on the line calm and precise as usual "Molly, it’s Pete Looks like there was some trouble at your place over the weekend" I could hear hi papers "It says here you weren’t at hoe, "Bed wasrooments on the balcony Lots of speculation here Looks like the place was roughed up quite a bit, possibly by someone’s … pet?" I could hear the surprise in his voice

The police wouldn’t have a good way to explain the ed clawyour pet to a crihly unusual Anyone with a brain would know that the fur samples taken fro theuilty

Pete continued in his monotone "Your purse was found at the scene, but you were MIA Looks here like a call to your office found you were … ca?" The inflection in his voice showed this piece of inforot your case Callthe phone onto the dashboard in disgust "Just drive straight to jail and dropto be a fair investigation anyway, so we may as well save the taxpayers somelanced at Nick and he shook his head in syet soainst me to take the case?"

"Apparently it is," Nick answered "Do you really think he’d pass up the opportunity to nail you to the wall? He probably had to trade all his good cases in order to get your crappy one"

I sighed "I don’t knohy I was duh to think he wouldn’t do exactly that Of course he’d want this case He can use it as his final grandstand against me"

Ray Hart hated ht I was, or at the very least engaged in soal, it would ly becohteenthe PD had been the most foolish vocation I could’ve ever chosen But I’d been young and eager to show the world what I had to offer, and unfortunately, even though I hadn’t been full blooded, I’d still been a feene pool, which meant I could run faster than any of her, lift more than I should be able to, and to top it off, I had better instincts

According to Raymond Hart, the only rational explanation for "stunts like that" wasa total crackhead or speed junkie Ito perforly subjectedtests, and worked actively on my defense--in the end, the only option left for me was to quit

But it’d been too late to shake Ray

After I’d departed fro with Nick, who had joined with hts For reasons unbeknownst to o There were rue ofa six-foot fence with relative ease, or ofhow I tracked a perp to an undisclosed location with nothing but uide erous thing for hies

I glanced atwhere I’d tossed it "There’s one e on my phone," I said "It said I had seven, but I only listened to six" I kneithout having to check it was Ray I glanced over at the driver’s seat "I’ to have to listen to it, aren’t I?"

"If you want a decent heads-up, you do If not, feel free to let it go"

I reluctantly plucked my phone off the dashboard "I need sohed "Sorry, but all the Jack is at home"

Ray’s tenor spread like oil into my eardrum "Hannon, it’s Hart By now you should know your apartodda" He let that one sit for a second, his glee prickling et your ass out from wherever you are, callaround" Click

That was it