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I stared sharply at Angela&039;s profile, co it to the flat representation on the wall The resemblance was sufficiently close to prompt my first question

"Your father?"

Her eyes flicked quickly over to ave e forward The chair was too ned to make a fast exit from its velvet depths difficult I accepted it as part of their ga

Vic was dropped onto a sofa like a bag of laundry with legs Hehis left shoulder with a red-stained hand

"Go get Doc," Angela told the driver He grunted once and left

Newton That was his na a phony laboratory in Paco&039;s basenize ood look I&039;d gone in behind hi, but necessary in order to get hiood intentions and certain downhill roads, I wondered if tonight I&039;d end up regretting ela swept over to the desk and whipped off her cloth cap Her sooty black hair had been scraped away fro she looked somewhat smaller, but not at all vulnerable She tore out the pins and stabbed at her hair with i way from beauty-parlor perfect, it more or less fell into place

She hitched one hip on the desk, then changed her mind and paced the room, her fists shoved deep into the pockets of her man&039;s coat She stopped once to look out the door for Newton, then resu beneath her soft shoes The pacing did nothing to alleviate her restless energy or increase her patience at the wait After her second trip to the door, she returned to the desk and shrugged out of the coat, tossing it onto the sea of oak in front of her Beneath it was her shoulder holster, the black leather blending well over a dark blouse Her gun had a bright nickel finish It ht have been a piece of fashionable jewelry the way she wore it

The two men had taken up stations on either side of me No one seeela, we all kept still and watched each other breathe for the next few ers, I had to consciously i notice

The place-or at least this part of it-hly scrubbed out since the fire The house had not been totally destroyed, after all, and as left had proved to be salvageable There was no trace of the s sarette smoke and some faint perfu co slippers and a black-and-blue-striped bathrobe His bloodshot eyes were puffy from disturbed sleep and he looked ela

"Couldn&039;t this have waited untilhis unsteady way to her There was a chair on one side of the desk and he sank into it with a long-suffering groan

"We had to go when Kyler&039;s boys estured at the sofa

"Fix him up"

He noticed Vic for the first ti not ten feet away fro didn&039;t seeh, he lurched from the chair for a closer look "What happened?"

"Kyler&039;s going to be three short the next time he takes roll call Four, unless you take care of this one"

"What did you do?"

She slapped the butt of her gun with her fingers "What do you think? This wasn&039;t a shopping trip to the five-and-diot in my way They&039;re dead"

He pursed his irl"

"Just do your job, Doc"

"Sure, sure Newton, go get "

Newton trundled out Doc went to a cabinet and made himself a fast drink

Fast, because he didn&039;t bother toHe perked up a little after his first bracing gulp and looked at me with polite curiosity My own scrutiny took in his bleary blue eyes and red-veined nose I knew hiht last August He&039;d been pretty drunk at the ti like crazy that he wouldn&039;t remember ela and asked, "So who&039;s this guy?"

"The one Kyler&039;s after," she replied, lacing her voice with obvious patience

His eyes flashed with awakened interest "Fle?"

"You tell ht"

He stood and ca every evidence of a careful examination, but anyone could tell he wasn&039;t certain of hiela nodded to her men "Search hiuany tonight, though, and each grabbed for an ar the chair between us, and shoved a fist into the gut of the other He folded and fell with a low grunt, totally out of breath By the tiot around the chair I was ready for hied ht his hand in my palh to cover the snapping bones-and then cruela He was frozen, but she had her gun out and ready Her eyes ide, but she wasn&039;t the type to go into hysterics over a little scuffle

"You think I&039;d be du for the cops to identify?" I asked, directing the question at her "Besides, Kyler&039;s goons have already picked me over"

"Then why bother?"

It had, indeed, been a risk, but better than having the pushed around So would anybody If you&039;re that interested all you have to do is ask My na, Miss Paco-if that&039;s who you are"

"It is," she said, her big eyes narrowing

"Charmed, I&039;m sure Nohat do you ith me?"

Doc smiled and put in his two cents&039; worth "Watch yourself, ot balls"

"That would o up against Kyler Except he wasn&039;t doing so e found hiht now, and that&039;s what really counts

Sheldon, you okay?" he asked one of the men on the floor

Sheldon, who now had so obscene

"No, there&039;s a lady present Lester, help hi more in need of help himself He wheezed a few times and eventually ered to his feet, clutching his arot hie

"You didn&039;t answer my question," I reminded her "What do you ith h to find out," she said

"And you&039;re irresistible, too" But I illing to wait Lester had gotten his breath back by now, though he looked far fro, but in no shape to do lare at me I could survive that

"Tell me why Kyler wants you dead," she asked

"I crossed hierous"

"Maybe he&039;s got sorip

Shel&039;s going to need X rays for this un level and steady "What did you do?"

I de over it with the other hand "It&039;s all in the leverage"

"Ito get on his bad side I exist and he doesn&039;t like it That&039;s all that le?"

She didn&039;t bother to reply to that one Newton ca and paused, uncertain about the changesat Angela&039;s drawn gun

"Yes Watch him and watch yourself He&039;s faster than you&039;d think"

He gave his burden to Doc and took up a post behind and to the left of , finally pulling out a syringe

Alaroing to do with that?"

Doc s on a small bottle "You just look the other way and trust ol&039; Doc We&039;ll have you playing the piano again in no time"

"But I don&039;t play the piano- ow!"

"I&039;round her teeth, not from Doc&039;s ave the fretting Sheldon an ar to kill the pain, fixed up a teo to bed As he wandered out, Angela all but steered Doc over to his next patient

"Nasty, but not fatal," he concluded "Not yet, anyway Let&039;s haul hiht in here stinks"

"I want hiot Vic to stand, and with Lester&039;s shaky aid, they wobbled toward the door like a trio of chuet away from there clean?"

She nodded "Nobody saw but these two and they&039;re not going anyplace"

"Kyler&039;ll be h"

"We&039;ll see"

"You can bet on it, girl" He guided Vic and Lester fro to stare at ain and I didn&039;t think it was because she thought I was attractive

"Alone at last," I said, then glanced at Newton "Well, al?"

She laughed, unpleasantly, and put away her gun Somehow, I still didn&039;t feel very safe "You were here last suet around a lot"

"You were here the night of the fire You set it, didn&039;t you?"

Uh-oh "You see broke in the house that night-"

"Andso that closes your case What are you going to do, sendso ested Newton

"Maybe later," she said Newton took that to be a proela walked behind the desk and dropped into the massive red leather chair below the portrait Despite her ss were still up in the air for her and she had trouble staying in one place for long She lighted a cigarette, quickly s When she sainst the top of the desk Possibly out of self-defense, Newton tried to open a conversation with her, but she wasn&039;t in theat least, but she got up and began pacing again, checking her watch at short intervals

The desk phone rang, startling her

"Who&039;s calling this late?" asked Newton

"Probably Mac"

"Mac?"

"I&039;ve had hi the Travis Hotel" She fairly pounced on the phone and ere treated to her side of the conversation It wasn&039;t too infore by her pleased expression when she hung up

Neas just as interested "So what&039;d he say?"

"Chaven went out in a big hurry a little while ago Mac followed him to where we picked this bird up Cops are all over the spot like flies on freshfor us, then"

"Mac also said that Chaven hung around long enough to go green at all the sights, then ran straight back to the Travis"

"That means Kyler knohat happened"

"But he won&039;t knoho did it"

"Not yet"

"Not yet," she agreed, looking at , I want to check on Doc"

Neas cautious, but I willingly cooperated this tiela down the hall to a different door It opened onto a spacious and well-lighted gy the roos, padded mats, and several oddpeople than keeping them fit

The bloodsmell hit me square in the face Human, of course, not animal

There&039;s a difference-especially to me I&039;d learned to discern that difference early on in ed life One was food and the other a couaranteed to inspire sohost vision of a dark street, the flash of guns, and h table overlooked by sunla His upper clothes were off and Doc was busy working on his shoulder under the hot lights Lester was his reluctant nurse

"I wanted hi over She was oblivious to the gore

Doc didn&039;t bother to glance up "This fella had other ideas He conked out so fast we alet hi an awful noise at what I&039;er?"

"Until I&039;, she subsided for a whole runt of satisfaction he straightened, holding so in one of his fancy tweezers

"Got the bullet," he announced "Pesky things, especially this size Which one of you carries a forty-five?"

"That&039;s ela

Doc eyed her up and down "Like to pack a punch, don&039;t you, girl?"

"It does the job"

"You didn&039;t sarlic, did you?"

"Don&039;t be an idiot"

Doc laughed out loud, dropping it into ahis work "Bullets are generally pretty clean, but they can force a lot of stuff you don&039;t want into even a ht away, the infection can sneak up on you later Hope this guy believed in washing his underwear"

"When can you get hiet over the shock"

"I don&039;t have the time and you know it I want him awake and able to talk to Kyler"

"Why?" I asked

They all looked ata reasonable question Angela&039;s eyes flashed fire, throwing a signal to Newton She pointed to a edwith things; I could always find a way to sneak out later and eavesdrop

I was shoved into a di the floor, walls, ceiling, and built-in benches Frank Paco wasn&039;t one to do things by halves Rather than cram himself into a cabinet, he&039;d installed a full-sized steam room to sweat away his troubles It was turned off, fortunately, but still smelled like old socks

Newton slammed the door solidly behind me The only other exit had to do with the ventilation system, such as it was, and was far too sive it a shot buteasier

The door was locked; I tried the knob anyway, giving it a good rattle for the benefit of ht expect and I didn&039;t want to disappoint theation out of the way, there wasn&039;t any reason why I should hang around in their improvised cell Just at eye level, the door had a sht My vieas limited to a wall full of Indian clubs and Newton&039;s back as he walked away That was good news; people tend to get upset when I vanish right in front of the this crowd Not just yet, anyway

I slipped out and floated free in the open space of the gyet close and listen, only no one was talking, not even Doc Sousted, I found the hall door and bumbled my way back to the office to " His voice was tight, guarded "Are you all right?"