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"Dork and Dink," Michael groaned

Although too far away to have heard, Harker glowered at the tireed

She didn’t bluster into the scene but waited for the detectives to come to her

How nice it would have been to shoot the bastards in the knees to spare the site fro than a shout or a warning shot

By the ti

Ned Lohood sense to avoid her eyes

Carson held her temper "This is our baby, let us burp it"

"We were in the area," Frye said, "caught the call"

"Chased the call," Carson suggested

Frye was a beefy man with an oily look, as if his surnae but fro every food he ate

"O’Connor," he said, "you’re the first Irish person I’ve ever knoasn’t fun to be around"

In a situation like this, which had grown fros in a matter of weeks, Carson and her partner would not be the only ones in the departned to research particular aspects of the case

They had caught the first murder, however, and therefore had proprietary interest in associated hoh victiency task force And at that point, she and Michael would

Harker tended to burn easily--frohts to his co The Southern sun had bleached his blond hair nearly white; it lent his face a perpetually parboiled look

His eyes, as blue as a gas flaeuise with a soft smile "We needed to move hast, before evidence was lost In this climate, bodies decompose quickly"

"Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself," Michael said "With a gyood again"

Carson drew Ned Lohman aside Michael joined them as she took out her notebook and said, "Gimme the TPO from your involvement"

"Listen, Detectives, I know you’re the whips on this I told Frye and Harker as much, but they have rank"

"Not your fault," she assured hiet to dead meat first Let’s start with the time"

He checked his watch "Call caht er saw the body, called it in When I showed up, the guy was standing here running in place to keep his heart rate up"

In recent years, runners with cell phones had found more bodies than any other class of citizens

"As for place," Officer Loher found it He ested, "were probably a clue that CPR wouldn’t be effective"

"The vic is blond, maybe not natural, probably Caucasian You have any other observations about her?" Carson asked Loho near her either, didn’t conta to find out Haven’t seen the face yet, so I can’t guess the age

"Time, place--what about occurrence?" she asked Lohman "Your first impression was … ?" "Murder She didn’t cut her hands off herself" "Maybe one," Michael agreed, "but not both"

CHAPTER 5

THE streets OF NEW ORLEANS teemed with possibilities: women of every description A feere beautiful, but even thehis years of searching, Roy Pribeaux had yet to encounter one woard

He was proud of being a perfectionist If he had been God, the world would have been a hty, there would have been no ugly or plain people Nothat smelled bad

Under a blue sky that he could not have i hu the Riverwalk, the site of the 1984 Louisiana World’s Fair, which had been refurbished as a public gathering place and shopping pavilion He was hunting

Three young woether Two of theled their bodies, then dislance

Even after years of searching, he remained an optimist She was out there somewhere, his ideal, and he would find her--even if it had to be one piece at a tiin at thirty-eight, a fact of which he was proud He was saving himself For the perfect woman For love

Meanwhile, he polished his own perfection He undertook two hours of physical training every day Regarding himself as a Renaissance man, he read literature for exactly one hour, studied a new subject for exactly one hour, reat mysteries and the major issues of his tianic produce He bought no meat from factory farical residue, and certainly no strange lingering genetic i-neered foods

Eventually, when he had refined his diet to perfection and when his body was as tuned as an atomic clock, he expected that he would cease to eliminate waste He would process every morsel so coy, and he would produce no urine, no feces

Perhaps he would then encounter the perfect woman He often dreamed about the intensity of the sex they would have As profound as nuclear fusion

Locals loved the Riverwalk, but Roy suspected thathow they paused to gawk at the caricature artists and street musicians Locals would not be drawn in such numbers to the stands piled with New Orleans T-shirts

At a bright red wagon where cotton candy was sold, Roy suddenly halted The fragrance of hot sugar cast a sweet haze around the cart

The cotton-candy vendor sat on a stool under a red umbrella In her twenties, less than plain, with unruly hair She looked as baggy and as sih without as much personality But her eyes Her eyes

Roy was captivated Her eyes were priceless gereenish blue

The skin around her eyes crinkled alluringly as she caught his attention and smiled "Can I help you?"

Roy stepped forward "I’d like soot is cotton candy"

"Not all," he said,at how suave he could be

She looked puzzled

Poor thing He was too smooth for her

He said, "Yes, cotton candy, please"

She picked up a paper cone and began to twirl it through the spun sugar, wrapping it with a cloud of sugary confection

"What’s your name?" he asked