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"No, sir Not close And there’s less than three hours till August fif­teenth"

"If we can park his butt in jail overnight for vandalism, we’ll have an excuse to poke around in his life Maybe that’ll give us a chance to figure out the bigger thing he’s up to"

After wishing the chief luck, I pressed END and returned the phone to Storust 15 - see toward us with silent but deadly force

TWENTY-ONE

WAITING TO HEAR FROM THE CHIEF THAT THEY HAD NAILED Robertson in the act of vandalis lot, with the s of the Mustang rolled down, hoping to catch a breeze The food was tasty, but the hot night air sus Man’s house," Storlass Just used my driver’s license"

"Does he keep severed heads in his refrigerator?"

"I didn’t open his refrigerator"

"Where else would you expect to find severed heads?"

"I wasn’t looking for any"

She said, "That creepy s I’d look for is a collection of knickknacks with ears These tacos are fabulous"

I agreed ‘And I like all the colors in the salsa Yellow and green chiles, the red of the chopped tomatoes, the little purple flecks of onion… sort of looks like confetti You should do it this hen you make salsa"

"What - you were bitten by Martha Stewart, now you’re a walking-dead lifestyle guru? So tell me what you found if you didn’t find heads?"

I told her about the black rooers, she said, "Listen to , but they’re not all of you Open theain"

"It doesn’t exist any it’ll come back"

"That never even crossed my mind"

"Yes, it did," she said

"Yes, it did," I admitted "I mean, I’d like to understand it - what it is, hoorks"

To emphasize her objection, she poked a corn fritter in ate to Hell, and you’re not ate to Hell"

"Then what is it?"

"I don’t know"

"It’s the gate to Hell If you go looking for it, and you find it, and you wind up in Hell, I’ for you and pull your ass out of the fire"

"Your warning is duly noted"

"It’s hard enough beingafter theoes on so after them," I said, "and since when are we married?"

"We will be," she said, and finished her final fritter

On h we both agree that we are soul ether for­ever, she has always shied fro like, I love you madly, desperately, Oddie, so ht hand for you, if that made any sense as a proof of love But as for this- let’s put a pin in it

Understandably, dribbles of swordfish taco fell out ofvows I plucked thosetime to think furiously, before I said, "So, you es ago" Off my look of bewilder, I’m yours,’ but I ac­cepted in so many words"

"I didn’t interpret ‘put a pin in it’ asswordfish crumbs off my shirt, she said, "You have to learn to listen with est I listen with?"

"Don’t be crude It doesn’t become you I mean, sometimes you have to listen with your heart"

"I’ve listened withI’veperiodically had to swab earwax out ofa white pastry bag and at once fill­ing the car with a delicious, cinnahnutlike aroma

I said, "How can you think about dessert at a time like this?"

"You - so chased, but with luck that part of the day was over "Listen, Stor to iive up the short-order job at the Grille, and I don’t just er"

Her look of aht of it

tilted her head Cocking one eye at me, she said, ‘And froer than tires?"

I gave it soht "Shoes"

"What kind of shoes?"

‘All kinds Retail shoe sales"

She looked dubious "That’s bigger than tires?"

"Sure How often do you buy tires? Not even once a year And you need only one set of tires per vehicle But people need more than one pair of shoes They need all types Brown dress shoes, black dress shoes, running shoes, sandals - "

"Not you All you have is three pairs of the same sneakers"

"Yes, but I’reed

‘Another thing to consider," I said, "is that not every man, woman, and child has a car, but everyone has feet Or nearly everyone A faht have two cars, but they have ten feet"

"There are so many reasons to love you, Oddie, but this is er tilted her head or cocked one eye She stared at alactic: as deep as the darkness between any two stars in the sky Her expression had softened with affection She see that I said, and this perception was supported by the fact that she had still not taken a churro out of the bag

Unfortunately, Iwith only my ears, be­cause I didn’t knohat sheabout ?"

"You’re as smart as anyone I’ve ever known… and yet so simple It’s a lovely combination Brains and innocence Wisdoenuine sweetness"